Theodore Major (19 February 1908 – 17 January 1999) was an English artist who was considered a great individualist of

British Art The Art of the United Kingdom refers to all forms of visual art in or associated with the United Kingdom since the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 and encompasses English art, Scottish art, Welsh art and Irish art, and forms ...

Biography

Born in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, England, Major insisted that he was essentially self-taught as an artist. He studied at Wigan Art School between 1927 and 1932, and taught there between 1930 and 1950, and in 1952 founded the Wigan Arts Club. Major established a reputation as a Lancashire artist. He drew cartoons for the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' and the ''

Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

.'' He shared exhibitions with his close contemporary

L. S. Lowry Laurence Stephen Lowry ( ; 1 November 1887 – 23 February 1976) was an English artist. His drawings and paintings mainly depict Pendlebury, Lancashire (where he lived and worked for more than 40 years) as well as Salford and its vicinity ...

. He was a member of the Manchester Group, along with Lowry, exhibiting at the Mid-Day Studios founded and run by Margo Ingham and Ned Owens. Major became noted for his grim depictions of Wigan streets and factories, pictures of children, of lonely

seascape A seascape is a photograph, painting, or other work of art which depicts the sea, in other words an example of marine art. The word originated as a formation from landscape, which was first used of images of land in art. By a similar devel ...

s, of nudes and nightmare imaginations. "To disturb and extend consciousness in the mind of the viewer" was his declared aim. He declined to sell pictures, "not to the people who want them, the rich people". He eventually had to buy the house, next door to his studio in

Appley Bridge Appley Bridge is a small, affluent village crossing the borders of Greater Manchester and West Lancashire, England. It is located off Junction 27 of the M6 motorway and is nestled in the Douglas Valley alongside the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. ...

, as a store. He used a small front bedroom, with a good light, as a studio. He kept around 3000 of his pictures back from sale, saying that they were painted for ordinary people, not money. He used the house next door as a gallery and the general public were welcome to view his paintings free of charge. The art critic and novelist

John Berger John Peter Berger (; 5 November 1926 – 2 January 2017) was an English art critic, novelist, painter and poet. His novel '' G.'' won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism ''Ways of Seeing'', written as an accompaniment to the ...

has described Major's pictures as "among the best English paintings of our time".

References

1908 births 1999 deaths English artists People from Appley Bridge People from Wigan {{England-artist-stub