The Barrington Tabb story is one of quiet but stubborn perseverance against the odds. For nearly fifty years, Tabb's art has been dedicated to everyday subjects: working class terraces, the docks, railway bridges, canals and smoking factory chimneys. Having worked in industry for twenty-five years, he was very familiar with these places, although his working class background proved an obstacle to his artistic ambitions. Almost totally self-taught, he never lost faith in his natural talent, however much he was discouraged by friends, family and fellow artists. He has no great desire for fame or money. He is intoxicated by the smell, the feel, the colour and the texture of paint. Guided by his instincts alone, he handles his expressive medium with all the gutsy passion of a Vincent Van Gogh or a Lucian Freud. Yet his work remains totally original, for he brings his imagination into play and the end result is never a mere descriptive record. His places are felt and experienced, imbued with a sense of the passage of time and the working of memory. By bearing the signs of the artist's emotional engagement so openly, Tabb's paintings are somehow alive.
He is to Bristol what Lowry was to Salford. This book describes Tabb's fifty-year career, from his earliest landscapes through to the industrial scenes and townscapes for which he is best known. His childhood in the country, his work as an inspector of buses and his long battle against ill health are also described. The artist's working methods and influences are discussed, aided by quotes from an interview together with over 150 colour reproductions of his paintings.
- ISBN10 1904537626
- ISBN13 9781904537625
- Publish Date 1 November 2006
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 25 April 2012
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Sansom & Co
- Format Paperback
- Pages 160
- Language English