Ralph Hedley paintings to be auctioned
Celebrity cat catches the eye in famous North East artists sale. Tony Hendeson reports
It’s one of the most popular images to be painted by a North East artist.
Blinking in the Sun – some would prefer ‘snoozing’ - by Ralph Hedley shows a cat in a cottage window.
It is among the best loved works in the Laing Gallery in Newcastle and appears on a range of its shop merchandise.
The cat features in the gallery shop on a silk scarf (£50), chocolate bar (£4.99), book mark (£2.99), tote bag (£22.99), and card (£2,99). A coaster an tea towel are currently sold out.
Now a ‘sister’ painting by Hedley, portraying what many observers believe is the same cat, will be among a gallery of 14 works by the Newcastle artist which will be auctioned in a two-day sale - starting today (Thursday< November 28) and carrying on into tomorrow.
The 1883 picture in the sale by Newcastle auctioneers Anderson & Garland, with the title A Sign of Bad Weather, shows two cats enjoying the warmth of an open fire and is estimated at £5,000-£8,000.
“The blinking cat painting – which is not in our sale - must be one of the most popular exhibits at the Laing Art Gallery and lends itself to all sorts of merchandise,” said Anderson & Garland picture specialist John Anderson.
Ralph Hedley, who lived in Spital Tongues in Newcastle, portrayed everyday life in the region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the Laing has 70 of his works in its collection.
A show of Hedley paintings at the gallery in the 1990s broke visitor records for a loan exhibition.
Hedley, who died in 1913 aged 64, was a realist painter, woodcarver and illustrator. He exhibited a total of 52 paintings at the Royal Academy during his career with his first in 1879 being a study of a boy newspaper seller.
Another painting in the forthcoming sale, also from 1883, shows a boy cooking potatoes on an open fire and is priced at £1,500-£2,500.
“Hedley painted what he saw around him. He depicted real life and left a legacy which is a social record,” said John Anderson.
“It is very unusual to have so many Hedley paintings in one sale. It’s like a mini exhibition.”
Works in the auction include After School, 1893, portraying boys playing on a tree rope swing (£2,000-£3,000); Spilt Milk 1909, showing two children with a broken milk jug in a shop doorway (£2,000-£3.000); A Day Off School 1900 (£2,000-£3,000; Two studies of a newspaper boy 1885 {£1500-£2,500); The Antique Shop 1909 (£1,500-£2,500); and Woman With a Goffering Iron, 1909 (£800-£1.200).
In 2004 a commemorative plaque was unveiled by the city council at Hedey’s home in Newcastle – the same year that his painting The Tournament sold at auction for a record £44,000 for the artist.
Examples of Hedley’s wood carving work can be found in Newcastle Cathedral, where a choral evensong was held to mark the centenary of his death.