Prepress

The Public Catalogue Foundation Launches its Hertfordshire Catalogue

Monday 03. November 2008 - Over 1,500 oil paintings from public collections in Hertfordshire are presented for the first time in a stunning new catalogue published by The Public Catalogue Foundation today. This is the 21st volume in The Public Catalogue Foundation's acclaimed series of photographic catalogues recording all publicly-owned oil paintings in the UK. A further 70 catalogues in the series are anticipated before its expected completion in 2012.

For the first time all the publicly-owned oil paintings in Hertfordshire have been brought together in one volume. Drawn from over 40 collections across the county including museums, art galleries, council buildings, educational establishments and public libraries, the paintings in this catalogue provide a fascinating insight into the cultural heritage of the county.

The catalogue includes Bushey Museum and Art Gallery, the largest collection in Hertfordshire, with its nationally important holding of paintings by Hubert von Herkomer and his students, several fine eighteenth-century paintings in the Watford Museum collection and Letchworth Museum and Art Gallery’s holding of early twentieth-century British works.

This book makes for a perfect guide to art for both visitors to the county and for those who live there. Few people are aware of the full extent of publicly owned art in their county. This is the ideal way to see it. Impressively photographed, the paintings include distinguished British artists such as Spencer Gore and William Ratcliffe in Letchworth Garden City and Lucy Kemp-Welch in Bushey. And even if not local in the same sense, the Watford Museum holds an impressive and unexpected wide-ranging collection of important portraits including the Essex family collection and a self-portrait by Elisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun.

Fred Hohler, Chairman of The Public Catalogue Foundation,
comments:

‘There’s something of the Old Curiosity Shop about Hertfordshire when it comes to its paintings. A long county, everything seems tucked away and hidden, and quite unexpected little “discoveries” keep popping out.’

This catalogue is the latest in the series published by The Public Catalogue Foundation. Whilst most volumes are county-specific, for example catalogues such as Cornwall and North Yorkshire, the Foundation also publishes catalogues of single collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Government Art Collection. Over 50,000 paintings have now been recorded by The Public Catalogue Foundation.

Bushey Museum and Art Gallery has the largest collection in Hertfordshire with nearly 600 oil paintings, mainly from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This features works by Sir Hubert von Herkomer who, in addition to painting society portraits, produced paintings which commented on local nineteenth-century social conditions and depicted Bushey people in a Bushey setting. Bushey has works by many students of Herkomer’s Bushey Art School (1883-1904), including Lucy Kemp-Welch, well known for her paintings of horses. Works from the Lucy Kemp-Welch Memorial Collection, including the catalogue’s cover illustration Burnt Out Fires are on permanent display.

Watford Museum’s collection features paintings of the Dutch and Flemish Schools and a late eighteenth century self portrait by Elisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun, depicting herself painting a portrait of Marie Antoinette. In the early 1990s Lady Essex bequeathed an outstanding collection of portraits of the Essex family who lived at Cassiobury House, Watford until its sale and demolition in the 1920s, and these are on permanent display. They cover the period 1590-1830 and capture the changing styles of portrait painting.

Letchworth Museum and Art Gallery’s collection focuses on artists who visited the new Garden City before the Second World War including William Ratcliffe, a member of the Camden Town Group and, more briefly, Spencer Gore whose painting Letchworth, The Road, 1912, captures a unique moment in the Garden City’s development.

In addition to these major collections there are many of local importance including Hitchin Museum, the First Garden City Heritage Museum, Dacorum Heritage Trust, the Museums of St Albans, Hertford Museum and Royston Museum of Local History, the last of these featuring Herbert Whydale, a highly respected artist, whose landscapes provide a fascinating insight into life in rural Hertfordshire in the first half of the twentieth century.

Chris Green, Director of St Albans Museums, comments:

‘Oil Paintings in Public Ownership in Hertfordshire shows us what is in our own museums and public places as nothing else can, and the result is a revelation. A quite unexpected range of subjects emerges, of far greater interest than most contributors would have imagined. In terms of subjects, it’s more interesting than looking at the catalogue of many a great gallery.’

Many non-museum collections appear in the catalogue including contemporary works at the University of Hertfordshire; civic portraits at several local councils, notably those at County Hall in Hertford; and important early eighteenth century works at Moor Park Mansion, now the clubhouse for Moor Park Golf Club.

Among the many very small collections there is a portrait of the racehorse ‘Eclipse’ by George Stubbs at the Royal Veterinary College Museum near Hatfield and an interesting group of paintings at the Natural History Museum at Tring including a fine portrait of a chimpanzee.

The catalogues are priced at GBP25 for the hardback and GBP15 for the softback. They are available from the participating collections, all good bookshops and at http://www.thepcf.org.uk