Maurice Wade 1917-1991

Maurice Wade was born in 1917 in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, the ' mother ' town of the Staffordshire Potteries and the 'Bursley' of the Five Towns' novelist Arnold Bennett. He belongs to that particular generation whose life has been overshadowed by wars and depressions. He served in the Army during the Second World War from 1939 - 1946 and thereafter settled for a short time in London. On returning to his birthplace in 1951 he felt a growing compulsion to paint and found inspiration in the singular mood and shapes of the local landscape.

A number of his paintings include the Trent and Mersey Canal (near Longport) that in Wedgwood's time became the Potteries main life-line between Hull on the East coast and Liverpool on the West coast.

Besides his attempt to portray the particular character of the local scene, where the nineteenth century seems to have lingered longer than in most other industrial areas, the artist felt his work carried overtones concerned with the problems of mankind in the latter half of this twentieth century.

Maurice Wade received his formal art training at the Burslem School of the Stoke-on -Trent College of Art and has exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Paris Salon in 1962, The Royal Society of British Artists, the Salford City Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent City Art Gallery and North Staffordshire (Keele) University.

In answer to the question as to why I paint in the way I do, employing mostly a hard formalism with an emphasis on geometrical shapes and sombre toned colours, I would say that in this way I am best able to interpret the particular character of the situation. I insist that a work should have structural purpose and be strong in design and colour. I feel that man has no place in these pictures. It is sufficient if one can convey, over and above the evident stillness, the presence of a human sensibility, a real meaning, a glance other than that reflected in the water of the canal-scapes. I endeavour to produce a painting which will reveal a personal reality more realistic than the most exact reproduction and in some strange way the works exhibit a combined element of dream and actuality.

Education
Student at St. Martin's School of Art
Chelsea School of Art
Stoke-On-Trent College of Art

Awards
Gold medallist and exhibitor Hors Concours, Societe des Artistes Francais

Solo Exhibitions
Five exhibitions at the Thackeray Gallery, London 1970's

Two -man Exhibitions
The Woodstock Gallery, London, with WilliamTurner. 1962

Group Exhibitions
The Societe des Artistes Francais
The Royal Academy
The Royal Society of British Artists
The Royal Institute of Oil Painters
The Industrial Painters Group
The Salford City Art Gallery
The Bradford City Art Gallery
The Tib Lane Gallery, Manchester, 1970's & 80's
The Ash Barn Gallery
The Artists' Own Gallery
City of London Guildhall
Galleries in the U.S.A

Collections
The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery
Private Collections in England, France, U.S.A and the Bahamas