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"The green van, Leyburn," Watercolour.

Archive Item: BC MS ROM 1/5/19/4 Contains digital media

Details

Type of record: Archive

Title: "The green van, Leyburn," Watercolour.

Level: Item

Classmark: BC MS ROM 1/5/19/4

Original reference: BC MS Rom 1/1155

Creator(s): Frederick Lawson

Date(s): 1925

Size and medium: 1 painting

Manifest: https://iiif.library.leeds.ac.uk/presentation/cc/yjvlwyyg

Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/504957

Collection group(s): Gypsy, Traveller and Roma Collections

Description

Watercolour of a green Gypsy Traveller wagon.


Street behind with church, to left; van with washing, seated adults, children.


Signed, "Fred Lawson."


33 x 40 cm. “Leyburn, 1925.”

Additional description

"This picture shows the caravans in Leyburn, in the town with cloths drying and children under the shafts. They are probably on their way to Appleby (Fair). The covered cart in the background might mean they are going to sell. Stopping laws were probably better then so that Gypsies and Travellers could sell things on the way to Appleby and people in villages were glad to see them."

"People still stop at Leyburn on their way to Appleby (Fair) during the summer. There is a big field that’s common land with a brook that runs through, there are sheep and wild horses."

"It might have shown the scene to be more romantic/exotic than it actually was."

"This scene looks like it was captured by an artist who was there, not a made up image, - no one is looking toward the artist. People might have known they were being painted and asked what he was doing. It's different from a photograph that is instant, - a painter can stand back and take time."

"Still get artists at Appleby today. Gypsies and Travellers didn’t used to like having photographs taken. For many Gypsies and Travellers they now have places to hang things on walls – and there's pride in their history."


Comments are a summary of discussions with members from Gypsy and Traveller communities based in Yorkshire including members of the Cunningham, Hanrahan, Mulvanny, Rennard and Taylor families. (Re-visiting Collections Workshop Oct 2016).

Provenance

Was mounted, framed and glazed, (now removed). Title taken from back of frame.

Access and usage

Reproduction

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