What is so appealing about George Large's work is the way that they develop in the eye; with this example, what at first appears to be a random cluster of labourers evolves into a satisfying meander across the picture space, from the gripped spanner all the way through the figure group to the worker clutching the cable on the right.

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George Large is a painter in watercolour and oil, born in Islington, London in 1936. He studied at Hornsey College of Art (1958-63), teachers including Maurice de Sausmarez, John Titchell and Alfred Daniels. Large spent some time in the display department of Simpson’s, Piccadilly, was part-time at Hornsey College of Art, then head of department at St Julian Comprehensive School in St Albans. Large showed 1963-87 with SWE, being vice-president in 1972 and treasurer in 1984; with RE, 1963-5; with RI from 1983, becoming a member in 1986 and its archivist; and was also made a member of the RBA in 1997. Large was winner of the Windor & Newton award, 1989; he won the Llewellyn Alexander and St Cuthbert’s Mill Awards in 1999; and the Arts Club Award in 2003. He had a solo show at Mall Galleries in 1980, later one-man exhibitions including Duncan Campbell Fine Art from 1990. In 2000, Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham, showed Large’s work, at the same time releasing its documentary film on him, Trust Me I’m An Artist. There were further Goldmark George Large exhibition in 2003 and 2015. Human figures are important components in Large’s compositions, often men at work, and the work of Edward Burra and Stanley Spencer has been influential upon Large’s art. It is an easily recognizable, colourful form of Cubism. Large completed a mural for British Rail for the King’s Cross Thameslink Station. In recent years Large has lived and painted in Rutland and Malta, and his work is held in important public and private collections including National Gallery and British Consulate in Malta.

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Source: The Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours website

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Other works by the artist on this website: