The Blog

The following transcript is of a letter Isherwood sent to his friends Molly and Keith Routledge, below this is a copy of the actual letter in Isherwood’s hand. It gives an insight into just how Isherwood was feeling at that time.                                                                                                                                                                                     151 W L (Wigan Lane)                                                                                                                                                                                      28.12.72 Dear Molly and Keith Thanks much…

Our Memories of Jim Isherwood I first met Jim, and his mother Lily, in 1966 during one of his shows at Trinity College, Cambridge. My first impression was of a man whose softly spoken and self-effacing character was a refreshing change to the increasingly brash and fast-pace world of the sixties that we were all…

  Once again the fire-damaged paintings are making an appearance but this time with a new and very disturbing twist. The picture shown here has been deliberately and materially altered from the original. The fire-damaged picture at auction had severe damage to the right hand side and cutting away this damage would have removed the original Isherwood…

I suppose you can look at the restoration of a painting in two different ways. The first being, don’t, it should be left just as it is. Let the painting speak for itself. The second being, bring the painting back to its former glory. I think I come down on the side of leave it,…

A Blast From My Distant Past   The year was 1960, I had just left school with my “O”Levels and landed a job at the local freelance news firm, McConnell News Service, in Addison Chambers, Walgate, Wigan. At sixteen years old, I was the junior photographer. In my first week I arrived at work a…

A unique summer art show featuring eight northern painters took place in Wigan on the 19th and 20th June 2010. The show-piece of the two day event at Wigan Town Hall were paintings by Wigan’s J Lawrence Isherwood and Appley Bridge’s Theodore Major. But other artists – some well known and some striving to make a name for themselves were…

  A signed print of Field Marshal Montgomery of Alamein and painted by J Lawrence Isherwood  was featured on “Dickinson’s Real Deal” TV show from Lancaster, screened on 14th May 2010. The large print – one of a limited edition of just 75 – was bought almost 30 years ago for £300. Amazingly, when antiques dealer…

  It was the society event of the season when two sisters married two brothers. The brothers were James Lawrence Isherwood and Gordon Leyland Isherwood. The family was well-known in shoe business. The girls were Mary Banks and Florence Banks, whose family was, and still is, in the funeral undertaking business. The Isherwood and Banks…

  Wigan has a new £2m Museum of Wigan Life – and a small  part has been devoted to Isherwood. The Wigan Culture and Leisure Trust has created the grand new facility in the History Shop where George Orwell studied in 1936 while researching his book The Road to Wigan Pier. As our photograph shows,…

  A quality painting of Brighton Pavilion by Isherwood has been sold in auction for £4,000. The work of art went through Hall’s Auction Rooms in Shropshire on 24th March 2010 – and was considered to be in the top range of Isherwood’s work. As collectors appreciate, Isherwood’s work varies in quality – and his best works…