Leon Morrocco Drawing the River, Part 2

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Leonard Melvyn Williamson
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1 Leon Morrocco Drawing the River, Part 2

2 Leon Morrocco Drawing the River, Part 2 27 June 26 July 2014 John Martin Gallery 38 Albemarle Street London, W1S 4JG T +44 (0) info@jmlondon.com Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat

3 Narrowboats and Bridge oil on linen, 71 x 76 cm, 28 x 30 ins Front Cover: Sterns and Floats, Grand Union Canal oil on linen, 76 x 76 cm, 30 x 30 ins

4 My 2013 exhibition, Drawing The River, had focused on that section of the Thames stretching west from Tower Bridge to Battersea Power Station. My fascination with the river, led to a further body of work up river, roughly between Kew Bridge and Isleworth, initially concentrating on Brentford with its jumble of boat repair yards and its Dutch barge community and this spring on the activity along the Grand Union Canal. Unlike the first exhibition which reflected the rapidly changing skyline and the extraordinary vitality of corporate London the new work shows an altogether more intimate view of a part of London s waterways that remain almost in a time warp. A chance remark by a friend led me to Brentford and to John Watson s Boat repair Yard on Lots Ait, a tiny island in the river opposite Kew Gardens. Tightly packed with large Dutch barges and with a vast boat-shed and an outside working area strewn with boats and marine equipment it immediately attracted me as a place for drawing. In fact the weeks spent there during the long hot summer of 2013 were amongst the most fulfilling and exhilarating of my recent working life. I was given complete freedom of the boatyard and made to feel at ease by John Watson, by the barge dwellers and by a diverse group of craftspeople working there. Brentford in the 18th and 19th centuries was a major centre of water borne trade and the work I have produced is a kind of portrait of a community that is carrying on some of the activities historically associated with this part of the river Thames. All the Lots Ait paintings were produced on the spot; a departure from my normal approach where working drawings done in situ are translated into paintings back in the studio. Some of the larger works took 2 or 3 days to complete and with the addition of colour are more akin to finished paintings than studies, although I tried to retain linear and graphic elements to keep the sense of place and immediacy. After Lots Ait I moved north on foot and started to explore the waterways between Brentford and the Paddington Basin. The Grand Union presented a very different world of decorated narrow boats, reflections and landscape that I felt could open up new possibilities as larger studio paintings worked up from sketches. It is a new direction in the work but only the start of the latest chapter. My slow, meandering journey across London has been stimulated by constant surprises and discoveries and any exhibition can only offer a momentary pause in this ongoing fascination with the city. Leon Morrocco

5 Boat Repair Sheds at Low Tide, Brentford, pencil and oil pastel on paper, (41 x 117 cm) 16 x 44 ins

6 Small Harbour at Low Tide, Brentwood, pencil and oil pastel on paper, (42 x 61 cm) 16½ x 24½ ins

7 Moorings at Lots Ait, Low Tide, (top), pencil and oil pastel on paper, (29 x 98 cm) 11½ x 38½ ins Barges at Low Tide, Lots Ait (below), pencil and oil pastel on paper, (42 x 140 cm) 16½ x 55 in

8 Boat Shed and Mobile Crane (top), pencil and oil pastel on paper, (42 x 111 cm) 16½ x 44 ins Boar repair shed, Lots Ait, (below), pencil and oil pastel on paper, (42 x 118 cm) 16½ x 46 ins

9 Guitar maker, Speedboat and Winch, Lots Ait (above), pencil and oil pastel on paper, (83 x 124 cm) 33 x 49 ins

10 Prow with Anchors and Tyres pencil and oil pastel on paper, (39 x 54 cm) 15½ x 21½ ins

11 Cluster of Beached Boats, Brentford, pencil and oil pastel on paper, (39 x 54 cm) 15½ x 21½ ins

12 Barges awaiting Repair, pencil and oil pastel on paper, (42 x 116 cm) 16½ x 46 ins (detail)

13 Stern of Barge and Marine Equipment pencil and oil pastel on paper, (60 x 42 cm) 23½ x 16½ ins

14 Barges and Boats, Isleworth, pencil and oil pastel on paper, (60 x 126 cm) 23½ x 49½ ins

15 Reflections Grand Union Canal, pencil and oil pastel on paper, (29 x 41 cm) 11½ x 16 ins

16 Reflections in a Small Harbour, pencil and oil pastel on paper, (41 x 29 cm) 16½ x 11½ ins

17 Looking towards Chelsea with Scales and Sextant, pencil and oil pastel on paper, (59 x 126 cm) 23¼ x 49½ ins

18 Balconies on the Thames at Fulham pencil and oil pastel on paper, (60 x 41 cm) 23½ x 16½ ins

19 Pottering on Board, oil on linen, (71 x 82 cm) 28 x 32 ins

20 Junction on the Grand Union Canal, oil on linen, (91 x 183 cm) 36 x 72 ins

21 Inside the Boat Shed at Lots Ait with Guitar Maker, pencil and oil pastel on paper, (60 x 137 cm) 23¼ x 54 ins

22 Dignity oil on linen, (82 x 91 cm) 32 x 36 ins

23 Patricia, oil on linen, (31 x 61 cm) 12 x 24 ins

24 Narrowboats and Bridge, oil on linen, (71 x 76 cm) 28 x 30 ins

25 Pigeons and Seagulls, Grand Union Canal, pencil and oil pastel on paper, (29 x 82 cm) 11½ x 32½ ins

26 Narrowboat and Sand Mover, pencil and oil pastel on paper, (29 x 41 cm) 11½ x 16 ins

27 Moored Narrowboat, oil on linen, (71 x 77 cm) 28 x 30 ins

28 Narrowboat Under a Bridge pencil and oil pastel on paper, (42 x 93 cm) 16½ x 36½ ins

29 Woman Holding Dog in Narrowboat, pencil and oil pastel on paper, (29 x 41 cm) 11½ x 16 ins

30 Woman with Dog, Grand Union Cana, oil on linen, (81 x 91 cm) 32 x 36 ins

31 Narrowboats and Reflections, oil on linen, (61 x 76 cm) 24 x 30 ins

32 Factory and Boats, pencil and oil pastel on paper, (29 x 83 cm) 11½ x 32 ins

33 Group of Narrowboats with Reflections, oil on linen, (81 x 91 cm) 32 x 36 ins

34 Black Cat & Red Boat oil on linen, (61 x 91 cm) 24 x 36 ins

35 Narrowboat and Cat, pencil and pastel oil on paper, (29 x 41 cm) 11½ x 16 ins

36 Detail: Passing Sea-containers, Grand Union Canal, pencil and pastel oil on paper, (29 x 80 cm) 11½ x 31½ ins

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