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George Little
- portrait © Bernard Mitchell
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GEORGE LITTLE
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George Little has exhibited extensively since 1977. A full list of group exhibitions can be obtained directly from the artist. A very small selection of her achievements are included within this page.
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"Fishing Boat with other plates and reflections"
Ink & Chalk - 8.75" x 9" (22.5 x 23cm)
Cat' No: D31
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I have one of George Little's paintings hanging by the front door of my cottage in the Brecon Beacons. Its subject is a scene of urban dereliction. It is a picture of a ruined ironworks showing broken walls and collapsed roofscapes. One might think this an unsuitable picture to put by the door of a country cottage in one of the most unspoiled parts of Wales. Standing in front of it, my eye takes in not only George's watercolour but also the view outside the door of my wild garden. At present it is bright with runner bean flowers, lilies, roses and a variegated mixture of wild and cultivated plants. Strangely enough the George Little painting does not clash with this vista at all. With its warm rich colours and harmonious shapes the painting complements the view and adds a beauty of its own.
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This is the wonderful thing about George's work as an artist. In a landscape of urban decay he finds startling colours, musical rhythms and a haunting sense of human presence and of past endeavor. He has an eye for shapes and harmonies and for dramatic contrasts. His painting does not prettify the dereliction which has overtaken so much of the industrial landscape. But neither does it offer up any sense of depression or sentimental nostalgia. There is life in the ruins as there is life in a tangled garden. George records the beauty of change. His subject is the world he has known since his childhood in Swansea, when he could look down from his home on the the docks with cranes, ships and warehouses busy with life. He witnessed the destruction of the Blitz and the collapse of heavy industry in the postwar years. And he has documented this industrial landscape and its transformations with a poet's eye.
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This world of industrial endeavor and technical and scientific enterprise which has surrounded him since his earliest years has left its mark. He somehow combines the poet's eye with a talent for scientific observation. When I visited his home recently he showed me the many sketchbooks which he takes with him wherever he goes. They are filled with spare and precisely delineated images of the world around him. They are a visual diary of his travels but also a lesson to any artist on how to be both lyrical and scientific - how to capture the moment with dramatic simplicity and how to use technical skill to memorialise a vanished way of life."
Robert Macdonald.
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"Industrial Dereliction, Lower Swansea Valley."
Watercolour 11"x15" (28 x 38cm)
Cat' No SP196
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Because George Little has exhibited extensively it is not possible to publish the complete list of accomplishments within this page. Therefore, we have selected a small number for entry in this page.
The full list is available directly from the artist upon request.
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AWARDS & PRIZES:
Awarded Open Scholarship in first year Swansea School of Art.
Bursary for Postgraduate study, Ruskin School of Drawing, University of Oxford.
A number of prizes awarded during postgraduate studies.
Prize winner - Industrial Britain Open National Competition, Chenil Gallery, London 1955.
Purchase Prize, Industrial Wales - Arts Council Exhibition 1960.
Special Prize (John Piper), Mid Wales Open Art Exhibition, Aberystwyth 1983.
First Prize - Coal Industry National Art Exhibition, Blackpool 1989.
Arts Council of Wales Travel Grant 1999.
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"Silent Dock" Swansea.
Acrylic on paper 14.25" x 14.5" (36x37cm)
Cat' No A52
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"Beached Boats, Camaret-Sur-Mer"
Acrylic on paper 20.25" x 20.5" (53.5x54cm)
Cat' No A57
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Solo Exhibitions:
14 listed in C.V., here are the last three solo exhibitions:
Touring Exhibition 1994:
Ceri Richards Gallery, University College, Swansea; Heritage Park Gallery, Trehafod, Rhondda; Pembroke Library Gallery, Pembroke Dock; National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth; Brecknock Museum, Brecon.
Camborne School of Mines Museum and Art Gallery
, Redruth, Cornwall 1995.
Ceri Richards Gallery
, University of Wales, Swansea 2001.
Joint Exhibitions
Carolyn Little, George Little: Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre, Cwmbran 1980.
Arts South Exhibition Gallery, University College Swansea 1980.
Oriel Theatre Clwyd, Mold 1981.
Exhibition Hall, Devonshire House, Exeter University 1983.
Torch Theatre Gallery, Milford Haven 1984.
Hereford City Museum and Art Gallery 1985.
Henry Thomas Gallery, Carmarthen 1988.
Theatr Ardudwy, Harlech 1988.
Guildhall Gallery, Winchester 1996.
Haverfordwest Library Gallery, Haverfordwest 1999.
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"Composition No III - Red and Green Loom"
Acrylic & Ink on paper 12.25" x 12.5" (31x32cm)
Cat' No SP303
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PUBLIC COLLECTIONS & COMMISSIONS:
Barnsley Education Authority.
Bertshinger & Co Ltd., London.
British Rail.
Contemporary Art Society for Wales.
EMBS, University College, Swansea.
Ivor Russell & Partners, Swansea.
Kirk Sandall New Junior Modern and Infants School, Yorkshire.
Lloyds Bank.
Metal Box Co.Ltd.
Mid Glamorgan Health Authority.
Miners Library, Hendrefoilan, Swansea.
Mural 27' x 7.5' for home for Mentally impaired, Swansea.
Book Jacket design: "History of Wales
1906 - 200" University of Wales Press.
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National Library of Wales.
Royal National Eisteddfod Collection.
Ryburn Secondary School, Sowerby Bridge, Yorkshire.
School for Hearing Impaired Children, Llandrindod Wells.
Ty Olwen Hospice, Morriston Hospital, Swansea.
University of Wales, Swansea.
Welsh Arts Council.
West Glamorgan Education Authority.
West Wales Association for the Arts Picture Loan Scheme.
West Yorkshire Schools Collection.
Mural 40' x 4' for Sports Pavilion, University of Wales, Swansea 1996.
Also featured on cover of University of Wales Press catalogue 2000.
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"Loom with Red Blanket"
Acrylic on board 24" x 24" (51x51cm)
Cat' No A59
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MEDIA COVER :
Studio (now Studio International);
Art News and Review;
Arts Review;
Barn;
"Artists Exhibited in Wales 1945-74", Kirstine Brander Dunthorne (Arts Council Publication);
The Guardian Weekend - "Art for Sale" supplement;
Featured in over a dozen daily newspapers.;
Interviews: PRIMETIME, HTV Wales 1994;
Mal Pope Interviews, BBC Radio Wales 1994;
BBC North;
Swansea Sound 1990;
"A Word in your Eye", HTV Wales 1997;
Bernard Mitchell: "Photographs of Artists", National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1999;
"Landscape and Art" Spring 2000 - included in review by Robert Macdonald;
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WORK IN PRIVATE COLLECTIONS:
Great Britain;
Eire;
France;
Italy;
Germany;
Austria;
Spain;
USA;
Canada;
Australia;
Far East
Judge:
Pontardawe Festival Art Awards Exhibition 1996.
Judge:
Gulbenkian Prize, Tabernacle Art Competition, Museum of Modern Art, Machynlleth, 1998.
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For further information: Please contact.
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artcymru.co.uk
Tel.
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GEORGE LITTLE
