Tag Archives: Springtime

Art Of The Garden: The Brilliant “Sunflowers” Of British Painter Charles Mahoney (1903-1968)

Charles Mahoney (1903-1968) The Garden 1950 LISS LLEWELLYN art website
Charles Mahoney (1903-1968), The Garden 1950

Charles Mahoney,(18 November 1903 – 11 May 1968): Painter, muralist, draughtsman and teacher, born Cyril Mahoney in London – his fellow-student Barnett Freedman re-christened him Charlie at the Royal College of Art, which he attended 1922-6 after a period at Beckenham School of Art under Percy Jowett. Early on, Mahoney established a reputation as a conscientious teacher.

He was at the Royal College 1928-53, from 1948-53 as a painting tutor, and was noted there for his concern for academic discipline.

Charles Mahoney Composite Plant 1954
Charles Mahoney, Composite Plant 1954

His portrait is included in Rodrigo Moynihan’s celebrated Teaching Staff of the Painting School at the Royal College of Art, 1949-50. From 1954 to 1963 he taught at the Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting and from 1961 to 1968 at the Royal Academy Schools. He painted murals at Morley College 1928-30 with his colleagues Eric Ravillious and Edward Bawden.

Unfortunately these murals were destroyed during World War II. The work led to further murals: at Brockley School, Kent, with Evelyn Dunbar; and at Campion Hall Lady Chapel, Oxford. His oil paintings are frequently of a religious nature. He was a skilled botanist, and many of his drawings depict his garden at Wrotham, Kent.

He exhibited at NEAC and the RA, being made an RA elect in 1968. He is represented in the Tate Gallery and other public collections. The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, held a memorial exhibition in 1975. Exhibitions were held in 2000 at the Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, Royal Museum and Art Gallery, Canterbury, and the Fine Art Society plc in association with Liss Fine Art.

Read more about Charles Mahoney

Springtime At The Getty: “Birds Are Singing, The Azaleas Are Glowing”

It’s springtime at the Central Garden. Birds are singing, the azaleas are glowing, and burgundy tulips and blue irises line the paths. However, the crowds are gone—the Getty Center has closed temporarily to minimize the spread of coronavirus.

View back toward the Getty Center from the furthest point of the Central Garden Sarah Waldorf
A view back toward the Getty Center from the furthest point of the Central Garden. Photo by Sarah Waldorf

The J. Paul Getty MuseumThe quiet comes at a time of transition for the garden. Spring always brings change and renewal, but this year Getty’s new horticulturist, Jackie Flor, has been trying to channel the vision of the garden’s creator, artist Bob Irwin, as she brings the garden back to his original intent

Does the new Golden Celebration rose with its rich, sweet scent honor Irwin’s intentions for that spot?  How about the trio of new Redbuds ready to pop? And how would he feel about her attempts to curtail the wildly proliferating Madeira Island Geranium? Yes, they were his favorite plant, but they have run rampant.

“I’m not heartless,” she said a few weeks ago about the robust plants with pink flowers. “But they need to be tucked back into their proper place.”

Read full article