Peter Greenham |
Peter Greenham RA (1909 -1992)
Peter Greenham’s favourite song was “Non, je ne regrette rien”, his favourite face was Greta Garbo’s. His favourite ambition was to leave one really good drawing behind him, like, say Gericault’s man leaning out backwards from the raft of the Medusa. Though wary of the pitfalls of success he was rapturous each time he sold a painting. He endorsed F.E. Jackson’s remark “You can’t do things and get the credit for them. Getting credit is a full time job.”
He coveted Frith’s red rope and policemen, and the loud applause musicians receive after a performance but the single minded drive to produce good work went on undisturbed. Recognition was irrelevant. We had a friend, now dead, a stained glass artist who when he caught sight of paintings lying in the studio would say “Ah yes, charming scraps, charming scraps” so that after that Peter would say when evaluating new paintings “charming scraps would you say or serious work?”
The Kitchen at Paddington |
Drawing for the Kitchen at Paddington |
His heart of course, was in the schools. He enjoyed William Coldstream’s running joke to him about the place. “I can’t understand, Greenham, why the schools are so good these days. It’s not as if you had anyone teaching there.” As keeper he championed the underdog, courted and disarmed the subversive with his humility, and as long as the drawing school flourished, encouraged the students to do whatever they liked.
From Beckley Ridge |
The Railway Lines at Oxford |
Although he was never happier than when painting out of doors and complained bitterly about the anxieties of portrait painting he strenuously denied that he would ever give up doing them. “I love to paint people” he would say. “I’ve only ever had one sitter I failed to fall in love with” and of course it is this involvement that sets his work apart and gives him stature. The severest judgement he could pass on anyone else’s work was to call it heartless.
Jane Dowling |
