Archive of Works by Derek Gardner See also Paintings
for Sale by Derek Gardner |
 HBM 74 gun ship-of-the-line THUNDERER Watercolour, 10 x 16 inches |
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| Derek Gardner
was born in 1914 and after leaving school in 1931 he studied to
become a civil engineer. He received no formal art training but had a lifelong interest in all matters relating to ships and the sea; an interest which sprang from earlier days in Glasgow where his father was the Chief Engineer of the Port of Glasgow and the Clyde Navigation Trust. In his younger days he read Southey's Life of Nelson which sparked what was to become a lifelong interest in the broad scope of naval history, particularly the French wars of the 18th and early 19th centuries. |
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| In 1934 he joined the Clyde
Division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and later served throughout
the war in the Royal Navy. In 1942 he was mentioned in dispatches
for distinguished service when the destroyer "Broke" was
sunk in the Mediterranean. He retired from the Navy in 1947 with
the rank of Commander and resumed his career as a chartered civil
engineer working for the Colonial Service in Kenya. |
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| Whilst in Kenya, he devoted
much of his spare time to painting in both oil and watercolour,
working on both landscape and maritime works, some of which were
submitted for exhibition. In 1963 with the onset of his deafness
he was forced to retire from the Colonial Service. Returning to
England and an uncertain future, he began a new career as an artist,
concentrating on the paintings of maritime history for which he
has become so well known today. |
 The 16 gun sloop ZEBRA Watercolour 4¼ x 7½ inches |
| He was elected to membership
of the Royal Society of Marine Artists in 1966 and, in both 1982
and 1984 he was a finalist in the Hunting Group Art Prizes organised
by the Federation of British Artists. In 1988 the Royal Society
of Marine Artists accorded him the unusual honour of electing him
to be an Honorary Vice President for life. |
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| He came to international notice
from 1968 when he began exhibiting at the h2/Polak Gallery in London.
A series of seven highly successful one-man exhibitions took place
at the Polak Gallery in 1972, 1975, 1978, 1982, 1987, 1990 and 1995,
each accompanied by a splendid catalogue where Derek documented
all the works on display. The gallery location in central London
meant that the Gardner paintings were finding a large enthusiastic
audience from all parts of the world, most notably in the USA. |
 HBM 38 gun frigate UNDAUNTED Watercolour, 5½ x 8½ inches |
| Although Derek was dedicated
to his art his output was not particularly prolific; his method
of working meant that each painting was the product of many weeks
of research, design and painting, meaning that there were long gaps
between the exhibitions and hungry collectors eagerly awaiting the
new output at each event. His last London exhibition in 2005 –
after a gap of 10 years - was on the theme of Nelson's ships,
a major exhibition celebrating the Bicentenary of the Battle of
Trafalgar. |
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| Today Derek Gardner is considered to be one of the leading maritime artists of his era. He received many accolades for his work and won admiration of collectors and maritime experts for his ability to portray ships with great accuracy while conveying the colour, the luminosity and all the drama of the wind and sea:
Derek Gardner's work is in a number of public collections including the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, the museums in Bermuda and Tenerife and in many private collections worldwide. |
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| Derek Gardner's work has appeared in the following
publications: · Tall Ships by Gareth Rees Phaidon, 1978 · Dictionary of Sea Painters Antique Collectors Club 1980 · The Windjammers by Oliver Allen Time Life Books, 1978 · 20th Century British Maritime Painting by Denys Brook-Hart · Maler der See Peter Tamm and Others Koehler, 1980 · The Passage Makers by Michael Stammers Teredo Books, 1978 · The Maritime History of the World by Duncan Haws and Alex Hurst Teredo Books,1985 · Sea History Magazine, Winter 1990 · Charleston's Maritime Heritage, 1670 – 1865 · An Illustrated History by P C Coker III Cokercraft Press, 1987 · Architectural Digest – Feature on the collection of Tom Selleck · Longitude, 1990, colour illustrations with text by Alex Hurst. Carlstedt Forlag AB Stockholm · A Celebration of Marine Art. 50 years of the Royal Society of Marine Artists. R.S.M.A , 1996 · The Tall Ship in Art Blandford, 1998 · Nelson's Ships: A Trafalgar Tribute Antique
Collectors Club 2005 |
SOLD |
See also Paintings for Sale by Derek Gardner
& Prints by Derek Gardner
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