Galleries - May 2019

C H A R L E S D E B E N H A M ‘The man who painted Colchester and Sudbury’ CHAPPEL GALLERIES 4th May – 2nd June Wed to Sun 10-5 Introduction by Roderic Barrett (1920 – 2000) A close friend and mentor, Roderic wrote the following for Charles’ first show at Chappel Galleries in 1996. “Here is a celebration of the ordinary. Not for Charles Debenham the noble architectural structures or the quaint preserved, but the kind of street that may be seen in many local towns and villages. Houses jumbled together, often with no sense of order, filling whatever space happened to be there, roof shapes, window sizes, lodged there by the aimlessness of history and the best efforts of various jobbing builders, or stationary rows of houses, all much the same except for the telling colour of a door, the gate that is different. It is these very ordinary characters which capture Charles Debenham and through his art engage us. Each painting encourages us to pause, begin to absorb all that is there, enjoy the individuality of the commonplace. Here are these gates, bridges, roads and houses, separate from us, indifferent to our presence yet possessing when looked at by an artist all manner of sad, amazing, moving, unexpectedly telling juxtapositions. There is nothing phoney in these paintings, they are quite free of arty affections. This is a singular gift. So here are paintings to live with and share with Charles Debenham the fascinating discoveries that he has observed and painted with so much affectionate care.” The catalogue: there is a free exhibition catalogue available illustrating all of the 52 works for sale; please apply to the gallery. The book : to accompany the exhibition, Karl Debenham’s book about his father Charles’ work, published in 2018, is also available to buy at the gallery or via the post (£15 plus p&p). ‘Charles Debenham – The man who painted Colchester and Sudbury’ is 96 pages soft back, fully illustrated. CHAPPEL GALLERIES Colchester Road, Chappel, Essex CO6 2DE t 01206 240326 info@chappelgalleries.co.uk www.chappelgalleries.co.uk from top: ‘Andrew Millar and Marjorie Gave This Seat’ ‘Colourful Queue’ ‘Fenwick Rebuilding W&G’