Send image Biography Enquire
£4,500

Presentation: Framed
SN: 721
Signed u.l.: W.B.Gash
Oil on canvas, 30 by 25 ins (76 by 63.5 cm)
Provenance: The Artist's daughter
Exhibited: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, cat 20
Literature: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, p. 42

‘With his interest in portraiture and, if there were no commissions on hand, my father would find a model for practice. One such portrait is of a young man who is holding a few coins, and his expression is of deep concern. This reflects the hardship that followed the First World War, mainly through mass unemployment … (the dole) was a very small weekly allowance to stave off abject poverty … I feel that my father, in painting this portrait, has, with some experience of deprivation himself, felt deeply for the man.’ mg Cat.20
Send image Biography Enquire
£1,900

Presentation: Framed
SN: 750
Signed l.l.: W.B. Gash
Pastel, 12z by 9z ins (32 by 24 cm)

Provenance: The Artist's daughter
Exhibited: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, cat 39
Literature: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, p.65
Send image Biography Enquire
£1,800

Presentation: Framed
SN: 753
Oil on canvas, 10 by 13z ins (25.5 by 34.5 cm)
Provenance: The Artist's daughter
Exhibited: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, cat 52
Literature: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, p.75

The great shoe retailers Timpson’s held its main bases in Manchester and, largely due to the fact that its founder William Timpson came from nearby Rothwell, in Kettering. The Kettering factory was opened in 1922, two years before the present work was painted. Timpson’s became a major local employer producing some 20,000 pairs of shoes a year there; William Timpson’s funeral in Kettering in 1929 was marked by the closure of local businesses in the town in respect of his contribution.
Send image Biography Enquire
£900

Presentation: Framed
SN: 779
Signed l.r.: W.B.Gash
Pastel, 7 by 9f ins (18 by 23.5 cm)

Provenance: The Artist's daughter
Exhibited: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, cat 44
Literature: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, p. 68
Send image Biography Enquire
£1,500

Presentation: Framed
SN: 780
Signed l.l.: W.B. Gash
Pastel, 8g by 11g ins (22 by 30 cm)

Provenance: The Artist's daughter
Exhibited: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, cat 42
Literature: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, p.66
Send image Biography Enquire
£2,750

Presentation: Framed
SN: 788
Gouache, 24 by 19 ins (61 by 48 cm)
Provenance: The Artist's daughter
Exhibited: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, cat 1
Literature: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, p.17

From his time at Lincoln, Gash proved to be a highly adept graphic artist.
Yet it was probably in Antwerp, in a country that was responsible for the most important and innovative contributions to Art Nouveau, that he developed the flamboyant and bold style seen in this group of designs.
Although limited records exist of his work as a commercial artist he was known to have executed posters and frontispieces for events in his home town in Kettering, as well as the emblem for the town’s art society.

Send image Biography Enquire
£1,800

Presentation: Framed
SN: 790
Soft pencil, 19 by 29 ins (48 by 73.5 cm)
Provenance: The Artist's daughter
Exhibited: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, cat 9
Literature: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, p. 24

This is one of a number of works Gash entered for his Art Master’s Certificate.
‘Evidently during his early years in Kettering he realised that it would be an advantage to add to his qualifications ‘The Art Master’s Certificate’ and so he enlisted as an external student. There are a few examples of drawings that he presented for the examinations still in my possession, as for example, solution to a perspective problem, a black chalk portrait of a man, and studies of a foot, a hand, etc.’ Margaret Gash (mg) Cat.9
Send image Biography Enquire
£2,500

Presentation: Framed
SN: 817
Oil on board, 14 by 10z ins (35.5 by 26.5 cm)
Provenance: The Artist's daughter
Exhibited: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, cat 23
Literature: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, p.44

One of two known preliminary studies for Gash’s portrait of his daughter in the fields (cat.21). It is possible that these sketches were executed on-the-spot and show the artist’s working process in respect of the painting’s development, the figure of the dog being added at a later stage in the composition process. Cat. 23
Send image Biography Enquire
£650

Presentation: Unframed
SN: 826
Signed l.r.: W.B. Gash
Watercolour, 6 by 9 ins (16.5 by 23 cm)

Provenance: The Artist's daughter
Exhibited: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, cat 49
Literature: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, p. 72
Send image Biography Enquire
£2,500

Presentation: Framed
SN: 860
Oil on board, 8z by 5 ins (21.5 by 12.5 cm)

Provenance: The Artist's daughter
Exhibited: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, cat 32
Literature: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, p.56
Send image Biography Enquire
£1,200

Presentation: Framed
SN: 4645
Pastel, 9f by 13z ins (23.5 by 34.5 cm)

Provenance: The Artist's daughter
Exhibited: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, cat 47
Literature: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, p. 70
Send image Biography Sold

Presentation: Framed
SN: 740
Signed and dated l.r.: W.B.Gash/96
Oil on canvas, 18 by 15 ins (46 by 38 cm)

Provenance: The Artist's daughter
Exhibited: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, cat 5
Literature: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, p. 17

Send image Biography Sold

Presentation: Framed
SN: 789
Ink and gouache, 17 by 25 ins (43 by 63.5 cm)

Provenance: The Artist's daughter
Exhibited: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, cat 2
Literature: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, p. 17
Send image Biography Sold

Presentation: Framed
SN: 793
Gouache with ink, 15 by 25z ins (38 by 65 cm)

Provenance: The Artist's daughter
Exhibited: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, cat 3
Literature: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, p. 17
Send image Biography Sold

Presentation: Unframed
SN: 798
Soft pencil, 17 by 11z ins (43 by 29 cm)

Provenance: The Artist's daughter
Exhibited: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, cat 10
Literature: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, p.24
Send image Biography Sold

Presentation: Framed
SN: 859
Oil on board, 10 by 7 ins (25.5 by 18 cm)
Provenance: The Artist's daughter
Exhibited: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, cat 33
Literature: Walter Bonner Gash, Unsung Edwardian Hero, p.57
Gash’s double portrait ‘The Inseparables’ was his last major work. It depicts Margaret Gash with her school friend Vera and was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1927. As with his comparable early painting of Margaret walking a dog (cat. 21), it is likely that Gash developed the work through spontaneous oil sketches, a fact that is confirmed by Margaret Gash’s own memories of the picture:
‘Vera is wearing the blue dress. My white dress was undoubtedly the one we had for “speech days” and the panama hat my school summer one with the hat band removed. I remember clearly how we went to a familiar field near the village of Warkton on a lovely summer morning to pose, and father made a quick oil sketch.’ mg

Thumbnail panels:

Walter Bonner Gash 1869 - 1928

Walter Bonner Gash was born in Lincoln on February 2nd 1869 the youngest of four children. Early in his life, the family moved to Nottingham and it was there that he was brought up and educated.
Although art was not encouraged at his home, records show that his talents developed early. After leaving school, it seems that he worked on the design side in a lace factory. However, the urge to make his career in Art was so strong that he decided to return to the place of his birth and become a student at the Lincoln School of Art. The reward of various prizes and medals while he was there, is proof of his success: In due course he was advised to further his studies at the Ecole des Beaux Are in Antwerp and this he did in the years 1893 and 94.
Following his return to England and after a spell as an assistant tutor at the School of Art in Lincoln, he moved south to Kettering and that became his home for the rest of his life. He set up a studio there, and continued to develop his own painting while teaching some adult groups and in 1907 taking on the post of Art master at the Old Grammar School.
He married in 1911 Sarah Ann Miles and they had two children - Norman and Margaret. From then on he led a busy life teaching, accepting commissions, mostly for portraits, and exhibited widely in many cities over the country and in London at the Royal Academy of Arts. On a number of occasions his work was also shown at the Paris Salon.
Portraits and general figure subjects, as well as landscapes formed the main part of his output and he appeared to enjoy working as much in water-colours and pastels as he did in oils.

He died in Kettering in 1928 aged 59 years.