About this Event
Wednesday 20 May 2026
11am – 1pm
Northampton Museum and Art Gallery
£8
Tea, coffee and biscuits included
Speakers include author of the recent critically acclaimed monograph Philip Vann, journalist Ian Mayes and Peter Gommon, David’s son, will all speak about David Gommon’s extraordinary creative talent.
Opportunity to purchase signed copies of the recent critically acclaimed monograph ‘David Gommon’ by Philip Vann at discounted price.
Join us for a lecture on the internationally respected artist David Gommon who lived and taught in Northampton. This is a unique opportunity to find out more about this artist and his connection to Northamptonshire, to view three pictures from the collection not normally on display and to buy a copy of the newly published monograph; David Gommon
Author of the recent critically acclaimed monograph Philip Vann, journalist Ian Mayes and Peter Gommon, David’s son, will all speak about David Gommon’s extraordinary creative talent.
David painted up until his death in 1987 and began his career as part of the 20’s group that included Christopher Wood, Barbara Hepworth, and Victor Pasmore under the patronage of Lucy Carrington Wertheim. Lucy was an art collector, patron and gallerist who gave him his first solo show and became a lifelong friend.
After the war he took his first and only teaching job at Northampton Grammar School, where as the Senior Art Master he worked and painted until he retired. After he retired he painted the enormous Creation Mural at St Crispins Hospital, which no longer exists.
David left a legacy of over 450 works in the permanent collections at galleries across the UK, and in New Zealand, Australia and held in private collections across the world and held locally at Northampton Art Gallery.
Speaker biographies
Ian Mayes – Ian is a British Journalist and Editor who started his career at the Northampton Chronical and Echo. He was the first Readers Editor at the Guardian 1997-2007. Was president of the Organisation of News Ombudsman from2005-20027. Mayes is the author of books including Witness in a Time of Turmoil: Inside the Guardian's Global Revolution, Volume 1, 1986–1995, published in May 2025.
Philip Vann is an art critic, art historian and author of the David Gommon Monograph. Philip Vann is a writer on the visual arts and a freelance exhibition curator. He is the author of Face to Face: British Self-Portraits in the Twentieth Century (Sansom & Co, 2004) and numerous books and catalogues on British, Irish and international painters and sculptors.
Peter Gommon is an Architect and Landscape Architect who specialised on Community Projects and is the son of David. He has many-personal memories of his father the artist and growing up in in Northamptonshire. He commissioned the Monograph.
David Gommon
Born into a working-class family in London’s Battersea, David Gommon (1913-1987) first studied art at the local Polytechnic when he was sixteen. Subsisting on odd jobs he visited the art galleries of Holland to study the great masters. In London he met a champion of modern British art, Lucy Carrington Wertheim, who became his patron. She championed artists such as Christopher Wood, Alfred Wallis and Frances Hodgkins-who gave David his first exhibition in 1934.
Philip Vann, writing in the Monograph, details ‘the development of Gommon’s visionary landscape art-rooted latterly in the paradisical surroundings of the Northamptonshire village of Hardingstone where he and his wife Jean lived for several decades. His art-which is noteable for its at once subtle and audacious colourism-is also enriched by his love and appreciation of poetry (including works by John Clare, Yeats and T. S. Eliot) and his friendship with figures such as the poet and artist David Jones.’
David retired early to have time to paint freely; he remained full of ideas and continued to vigorously develop his “personal and eloquent language” until his sudden death in 1987.
Tickets are also available to purchase direct from the museum either in person or by calling 01604 526322, Tuesday to Saturday 10am - 5pm and Sundays 12-5pm
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Northampton Museum and Art Gallery, 4-6 Guildhall Road, Northampton, United Kingdom
GBP 9.38
