These works illustrate a fast vanishing aspect of Britain. We believe it to be a hugely important genre - social realism recording our past in an immediate and intimate manner. Mining artists in particular were very different from most other Social Realist artists in that they lived the life they painted. Working underground himself, both Tom McGuinness and Harry Malkin are able to depict the claustrophobic darkness in a way which enables us to see and experience it with them. Just as the Staithes Group's Arthur Friedenson is able to paint wind, McGuinness and Malkiin worked out how to paint the dark.

It is a genre which is only just beginning to have its place in the History of British art recognised. We believe there will never be a better time to invest in it, a belief borne out by the number and range of examples which we have bought, detailed below. CLICK ON THE SECTION TITLES TO SEE THE PICTURES.

Tom had an unusual technique for working in watercolour, or, more accurately, gouache (opaque water based paint), He painted in thick gouache, leaving areas he wanted to be dark grey free from paint. When dry he would cover the whole picture with Indian ink. The painting was then washed (often in the shower!) Soaked-in colour and Indian ink was then left, giving a soft, subtle effect. When dry again he would usually add detail with Indian ink.

Tom McGuinness sometimes engraved his mining scenes directly onto copper plated with a tool called a burin. The image is printed in a simalar way to etchings, but the linear construction of the image is evident as is a lack of texture. These original prints are difficult to photograph, so please refer to the list at the end of the mining section.

Etchings: A mix of beeswax, resin and bitumen is used to coat a metal plate. The surace is hardened and covered in soot with the flame fom a tallow candle. The wax surface is then scratched to create the desired image. The plate is the submerged in acid which eats away the area where the metal has been exposed. After a numbers of trails and 'artist's proofs' the wax coating is removed and the plate ready for printing. It is inked so that the grooves retain the ink, then roughened damp paper is put into the press and the image (plus the mark of the plate around the edges) pressed onto the paper.
Most of Tom's original prints (pictures conceived only as a print and constructed on the plate by the artist himself, as opposed to the reproduction of an existing picture) make use of a number of methods, often combining etching with engraving and aquatint. Aquatint involves the texturing of the plate surface in adidition to the linear processes of etching and/or engraving.

Etchings: A mix of beeswax, resin and bitumen is used to coat a metal plate. The surace is hardened and covered in soot with the flame fom a tallow candle. The wax surface is then scratched to create the desired image. The plate is the submerged in acid which eats away the area where the metal has been exposed. After a numbers of trails and 'artist's proofs' the wax coating is removed and the plate ready for printing. It is inked so that the grooves retain the ink, then roughened damp paper is put into the press and the image (plus the mark of the plate around the edges) pressed onto the paper.
Most of Tom's original prints (pictures conceived only as a print and constructed on the plate by the artist himself, as opposed to the reproduction of an existing picture) make use of a number of methods, often combining etching with engraving and aquatint. Aquatint involves the texturing of the plate surface in adidition to the linear processes of etching and/or engraving.

McGuinness worked as a miner, initially at Annfield Plain and then at Fishburn. He studied art part time at the Art School in Gladstone Street Darlington, and became a member of the Sketching Club at the Spennymoor Settlement. He has exhibited widely and his pictures of miners and their community is sought avidly by collectors of this genre. Very distinctive, his work is characterized by a thorough understanding of his subject, a wonderful sense of colour and a distinctive way of drawing figures, great emphasis being placed on an attenuated depiction of limbs. Most of our selection is from his sought-after earlier period when his colours combine richness with subtlety, but not his very early work which is painted with black outlines filled with solid colour and lacks fluidity.
Two books have been written about Tom and His work, both by Robert McManners and Gillian Wales:
Tom McGuiness, the art of an underground miner, Gemini Productions, 1977 and McGuinness Interpreting the Art of Tom McGuinness, Gemini Productions 2006.

SECTION III: Mining and Industrial pictures
Tom McGuinness 1926-2006 Etchings with Aquatint and other Techniques
257. Driller, 3¾"x4¾", signed, titled, numbered 49/50 and dated 1977, all in pencil below image. £495
258. Miners Going Inbye, 3¼"x4¾", signed, titled, numbered 33/50 and dated 1977, all in pencil below image. (Illustrated p. 64 Tom McGuinness, The Art of an Underground Miner) £550
259. Driller, 3¾"x4¾", signed, titled, numbered 42/50 and dated 1977, all in pencil below image. £495
260. Deputy's Kist, 6¾"x4¾", signed, titled, numbered 14/30 and dated '77, all in pencil below image. £595
261. Women Pickets, 7"x3¼", signed, titled, numbered 10/50 and dated '86, all in pencil below image. £595
262. Meeting Station, 3¼"x4¾", signed, titled, numbered 21/50 and dated '76, all in pencil below image. £550
263. Hand Putter, 2¼"x7¼", signed, titled, numbered 7/40 and dated '83, all in pencil below image. £425
264. Hand Putter, 2¼"x7¼", signed, titled, numbered 23/40 and dated '83, all in pencil below image. £425
265. Putter No.1, 2½"x4", signed, titled, numbered 5/24 and dated '81, all in pencil below image. £395
266. Putter No. 1, 2½"x4", signed, titled, numbered 9/24 and dated '81, all in pencil below image. £395
267. Putter No.2, 3"x4", signed, titled, numbered 25/25 and dated '81, all in pencil below image. £450
268. Hutton Seam, 2¼"x7¼", signed, titled, numbered 31/50 and dated '80, all in pencil below image. . (Illustrated p. 105 Tom McGuinness, The Art of an Underground Miner) £450
269. Drilling Props, 5¾"x8¼", signed, titled, numbered 17/30 and dated '78, all in pencil below image. (Illustrated p. 12 Tom McGuinness, The Art of an Underground Miner) £650
270. Fillers setting Props, 5¼"x13¼", signed, titled, numbered 18/20 and dated '79, all in pencil below image. £650
271. Miners in the Return, 3½"x6¾", signed, titled, numbered 16/20 and dated '78, all in pencil below image. £495
272. Fillers, 2¾"x4", signed, titled, numbered 10/30 and dated '77, all in pencil below image. £450
273. Fillers, 2¾"x4", signed, titled, numbered 20/30 and dated '77, all in pencil below image. £450
274. Shifts that Pass in the Night, 3¼"x3", signed, titled, numbered 26/30 and dated '95, all in pencil below image. £495
275. Face Workers, 2¾"x4", signed, titled, numbered 18/25 and dated '77, all in pencil below image. £495
276. Miners Gala No. 1, 3¼"x2½", signed, titled and dated '83, all in pencil below image. £395
277. Miner with Pony, 13½"x8½", signed, titled and numbered 11/30 and dated 1981. £695

McGuinness Engravings
278. Shot Firer 2¾" x4", signed, titled, numbered 10/30 signed and dated '78. £395
279. Pit Road, 2¾"x4", signed, titled, numbered 16/25 and dated '77, all in pencil below image. (Illustrated p. 61 Tom McGuinness, The Art of an Underground Miner and pl.17 p 63 McGuinness, Interpreting the Art of Tom McGuinness) £395
280. Coal Hewer, 4"x2¾", signed, titled, numbered 33/50 and dated '81, all in pencil below image. £395

McGuinness Sugar Lift Prints
281. Lost Generation, 4"x4¾", signed, titled, numbered 33/50 and dated '93, all in pencil below image. £375
282. Miners in the Cage, 7"x6", signed, titled and inscribed Artist's Proof No.1, all in pencil below image. £425
283. Take Five 3¼"x3½" signed, titled, numbered 9/25 and dated '78. SOLD

McGuinness Monochrome Lithographs
284. Coal Hewers, 16"x28",signed, titled and numbered 19/30 signed and dated '78, in pencil below the image. £950
285. Tilley Curve: 20"x16½", signed, titled, numbered 2/10 and dated '79, all in pencil below image. £950
286. Waiting for Shots: 10¼"x17½", signed, titled, numbered 16/20 and dated 1975, all in pencil below image. £795

McGuinness Coloured Lithographs
287. Machine Men Starting the Cut, 10"x34", signed, titled, numbered 4/25 and dated 1977, all in pencil below image. £850
288. The Pantry: 22¼"x18", signed, titled, numbered 20/20 and dated 1978, all in pencil below image. £950

McGuinness Pastels
289. Mining Village, 9½"x15", signed. £1,650

McGuinness Watercolours with Indian Ink
290. Boldon Colliery, 12"x25", signed and dated '84. £3,250
291. The Village Street, Leading to the Pit, Horden, 9½"x24¼", signed. £3,250
292. Memories, The Lost Generation, 16½"x18½", signed and dated 2000. £2,750
293. Two Miners, 5"x8½", signed. £1,850
294. The Miner's Wife. 7½"x6", signed. £1,450
295. Working a Narrow Seam, 6"x14½", signed. £1,250
296. A Tight Squeeze, 5"x14½", signed. £1,250
297. Drilling in the Tunnel, 9"x10½", signed. £1,950
298. Abstract, monochrome, 16"x19¼", signed and dated 1965. £1750
299. Harvey Steps, watercolour, gouache and Indian ink, 7"x6¼", signed. £2,250

McGuinness Oil Paintings
300. At the Coal Face, oils on board, 13"x35", signed. £3,950
301. Bait Time, oils on canvas laid on panel, 11"x35", signed. £6,500
302. Changing Tracks, oils on board, 35"x42", signed and dated '63. £11,500
(Our other McGuinness oil paintings are with Wakefield Mining Museum to be exhibited there later this month)