Joash Woodrow (April 6, 1927 – February 15, 2006) was a

reclusive A recluse is a person who lives in voluntary seclusion and solitude. The word is from the Latin , which means 'to open' or 'disclose'. Examples of recluses are Symeon of Trier, who lived within the great Roman gate Porta Nigra with permission ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

artist. Woodrow was born in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

-Jewish parents, and was one of eight siblings. He studied at

Leeds College of Art Leeds Arts University is a specialist arts further and higher education institution, based in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a main campus opposite the University of Leeds. History It was founded in 1846 as the Leeds Sc ...

, and from 1950 to 1953 at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

, where his contemporaries included Peter Blake and

Frank Auerbach Frank Helmut Auerbach (29 April 1931 – 11 November 2024) was a German-born British painter. Born in Germany to Jewish parents, he became a naturalised British subject in 1947. He is considered one of the leading names in the School of Lo ...

. Shortly after graduating, Woodrow became ill and returned to his parents' home in

Chapel Allerton Chapel Allerton is an inner suburb of north-east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, from the city centre. It sits within the Chapel Allerton ward of Leeds City Council and had a population of 18,206 and 23,536 at the 2001 and 2011 census respe ...

, where he would remain for much of his life. From this time onwards, and virtually unknown to the wider art establishment, he painted prolifically: over seven hundred paintings, including numerous large works and 3,500 drawings and sketches. In 2000 he became too ill to cope with living on his own and was moved to sheltered accommodation. As part of a clearance of the artist's house, his extensive collection of art books were bought by a local bookshop. Nine of the books contained drawings by Woodrow and these were discovered by the Leeds artist Christopher Wood who in turn showed the book he had bought to art dealer Andrew Stewart. On a follow-up visit to the bookshop Stewart bought the remaining books with drawings and visited the artists house the following day, where he discovered a vast collection of previously unseen paintings and drawings spanning a period of more than fifty years. Woodrow occasionally worked on unusual materials – some oil paintings were produced on improvised canvasses of

hessian A Hessian is an inhabitant of the German state of Hesse. Hessian may also refer to: Named from the toponym *Hessian (soldier), eighteenth-century German regiments in service with the British Empire **Hessian (boot), a style of boot **Hessian f ...

from coal sacks, or cardboard boxes. The first exhibition of his work was held at 108 Fine Art in

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...

in 2001, followed by public art gallery retrospectives in Leeds,

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and the

in October 2005. Other solo exhibitions have been held at The Fine Art Society London, Leeds Metropolitan University Art Gallery, Hull University Art Gallery, Liverpool University Art Gallery and at The Pannet Art Gallery, Whitby. His story has attracted considerable press interest, and was covered in ''The Sunday Times'', ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' and ''

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'' magazine as well as the ''Yorkshire Post'' and ''Whitby Gazette''.http://www.whitbygazette.co.uk/whats-on/Recluse39s-work-found-in-skip.3148758.jp?articlepage=3 In October 2009 thirty of his paintings were shown at The Fine Art Society, London. His work can be found in several major private and public art collections including

Leeds City Art Gallery Leeds Art Gallery in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, is a gallery, part of the Leeds Museums & Galleries group, whose collection of 20th-century British Art was designated by the British government in 1997 as a collection "of national importance ...

; The Stanley and Audrey Burton Art Gallery at

The University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

;

Manchester Art Gallery Manchester Art Gallery, formerly Manchester City Art Gallery, is a publicly owned art museum on Mosley Street in Manchester city centre, England. The main gallery premises were built for a learned society in 1823 and today its collection occupi ...

;

Ben Uri Gallery The Ben Uri Gallery & Museum is a registered museum and charity based at 108a Boundary Road, off Abbey Road in St John's Wood, London, England. It features the work and lives of émigré artists in London, and describes itself as "The Art Museum ...

, London; and The University of Hull's art gallery. A play based on the artist's life story was produced by Liz Postlethwaite and successfully toured the North of England in 2013. Woodrow died in a Manchester hospital in February 2006. Joash Woodrow is represented by 108 Fine Art, Harrogate.

References

108 Fine Art, Harrogat
Joash Woodrow

External links

Joash Woodrow - obituary from the Guardian
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodrow, Joash 1927 births 2006 deaths 20th-century English painters English male painters 21st-century English painters English modern painters Alumni of the Royal College of Art Alumni of Leeds Arts University 20th-century English male artists 21st-century English male artists