Kenneth Webb NDD, ATD (Hons), NS, ARWA, ARUA, FRSA (1927)

A well known Irish painter and educator, Kenneth Webb was born in London, England. He moved to Belfast, Northern Ireland in the early 1950s and, since then, has lived mostly on the island of Ireland. He currently (2012) has studios in Clifden, Connemara, on the west coast of the Republic of Ireland (about 50 miles west of Galway); and in Nun's Cross, Ashford, Wicklow on the east coast of the Republic of Ireland (about 30 miles south of Dublin). (1)

His mediums include oil, watercolor, pastel, ink and mixed mediums. His subjects include landscapes, flowers, street scenes, village views, portraits, figures, nudes, boats, beaches, harbors, shorelines and genre*. His styles are Fauvism*, Expressionism*, Impressionism*, Plein Air*, and Realism*. AskART has many good illustrations of his work. (2)

Webb has a National Diploma in Design, an Art Teachers Diploma, and he is the founder of the Irish School of Landscape Painting. He is a member of the National Society of Painters, Sculptors and Printmakers (London, England); the Royal West of England Academy*; the Royal Ulster Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture*; and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts*. In addition to Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland, his works have been included in group exhibitions in Canada, the USA, Holland, France, Spain, Switzerland, Kenya, and Italy. (3)

Attached below are selected career highlights courtesy of the Kenny Gallery, Galway, Ireland:

1927: Born London.
Educated: Bristol Grammar School, Lydney Grammar School and School of Art. Obtained H.S.C. and Slade Scholarship

1945-48 Served with Fleet Air Arm, Royal Navy.
1949 First Exhibited Royal Academy.
1949-52 Studied Gloucester College. Obtained National Diploma in Design.
1952 Marriage to Joan Burch.
1953 Appointed Head of Painting School, Ulster College of Art, Belfast.
1954 Solo exhibition - Arts Council, Belfast.
1957 Founded Irish School of Landscape Painting.
1958 Elected Member, National Society.
1959 Resigned Appointment, College of Art. Solo exhibition - Ritchie Hendricks Gallery, Dublin. Solo exhibition Londonderry.
1960 Solo exhibition, Veerhoof Galleries, Washington.
1961 Solo exhibition - Ulster Office, London.
1962 Solo exhibition - Maggee Gallery, Belfast. Moved to Ballywalter.
1963 Commissioned work in Spain.
1967 Solo exhibition - Solomon and Whitehead, London.
1968 Solo exhibition - Imperial Art Gallery, Cheltenham. Solo exhibition - Gallery, Toronto.
1971 Solo exhibition - Kenny Gallery, Galway.
1972 Retrospective Exhibition - 1967-1972 Mall Galleries, London.
1972 Retrospective Exhibition - Alexander Gallery, Bristol. "Kenneth Webb" Book published by Shenval Press, London.
1975 Solo exhibition - Harrods, London. Opened studio in Ballinaboy [Connemara].
1976 Solo exhibition, Deben Gallery, Suffolk.
1979 Lecture on Ivon Hitchens, Royal Irish Academy, London.
1985 Solo exhibition - Metropolis International Galleries d'Art, Geneva.
1990 Retrospective Exhibition 1950-1990, The Kenny Gallery, Galway. Publication of Webb - A Profile Of Kenneth Webb by Tom Kenny.
1999 Award winning film documentary Kenneth Webb - A Life in Colour. Made by Donal Haughey.
2000 Webbscapes - solo exhibition at Kennys.
2003 A Life in Colour - The Kenny Gallery.
2006 Webb at 80 - 18th solo exhibition at Kennys since 1963.

Courtesy - The Kenny Gallery, Galway, Ireland.

Footnotes:
1. Webb's address in Who's Who in Art Twenty-First Edition (1984) is listed as Stroud, Gloucestershire (England).
2. Please note: Most of his paintings are signed in one of two ways - "Webb" or "Kenneth Webb".
3. The Irish School of Landscape Painting was founded in 1957 and is still in operation. It conducts summer Plein Air* painting classes from two locations - Connemara and Wicklow. Source: Irish School of Landscape Painting.

Additional Sources:
Kenneth Webb: A Life in Colour (1999), by Josephine Walpole, Antique Collectors' Club Ltd., Woodbridge (160 pgs., color)
Who's Who in Art Twenty-First Edition (1984), published by The Art Trade Press Ltd., Havant, Hants, England (557 pgs.)
The Art of Kenneth Webb (1973), by Max Wykes-Joyce, Max; The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin (31 pgs., color)
Visual Arts Cork
Treasures Irish Art, Athlone, Ireland

* For more in-depth information about these terms and others, see AskART.com. Glossary http://www.askart.com/AskART/lists/Art_Definition.aspx.

Prepared and contributed to askART by M.D. Silverbrooke.

As a student, colour made a deep impact on Webb, colour in nature and in natural forms, the form itself being of less interest. Since those early days he has been experimenting with his own free romantic ideas and concepts, using direct colour in a subjective expressionist manner. Colour is an all-embracing experience which pervades the whole of the painting.

Throughout his career, Kenneth has been fascinated by a variety of themes. He gets hooked onto an idea, becomes almost obsessional in exploring it, and has to paint his way out of it. "Whenever I am taken by a theme, I seem to have to start all over and invent my own pictorial structure". These pictures are deeply personal, evocative of his remarkable garden in Connemara, and of the blanket bog around his home there. We see the wild flowers, the pools, the rocks, the turf banks, the textures and shapes and moods of an ever-changing landscape. There is a real sense of place about his work, the place being Ballinaboy which is for him magical, full of mystery, sensuality and colour. The artist needs an emotional element in his paintings which gives them an atmosphere and a mood.