One of Roderic’s
pleasures at the RA Schools was a weekly lunch
with his printmaker colleague Peter Freeth,
who remembers that “we laughed a lot of
the time, but were very serious about it. Politically,
in the widest possible sense, we faced the same
direction and groaned in harmony. He seemed
to me to come from somewhere deep in English
history, from many places, indeed. It is easy
to see him with the Diggers or Levellers, at
the Putney debates, with Tom Paine, Cobbett,
Hogarth, Blake, Gillray, with all those passionate
Non-Conformists, protestants, radicals, with
the men of Essex in all those marches on the
capital. He reminded me, too, of the ‘village
– Hampden, that with dauntless breast’
of Gray’s Elegy.
“And yet, with his doubts – his
passionate doubts – he was also a thoroughly
modern man. Naturally on the left, the sceptic
in him made him suspicious of any Cause. No
New Model Army would have fully satisfied Roderic,
or New World Colony long detained him. His glass
was always half full – but those who knew
it was half empty could, perhaps, just have
a point. . . . He was wise enough to know he
might be wrong, and generous enough to concede
that the other man might be right . . . probably
was right, in fact.
“He remained blessedly young at heart
(and enviably sprightly in body) and enjoyed
teaching because he loved being with young people.
Young people, young artists, are dreamers like
him, with their freshness and hope, their uncertainties
and vulnerability, not touched by cynicism and
compromise. . . . A lovely man, good friend,
great spirit.”
from the book:
Roderic Barrett by David Buckman 2003
It is because
of the legendary impression Roderic Barrett
made with his commitment to teaching that Chappel
Galleries has planned this exhibition. Roderic
also taught for twenty-one years at the Central
School, London (1947–1968), but we decided,
for the time being, to concentrate on the Royal
Academy luminaries. We had such a tremendous
response to our enquiries from these students,
over a hundred in fact, who all remembered Roderic
with much gratitude and fondness, that we had
to rationalise our original list due to practical
concerns. The resulting exhibition is an exciting
tribute to him.
CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE
Linda Adcock
Christopher Aggs
Joy Anderson
Inger Bassingthwaighte
Mark Bennett
Claudia Bose
Andrew Carnegie
Sarah Coghill
Saied Dai
Pamela Day
Melita Denaro
David Denby
Josephine Drazek
Timur D’Vatz
Helen Elwes
Colin Failes
Edmund Fairfax-Lucy
Anthony Farrell
Cherryl Fountain
Andrew Gadd
Anna Gardiner
Joy Girvin
Susan-Jayne Hocking
Diana Howard
Graham Jones
David Ord Kerr
Anya King
Melvyn King
Cathryn Kuhfeld |
Anne Marlow
Juliette McCullough
Vincent Milne
Bridget Moore
Francis Murphy
Ann Pack
Celia Pike
Kitty Reford
Daphne Sandham
Michael Sangster
Helen Shuttleworth
Ron Sims
Ivy Smith
Charlotte Sorapure
Julia Sorrell
Richard Sorrell
Kimm Stevens
Martin Stringer
Clova Stuart-Hamilton
Tobias Till
Bob Tulloch
Jane Walker
Robin Warnes
Jerry White
John Whittall
Rachel Widdows
Kate Wilson
Matthew Wright
Suzie Wyatt |
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