Jan 20th - Feb 24th

We are so pleased to be involved with the curation of the Harry Ousey abstracted landscapes exhibition in January! Make sure you stop by!

“One needs more than paint”

Harry’s restless drifting saw him elude broad recognition and led to a final move to France where he remained until his death in 1985.

Recent re-exposure of his work has seen his reputation rise and his work described as “very important in the 20th century British art scene”.

His body of work runs to several hundred pieces and includes oil, watercolour and collage.

Fragments are to be found in the Whitworth Gallery, Falmouth Art Gallery, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Macedonia, The Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth House, Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, Central Art Gallery Ashton-under-Lyne and the Salford Museum and Art Gallery.

This exhibition sees selected works that articulate Ousey’s extraordinary gift for creating marks that are sparing yet wonderfully expressive.

A number of the works are for sale.

Born in Longsight, Manchester, Harry Ousey’s life story is one of a bohemian drifter who created truly great art, but who found the machinations of commercial art distasteful and the politics and posturing of the art scene a source of disillusionment.

A Life Immersed in Art

He spent time living in the Peak District where he began his love affair with landscape.

His life was lived to create and Ousey’s paintings convey his experience of the landscape, physical, emotional and visual.

He believed that it was possible “only in the abstract to fully express the effect of landscape”.

Ousey was by no means unknown - he worked in St Ives and was a contemporary of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson. He lived in swinging London in the sixties where his work saw success in the commercial galleries of the day.

Supporting Events

An illustrated Talk: "One Needs More Than Paint"

2pm Saturday, 27th January,
Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery

Sue Astles, Harry’s niece and custodian of his legacy, is holding an illustrated talk about his life and work.
Sue will also share her experiences from inheriting Harry’s work and how she set about reintroducing his name to the British Art scene after an absence of over 30 years.

Textile Workshop

Saturday, 3rd February, 2018,
11am - 4pm. Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery

Glossop Embroiderer’s Guild is holding a Textile Workshop based around the textures and colours of Harry Ousey’s paintings. Shown left is a multi-panel piece recently exhibited alongside Ousey’s art at the Nicholson Gallery, Leek.
Information available on Stockport MBC website or Glossop Embroiders Guild website.