Joan Hutt
Encyclopedia
Joan Hutt was a British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

 artist who spent most of her career in North Wales
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...

.

Early life

Joan Hutt was born on 16 September 1913 in Aspenden
Aspenden
Aspenden is a village and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. The village is just to the south of Buntingford.The Prime Meridian passes just to the east of Aspenden....

, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

, England Her father, John Hutt MBE, was posted with the Ministry of Food in Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

 at that time, but had sent his wife back to England to give birth. Mother and child duly returned to Malta. At the outbreak of the First World War, the whole family returned to the UK.

Her father's family, the Hutts, were originally of French Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...

 extraction. Notable ascendants included John Hutt (1746–1794), Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 Flag-captain (buried in Westminster Abbey), John Hutt
John Hutt
John Hutt was Governor of Western Australia from 1839 to 1846.Born in London on 24 July 1795, John Hutt was the fourth of 13 children of Richard Hutt of Appley Towers, Ryde, Isle of Wight. He was educated at Christ's Hospital, and in 1815 inherited Appley Towers...

 (1795–1880), Governor of Western Australia from 1839 to 1846, and Sir William Hutt
William Hutt (British MP)
Sir William Hutt KCB, PC was a British Liberal politician who was heavily involved in the colonization of New Zealand and South Australia.-Background and education:...

 (1801–1882), a British Liberal Politician who was heavily involved in the colonization of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 and Southern Australia
Southern Australia
The term southern Australia is generally considered to include the States and territories of Australia of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory...

.

Education

Hutt was educated privately and then at Sutton High School (London), where she excelled in drawing. She then studied fine art at the Camberwell College of Art and then at the Clapham School of Art.

Hutt spent her early years painting in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, followed by two years in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...


Bank of England

Hutt returned to Britain, obtaining a position at the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...

 in the 1930s. From 1935, she regularly exhibited her paintings at the Bank of England Arts Society. It was said at her first exhibition: “Easily the most sensational work in the show was that of its youngest contributor, Miss Joan Hutt, who is only 19”.. her fine study...entitled 'Trees' should place her in the front rank...”. In 1936, she was awarded first prize in oil painting at the Bank of England Arts Exhibition for her painting “Still Life” whose “emphatic rhythmic properties are conveyed with buoyant verve” and a “work in which form, colour and texture combine in a robust effect – with a hint of Chirico in the choice of material In 1938, she again received first prize for her work “Girl in a Chair” In the same exhibition, her painting “Winter Landscape” was described as “a quite extraordinary picture – across this chilly canvas faint spirits move against a bleak background of variegated blue”

At the Bank of England, she also met Leslie Bonnet
Leslie Bonnet
Group Captain Leslie Bonnet, MA, LLB, Order of the Cloud and Banner with Special Rosette was an RAF officer, short-story writer and duck-breeder, creating the Welsh Harlequin Duck, the only true Welsh duck breed....

, who was editor of the Bank's literary magazine – The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street; they married in 1943.

Move to Wales

Hutt moved with her family from Flaunden
Flaunden
Flaunden is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England on the Bucks/Herts border. Old Flaunden was on the banks of the River Chess in Buckinghamshire but owing to constant flooding was moved up the hill into Hertfordshire in the early 19th century...

 in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

 to a ramshackle manor house, Ymwlch Fawr, near Criccieth
Criccieth
Criccieth is a town and community on Cardigan Bay, in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd in Wales. The town lies west of Porthmadog, east of Pwllheli and south of Caernarfon. It has a population of 1,826....

, North Wales, in 1949. In her adopted home, continued painting, finding inspiration in the stunning Welsh landscapes, as well as bringing up a family of five children (Lesley b. 1944, Villette b. 1945, Alice (b. 1947), Caroline (b. 1948) and Tom (b. 1950).
From 1963, when her family had grown up, Joan devoted herself full time to teaching and practising art. She regularly tutored on landscape painting and founded the Criccieth W.E.A. Art class in 1965. She was co-founder of the Porthmadog
Porthmadog
Porthmadog , known locally as "Port", and historically rendered into English as Portmadoc, is a small coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, in Wales. Prior to the Local Government Act 1972 it was in the administrative county of Caernarfonshire. The town lies east of...

 Art Club and a member of the “North Wales Group” of artists which included Sir Kyffin Williams, Elsi Gwyn, Tom Gerrard, Roy Ostle, Karel Lek, Jonah Jones
Jonah Jones
Jonah Jones was a jazz trumpeter who is perhaps best known for creating concise versions of jazz and swing standards that appealed to a mass audience. In jazz, he might be best appreciated for his work with Stuff Smith. He was sometimes referred to as "King Louis II," a reference to Louis Armstrong...

, Arthur Pritchard, Claudia Williams, Donald McIntyre, Helen Steinthal and Peter Chadwick.
Every Thursday, local artists would come to her studio at Ymwlch Fawr to paint and also to discuss art and articles published in the Arts Review. Hutt's subjects were often members of her family and her eldest daughter, Lesley, was her muse and the subject of many of her portraits.

Art Exhibitions

Hutt regularly exhibited her work in North Wales as well as across the UK, France and Germany. A selected list of her exhibitions is given below:
  • Bank of England Art Exhibition, London 1935-68;
  • Y Gegin, Criccieth 1965, 1966;
  • Galerie Villette, Criccieth 1969-73;
  • The Church Room, Criccieth 1969, 1973;
  • Penlan Art Studio, Pwllheli 1965;
  • Institute Buildings, Caernarfon;
  • Newborough Arms Hotel, Caernarfon 1961;
  • Hercules Hall, Portmeirion 1964;
  • Terry's Art Gallery, Caernarfon 1964;
  • Paris Salon, Paris 1964-73;
  • David Griffith Art Gallery, Cardiff 1966;
  • Caldicott Gallery, Leicester 1967;
  • The Town Hall, Dolgellau 1968;
  • Royal Institute of Oil Painters Exhibition, London 1968;
  • United Society of Artists Exhibition, London 1968, 1969;
  • National Society's Exhibition, London 1968-73;
  • Tuhwnt-i-r Afon Inn, Rhydyclafy 1969;
  • Browns Gallery, Chester 1970;
  • Public Art Gallery, Sunderland 1970;
  • Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend-on-Sea 1970;
  • Edward Pease Art Gallery, Darlington 1970;
  • The Art Gallery, Huddersfield 1971;
  • Galerie Vallombreuses, Biarritz 1970;
  • Oxford Playhouse, Oxford 1972;
  • Galerie Dresdner Bank, Frankfurt 1973;
  • Sutton House, Shrewsbury 1974;
  • Nottingham Playhouse, Nottingham 1974;
  • Woodstock Gallery, London 1974;
  • German Chamber of Industry & Commerce, London 1974;
  • Bad Nauheimer Kurtheater, Germany 1975;
  • Societe des Artistes Francais, Paris 1976;
  • Redbourn Studio & Gallery, Hertfordshire, 1976;
  • Deutsche Bank, Hannover, Germany;

Reviews

Hutt's exhibitions were extensively reviewed, and a selection of these are as follows:

“The exhibition of 40 paintings at Port Meirion by Joan Hutt is a significant first 'one-man show' that registers an important breakthrough for a well-known North Wales artist, prevented for years from giving full expression to her talent;
“Her painting is of a vibrant artist who allows a free expression of their innermost feelings, despite their respect for rules and a certain sensuality which is revealed in the key and pasted in relief” (translated from French);

“She uses oils and her paintings exude a sensual delight and a sense of the framework, the skeleton of natural forms”;

“The Welsh scene has certainly afforded a very fruitful source of inspiration to Mrs Hutt...as a water-colourist, Mrs Hutt is specially impressive in her flower subjects with their engaging air of spontaneous simplicity.”
“Joan Hutt's exhibitions in Britain and the Continent have made a significant contribution to highlight the creations of Wales based artists”

Hutt's Philosophy on Painting

Even though Hutt lost her eyesight in her late 60s, she continued to paint throughout this period. She once described her philosophy on painting as follows: “As far back as I can remember myself I am drawing or painting. I have always wanted to paint, to express my joy in form and colour. My especial delight is people's heads. I love to convey personalities, any personalities onto canvas. I regard myself as an expressionist. I paint what I feel strongly about. I feel that paintings should be timeless, personal and original statements of the artists. I do not believe in fashions or theories. I want to be myself.”

Memorials

Hutt died on 19 January 1985 at Llandudno
Llandudno
Llandudno is a seaside resort and town in Conwy County Borough, Wales. In the 2001 UK census it had a population of 20,090 including that of Penrhyn Bay and Penrhynside, which are within the Llandudno Community...

 General Hospital, aged 72. She is buried with her husband in Criccieth
Criccieth
Criccieth is a town and community on Cardigan Bay, in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd in Wales. The town lies west of Porthmadog, east of Pwllheli and south of Caernarfon. It has a population of 1,826....

 Cemetery. There is a memorial bench in her honour on Bangor
Bangor
- United Kingdom :* Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland** Bangor ** Bangor , until 1800* Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales, after which most of the ex-colonial Bangors are named....

Pier
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