WHAT’S ON
‘Women in Art’ exhibition at Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery 3rd – 9th March 2012
Dorothy CP Ward
SOME readers may remember my previous article, which appeared in the June 2011 issue of this magazine, about this artist, who lived in Tavistock with her sister Claire for nearly all of her adult life until her death in 1994 at the age of 84. A small exhibition of some of her work, accompanied by brief details of her life, took place as an addition to the annual exhibition of the Tavistock Group of Artists last June in the Town Hall. It was very well received both by people from Tavistock who knew her and her work already and by visitors who had never heard of her before.
What made the exhibition a success was that Dorothy’s second cousin (his grandfather was a brother of her father), Ian Ward, travelled to Tavistock to see it, bringing with him some paintings and a mass of other material, including photographs and illustrated manuscripts. With the material that owners of her work from around Tavistock lent me or allowed me to photocopy, I was able to present quite an extensive view of the scope of this outstanding local artist. I hope to be able to write about these unpublished manuscripts another time.
Dorothy’s most important painting is ‘Map of Plymouth 1933’, which is in store in Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, but which, till then, I had been unable to see, though I had been first drawn to Dorothy Ward by the print of it which is sold in the Museum shop. However, the Curator of Fine Art, Emma Philip, kindly invited me to see it in the storerooms recently. The painting is overwhelmingly more impressive than I had expected. It is very big, over 6ft by 4 ft, painted as a bird’s eye view from Plymouth Sound all the way back to Brentor
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Map of Plymouth 1933’ has kindly been supplied by Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery.
Church. It was done in egg tempera, when the pigment is mixed with a water-based binder, probably egg yolk, a very challenging medium for such a large painting, because it dries so quickly and mistakes cannot be rectified. But it is very long- lasting, retains its clarity, and allows great detail in the depiction of the scene.
The good news is that everyone will be able to look at it, because it will be displayed in the ‘Women in Art’ exhibition at Plymouth City Museum, from Saturday 3 March 2012 until Saturday 9 March 2013. The exhibition will be open from 10am to 5.30pm Tuesday to Friday and 10am to 5pm on Saturdays and Bank Holiday Mondays. Admission is free.
By Jane Miller
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