Pitmen Painters, The Ashington Group 1934-1984

A new edition of the Pitmen Painters, The Ashington Group 1934-1984 by William Feaver, it will be sent out as well available in the shop at Woodhorn on Wednesday the 16th of March.

• 176 pages
• Full colour paperback
• 19*24.5*1.5cm

From the book cover:

The Ashington Group began in the early 1930s as n evening class of Northumberland pitmen keen to learn about art. Within weeks they were producing their own work and within a few years their paintings amounted to a complete record of life in a mining community: clocking in, working a the coalface, the pithead baths, Saturday night at the club, the corner shop, dog track, pigeon crees, kitchen, alley and allotment – their paintings ring true transcending the usual limitations of amateur art.

William Feaver establishes the ‘unprofessional’ painting in the context of Ashington and of art history, illustrating his books with paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture but the group as well as with archive photographs.

This books was the inspiration for Lee Hall to write the play The Pitmen Painters with its debut at the Live Théâtre in Newcastle in 2007. It went on the National theatre, London’s west end and Broadway New York and even a Spanish version performed in Argentina. The pitmen Painters was named Best Play at the 2008 Evening Standard Awards.

The core collection of paintings is displayed at Woodhorn Museum Ashington, Northumberland. Money raised from sales and royalties are used to preserve and display the collection of paintings.