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About New Collection
Amongst the sometimes clumping exhibits at the Royal Academy, Fred Cuming's
pictures seem to float in a poetic and ethereal world of their own. As with Turner this
does not exclude sharp and accurate observation of climatic effects and the
ever-changing canvas of sky and sea. " The more you look, the more you find " Fred
says of his own work. Sometimes he paints out of doors depicting the immediacy of
the view, sometimes he makes dozens of sketches which are worked up in the studio.
The variations of colours are obtained by extensive underpainting and he plans the
structure carefully, often using an underlying grid system.
He picks up the essence of a scene which will change on an instant, a shaft of silver
light on the sea, the fiery ball of the setting sun sinking into the horizon leaving behind
a last reflected glow of pink and purple, a great black mass of rain just about to
descend, the glitter of wet sand or the heavenly palaces and towering mountains of
cumulus clouds.
The scholarship he obtained to study in Italy in 1955 was one of the formative
influences Fred's artistic life. the sheer volume of great art and architecture was
overwhelming. He returns regularly to paint but would not regard himself as a
topographical artist. His eye is attracted as ever by the shifting nuances of light and
colour rather than by the harsh brilliance of the unclouded Italian sky.
He exhibits widely and his work is in many public and private collections - Royal
Academy, London - Department of the Environment - National Museum of Wales,
Cardiff, Nevill Gallery, Canterbury - New Metropole Arts Centre, Folkestone -
Bradford & Scunthorpe Museum - Ministry of Works - Brighton & Hove Museum -
Maidstone Museum, Kent - Carlisle Museum - Kendal Museum - London Tourist
Board - National Trust Foundation for Art - Lloyds of London - Guiness Collection -
WH Smith Collection - St. Johns College, Oxford and many others.
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