Olive Bagshaw 1931-2017
https://olivebagshaw.blogspot.com/2020/12/
A Brief Biography
Olive Bagshaw was born on 27th November 1931 in Salford, Lancashire.
Olive studied Textile Design at Salford School of Art from 1946-1949. Working as a designer, at the age of 21, she enrolled at the Regional College of Art in Manchester for part time studies in Portrait Painting in 1953 and each successive year until 1961.See note 5
Olive knew Harry Rutherford, an eminent artist of the Northern School. Harry Rutherford was very probably Olive's tutor at the Regional College of Art where he taught. One of Harry Rutherford's most well known portraits is of Olive Bagshaw. This is included at Note 1. Olive painted a portrait of Harry Rutherford which was selected for the Royal Society of Portrait Painters exhibition in 1961 and subsequently went on tour in 1962. The previous year her portrait of Tommy Cooper had been included in the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts Exhibition.(Manchester Evening News 13.12.1961) See note 6
Olive Bagshaw Self Portrait (Private collection)
Olive was a passenger in a car involved in a road accident in 1961 which left her permanently unable to walk. Olive was in hospital for a year. Olive married Greg Driver, who had known Olive since he was 16 years old, in the autumn of 1965.
Olive wanted her artistic merit to stand alone, quite separate from her personal circumstances and her physical disability. Always a very private individual, she lived happily with her husband for the rest of her life at Riverside Cottage, Birchin Lane near Chorley in Lancashire. In the last part of her artistic development, in her later years, she focussed on abstract works, many in acrylic and mixed media, constantly developing her unique vision.
Olive knew Harry Rutherford, an eminent artist of the Northern School. Harry Rutherford was very probably Olive's tutor at the Regional College of Art where he taught. One of Harry Rutherford's most well known portraits is of Olive Bagshaw. This is included at Note 1. Olive painted a portrait of Harry Rutherford which was selected for the Royal Society of Portrait Painters exhibition in 1961 and subsequently went on tour in 1962. The previous year her portrait of Tommy Cooper had been included in the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts Exhibition.(Manchester Evening News 13.12.1961) See note 6
Olive Bagshaw Self Portrait (Private collection)
Olive wanted her artistic merit to stand alone, quite separate from her personal circumstances and her physical disability. Always a very private individual, she lived happily with her husband for the rest of her life at Riverside Cottage, Birchin Lane near Chorley in Lancashire. In the last part of her artistic development, in her later years, she focussed on abstract works, many in acrylic and mixed media, constantly developing her unique vision.
Chronology of Exhibitions
In her early career, Olive Bagshaw specialised in portraiture, still life subjects and some landscapes. To begin with, her still life subjects were quite varied and eclectic, but as time passed, Olive concentrated more on paintings of flowers in her still life works.
She maintained the focus on portraits until 1972. Her portraits were exhibited by the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in London. She exhibited also at The Royal Academy, The Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Federation of British Artists (The Mall Galleries). Her most important exhibitions were at Salford Museum and Art Gallery.
1966 A very early private exhibition was held at The Limes, 816 Wilmslow Road, Didsbury in 1966.
1970 Her first exclusive exhibition was at the Monks Hall Museum and Gallery in Eccles in May 1970, when she exhibited 36 paintings. (See Appendix 1 below and Appendix 2, a contemporary review in the Daily Telegraph by F W Fenton the Northern Art Critic). See Note 7. Manchester Evening News 14.05.1970
1971 There followed an exhibition at Salford Art Gallery in 1971 (16th December - to 23rd January 1972). A catalogue for this exhibition can be found in Appendix 3. An appreciation of Olive's work by F W Fenton, the Northern Art Critic for the Daily Telegraph forms the foreword. I am indebted to Peter Ogilvie, the Collections Manager at Salford At Gallery for this document.
A newspaper feature from the Manchester Evening News has also been included at Appendix 3.
1972 She exhibited again at the Monks Hall Museum and Gallery in Eccles from January to May 1972.
Olive stopped painting portrait commissions after this exhibition. In March, 1972, she wrote, "I've recently had a chance at outdoor landscape painting and it's been a revelation to me after all these years of painting faces."Note 2. From that point on, she embarked on a long period when she worked on landscapes. From the beginning, she appreciated the work of the Impressionists, particularly Claude Monet. Olive found constant inspiration in Nature.
1973 In June 1973, she exhibited 32 paintings in the BDP Vernon Gallery in Preston. Appendix 4.
As well as many more landscapes, Olive extended her subject matter to larger figure studies and nudes.
1977 In 1977, her paintings across three genres were featured at a major exhibition at the City of Salford Art Gallery and Museum (19th August - 28th September). At that time, she was concentrating mainly on landscapes. 47 paintings were included. See Appendix 5a and 5b.
1985 Some paintings were exhibited at The Mall Galleries "Flowers and Gardens" exhibition in 1985. See below painting number 154.
Paintings are held in the collection of the Salford Art Gallery and Museum.
Abstract Works
Subsequently, from the 1980s Olive Bagshaw began another phase in her painting, creating abstract works. An exhibition of her abstract works has never taken place. It is possible that some may have appeared at local exhibitions.She continued to paint abstracts mainly in acrylic paint but also with other materials until shortly before her death in 2017.
Final years
Olive's home suffered a flood early in 2015 and all the stored works had to be moved. Olive said that she had found it fascinating to see works which had been in storage for decades and which she had virtually forgotten about. She wrote that there were four distinct phases in her work. Towards the end of her life, I had discussions with Olive about the possibility of a retrospective exhibition. The failing health of her husband and of Olive herself made this an unachievable objective. Olive was in a care home with Greg at Fulwood near Preston and the paintings were in storage.
Many of Olive's portraits were commissions. Nonetheless Olive's appetite for painting was such that she would paint a large number of uncommissioned portraits. Many still life, landscape and figure paintings including from the exhibitions were sold throughout her life.
After their deaths, Olive and Greg left the entire residue of their estate equally between the charities: Compassion in World Farming and the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. This reflected their lifelong concern for the welfare of both human beings and animals. Please use the links above should you wish to make a donation.
Sale of Studio Works 2019
After the death of her husband, Greg, the executor's sale took place at Silverwoods Auction in Clitheroe, Lancs in early 2019. It is believed that all the works were sold to a single buyer. These were then split up and a number of these were sold at David Duggleby's Winter Art sale in 2019 and Spring Art sale in 2020. These were termed the "Artist's Studio Sale".
Collection of Works
In this account a collection of images of oil and acrylic paintings (including those from the Duggleby's "artist's studio" sale) has been gathered from private and public collections, but it is just a sample.
It is hoped and intended that this blog, which I aim to be a basis for a catalogue, can be improved and expanded. Better quality images may be included in the future and more information about their history and details of their subject matter, etc, as a result of information received from those who knew Olive and Greg and who sat for portraits. I shall be grateful for any information. Please see my contact details at the top of this blog.
No systematic documentation of Olive's paintings was found to exist after her death, so for a chronology I have had to rely on those paintings which were dated, information from owners, portrait subjects of the paintings and the changes in Olive's painting style in order to attribute approximate periods of time.
What follows is an attempt at a broad chronological order, though not wholly so, as some paintings have been grouped by sitter or theme. As far as the abstract works are concerned, I have tried to group them into similar bands, but it is all guesswork, although one sequence is clearly derived from a physical location, Whin's Bridge. Note 3
In her early career, Olive Bagshaw specialised in portraiture, still life subjects and some landscapes. To begin with, her still life subjects were quite varied and eclectic, but as time passed, Olive concentrated more on paintings of flowers in her still life works.
1970 Her first exclusive exhibition was at the Monks Hall Museum and Gallery in Eccles in May
1977 In 1977, her paintings across three genres were featured at a major exhibition at the City of Salford Art Gallery and Museum (19th August - 28th September). At that time, she was concentrating mainly on landscapes. 47 paintings were included. See Appendix 5a and 5b.
Paintings are held in the collection of the Salford Art Gallery and Museum.
Abstract Works
Subsequently, from the 1980s Olive Bagshaw began another phase in her painting, creating abstract works. An exhibition of her abstract works has never taken place. It is possible that some may have appeared at local exhibitions.She continued to paint abstracts mainly in acrylic paint but also with other materials until shortly before her death in 2017.
Copyright
Images
I have sought to record image copyright where I have been able to find it. Please let me know if you own copyright on images which is not credited. I shall be happy to record it or remove the image if you wish.
Artist's Copyright
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