Weir, near Hurley
1940
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1940
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Dominant colour
Weir, near Hurley is a 1940 watercolor by Philip Hussey, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This painting shows a quiet river with a wooden bridge in the distance. On the left bank, a "DANGER" sign sticks out of the water. Tall trees line both sides, and two people stand near the water’s edge, one holding a child’s hand. The grass by the river is a mix of green and brown, and the sky is pale with soft clouds. The artist used loose, sketchy brushstrokes to capture light and movement in the water. The colors are muted, but the wet grass near the bottom glows slightly. Look up Hussey to see more of his work.
This watercolour by Hussey, dated 1940, depicts a weir on the River Thames near Hurley, featuring a distant bridge and figures walking along the riverbank. It was created as part of the "Recording Britain" initiative, a wartime project commissioned by the Ministry of Labour and National Service to document Britain’s landscape and cultural heritage during the Second World War. The scheme, led by Sir Kenneth Clark, aimed to preserve scenes at risk from bomb damage, urban expansion, and shifting rural traditions. Over 1,500 works were produced, primarily by watercolourists, to capture a sense of…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Philip Hussey (1713–1783), was an Irish portrait-painter. Hussey was born at Cloyne, in the county of Cork and his career began as a sailor. He was shipwrecked three times. He drew the figureheads and stern ornaments of…
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