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Tom Carr, HRHA, ARWS, NEAC, HRUA (1909-1999)
Mother and Child
Oil on canvas, 49.5 x 44.5cm (19" x 17"”)
Signed
Exhibited:
Tom Carr Exhibition
, Leicester Galleries, London, Novem-
ber 1946, where purchased by J. Stanley Clarke.!e majority of works
on display at this exhibition were watercolours, this lot was obviously
ex-catalogue, and sold under the title
Girl and Small Child
Mother and Child
is a typical example of Carr’s careful observation of
those close to him - in this case, probably Stella and Veronica. !e
setting is a modest kitchen or scullery with a wash top, looking out
onto the seafront in Newcastle.!e focus is very much on the intimacy
between mother and child, capturing that sense of excitement and
trepidation written on the child’s face as she stands on the worktop.
!e viewer’s eye is drawn to the child with her little red jumper and a
suggestion of a tee shirt underneath it.!e light from the tall window
catches the hair of the mother and child and manages to draw at-
tention to a copper kettle in the foreground. !e sheet or bath towel
hanging on the line, acting as a backdrop to the child was so much
part of the country scullery in those days long before central heating.
!is painting, while having an echo of the Dutch painters in its es-
sence in the view of some observers, bears all the hallmarks of the
Euston Road school of painters. A decade earlier, Carr was centrally
involved with the exponents that school.!eir preoccupation was with
colour, tone and &ne drawing. Carr, having spent two years in Henry
Tonks’ life drawing room at the Slade learned well.
Eamonn Mallie
!$,### - *,###
