Home  Catalogue Foreward by David Capps
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Foreward by David Capps |
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 Glamorous Night (cat.U9) was the title of the first Barry painting I ever saw, acquired by chance as part of a lot I bought privately soon after moving to Jersey in 1974. The serene beauty of Barry's pointillistic style was self-evident and I sensed that I had discovered a hitherto little known Master. I wanted to see more of Barry's work and was introduced to Tom Skinner, Barry's friend and pupil from whom over the years my family acquired a large number of works.
My wife Christine graciously accepted (and may I dare to say appreciated) most of Barry's large nudes which her young husband hung in his office, much to the delight of our Jersey postman who, above and beyond the call of duty, used personally to hand deliver as many letters as he could to me. Visiting clients were also invariably impressed by Barry's works and often wanted to buy them. Even though I like to work with the windows open thus making the office quite chilly in winter, visitors never seemed to be in too much of a hurry to leave and when they finally did so, departed with a kind of inner glow it was almost as if they had been basking in the benevolent gaze of Girl on a Pink Rock (cat. 22).
 Girl on a Pink Rock
Throughout a quarter of a century of gazing upon a wide selection of Barry's works I have never grown tired of them, nor ceased to be impressed by the range of his ability and the sheer gusto for life which I sense underpinned all his work.
The painstaking detail with which he prepared his etchings (evidenced by dozens of sketches and proofs) and in some cases the two years of dedicated work spent on his large pointillistic works, reveal a sense of wonder at creation and a keen curiosity in the variety of life, and sensitivity to its moods.
A relatively small number of Barry's works have found their way on to the market; the rest are retained in private collections. We feel that the art-loving public has been deprived of Barry long enough and as far as our family collection is concerned we want to share the fruits of Barry's life work through this book. In doing so we seek to bring glory to Almighty God, and to thank Him for giving us in Barry such a special talent which has generated so many bold, beautiful, joyful, sensuous and haunting images.
Most of the illustrations are from our family collection as are the catalogue numbers, which do not follow any chronological order but simply the order in which the works were acquired over the years. Since much of Barry's early work has proved elusive and may possibly have been destroyed by his first wife in a fit of pique at Barry's desertion of her, we do not purport to present a complete catalogue of Barry's works.
The rationale behind the selection of works for illustration from the collection has therefore had, necessarily, to be an arbitrary one based on subject matter. Within each category we have tried to introduce as much variation as possible and to show the distinct ways in which he depicted the same subject at different stages in his life; a drawing and an etching produced in the 1920's, for example, followed by a pointillistic work (in oils on canvas) on the same subject produced in the 1930's, and a reworking of the same subject in the 1950's or 1960's in his more simplified style, the latter works often being in oils on board.
We have provided a contents list cross referenced to the catalogue number and the page on which the illustration may be found.
I offer my sincere thanks to Katie Campbell for the zest with which she has produced the editorial and to John Parfitt of Westerham Press who caught the vision and shared my enthusiasm for Barry's works from the very first moment we met to discuss the book. I also thank John for completing the production team by calling upon the expertise of designer Don Martin.
Although we feel that the illustrations speak for themselves and represent the fruit of the majority of Barry's working life, many mysteries still remain, particularly with regard to his very early work. It is for this reason that we hope, through this publication, to excite interest and elicit further information about the life and works of Sir Claude Francis Barry and we would encourage any reader to address any information or further inquiries to:
Christine and David Capps
Fine Art Promotions Limited
PO Box 48
St. Helier
Jersey JE4 8NX
British Isles
Telephone: (international) 00 44 1534 789123, (national) 01534 789123
Fax: (international) 00 44 1534 780522, (national) 01534 780522
E-mail:
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