For 15 years after his death Karl Wood’s paintings remained untouched at the priory, and then in 1973 a number of them – mainly of local architecture – were borrowed for an exhibition at Richmond Park, Gainsborough, which was run by J S English. Two hundred of them were later bought by the Gainsborough Civic Society.
In 1975 the Civic Society held an exhibition of 30 of the framed paintings in the Old Hall, chairman Peter Mallender stating 150 others were worth framing, but that the society only had limited funds, which made this impossible. The proposal was for members of the public to sponsor the framing for £5 each painting; in return they would be able to hang a painting in their homes for a year, and then borrow another.
The scheme was a great success, and within a few days sponsorship was obtained for 55 more paintings. At the time, the Gainsborough News saw the importance of the paintings, pointing out to its readers the buildings which had disappeared. The loan system in time allowed all of the remaining paintings to be framed. Although the scheme no longer exists (as neither does the Civic Society) the paintings are now in the custody of the Gainsborough Heritage Centre.
In 1977 Lincolnshire Museum Service, after obtaining a grant from the Science Museum, bought almost all of the remaining paintings from Pluscarden Abbey: they were sold for a few pounds each, a fact which the now strongly business-oriented abbey deeply regrets.
The Museum Service retained all the windmill paintings as a record which Wood had intended to publish – a pictorial account of an industry at its twilight – and the other paintings were classified geographically and sold to the appropriate location where possible.
In many county art galleries, museums or libraries the local works of Karl Wood can now be seen, serving as an important memory of the country’s architecture in the first half of the 20th century.
This exhibition is a rare opportunity to see a selection of the paintings from this prolific artist, including the opportunity to purchase one of five limited edition prints that have been produced to go with exhibition.
