July talk: Running out of Steam

 Our July talk was also called 'Two Painters and a Poet' referring to three men who started life in the railway works and in the case of Hubert Cook (1901-1966) and Leslie Cole (1910-1976) became artists and Alfred Williams (1877-1930) was known as the Hammerman Poet. Philip Garrahan, an academic and art historian, who gave the talk was initially interested in the Ashington Group of painters who were in existence from 1934-84; they were a group of miners also known as the Pitmen Painters depicting life down the pit.

Philip was interested to explore Swindon artists who started working life at the railway works and went onto become artists. Hubert Cook and Leslie Cole were obvious contenders; both starting life in the works and leaving to become artists. What did they paint? And what did they have to say?

Here are 2 self portraits of the two artists, Cook on the left and Cole on the right; they are remarkably similar in their expressions, bearing and what they are wearing:

Hubert Cook studied at Swindon School of Art 1926-34 under Harold Dearden and then went on to Central Art School from 1935-38 and subsequently taught at Portsmouth Polytechnic

Here are a couple of his paintings, above a 'shingler' heating up metal and below a painting entitled 'The Toilers' conveying the heat and dirt in the works.

Leslie Cole went to Swindon Art School and was also taught by Harold Dearden and then went to the Royal College of Art where Ravilious and Bawden were teaching.

These first examples of his work depict social life in a pub, probably in Swindon, please see later comments from a member of the Friends.

This is one of his railway works paintings

Then we were shown several paintings made when he became a war artist from 1942-45 which depict another level of painting altogether. I have just looked at the Imperial War Museum website and found 4 pages of Leslie Cole paintings he produced as a War Artist from 1941- 46. His work is phenomenal and cranked up several gears from paintings he produced before he became a war artist.

Above 'Mother Mourning the Death of a Village Priest'.

The painting above is titled 'Malta: Preparing for the Night in the Crypt of St.Augustine's Valetta'

Above 'No Time to Lose: Soldiers Dockers unloading a Convoy during a Raid'

This one is' Belsen Camp- The Compound for Women' and below: 'Dentistry during the Hour of Gas Practice'

Interestingly after the talk, a member of the Friends emailed with the following:

'I enjoy all the SMAG talks.... but I wish my husband had watched 2 painters and a poet - the Railway artists in Swindon . I know you record them. How do I see them? .. I heard you mention UTUBE but where would I look?

My husband's father "Grandad Cooke " worked in the railway as did they all. He was in the foundry and worked on a steam hammer. When he finished  his shift he went into one of the pubs on the corner of the Railway village. No not as a sad drunk but to slake his thirst after the tremendous heat. 

The Glue pot is still there and relates to the workmen needing to keep their glue warm and  pliable  so they were able to put their glue pot down whist trying to overcome their thirst . Bet there was a nasty smell from those glues.. boiled animal bones.'

And talking of the Glue Pot, I looked it up and found an Adver article on the pub by Graham Carter, isn't it amazing how on thing runs onto another. Do have a look at his article.

To clarify the situation regarding recordings: as many talks as possible are recorded and then put onto the website under 'Videos' and can be found here:

 Videos of Talks - Friends of Swindon Museum & Art Gallery (friendsofsmag.org)

They are not edited, so there are interruptions which one would normally edit out.