The Painting
A watercolour measuring 15¼" x 11". Signed Wilfrid R. Wood and dated [19]25.
About the Artist
Wilfrid Rene Wood (1888-1976) was born in the Manchester suburb of Cheadle, Hulme,
and was educated at Manchester Grammar School. His father was a cutler and part-owner
of a cotton mill; his mother was a respected artist who had worked as a decorative
painter at the Royal Doulton potteries. Wilfrid studied art at the Manchester School
of Art and Central School of Art in London. During the First World War he served
in the Artists Rifles and Machine Gun Corps. In 1918 he resumed his training at the
Slade School of Art at London University, under Wilson Steer and Professor Tonks.
In 1920 he moved to the London suburb of Hampstead and began to paint local scenes,
concentrating on old buildings and areas threatened with development. At this time
he also commenced the travels abroad which were to provide him with so many of his
subjects. During his career he painted in almost every country in Europe, as well
as venturing into Africa and Russia. In 1924 he staged his first major London exhibition
at Walker’s Galleries, New Bond Street, showing paintings of East Anglia and Venice.
Queen Mary was sufficiently impressed to purchase several watercolours of Venice.
In 1927 he produced a series of posters on Kew Gardens for London Underground. In
the same year he began a series of town exhibitions, starting at Oxford and continuing
at Norwich, Cambridge and Tenby. His paintings and prints expressed a sensitive insight
into the beauty of English towns. In 1937 Wilfrid moved to Stamford in Lincolnshire,
having accepted a commission to record the buildings and street scenes of the town
before the threat of imminent change. He lived with his wife Joan, also a professional
artist, at Barnack. His first exhibition in Stamford was held at the end of 1937,
and he continued to paint scenes of the town for many years. In the late 1930s and
1940s he was also commissioned to paint the vanishing street scenes of Peterborough,
where whole sections of the old city were being demolished to make way for progress.
In later life Wilfrid served as President of the Welland Valley Art Society, founded
in 1945. His name lives on in the Wilfrid Wood Gallery at Stamford Arts Centre. A
large permanent collection of his works is held by Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery
and Peterborough Cathedral.
The Subject
Merton Street, Oxford. In the centre background are the tower and north transept
of Merton College Chapel. In the right foreground is Corpus Christi College, and
on the left is Oriel College.
