AR Woods at Stromness Museum!

Orkney’s mysterious WWII mural painter, AR Woods, is being brought back to life with an exhibition at Stromness Museum this weekend. From Friday to Monday, three oil paintings – believed to be by the same AR Woods that painted the famous mural in the Mess Hall at Ness Battery – will be on show at the Museum.

The Scapa Flow Landscape Partnership Scheme (SFLPS) have joined local history enthusiasts in the hunt for the identity of the Ness Battery mural artist over the last three years. SFLPS now has two paintings by “an” AR Woods. There is convincing evidence that these paintings are by seaman turned Thames piermaster Albert (John) Rycraft Woods, born Gravesend, Kent in 1877, who retired from his role at Tower Pier in 1947."

The hunt for the artist has gone global. The second of the paintings was posted to the Scapa Flow scheme earlier this year by a Canadian woman, Joan Hollander, who bought it as part of a job lot at an auction near Toronto. She was researching the artist on-line, and found the story about the first oil painting on the www.spirit-of-orkney.com website. She was so moved by the tale that she decided that she must gift her AR Woods painting to Orkney.

The quest moved a step on in April. Iain MacTavish, from Whitchurch in Shropshire, got in touch with SFLPS having found the story on-line. Two years ago he had bought a painting of boats, perhaps on the Thames, by an AR Woods – at what he describes as “a rather posh car boot sale”. Iain’s internet research matched his picture to the two oil paintings in Orkney this April. Within days of getting in touch, he and his partner, Clair Butler, had booked a holiday to Orkney, to bring his painting up for this one-weekend-only show, and to see the Ness Battery mural.

SFLPS Manager, Julian Branscombe, says “We are very excited to be having this mini-exhibition of AR Woods paintings. Stromness Museum is a wonderful venue. Finding another AR Woods painting provides an even better context for linking these oil paintings, known to be a Thames piermaster, to the Ness Battery mural. We are very grateful to Iain and Clare for bringing it to Orkney so it can be put on display this weekend.”

Julian continues “We are still looking for evidence of what brought AR Woods to Orkney, which we hope would provide the final corroborating proof that is by the same man who was the London piermaster. However, we are increasingly confident that we have found our man. Karen Dundas and Fiona Allardyce from Scottish Wall Paintings Conservators felt confident that the style of painting and the form of the signature justified a confident attribution of the mural to the same hand as the two oil paintings. The painting owned by Iain MacTavish painting offers further supporting evidence.”

The renowned Stromness Museum is home to what is arguably Orkney’s most fascinating and varied museum collection. At present it is also hosting their 2012 summer exhibition of Sailors’ Souvenirs. The AR Woods paintings are on display from Friday 6 July to Monday 9 July. The Stromness Museum admission charge remains unchanged, and the Museum is open each day (including Saturday & Sunday) from 10am to 5pm.
To see the famous AR Woods mural at Ness Battery, book your tour with Stromness Tours by ringing 07759 857298 or visit www.nessbattery.co.uk.