Ram and Small Lamb

This painting depicts a ram and a lamb sitting in a green field. The lamb’s coat is identical to the ram’s, demonstrating the circle of life in nature - this little lamb will very quickly grow into the big ram that it sits near. Whilst the coats are identical and the sheep both consist of blocks of black colour, Newcomb has clearly paid attention to depicting their heads to differentiate the different life stages - the ram’s horns curl away from its head, whereas the lamb’s baby ears lie flat against its head.

The painting has an air of simplicity, utilising blocks of colour, but this simplicity is heartwarming. It is a spontaneous and honest scene of Newcomb’s rural life, with an atmosphere that suggests it was painted from memory. 

Mary Newcomb

Newcomb was born in Harrow-on-the-Hill in 1922 but moved to Wiltshire as a young child. She showed a great affinity for learning about the natural world that surrounded her. She studied Natural Sciences at Reading University, before gaining a Diploma of Education and beginning to teach science and mathematics at a high school in Bath. She also volunteered as a student helper at the Flatford Mill Centre established by bird painter Eric Ennion. Ennion inspired Newcomb with his notions of painting nature whilst outdoors in an observatory manner, and taught her the habit of sketching to keep images fresh in the mind’s eye.

In 1950, Newcomb moved to Norfolk, where she found the unique flora and fauna of ‘Constable country’ to be artistically inspirational and joined the Norfolk and Norwich Art Circle. Her and her husband lived in rural idyll, selling handmade ceramics to local craft shops, spinning wool from their sheep flock, and keeping chickens for eggs. These simple scenes of rural life would form the basis of Newcomb’s artistic subject matter and she painted incessantly, despite not having any formal artistic training.

She joined the Norwich Twenty Group and began a partnership with the London art dealer Andras Kalman, who had also represented LS Lowry. Newcomb embarked on a number of solo exhibitions in England, Europe and even America, and her work was purchased by prominent galleries including the Tate, The Ingram Collection for Modern British and Contemporary Art, Northampton Museum and Art Gallery, and Ipswich Art Gallery. A number of influential figures have also purchased Newcomb’s pieces, including Queen Beatrice of Holland, Richard Attenborough, Paul Newman and Julie Andrews. 

Newcomb’s work has been credited as being in the tradition of William Blake and JMW Turner, often finding poeticism and humour within mundane aspects of rural life. Her style has been viewed as authentic due to her life on a farm, and her quick and simple style of painting lends her work a spontaneity and honesty - they appear as if they are quick recordings or snapshots of rural life. Her lack of training resulted in some very abstract renderings of perspective and proportion, as well as an explosive and chaotic use of colour, generating a unique and highly recognisable style. Newcomb’s worked were often titled in an explanatory manner, suggesting her work was aimed at depicting moments that stuck in her memory, rather than highly conceptual or specifically artistic pieces.

In 1996, author Christopher Andreae produced a monograph on Newcomb in association with the Crane Kalman Gallery. The following year, Newcomb received a boost in popularity when one of her larger works was purchased by the Tate Gallery.

Mary Newcomb passed away in Suffolk in March 2008. The following year, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery held a retrospective exhibition in conjunction with Crane Kalman Gallery. A similar exhibition was held at Compton Verney Art Gallery in 2021.