Forgotten artist back in vogue

Gallery Oldham is to showcase the works of a Manchester-born abstract artist whose reputation is again on the rise.

Harry Ousey has been a neglected figure in British art. Born in 1915, he was part of the art scene in Cornwall in the 1950s and London and Paris in the 1960s, yet today his work is little-known.

In recent years his reputation has been growing among critics, collectors and the public who have come to enjoy and appreciate his unique vision of abstract art.

Ousey originally trained in London as an architect but attended part-time art classes in Salford and Manchester.

It was a visit to the 1936 Surrealist Exhibition in the capital that inspired him to become a full-time artist.

By the end of the 1960s, and despite several successful exhibitions, Ousey was beginning to be disillusioned with the British art scene and felt that abstract art was not appreciated. In 1976 he and his wife Susie left for France in a Volkswagen caravanette. They lived a bohemian life until his death from cancer in 1985.

Gallery Oldham’s exhibition, (March 12-May 15), has been organised with the assistance of Ousey’s niece, Sue Astles, who has also loaned private view cards, exhibition leaflets, catalogues and personal objects, as wel as six works of her uncle’s works, given by Sue to Gallery Oldham.