Venice in the Snow by Ken Howard
A Ken Howard Painting – and Christmas cards, for sale at Dulwich Picture Gallery
By Kate Knowles, Head of Communications at Dulwich Picture Gallery
For the last couple of years Dulwich has asked artists who have had connections with the Gallery to design the Christmas card, and both Quentin Blake and Humphrey Ocean made lovely cards, which sold gratifyingly well. Before that we used to use pictures from the Gallery, but there weren’t many that would do for a Christmas card.
This year one of our Trustees who knows the famous Royal Academician, Ken Howard, asked him whether he could come up with something. Ken Howard was already a favourite with the Gallery as he had generously given a picture to our fundraising auction a few years ago, and the picture had sold for many thousands.
And to our great joy he said yes he would be delighted to help us, and produced a most lovely painting of Venice in the Snow to be reproduced as this year’s card.
I was lucky enough to be asked to pick up the picture from his wonderful house – or rather two houses knocked together – in Kensington, once the studio of Sir William Orpen. The whole of the first floor is his studio, where you can see the paintings he is working on, and some of Orpen’s medals and other memorabilia, which the Orpen family gave Ken when he bought the house.
Then things just got better. Ken said, ‘If you would like to auction he painting I will give the Gallery half the proceeds’ – and he agreed to come and give a short talk about the painting and the way he works, and sign the Christmas cards.
I was delighted and contacted the vice chairman of our Trustees, Noel Annesley who is the Honorary Chairman of Christie’s International – and lives in Dulwich – and he agreed do the auctioneering.
The painting is now on display in the Gallery. Go and take a look.
Ken Howard RA will be at the Gallery from 6.30 pm on Thursday 19 November to give a talk about his paintings and to sign his Christmas card. The painting will then be auctioned. Starting price £2,000.
This is the same evening as the Friends Christmas Bazaar - what an amazing evening it will be.
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