Young Chickens, Gouache, pen and ink, 1958.
‘If I were asked which were the best years,’ wrote Walter Hoyle (1922 – 2000) ‘I would not hesitate to answer those spent in and around Great Bardfield and Great Saling’. During that happy time, between 1952 and 1975, Walter was frequently inspired by the everyday scenes around him, including these busy and elegant young chickens, maybe spotted in the spring of 1958. Walter sold this picture at the 1958 Great Bardfield artists’ exhibition to a private collector, who eventually gave it to the Fry Gallery in 2019.
Come and see this picture in the current exhibition at the Fry Art Gallery ‘Great Bardfield and Beyond: A Working Landscape’ from Sunday 7th April until Sunday 27th October.