Ashington Group : The Pitman Painters

Small exhibition at the National Theatre to accompany the play “The Pitman Painters” about a group of artists from a Northumbrian mining town.

These pictures had a naïve but charming quality with a slight resemblance to Stanley Spencer. Mainly by Oliver Kilbourn they showed scenes of life in the mine and around the town. I loved the series of five pictures of wash day which finishes with the children in the wash boiler having a bath. Also one called “Spring 1941” of daffodils in a window with a sign advertising the fact the house had a stirrup pump.

I saw the play about the group the same night and thoroughly recommend it. It explored the idea of what art means in life and the notion of class in art. It was much funnier than I had imagined it would be and its sentimental socialism reduced me to tears at the end.

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