Inspired

Weekends and the beach inspire me. I’ve been walking up and down the same bit of beach for 20 years and it’s never the same walk; projecting ideas into space, collecting bits, looking at details. It’s the perfect way to unravel the week, put thoughts in order and put the next week together.

Artists have been finding inspiration here for centuries. JMW Turner and Wilson Steer painted here in the 19th century. Charles Rennie Mackintosh was arrested here, drawing the coastline during World War I, accused of being a German spy. Stanley Spencer and Joseph Southall were regular visitors in the 1920s and 1930s. We recently produced a catalogue of Southall’s paintings; the fishing boats may have gone from the beach but it’s reassuring to see how little has changed.

And in the 1950s, Edward Bawden made a drawing there for British Transport Films – on our minds at the moment, as we’re planning a book and exhibition of his work for London Transport next year and a catalogue for a show of his paintings and prints in a few weeks’ time. How did he get away with some of those drawings? Great clients?

Brian WebbWebb & Webb Design