Original semi-abstract oil painting in bespoke frame

Boxes: Orange by David Holt (1980)

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Printing Details

Painted in late summer 1980, this is an oil on canvas in wooden frame (it is not glazed). The frames has been very lightly dyed orange to complement the painting. The frame measures 43 × 32.5cm and the painting is 40.5 × 29.5cm.

This is a work of abstract expressionism, showing David Holt's response to the wooden fruit boxes that were piled high during the harvest season in the Kentish agricultural landscape.

Signed and dated by David Holt, September 1980, lower right of canvas.

David Holt (1928–2014). Born in Hythe, Kent. Painter and Lecturer in Art. After National Service, he trained at the Canterbury School of Art, the Hammersmith School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools where he was awarded a medal for drawing and the Knapping Prize. He joined a studio-workshop with Gerald Holtom (designer of the CND symbol) in 1958 where he designed and produced proscenium curtains for schools. In 1958 he was awarded a Harkness Fellowship and travelled across America, producing many drawings and prints of the Pueblo Indians and their life-dance in Santa Fe in New Mexico, where he also worked with artist Agnes Sims. He returned to England in 1960 and continued to paint and work on large textile appliques for schools, churches, and private houses including Spade House in Kent, the former home of H G Wells.

He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1962, and in 1964 was commissioned to design and make a large textile applique 'Christ in Majesty' which still hangs in the chapel of Christ Church College in Canterbury.

He was Head of Art at Canterbury Christ Church University until his retirement in 1995. He exhibited widely in the UK and the States and worked with many art societies and summer schools across East Kent.

His work can be found in both private and public collections throughout the UK and America, including the Yale Centre for British Art. His painting "Coastal Watcher" was recently used for the dustwrapper on Modernism and Memory: Rhoda Pritzker and the Art of Collecting (Yale University Press, 2016).

Condition

This painting is in good condition, with some dusting to the back of the canvas. The frame sits tightly but has a few small paints marks and areas of rubbing but nevertheless contributes well to the overall impression of the piece.

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