Art comes out of storage for display

Drawings by Newark artist Robert Kiddey that have never been seen by the public feature in a new exhibition.

The exhibition at Newark Town Hall’s Spotlight Gallery includes work owned by private individuals and items stored at the Town Hall but not displayed.

Mr Kiddey (1900-1984) was a well-known local figure who gained national acclaim for his sculptures while also influencing many hundreds of pupils through his years of teaching.

He was born in Nottingham, and moved to Newark in 1931 to join the staff of the newly-opened Newark Technical College. He also taught at the Magnus School.

The curator of the Town Hall museum, Mrs Patty Temple, said: “We thought it was about time we showed some of the pictures we have got in store.

“Robert Kiddey worked in Newark for 50 years and a lot of people knew him and still remember him.”

The exhibition includes pieces spanning Mr Kiddey’s whole career, including two drawings from the 1930s, when he spent a lot of time visiting the Ukraine.

Other items are sculptures and life drawings.

Also included are seven portraits of unknown people, ranging from a young girl to a smartly-dressed man.

Mrs Temple said they wanted to find out the identities of the people, who may well have been local.

She said the pictures had been in storage since 2002 and this was the first opportunity to display them all.

The exhibition features three items loaned by private individuals who responded to an appeal in the Advertiser for pieces for the exhibition.

They are an oil painting of a man, a charcoal drawing of a woman and a wooden sculpture of a fish.

The items are on show until July 30 near the permanent Kiddey exhibition in the main gallery.