Diana asks if anybody can identify the artist, or maybe even the couple, in this painting of a very recognisable corner of the Market Place. It is the corner where the phone boxes were removed last week! Diana picked it up in a charity shop in town recently and says “sadly this is just a reproduction that has been trimmed to fit it into the frame so no signature or other identifier.” She is curious to know if it was by a local artist. She has checked with the museum but they have drawn a blank.
Here is what the telephone boxes looked like.
According to the Guardian “At their peak there were 92,000 payphones across the UK, and queues in the street were a familiar sight at the busiest ones.“. In 2019 they are almost obsolete.
Ah – can help you there Diana as I have the original!
It was painted by a close family friend called John Barber – “Johnny” was also an illustrator as well as a keen painter of all things Abingdon, indeed many of his paintings have gone to print, one in particularly I remember is of St Helens Wharf,
For peace and quite Johnny lived and worked in a caravan on the Mattock roses site at the top of lodge hill.
Hello, I have a number of John Barber original paintings and would like to know if his work was cataloged to show all his works and those from which prints were taken. I would be interested in obtaining more of his work should it become available. Hoping someone might help.
Nice picture.
Thank you very much for finding time to post this. I am very happy to hear about the artist from Horsesmouth. Please pass on my thanks.
Best wishes
Diana
As a boy scout 2p and 10p were part of the uniform, carried in the pocket, just in case you had to make an emergency phone call.
I wonder if a mobile with credit on it is part of the uniform today?
googling ‘john barber abingdon artist’ will many of his paintings