Naïve art: A painting of Edgware life

This piece of naïve art, set in Edgware in about 1975, was originally described in an earlier post here. This painting was for me an exercise in nostalgia, recreating a place so familiar to me during my childhood. Apart from the Shabbat atmosphere, with its family meals and my Grandma’s special cooking, one of the main elements of my memories are of the unique physical textures of the house: The rough pebble-dash wall surfaces, the smooth rounded stones embedded in the concrete of the driveway, the unusually rough zig-zag pattern within the bricks, the strange, rough-smooth, black-purple stones in the garden wall, and the black curly ironwork of the garden gate. In this artwork I used a sand-texture paste to try and recreate the feel of some of these. When I touch the picture, I can feel that place and time in an immediate and tactile way.

One of my favourite naïve art practitioners is John Allin, who used to paint detailed scenes of life in the East End. You can read a bit about him, and see some of his wonderful naïve art, here.

This painting is available as a canvas print here.

העבודה מגלמת את החיים באיזור הפרברי של לונדון, איפה שגדלתי. תהליך היצירה הייתה בשבילי סיור בזמן, שיחזור של מקום קרוב לליבי. מלבד אווירת השבת או יום טוב, עם הארוחות המשפחתיות והבישול המיוחד של סבתא שלי, אחד המרכיבים החשובים עבורי זה מגוון הטקסטורות בסצנה: הקירות המחוספסים, האבנים המעוגלות בבטון ברצפה, האבנים המוזרות, מחוספסות-חלקות בחומת הגינה, והברזל השחור והמתולתל של השער. בציור הזה השתמשתי במשחה חולית כדי לשחזר את הטקסטורות האלו. כשאני נוגע בתמונה, אני מרגיש ממש באצבעותיי את המקום ואת התקופה באופן ישיר ומרגש

Naïve art is the perfect expression for community life.

Because of its roots as vernacular art expression – untutored and outside of the art establishment – naïve art has traditionally been associated with rural village life (as in Ethiopian traditional art) and more recently, urban and suburban life too (as in the art of John Allin and others). I was originally captivated by this genre when I came across the unique and enchanting GINA gallery in Tel Aviv. GINA gallery has a wonderful inventory of naïve art. Artists such as Louis Ferreira de Moraes paint colourful and detailed scenes of village life in the jungle regions of Brazil, while it was at GINA that I discovered the work of Michael Falk, who documented his childhood in Germany, his life on the Kibbutz in Israel, as well as Biblical scenes. GINA gallery has a video introduction to naive art here.

Naïve art: A suburban street-scene in Edgware, circa 1974. Two men are greeting each other after shul on a Saturday morning. A woman is walking her dog nearby. All are watched by a curious neighbour from behind the curtains. — 47 Green Lane: This is the finished painting: Acrylic on canvas, 50x70cm

Naïve art: Looking out the window at passers-by — Detail: My grandma used to love watching the world go by from behind the curtains, and my Dad used to sip whisky and quaff peanuts while chatting with her. The direct and simple way of painting, with bright colours and a flattened perspective, is what I like about naïve art.

Detail: This gentleman is based on a good friend of my Dad’s. He normally wouldn’t have been walking this way, but just this once, here he is.

Detail: This man always made a strong impression on me in shul. Very tall, with a deep and booming voice, he had, I always felt, something of an aristocratic air about him.

Detail: The house was built in the late 20’s. The front door had an oval stained glass window with quite a complex, curved floral pattern. The coloured glass helped create a special, intimate atmosphere in the hall . The side window panel also had stained glass, but with a simpler pattern…..

1920s decorative ironwork: garden gate — The garden gate, and the garage gates, had this pattern in their ironwork. When I was little, I used to love running my fingers around the curves.

The House Today

Subsequent owners have significantly remodeled this house, in the years since since my Grandma lived there. A lot of the details which gave it its special period character have gone. And of course, the front garden and drive are now a large area of block paving, with green wheelie bins as residents.