{"product_id":"keith-gardner-boats-buildings-chester-st-johns-church-frankby","title":"Keith Gardner RCA (1933-2025) - Boats and Buildings, Chester \/ People Outside St John's Church, Frankby","description":"\u003cp\u003eA highly appealing double-sided oil on board by Keith Gardner RCA, bringing together two characteristic north-west subjects: a lively waterside scene in Chester and a figure-filled view outside St John the Divine at Frankby on the Wirral.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe principal face, \u003cstrong\u003eBoats and Buildings, Chester\u003c\/strong\u003e, is signed \u003cstrong\u003eGARDNER\u003c\/strong\u003e lower left. Boats occupy the foreground, with the architecture of Chester rising beyond. Gardner handles the scene with the immediacy associated with his small plein-air oils, using brisk strokes and blocks of colour to capture the character of the place rather than pursuing a highly finished studio treatment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe reverse, \u003cstrong\u003ePeople Outside St John's Church, Frankby\u003c\/strong\u003e, depicts figures gathered outside the church. It is a particularly engaging subject, combining architecture, landscape and figures in a location Gardner is known to have painted repeatedly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eDetails\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eArtist:\u003c\/strong\u003e Keith James Gardner RCA (1933-2025)\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTitle:\u003c\/strong\u003e Boats and Buildings, Chester \/ People Outside St John's Church, Frankby\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMedium:\u003c\/strong\u003e Oil\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSupport:\u003c\/strong\u003e Board, painted on both sides\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSignature:\u003c\/strong\u003e Signed GARDNER lower left on the Chester side; Frankby side unsigned\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eArtwork size:\u003c\/strong\u003e 29.5 × 40 cm (11.6 × 15.7 in)\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFrame size:\u003c\/strong\u003e 35 × 45.5 cm (13.8 × 17.9 in)\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e Very good condition\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProvenance:\u003c\/strong\u003e The Estate of Keith Gardner\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eChester and Frankby\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth sides of this painting sit comfortably within Gardner's documented artistic territory. Gardner was closely associated with the Wirral and North Wales, and the Royal Cambrian Academy recorded that he specialised in small oil panels painted directly on location around these areas.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrankby was clearly a recurring subject. Other documented Gardner paintings include \u003cstrong\u003eAnimals at Frankby\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eHorses and Girls at Farm Gate, Frankby\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eCattle at Frankby\u003c\/strong\u003e, demonstrating his sustained interest in the village and its surrounding countryside.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe church depicted here is identified as \u003cstrong\u003eSt John the Divine, Frankby\u003c\/strong\u003e, the parish church on Frankby Road. The inclusion of figures outside the building gives the reverse painting an appealing narrative quality that distinguishes it from Gardner's more numerous pure landscapes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Chester composition provides a contrasting urban and waterside subject. Boats, buildings and figures were all recurring elements within Gardner's work, and the two sides together give an unusually broad view of his local subject matter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eA Double-Sided Painting\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth compositions are painted on the same board. The Chester side carries Gardner's signature, \u003cstrong\u003eGARDNER\u003c\/strong\u003e, at the lower left. The Frankby composition on the reverse is unsigned. The listing therefore records the location of the signature precisely rather than suggesting that both sides are individually signed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe double-sided format also has particular relevance to Gardner's working method. His reputation was built substantially around compact oil panels painted rapidly and directly from the subject, and a board used on both faces is entirely consistent with that economical, location-based practice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eAbout the Artist\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKeith James Gardner RCA (1933-2025) was born in Liverpool and studied at Liverpool Art School and the Laird School of Art in Birkenhead.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe was elected an associate member of the Royal Cambrian Academy in 1977 and subsequently became a full Academician. Gardner worked as a full-time painter from 1975 to 1985 before spending thirteen years at the Williamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Royal Cambrian Academy described Gardner as specialising in small “on the spot” oil panels painted around North Wales and the Wirral. His paintings frequently depict boats, beaches, harbours, villages, churches and countryside, handled with direct and economical brushwork. Chester and Frankby sit squarely within his established geographical territory, while the two contrasting compositions show both the urban and rural strands of his practice.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Crag Bank Art","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54950998245714,"sku":"CBA-413","price":175.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1078\/0904\/6866\/files\/IMG_5158.jpg?v=1791224680","url":"https:\/\/cragbankart.co.uk\/products\/keith-gardner-boats-buildings-chester-st-johns-church-frankby","provider":"Crag Bank Art","version":"1.0","type":"link"}