User:PaulMCronin

= Arthur Berridge =

Arthur Berridge was born in Leicester in 1902 and was the son of a carpenter who later became a tram car conductor. His father was Alfred Smith and his mother was Charlotte Annie Berridge and he had a younger sister. After leaving school, he spent 4 years studying at Leicester College of Art and then Goldsmith’s College in London, where he graduated as an art teacher in 1924. He then worked as an engineer in a factory and then decided to go to Italy, where he first encountered Italian art.

On his return to England, he briefly returned to teaching, but left this profession to set up and run his own timberyard business (Longford Woodcraft Ltd) in Coventry, for which he was helped by his brother-in-law Edgar Dockerty. Despite this change of career, he remained passionate about both painting and sculpting, both of which held equal importance to him. Originally Arthur worked as an artist under his paternal name of Smith, but he later considered his mother’s name of Berridge to be more suitable as an artist’s surname. Arthur’s artistic career began in the early 1930’s and was encouraged by his wife, Helena, who he married in 1930. Helena was slightly older than Arthur, being born in 1898 to Samuel and Annie Lizzie Dockerty (née Carr). Arthur and Helena lived at 1, Thurlaston Lane, Croft, near Leicester and had two daughters, Jane (1932) and Ann (1938). Arthur set up his studio at his house in Thurlaston Lane, where he worked in both stone and paint; he also moved very easily between the two mediums of oils and watercolours.

As far as Arthur’s sculptures are concerned, he preferred to work in local stone, using material from Ancaster Quarries at Mansfield as well as Clipsham stone and Ketton stone, although he did occasionally work in Hornton and Bath stone. He carved his sculptures direct from the stone and did not use preliminary drawings or models. His sculptures are abstract in the sense they are not representations of natural objects, but his style was strongly influenced by nature and the resulting sculptures show great influence of natural processes and the underlying principles of growth and structure, both of which are immanent in all nature. In his art, Arthur tried to simplify nature and take it back to the fundamentals of basic structure, but he was also influenced by figure forms that would be represented as muscular or bony processes or items that came from plant or animal life.

Arthur also took the concepts of sculpture into his paintings, some of which used textures and sculpture within the paint to emphasise the painting. His paintings show a strong landscape interest, where his roots of influence were clearly from the traditional English landscape styles.

Arthur did not attempt to exhibit any art until the early 1950’s, some twenty years after he started producing artwork. He initially had problems in persuading galleries to show his material and in 1950 he wrote to (Sir) Herbert Read at Stonegrave, York. In a letter dated 14th September 1951, Read refers to a photograph of a sculpture that he would have liked to have included in his “Little Penguin” book on modern art that had been published earlier that year, but since the book had now been printed, nothing could be done. Initially, Arthur Berridge exhibited under his paternal name of Smith at the National Society of Painters, Sculptors, Engravers and Potters in the Royal Institute galleries, where his work received a sensational response, where his style was considered “….all his own and his treatment is unconventional to the point of puzzling the unitiated spectator…”.

In the autumn of 1953 he had a one man exhibition of his paintings and sculptures at the Beaux Arts gallery in Bruton Street, London under the sponsorship of Mrs Helen Lessore and which received critical acclaim. Visitors to this exhibition included Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, the latter considering that his work deserved to be represented in the Tate Gallery.

Arthur received a letter from the art critic, David Sylvester, written on Christmas day, commenting on how much he had enjoyed the exhibition.

The Beaux Arts exhibition was later reshown at the Midlands Group of Artists Gallery, 38 Bridlesmith Gate, Nottingham, between 30 January – 20 February 1954, where a total of 9 sculptures and 21 paintings were exhibited.

In 1955 he exhibited at the 3 Groups exhibition, which comprised the Midland Group of Artists, Twenty Five Group, Birmingham and the Wintringham Group, Grimsby. The exhibition showed at different localities throughout the Midlands during the year and included Birmingham (20/6 – 9/7), Derby (18/7 – 7/8), Leicester (15/8 – 5/9), Lincoln ( 12/9 – 3/10), Mansfield ( 10/10 - 31/10) and Kidderminster (7/11 – 28/11).

During the 1950’s Arthur was on the fringes of the numerous arts circle and was acquainted with such well known artists, sculptors and potters as Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Bernard Leach. It is believed he spent some time with Barbara Hepworth at her studios in Cornwall. Possibly with the encouragement of Moore and Hepworth, Arthur tried to arrange an exhibition with Peter Gimpel in his London gallery, during 1953/54 but nothing was forthcoming.

Despite having only a handful of exhibitions, he was well regarded in the Leicester area and was asked to help and advise on improving and extending the facilities in the City of Leicester Museums and Art Gallery.

Arthur Berridge died in 1957 aged 55.