Review: Rising Splendour - Fred Appleyard: From the Royal Academy to the Itchen Valley

 It isn't often that I go into an exhibition without being able to visualise or name the artist's work. That is not a flex on my part, but after a few years of going to as many Victorian art exhibitions as I can, I have seen a fair selection of artists who are in public collection, and obviously writing this nonsense over the last decade has meant we have seen images from quite a bit of what the 19th century had to offer.  As it turns out, a colleague of mine asked me a few years back if I knew Fred Appleyard, but I didn't and there is precious little about Fred out there.  That is why this new exhibition might well be one of the most interesting shows you see this year...

The Four Seaons (c.1910)

For a bit of context, Fred Appleyard (1874-1963) attended the Royal Academy, winning numerous prizes including the very fancy Turner Gold Medal.  He was known as a landscape painter, but his work around figures, especially women meant he bumped up against Pre-Raphaelite adjacent themes and styles. His work in the open air made him a bit impressionistic too, so what can we make of his art?

Spring (1899)

The exhibition is beautifully spaced, moving through Fred's life and phases of work.  We begin in the very grandiose, academy-styles pieces including this award-winning design which was commission for the Royal Academy refreshment room. In a similar vein is the folding screen depicting the Four Seasons which arguably was influenced by Evelyn De Morgan, Burne-Jones and Edward Fellowes Prynne amongst others.  It is absolutely gorgeous in real life; my photo does not do it justice.

Untitled (Young Woman in Green Dress) (c.1905)

From the opening pieces, you move round to his portraits and floral works.  The portraits were fascinating, moving from easily glamorous pieces like Young Woman in Green Dress whose hair and dignified expression reminded me of some of Rossetti's portraits of Fanny, to his portraits of Minnie and Margaret...

Minnie (1903)

In 1903, Fred painted the pictures of the little sisters who look slightly uncanny in their sorrow.  The little moppets had been brought to Scarborough by their mother after their father drowned and their eyes are almost too sad to look at. There are a number of child portraits in the show, alongside other images of beautiful, thoughtful women, and it makes a change to see a male artist tackled children (if you excuse the expression), normally the preserve of women, and he did it with such depth.  Minnie and Margaret are both beautiful and haunting, and it doesn't take a mind-reader to see these girls are going through something.  Interestingly, I also liked this one very much...

Untitled (Bonfire) (c.1910)

I was immediately struck how this work could well be a painterly step-back of Millais' Autumn Leaves from 1856 down to the girl holding the rake handle and the bowed heads. 

Detail of the glorious wall of flowers

The older I get, the more I appreciate a good flower painting.  Fred's still life skills are summed up in a vivid wall of flowers in jugs, bowls and glasses, all radiating their colour from an unwaveringly dull background.  These are breath-taking, oranges and pinks with white centres and shining vessels.  Again, I am struck how he made a main-stay of female art his own, the shape and detail of the flowers blurred in their intensity.  The choice of wall paint worked incredibly well here, that dark, deep teal-green looking velvet-y with the flowers bursting out.

Garden at lane End, Itchen Stoke (c.1935)

His love of flowers spilled over into whole gardens and again, I do not do the colours justice.  I was struck how they reminded me of some Pre-Raphaelite gardens, bowers to hide and be safe in, and the same feeling is evident in his gardens as the Second World War approached. There is another beautiful painting of the garden at Itchen Stoke where two little girls are hiding in an area screened by a pergola, truly embowered.

Beach, Cliff and Figures (c.1930)

The exhibition ends with images of the peaceful south coast, those sunny interwar years where nothing could be wrong. There is a hint of Henry Scott Tuke in the little pink figures on the sand but they become at one with the cliffs and the light, still as rocks on the shoreline. I am particularly fond of this period and place, which reminds me of Leslie Moffat Ward's images of health, sunshine and endless summer holidays.

Netley Abbey (undated)

Also, this image of Netley Abbey is ridiculously beautiful - the sunlight up on the arches of the vaulting is magical. 

The Spirit of the Summit (c.1910)

Look, if you do nothing else this summer, see this exhibition as it is incredible. Not only that, but there is a gorgeous catalogue that goes along with it for £20, which is not bad at all for a hardback book stuffed with colour illustrations. There is nearby parking and the Arc in Winchester is not actually that far from the railway station, so it's easy to get to. What Winchester has accomplished in bringing this exhibition together is to show us something exciting and unexpected - a Victorian/Edwardian artist who just kept going, his style and subject both changing and revisiting as he worked. Fred Appleyard is a revelation and you will not see a more beautiful exhibition this year.

Rising Splendour at the Arc in Winchester is on until 18th September and more details can be found here. Melanie Rose's gorgeous catalogue is available in the exhibition shop.