The Railway Magazine – August 2019

Alan Fearnley,

chairman 1979-1984

Sean Bolan,

chairman 1984-1988

PhilipDHawkins,

chairman 1988-95and

president1995-98

LaurenceRoche,

president1998-2002

Mike Booth,

president2002-2005

RoyWilson,

president2005-2015

JohnAustin,

president

2015-present

‘MrGRA’, as he isknown

by members: Co-founder

and chiefexecutiveFrank

Hodges on the occasion

of hisretirementin2 016

after36years.

R

AILWAY artisa lmost as old as

steam railways themselves.

In the 19thcentury, Monet,

Turner,Frith and Bourne were

among the first to interpret the new and

highly visual formoftransportoncanvas, and

thereare almost certain to have been people

in the coalfields sketching the first primitive

locomotives 200 and so years ago.

Few of those pioneers could have

predicted the formation of the Guild of

Railway Artists (GRA), which is this year

celebrating its 40thanniversary.

To mark the occasion,The Railway

Magazine–closely associated with artsince

its launch in 1897–isd elighted to present

the historyoft he organisation along with a

selection of images from the three surviving

Fellows of the Guild.

The GRA was formed in 1979 to forge

alink between those whose work or hobby

involved the depiction of trains past and

present. Founder members includedTerence

Cuneo, David Shepherd, Don Breckon, Philip

Hawkins and Alan Fearnley–men whose

masterpieces have graced the boardroom and

livingroom walls of the great and the good

for decades. Indeed, Cuneo’srenderings were

once commonplace on station hoardings in

the 1950s after the fledgling British Railways

commissioned him to promote its brave new

image to the public.

The idea ofaguild grew out ofa‘Railart’

exhibition organised byWight Locomotive

Society members Frank Hodges and Steve

Johnson in aid of theWorld Wildlife Fund

in 1977. It was staged in Leamington Spa

and atotal of 150 pictures wereshown by 18

artists in what is thought to have been the first

national display of specialist rail paintings.

So successful was the event that the

formation ofaguild was hatched and the

GRA was formally inaugurated atageneral

meeting inYork on October 20, 1979.

Talented though the artists werewith abrush,

however,they werethe first to admit their

organisational skills weren’t in the same league,

so Frank–not an artist himself–and Steve

offered to establishaguild andrunit“for a

couple of years”.

Both men stayed much longer and Frank

ended uprunning the group as its chief

executive for well overathirdofacentury! In

addition, he compiled, edited and published

the quarterly newsletter,The Wheel and

Palette,and helped organise the 50-plus

exhibitions the guild has staged since the late-

‘70s. Although those have been held at more

than 30 different venues all over the country

(one even went asatravelling exhibition

to Frankfurt, in Germany), they arenow

staged permanently at Kidderminster Railway

Museum, wherecurator David Postle has done

much to promote rail arttoawider audience.

“Wecouldn’t have done it without Frank,”

admits the guild’s former president, Philip

Hawkins. “The merging of two verydifferent

skills–creative and administrative–has been

the mainreason for our success and if it hadn’t

been for his foresight and dedication, there

would have been no guild.”

Phil, who was one of the initial 18

exhibitors on that historic day,adds: “It’s easy

to forget that railway artwas considered very

muchaniche interest in those days, and it still

is by many,but no-one would have dreamed

that 40 years on the guild would still be

going strong.”

In fact, it’s gaining in strength, for in

those four decades,astaggering 4,876

different works of arthave been exhibited,

all originals. Many aresold on the spot, but

alarge proportion go on to become fine art

prints and limited editions, providingasource

of income for those who makealiving from

their talents. The guild nowruns an online

print shop, from whereitisoccasionally

possible to securesigned prints, too.

Amaster stroke occurredin1993 when,

in memoryoff ounder member Laurence

Hammonds,acompetition was introduced

inviting members of the public visiting the

exhibitions to vote for their favourite image.

This has since becomeapopular aspect of the

events, and current president John Austin

holds therecordfor the most wins so far.

There’s usually something to please all tastes in

the galleries, for GRA artists work inavariety

of mediums–oils, acrylics, gouache, tempera,

watercolour,pencil, pen&ink, pastel,

airbrush, silk screen and now even digital.

As guild president, John is also constantly

on the look-out for ways of presenting

members’ work in the best possible light...

literally.

“One of my major concerns since joining in

1992 has been the inadequate lighting at some

of our exhibitions,” he says.

“So the gaining ofapermanent home at

Kidderminster has given me the opportunity

to designanew lighting system and it will

be employed for the first time at this year’s

exhibition–anappropriate way to celebrate

our anniversary.”

John adds: “Frank’sretirement four years

ago presented us with new challenges, but

with the help of Philip Hawkins and Malcolm

Root, together with membership officer

Wynn Jones, exhibitions manager Anna Bastin,

secretaryPaul Freestone and officers Chris

Pulham, Rob Pulham and SteveWyse, we have

astrong team and can be optimistic about

our future.”

Membership today extends as far as

America, Australia and South Africa, and with

several professional and semi-professional

artists in the ranks as well as talented amateurs,

the standardfor entryish igh. Would-be

recruits arethus asked to present their work to

aselection panel, normally composed of guild

council members.

Something not always appreciated by

outsiders is that creative ventures tend at

times to be solitaryand lonely ways of making

aliving, so the social aspect of membership

has been found to be one of the most valued

benefits–not only providing the chance to

mingle and network but to exchange tips and

discuss problems with those of like-mind.

Another importantrole that isn’t always

readily apparent is the guild’s provision of

assistance in historicalresearch. MostRM

readers areonly too well awarehow important

accuracy and detail are, for just asabook

author or fine-scale modeller seeks perfection,

so artists and their clients

RAILWAYARTISTRY