We were deeply saddened to hear the news of the passing of Ken Howard OBE RA PPNEAC RBA RBSA ROI RWA on 11 September 2022. Ken was elected a member of the NEAC in 1962 and was NEAC President from 1998 to 2003.
He had been suffering from ill health in recent years, tirelessly supported by his wife Dora to whom we send our heartfelt condolences.
Ken was not only a magnificent painter but also a great supporter and friend to his fellow artists, many of whom were eager to share their memories, tributes and stories . . .
Diana Armfield:
"These last years, we know Dora has been bravely sustaining Ken through illness, heart-breaking falls . . . those ominous signs of the inevitable.
I suppose Ken was the oldest friend to Bernard and me and David who he befriended. He was the person, along with the other RAs and NEAC Members – Kyffin, Bill, Jim, Anthony and Fred – that we gravitated to for affectionate gossip, jokes and no doubt a bit of plotting to hold back – with little success – some shock idea, or to support a valued candidate.
Ken always had such a warm response to people, typically an arm out to draw a friend or a new shy acquaintance into the conversation, not wanting to leave anyone outside of a knot of colleagues. I feel Ken had that personal open-hearted confidence that goes, perhaps, with recognising his own talent, his own métier, his chosen career, and love of a life devoted to drawing and painting as well as writing, all laced with conviviality and the richness of the life he and Dora made together.
Others will write more of his telling work. I will comment on just one side of his talent – his tones were infallibly, just exactly right; not always easy for the best of us, but for him, it seemed absolutely natural."
Richard Pikesley:
“I first met Ken in 1969 when I was a student at Harrow School of Art. In those days, Ken was doing some teaching and came to Harrow having previously taught at Hornsey. I'd done science A-levels and was hungry to learn and to catch up with my fellow students who were all better prepared.
Ken was an inspiration, and taught drawing and painting with real commitment and rigour and a lot of fun. At that time, he was painting plein air around the Neasden railway sidings, the part of London where I had grown up, and also making wonderful huge pictures of the City of London and especially the Wren churches.
Later, when I'd gone on to teach, I was keen to keep painting and went to visit Ken with a car full of paintings. As ever, generous with his time, he went through everything I'd taken to show him and pulled out three little paintings which he then had framed and showed to David Wolfers at the New Grafton Gallery, where, thanks to Ken, I would start to build a career. I owe him so much.”
'Wren Churches' (triptych, oil on board), private collection, photo: Peter Brown
Peter Brown:
“Ken did not waste any time. He was focused on his painting, and it was his life. In his painting, he would say, “Always ask why you started painting and paint with that in mind.”
Remarkably organised, he and Dora seemed to plan his time to the finest detail. Not a minute was wasted.
He was a workaholic, due to his passion for painting which drove his life. If it was not for Chrissie [his first love and second wife] who persuaded him to take Sundays off, he would have worked – it seems – every day. Even then, he would be in the studio by 7am each morning.
In his keenness to get cracking on an Indian trip, he arrived on site – the spot he had recce’d the day before when his paints got held up in Delhi – set up his easel, laid out his paint only to look up and see it was still dark.
His ambition was simply “to earn a living from painting”. Coming from very humble and poor beginnings, he had a reverent respect for money and for what it meant – both its power for doing good and its ability to buy time to do what you were born for. Although he accumulated wealth over his lifetime, it was never squandered, and he never wore it on his wrist or showed it off.
He raised huge funds for charity, and when he took on voluntary roles, he performed them to his best efforts. During his five years as NEAC President, he raised £75,000 at a fundraising auction, commissioned and saw-through the publication of the wonderful ‘The New English’, a history of the society by Kenneth McConkey, hosted the [then] Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall to dinner in his South Bolton Studio, started the NEAC Friends’ scheme and acquired numerous prizes for the Annual Exhibition which, in his time as president, saw record sales that are still yet to be beaten.
He was a brilliant raconteur and a joy to be with, dropping gems of wisdom in your ear or retelling anecdotes as he gently grabbed your forearm. He could address a room and bring a tear to the eye of the most hardened of lawyers or bankers and in the next minute have us all clutching our sides in raptures of laughter.
He was a wonderful painter, inspiring more artists and art lovers through his eye, his touch, his honesty, and his brilliance-in-seeing than anyone I can think of.
And it is remarkable that he did all this and yet still found time to support upcoming and young artists on an individual level, making us all feel special. He was constantly in demand, and although Dora did her best to protect him, he could never say no to judging a competition – national or local – or to giving a talk.
I have always painted in his shadow. I will always look up to him. And although he is gone, we will continue to be swept along in his wake for years. We were lucky to have had him.
Thank you, Ken and thank you, Dora.”
'The Riva degli Schiavoni' (oil on canvas), courtesy of Manya Igel Fine Arts, London / Bridgeman Images
Charlotte Halliday:
Ken has been a friend I have valued for much of my life – wise, inspiring, generous, kind. When asked him, some years ago, if he would come and open a one-man show I was having, he demurred - having too many commitments, in Venice, in Cornwall (in India?) – but he said he would write something about my work for to catalogue. The piece was touching, heart-warming – flattering? – and I have been proud to quote it ever since!
The New English, true to its founding beliefs, was headed by an Honorary Secretary until 1998 – when Bill Bower retried. The Executive Committee asked Ken if he would take over. After some thought, he put his decision in a letter to me, The Keeper.
Before it arrived, I gathered that he had changed his mind: so, if it said “Yes”, it meant "No" – if it said "No" it meant "Yes". I opened it with trembling fingers!
And he agreed, on the understanding that – as President – he could carry much more weight than as Secretary, and that he would do it for a five-year term.
He gave it his all for those five years, and probably saved the Club’s life.
Patrick Cullen:
“I have many fond recollections of Ken, particularly painting with him in India which I was lucky enough to do on four occasions. He was such good company, a great travelling companion and a brilliant raconteur. He was always as game as any one of us, including artists way younger than he, to be the first out of the blocks to capture the drama of a sunrise. And if the clouds obscured it, he'd paint a wonderfully subtle misty-morning view.
On one trip to India, his and my luggage got delayed and for 24 hours we were stymied – unable to paint. I quite relished the chance of a lie-in and a leisurely breakfast by the lake in Udaipur, but Ken was beside himself with frustration at having to watch Peter Brown hit the streets and complete two oils in as many hours. Ken was highly competitive but always in a very inclusive spirit. It seemed to infect us all in an entirely positive way. All my trips with Ken were immensely productive which I know in part was down to the example he set.
For a man so generous to others, he was endearingly mean towards the tax man. It never ceased to amuse me how Ken would hoard all the party's meal receipts when we were in India to claim against tax. Nobody objected, as meals in India are so cheap that – relative to our flights and accommodation – a few curries hardly figured. But if you could pocket everybody's bills!
I think his relative poverty as a child, and memories of rationing, left their mark even when he had become pretty wealthy through the enormous popularity of his art.
Ken, of course, became very successful long before the days of social media. Perhaps for that reason he never acquired an Instagram-friendly moniker like that which has stuck to Peter Brown. But I like the one that John Maloney once suggested for him: ‘High Street Ken’. Touch of class that, and Ken as a painter was in a class of his own.”
'Cheapside 10.10am, 10th of February 1970' (oil on canvas), courtesy of Manya Igel Fine Arts, London / Bridgeman Images
Salliann Putman:
“It was a real privilege to have known Ken. He lived for his art and the art of others. From his student days, he knew that he wanted to be a figurative painter. Whilst those around him explored the realms of abstraction, Ken kept his focus on what he saw, that which inspired him to take up the brush . . . The light flooding into his studio, the early morning sun from the Academia bridge, the model against the window . . . The play of light drew Ken to his subject.
I was privileged to paint with Ken in Provence and in Morocco. What an inspiration he was! His enthusiasm and dedication to his work set the tone for others.
Ken was always very encouraging to other painters. He loved going to private views and he nearly always came away having purchased a piece for work by another artist. The walls of his studios in London, Mousehole and Venice were covered with his collection.
He was a great friend, and he will be greatly missed. But the wonderful thing is that we still have his work.
If you want to know more about Ken, I highly recommend his book, ‘Light and Dark, the Autobiography of Ken Howard’. As I read it, I felt that Ken was by my side telling his story, revealing both the light and the dark moments, in a very honest and sensitive way.
Thank you, Ken, for all you gave us. We are the richer for having known you.”
Mary Jackson & Tom Coates:
“We spent a few holidays with Ken and Dora. Ken was always up with the lark in the morning to make sure we were woken they put the whistling kettle on!
Ken was always a stickler for spartan-clean brushes. When we returned to the apartment, before he had time to sort them out, Dora had spartan-clean clothes in mind – making him strip to his snazzy black briefs and into the washpot they went (no washing machine) ready for the next day!
Ken was so generous and enthusiastic, attending private views at large galleries or small situated in or out of town – making his entrance with huge smile, sporting his black trilby, cloak, and glittering Venetian shoes – often coming away with a painting to add to his colourful collection. We will miss him but we’re so grateful to have been a small part of his long and fruitful life.”
Richard Sorrell:
“Ken was a good friend of mine for many years. I met him when he joined the Royal Watercolour Society in the late 1970s, and I was on the Executive committee of the New English Art Club during the whole of his remarkable presidency when the profile of that society was raised to a new golden age. A high point was the grand artists' dinner that he hosted for the (then) Prince of Wales and Camilla at his splendid studio in Chelsea.
Ken was a highly accomplished and very popular painter. He had a huge circle of friends and supporters and was loved by all. His organisational abilities were legendary, and he was generous in his support of artists, of amateur art societies, and of art appreciation societies. He travelled widely, painting avidly as he went. He had studios in Chelsea, Venice and Mousehole. When he came to Cornwall, he loved to paint at Sennen.
I shall miss this man of sparkling and boundless energy. Ken was a remarkable man who defied all expectations. In a period when it was very difficult to make a living as a figurative painter, Ken made a fortune from his work.
He rose from a non-artistic background (his father was a factory worker). He discovered a fine ability in drawing and tonal painting, and also a great ability to drive and develop his powers – to promote his work through forming friendships and acquiring devoted admirers and followers.
Ken was proud of his achievements. He once remarked to me that the worst thing that someone who wanted to be an artist could do was to have an artist as a father! He was not restrained by all those hesitations and doubts that impede so many artists, but went decisively forward and is said to have painted 350 paintings a year.
I knew Ken at the RWS, the NEAC, and the Chelsea Arts Club, of which he was a life member (he kindly recommended me for membership) and in Cornwall. We went to each other’s homes for meals, and though he was focused on his work when in Mousehole, we saw him and Dora from time to time.
Once he said, 'I never had any children, funnily enough.' All his creativity and drive was concentrated on painting and organising. When I was RWS President, I modelled much of my strategy on Ken's presidency of the NEAC.
Sue and I visited Ken several times during his last illness. It was a cruel way to end an intensely busy life – trapped in inactivity.”
'Low Tide, Mousehole' (oil on canvas), courtesy of Manya Igel Fine Arts, London / Bridgeman Images
RUTH STAGE
When I started showing at the New Grafton Gallery in 1992, Ken Howard was very much the star of the show. I found his paintings very inspiring and was delighted when he seemed to like mine.
In the following years, Ken has helped me an unbelievable amount in my career. He suggested that I apply to be a member of the New English Art Club back in 1998; he collected my work; attended my private views and selected my paintings for group exhibitions. He was a judge on the panel of the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize that I was lucky enough to win in 2013. In 2020, when I had my most recent show at the Russell Gallery, I was cheeky enough to ask him to write a piece for the catalogue, he even agreed then.
When I think about it, I wonder where I would be without him! What a talented, kind and amazing man he was. I will miss him very much.
Charles Hardaker:
“I was a student with Ken at the Royal College of Art during the 1950s. He was a guiding light to painters who were in the tradition of painting the visual scene unaffected by trendy ideas and ideologies. He was most generous with his practical help, hospitality and friendship.”
Paul Newland:
“I first met or, rather, saw and heard at a distance, Ken Howard when I went to Harrow School of Art as an extremely callow youth of seventeen. Ken was teaching there, but not teaching the likes of us: we were the new intake of the fast-changing art education scene of the early-to-mid 1960s.
He taught those finishing under the old NDD system of art qualification. We were very much aware of his work, although as sixties kids – thrilled by American late modernism – we were inclined to think of his, and other RA exhibitors, work as an art of the backwaters. Kind of provincial. Although, when you were confronted by one of those pictures of railway sidings at Neasden you couldn't help but be drawn in by the immense sensitivity to light, to the atmosphere of such places – places seen regularly, passing by on the trains, if you lived out in Metroland somewhere.
He gave a talk to all the students on materials and methods, I remember. His commitment was obvious as he held up a smallish, blank canvas, telling us that he always kept a couple in the back of his car so that on the drive home he might stop for a half hour or more somewhere to get down the basics of something seen that appealed to him.
I lost sight of him for many years, just saw the occasional, sometimes slightly patronising appreciation of his pictures in a newspaper. It was only when I began exhibiting at the RA Summer Show that he sprang into my field of vision again. And how! Always so warm, so encouraging. Some of the Northern Ireland pictures I found very moving. And then, when David Wolfers took an interest in what I was doing, finding my pictures hanging near Ken's at the new Grafton mixed shows that David put on a couple of times a year. Studio studies, quite often. Such lovely tonalities.
I remember long chats over supper at the Royal Watercolour Society, anecdotes, visits to his gorgeous studio house, his humour at selection committees.
A figure of stature. To be greatly missed.”
'British Troops on the Streets of Belfast during a Riot' (oil & tempera on card) Photo: National Army Museum
Julie Held:
“The first time I met Ken was through his second wife, Christa Gaa, whom I met whilst drawing in the life-drawing room at the RA Schools and we then became friends. I could at that time speak German fairly well and as my parents were child refugees from Germany we had much to talk about.
She invited me for supper one Saturday and it was there that I met Ken. He made spaghetti very well and we ate it in his amazing Kensington studio. There began a good, friendly acquaintanceship.
I remained on very good terms with Christa until her untimely death from cancer. Ken was a great storyteller, kind and always one hundred percent encouraging. Happily, he married Dora and lived a happy and productive life.”
Andrew Macara:
“Ken, Bernard and Tom were the first real artists I met. I met Ken at Academy Frames and he saw my work and started chatting about painting. I had seen and loved his art for many years.
I was so pleased when he gave me some advice which I still follow. His books, I find, are still valid today. He will be a great loss to many painters, and we will all miss seeing his new fresh work.”
Jacqueline Rizvi:
“Ken was at the heart of the New English Art Club. His work embodied all the qualities that the NEAC holds dear: wonderful draftsmanship, mastery of tone, and emotional subtlety.
At the Annual Exhibition, his pictures were always eagerly sought out and loved by so many people. I am lucky enough to own two of Ken's paintings: a lovely little beach scene of people bathing and a brightly coloured windbreak; and a watercolour of his studio interior, a beautiful study in tone.
Ken was a very kind man, and humorous – a great teller of amusing anecdotes. He was always generous and encouraging towards other artists.
He was one of the greats and will be sorely missed.”
Jacqueline Williams:
“Ken was a pivotal figure of the NEAC – such a generous and thoughtful person, always keen to encourage. It was thanks to Ken that I got my first solo show at the New Grafton in Barnes, by getting David Wolfers to come and see my work while a student at the RA Schools back in the late 1980s. Ken was also instrumental in my membership of the NEAC. His encouragement and enthusiasm, I know, were key to the group and his presidency was a high point in its history.
Ken's support continued, with he and Dora very often attending mine and many other members’ solo private views. I'm proud that he brought several of my paintings as I looked to him as one of my inspirational artists.”
Diana Calvert:
“I can hardly imagine New English exhibitions without his luminous paintings of Venice. In fact, light flooded in on all his paintings, whether of his studio, beach scenes or Venice.”
'Beach Pool, Sennen' (oil on canvas), courtesy of Manya Igel Fine Arts, London / Bridgeman Images
Michael Weller:
“It’s late afternoon in 2014 and raining, says my painter friend Annelise. Ken has forgotten the two of us are coming for a studio visit but rallies quickly. There are pictures on every wall, but by other artists. Going up the stairs, more paintings. Now we’re in the big studio. There is a glass of wine for the three of us. Dora leaves us to it but isn’t far away. We have our work to show Ken and he looks at all of it.
We see a still life by his former wife Chrissie, who died young. She was a much better painter than him, Ken says. He remembers her finishing the painting.
Ken talks about an artist whose work he admires, walking back from a meeting, holding forth about drawing. “You know,” he says, with a glint in his eye, “I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about.”
A courier comes in to take his paintings. Another painter turns up unannounced and Ken is friendly to him too. I look on, willing the man to leave so we can have Ken to ourselves.
His unframed landscapes are on the floor, catching the late afternoon light.”
Daniel Shadbolt:
“I will always be grateful to Ken for his support and generosity.”
Michael Whittlesea:
“Ken had a strict work regime. Morning: Mousehole, model arrives, leaves at midday . . . much to the interest of the neighbours. Afternoon: Painting Mousehole beach. It was difficult to get Ken to have lunch. It broke up his working day.
In Venice, a passer-by looked at Ken’s painting and advised him to look at Ken Howard’s paintings. Now he is good . . .
Ken was very generous, buying NEAC members’ paintings. The studio at South Bolton Gardens was often used for NEAC meetings. Ken was lovely. He did paintings people liked."
Susan Ryder:
“What a great help and influence Ken was to so many of us, and what time and trouble he gave to the New English Art Club. I so love the story of how he and Dora met – painting her by a fountain in his beloved Venice.”
'The Mansion House, c.1971' (oil on canvas), Bridgeman Images
Maurice Sheppard:
“Ken told me of the ‘break-in’ to his Boltons studio. Mysteriously, only his best suit and some good wine were taken. Still on the studio worktable was the pile of signed and dated watercolours and drawings for his forthcoming show with David Wolfers at the New Grafton Gallery.
This was all just following his tour with the Gurkhas on a recruiting visit to Nepal. At the show, Ken had a bunch of mounted but not framed pictures. I bought ‘Kathmandu’ - a watercolour of the flag-draped golden pagoda. It cost me £90.
This was all in about 1979, just when he was elected to Associateship of the Royal Watercolour Society. I remember meeting him carrying in his portfolio. He showed me the work which was exquisitely mounted. It transpired that he had simply ‘borrowed’ them from the Imperial War Museum collection. They were the result of his being a War Artist in Ireland.
It was in 1995 that I made a considerable effort to persuade Ken to stand as a candidate for the Presidency of the Royal Watercolour Society. He said, "My arguments are the same as those put forward in my letter from Venice. I want to give my whole concentration to my work and hopefully produce something worthwhile in the next ten years."
We exchanged three letters on this subject, but what can be said is that whereas the RWS lost out, it was the New English Art Club that was to benefit, as he later took on the Presidency of the Club to great acclaim.
In 2011, Ken wrote to me thanking me for a gift of a small oil painting by Rodney Burn RA. In his wonderful autobiography, Ken said how much he admired Burn's work. "It is sad how people pass into time and the next generation don't know them. I had a young student here yesterday and I mentioned Alan Bennett and she said, "Who is he?!!!" Rodney was a special man at a special time, I remember going to his house at Strand-on-the-Green and buying a drawing I really couldn't afford but that's how one should buy art.
I felt deeply privileged to receive at least two letters written by Ken with his left hand – as he taught himself to write again. Yes, he was a workaholic who had worn out his right hand.
Incidentally, if you are reading this and you took Ken's best suit, please send it back to the President of the New English Art Club via Mall Galleries. You should include a voucher to purchase wine, and a note of apology. Your name you can keep to yourself.”
You can read more about Ken Howard’s life and work on his NEAC profile page, or via the following links to articles, tributes and obituaries:
Transcript of Peter Brown's Eulogy for Ken
Header image: 'Gondola at the Riva degli Schiavoni' (oil on canvas) by Ken Howard (1932-2022), Courtesy of Manya Igel Fine Arts, London / Bridgeman Images