British landscape artist b. 26th December 1937 d. 2004 John Ridgewell was a landscape artist active from the late 1960's to the late 1990's. At his most successful, during the 1970's, he had several exhibitions both in the UK and abroad. John Ridgewell, 1970, (c) culpho-hall.co.ukHis subject was landscape, sometimes painted as a direct representation and sometimes as a surrealist take on the landscape he saw. Ridgewell called himself a landscape artist, he disliked the label surrealist as he felt that this created an expectation in peoples minds as to what to expect.[1]
John Ridgewell was born on 26th December 1937 to Mabel and Herbert Ridgewell in Halstead, a small town in Essex, younger brother to Colin (b.1928). His parents ran a shoe shop in Head Street, Halstead, a business taken over from Herbert's father, Robert, who was a shoemaker. The family lived above the shop in amodest way, growing vegetables in their back garden. John started his schooling at St Andrew's Primary School in Halstead, and moved to the Grammar School in Earls Colne at aged 12. By his own admission John tended to 'drift through these years', although his interest in creativity seems to have blossomed in this period, with Art and Woodwork being his better subjects. A clear aptitude for art gained him entrance to the Colchester School of Art in September 1954. The School principle at this time was John O'Connor, who taught wood engraving as part of his duties. O'Connor was related to the Surrealist painter Paul Nash, whose brother John, a noted war artist, was also at Colchester School of Art, teaching illustration. The School was small, just 35 to 40 students at any one time, with a faculty staff of around 17. In Ridgewell's second year as a student he was taken to a London exhibition of new art, an experience that seemed to shock him who said that after that visit his work suffered - he had become exposed to the idea that there were ways of seeing the world artistically that had previously not occurred to him. Fortunately for posterity, Ridgewell was able to regain his confidence and find his own voice. In 1958 John entered the Royal College of Art, aged just 21. He shared his time their with David Hockney and R B Kitaj, and was a little intimidated at their ability to handle themselves and promote themselves with confidence. John never really left the quiet rural Essex boy behind, and remained self-effacing and modest, in the real sense of modesty, not self-aggrandisement by false modesty, and this is largely why he is unknown today - he never pushed for the high profile status that others of his generation did, and his dislike of reproductions of his art meant that images disappear into private hands. He married Marion Sutton (b.1935) during his secoind year as a student. During his time there John, along with another eight students, was commissioned to create a mural for the St James's Hospital Children's Ward in Balham, which led to his appearance on a BBC television show Wednesday Magazine segment on 'Putting Murals in Children's Hospitals'. Sadly I can find no trace of this image, but its abstract design was well received at the time. Having graduated from the Royal Academy, John needed to earn a living. A position arose at Scarborough School of Art and John and Marion went there in 1961, initially renting a house in Cloughton Newlands then moving to Hunmanby in 1962 where they stayed until 1966. It is reasonable to say that John Ridgewell developed his personal and distinctive style during his time in Yorkshire, with imagery inspired by the raw clay cliffs and cascades of houses into deep valley settings inspired by the dramatic North Yorkshire coast and the Victorian housing that still dominated much of the industrial north - trips to Halifax and Huddersfield, Pateley Bridge and Hebden Bridge, Robin Hood's Bay and Whitby providing images that recur in his paintings over the next few years. His association with the Austen Hayes gallery in York started at this time and it was the encouragement of the gallery and of his wife Marion that persuaded John to give up teaching and become a full time artist. In 1966 John and Marion decided to move to Suffolk, to Great Waldingfield. The reason for this move is not entirely clear, other than perhaps some level of homesickness - the village of Great Waldingfield is not so far from Halstead and his origins than far flung Yorkshire. John and Marion always stayed linked with Yorkshire and where able to own a second home in Lastingham on the edge of the North Yorks Moors in approx 1978, and of course John showed annually at the Austen Hayes gallery in York. Their son James was born in Suffolk in 1966. The family remained in Suffolk for the majority of the rest of John's life. They lived briefly in Dorset (1980 to 1983) where James was a day pupil at Bryanston School. John continued to paint for exhibitions up to the early 1990's when he concentrated on providing paintings direct to an intensely loyal clientele, many of whom had purchased his work from the 1960's onwards. John Ridgewell developed bowel cancer and this claimed his life in 2004. He died at the St Nicholas Hospice in Bury St Edmunds in the presence of Marion and James in December. He was cremated and in accordance with his wishes his ashes were scattered on the North Yorkshire Moors, at the cross on the path from Lastingham to Rosedale.
John Ridgewell was never interested in fame, he just wanted to paint all the time, and fortunately was able to do so. He remains unknown today largely because he disliked his work being reproduced. Some tests were done but Ridgewell was never happy with the results and declined to pursue this further. If he had allowed his work to be reproduced on a larger scale he would most likely be better known today than he is. A website www.johnridgewell.co.uk , managed by the Estate of John Ridgewell, has been created to attempt to archive and display his work to any who wish to explore further.
Ridgewell's painting style shifts a lot over his career and it is convenient to break this up into three main strands. The shifts in style were fluid and inconsistent, but as a framework to view his work it may help the newcomer to his art.
Student work aside, Ridgwell's early work is experimental in nature, using heavy colours and strong blocks of image. Much of this is inspired by his proximity to the dark mud cliffs of the Yorkshire coast, and the layering of houses as they tumble down ravines such as Robin Hood's bay, Whitby or Staithes. The crowded buildings of industrial Yorkshire feature in many paintings from this period. A different often heavily surrealist strand was begun at this time with the red farmhouse pictures, based on a farmhouse on the Yorkshire Wolds.
The rich green landscapes of Suffolk and Yorkshire feature in pictures from the 1970's, his series of paintings featuring doors and stairways in landscape being amongst his most remarkable paintings from the period.
Ridgewell's style starts to shift again into a fine, delicate style, often using tones of blue on white to extraordinary effect. Attention to detail, something Ridgewell always said he learnt at Colchester, is a constant in his paintings, each blade of grass carefully placed and executed. His paintings reward repeated viewing. If you would like to see more, please visit the website held in his name. Images are also available on the government art website, http://www.gac.culture.gov.uk/work.aspx?obj=19215 The images held here were bought from an exhibition in 1961 held to mark John's graduation from Art College. Other organisations that have purchased his art include Rowntree Confectionery, now Nestle, for the offices in York, amongst others.
Exhibition History (one man exhibitions unless stated otherwise)
1983 - Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1984 - Galleri 69, Gothenburg, Sweden
1985 - Austen Hayes Gallery, York
1987 - Art Gallery, Luxembourg
1988 - Art Gallery, Luxembourg
1990 - Grape Lane Gallery, York
1993 - Mistral Gallery, London
John also exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, submitted most years through the 1970's. There were exhibitions at the Piccadilly Gallery, London and Galleri Cassandra, Drobak, Norway, dates unknown. John increasingly worked to direct commissions through the 1980's and right up to the early 2000's before he became to ill to paint.
^Estate of John Ridgewell (all information on this page is from this source)
