The Artist Who Would Be Newbury's Mayor - Photo 1 of 18 - Newbury Weekly News

The artist who would be Newbury's mayor - Photo 1 of 18 - Newbury Weekly News

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The artist who would be Newbury's mayor - Photo 1 of 18 - Newbury Weekly News

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Sun, 24 Jan 2021 The artist who would be Newbury's mayor Celebrating the life and work of the late Christopher Hall The artist who would be Newbury's mayor - Photo 1 of 18 - Newbury Weekly News And the goodTrish news Lee is... The artist who would [email protected] Newbury's mayor - Photo 1 of 18 - Newbury Weekly News 01635 886663 Sun, 24 Jan 2021

The artist who would be Newbury's1 ofmayor 18 Celebrating the life and work of the late Christopher Hall

Trish Lee [email protected] 01635 886663

1 of 18

Print FacebTwitteAddT Print FacebTwitteAddT NEWBURY TODAY celebrates the life and work of the late Christopher Hall whose spacious Newbury NEWBURY TODAY celebrates the life and work of the late Christopher Hall whose spacious Newbury https://www.newburytoday.co.uk/gallery/and-the-good-news-is---/33440/the-artist-who-would-be-newbury-s-mayor.htmlstudio regularly doubled as the Lib Dem campaign HQ. Slides: Kimbers Corner, Christopher[24/01/2021 20:47:29] Hall at a studio regularlyPutney doubled opening as in the2013, Lib as Dem mayor campaign in a cutting HQ. from Slides: 1968 Kimbers with pantomime Corner, Christopherproducer Francis Hall Belk, at a Enborne Putney openingRoad railwayin 2013, bridge, as mayor Cricket in gamea cutting with from cottage, 1968 The with Old pantomime Bell, Warminster, producer Vale of Francis Ffestiniog-lrg, Belk, Enborne Court Oak Road railwayFarm bridge, Leckhamstead, Cricket game Via Mazzini with cottage, Recanati, The Piazzale Old Bell, Paci Warminster, Montelupone, Vale West of MillsFfestiniog-lrg, Allotments, Court Gliders Oak Over Farm Leckhamstead,Combe, Weir Via Vale Mazzini House Recanati, Old Burghclere, Piazzale Christopher Paci Montelupone, in his Newbury West studio, Mills Allotments,Crown and Garter Gliders Inkpen, Over Combe, WeirWildlife Vale Hospital,House Old Hungerford Burghclere, Bridge. Christopher in his Newbury studio, Crown and Garter Inkpen,

Wildlife Hospital,A RARE Hungerfordbenefit of living Bridge. under lockdown or a restrictive tier system is a renewed appreciation of the great A RARE benefitoutdoors. of living West under Berkshire lockdown and neighbouring or a restrictive county tier regionssystem areis a blessed renewed with appreciation many characterful of the towns,great villages https://www.newburytoday.co.uk/gallery/and-the-good-news-is---/33440/the-artist-who-would-be-newbury-s-mayor.html[24/01/2021 20:47:29] outdoors. Westand beautiful Berkshire surrounding and neighbouring countryside. county Someone regions who are always blessed captured with manythis and characterful brought it home towns, to villages us was the renowned artist Christopher Hall RBA, RCA (1930-2016). He lived, worked and served the community in and beautiful surrounding countryside. Someone who always captured this and brought it home to us was the Newbury area for most of his life, an association that was very dear to his heart. the renowned artist Christopher Hall RBA, RCA (1930-2016). He lived, worked and served the community in the NewburyAlthough area for born most in Sussex,of his life, he grewan association up in Inkpen that before was andvery during dear tothe his war, heart. save for a spell in the US where his father, the author DJ Hall, served as a senior diplomat in Washington DC. In the post-war period, although Although borninterspersed in Sussex, with he periods grew up at inboarding Inkpen schoolbefore at and Bedales during in Hampshire,the war, save National for a spellService in inthe Malaya, US where and arthis father, the authorschool inDJ London, Hall, served the family as a homesenior had diplomat moved infirst Washington to Enborne DC.Street In theFarm, post-war and then period, to Aldermaston although in the interspersed with periods at boarding school at Bedales in Hampshire, National Service in Malaya, and art school https://www.newburytoday.co.uk/gallery/and-the-good-news-is---/33440/the-artist-who-would-be-newbury-s-mayor.htmlin London, the family home had moved first to Enborne Street Farm, and then to[24/01/2021 Aldermaston 20:47:29] in the

https://www.newburytoday.co.uk/gallery/and-the-good-news-is---/33440/the-artist-who-would-be-newbury-s-mayor.html[24/01/2021 20:47:29] The artist who would be Newbury's mayor - Photo 1 of 18 - Newbury Weekly News

1950s. And it was to live in their own cottage in The Street, in Aldermaston, that Christopher brought his young Italian bride, Maria, in 1957.

But soon the young couple moved, first to Monastery Farm on Wash Common, and then to Porchester Road in Newbury for many years, to have the space to raise a family. It was while living here that Christopher began his long service as a councillor, including the honour of being elected mayor in 1967. Both his council duties and concomitant political campaigning for the Liberal party he so proudly represented, took him out and about the residential streets and outlying communities he grew to know like the back of his hand. All artistic work ceased during election periods and his spacious studio regularly doubled as campaign HQ.

This association also provided Christopher the opportunity to revive another great passion, his love of cricket. Having played much village cricket through the 1950s, at Inkpen, Aldermaston and Falkland in particular, he was now able to enjoy the sport first hand again with the local Liberals in the 1970s. But his political life, his family and his painting often combined to take him much further afield. Attending party conferences or helping out in by-elections allowed him to explore and paint new places the length and breadth of the country. But it was his family connections to Italy, through Maria, and North Wales, where his parents settled in retirement, that stimulated the two great bodies of work for which Christopher Hall is perhaps most associated. The National Library of Wales holds a significant collection of his landscapes of rugged mountains and mining communities, and last year a major and hugely successful retrospective of his Italian paintings was staged in Recanati, Maria’s home town in Italy.

Newbury Museum has also staged two retrospectives in tribute to his place in local life.

Among the numerous institutions and public bodies that hold collections of Christopher’s paintings is Reading Museum, which includes fine examples of his fascination with gritty urban back streets as well as the countryside.

In what would have been his 90th year, an exhibition had been planned at Reading’s Turbine House for June last year. But Covid and the first lockdown put paid to that, so it is hoped to stage it this year, along with bringing out two books on Christopher’s Italian and Welsh paintings.

In the meantime, the family has unveiled a new website where an expanding archive of older paintings can be enjoyed and many others can be purchased, https://christopherhall.pictures. Well worth browsing when cooped up indoors and dreaming of fresh air and wide-open spaces.

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