Spring Wedding Oil on Canvas by John Bolam
The days are getting longer. Winter is coming to an end. The bare trees and long coats of the guests identify this as the season depicted by John Bolam in the painting newly donated to the Fry Art Gallery by his niece Frances Hurd.
John Bolam (1922–2009) studied painting at Hornsey School of Art and furniture design at High Wycombe School of Art. From 1970 to 1983 Bolam was Head of the School of Art at Cambridge College of Arts and Technology. He lived for a number of years in Castle Street, Saffron Walden.
An unusual survivor from John Bolam’s early work, most of which he painted over, this picture was possibly given to Frances Hurd’s parents when they returned from China having been married there, when they both volunteered for the Friends’ Ambulance Unit. This would date the painting to the mid 1940s.
The picture is likely to be on display in the gallery this year. We re-open on Sunday 5th April with Fry’s Popular Delights in the main gallery, and Papercuts: 30 Years of Collage & Illustration by Michelle Thompson in the Gibson Room.