Roofing a New House

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

Viewed across a field of billowy white cow parsley, is a man perched on scaffolding, busily tiling the roof of a red brick house. Below him, alongside a stack of new roof slates, is an old fashioned green wooden trailer, perhaps his temporary home while rebuilding continues. The blossoming tree set against a sky of rolling grey furls of cloud suggests this scene is set in late springtime – a season of transitional weather and growth. In 1933, John Aldridge was one of several artists including Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious who had relocated from London to Great Bardfield in Essex, drawn to the area’s beautiful rural landscape. After the Second World War, the village continued to attract a wider community of artists, printmakers and textile designers including Michael Rothenstein, Marianne Straub and Bernard Cheese.

Aldridge’s 1947 painting speaks of the real and metaphorical emphasis on rebuilding that permeated post-war British society. Hundreds of thousands of homes had been destroyed during the War, displacing families and communities across the country. Austerity measures and food rationing continued long after the jubilation of VE day in May 1945, as did the slow process of rebuilding new homes. Initially, the government focused on supporting the repair of existing homes, a large majority of which were completed by late 1946. This was followed by the construction of new homes, schools, hospitals and other public buildings signalling a gradual move towards better standards of living and prosperity.

John Aldridge landscape painter and book illustrator, was born in Woolwich, London. A classical scholar at Corpus Christi, Oxford, he received no formal art training but started drawing and painting when he was very young. In 1928 he settled in Chiswick and moved permanently to Great Bardfield in Essex in 1933, the year of his first one-man show at the Leicester Galleries in London. As well as exhibiting at the Leicester Galleries, Aldridge also showed his work in 1931 with the artists of Seven and Five Society, at the request of Ben Nicholson. He made excursions to Paris, Rome, Germany and Tenerife, and at the invitation of Robert Graves and Laura Riding, stayed at Deya, Graves's home in Majorca, of which he was very fond. Among his other friends were the poet Norman Cameron, and the artists Cedric Morris and John Nash. The influence of John Nash can be seen in this painting, with its soft palette, long shadows and ordered presentation of the landscape. Aldridge also loved to paint in Italy, where much of his time in war service was spent as a photographic interpreter for the detection of camouflaged enemy defences. He taught for many years from 1949 at the Slade School, under Sir William Coldstream, where he proved a very successful teacher. Aldridge was elected Associate of the Royal Academy in 1954 and a full member in 1963. He exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1934 and mainly in London thereafter. Aldridge celebrated his 75th birthday exhibition at the New Grafton Gallery in London in 1980. His portrait of Robert Graves is in the National Portrait Gallery, and his work is represented in the Tate, and in public galleries in Aberdeen, Leeds, Manchester, Newport, and Northampton.

Places

Subjects

Gypsy caravan, roofer, landscape C20th, genre, giant hogweed, grass, tree, cloud, man, working class, house, tiled roof, chimney, scaffolding

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

John Aldridge (1905 - 1983)

Title

Roofing a New House

Date

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 51.00 cm, width: 76.50 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Leicester Galleries, February 1947

Inscription

BR: J. Aldridge

Provenance

Consigned by the artist to Leicester Galleries, London; from whom purchased by the Ministry of Works in February 1947, as ‘Roofing a Red Barn’

GAC number

285