Josephine Wall - Mystical Surreal-like Fantasy Paintings
Josephine was born in Farnham, Surrey, England
in 1947. Educated at Farnham and Parkstone Grammar Schools, her family moved
to Poole, Dorset when she was 14.
Her
paintings are mainly fantasies, influenced and inspired by the illustrative
talents of Arthur Rackam, the surrealism of artists such as Magritte and Dali,
and the romanticism of the pre-Raphaelites, which combined with her own
imaginative ideas has led to a wide and varied range of work.
Josephine is also an accomplished sculptor and has created a number of unique
figurines. Using natural stone found locally, various modelling materials and
semi-precious stones, she creates models that once painted, challenge the
viewe
r
to find where the stone ends and the figure begins.
An increasing demand for character windows, led her to experiment in this
field using self adhesive lead and vitreous paint, to reproduce traditional
lead-lights and many of her own designs.
Due to her individualistic, textured use of acrylic medium, she has been
invited to demonstrate and lecture to local art circles.
Whilst her work has always covered a wide range of subjects, since moving into
the world print market, she has produced works with a distinct ethnic flavour
and images of many favourite stories and fables. Her fantasy work remains most
popular, many containing hidden images or faces, which has become a trademark.
1967 - Following three years at Bournemouth College studying Fine Art,
Josephine worked at Poole Pottery as a designer and painter of Delphis Ware
(now very collectable), later modeling animals to be displayed at Harrods in
London. Her pottery figures include characters from Tolkien’s "Lord of the
Rings" and mythological creatures. Certain pieces of this work now form part
of a book on the history of Poole Pottery.
1974 - A number of larger paintings were exhibited in Teheran and
Tokyo.
1975 - Held her first solo exhibition in Swindon.
1990 - Following a period during which she brought up her three
children whilst still exhibiting both locally and abroad, a second solo
exhibition was held at the Mayfield Gallery in Bournemouth. Also during this
year, Josephine and her paintings were the subject of a special feature on
Southern Television in the UK.
1991 - Held her third solo exhibition at the Mayfield Gallery.
1993 - Following a visit to the Spring Fair in Birmingham she signed
contracts with F.J.Warren based in Hitchen, England and Wizard and Genius from
Switzerland to publish her work in the form of framing prints, posters and
cards. These prints are distributed worldwide.
1995 - Josephine’s painting "Dance of all Seasons" was selected for the
cover of W&G’s “Cheerful Joys” catalogue.
1996 - Signed a licensing agreement with Art Impressions based in Los
Angeles, California, which has led to many new outlets for Josephine’s images.
1998 - Five original works were selected for an exhibition at London’s
prestigious Mall Gallery entitled “Art of the Imagination”. Josephine has
subsequently joined the circle of artists in the society of the same name,
with the possibility of many more exhibitions worldwide.
1996 – Present Day - Many products are now produced including cards,
stationery, puzzles, journals, bookplates, back to school products, mugs,
needlepoint kits and posters, as well as limited edition prints.