Percy Kelly Biography

Born in Workington, Cumbria, Percy Kelly grew up around the villages and fells of the Lake District. He came from a strongly religious household, a mix of Plymouth Brethren and Methodism, and a lot of his later work stemmed from a childhood obsessions with the shipping to be seen in Workington harbour. On leaving school in 1932 he became a telegraph boy and later a postman, but with the outbreak of war joined the army, where his talent for drawing was recognized. He was swiftly transferred to the Royal Signals where his talent was put to use drawing maps and diagrams and he was also able to visit exhibitions in his spare time when he was posted to London. Three of his watercolours were accepted for a forces exhibition at the National Gallery and he was presented to King George VI on its opening.

In 1945 he resumed civilian life working for the post office in Workington but found the readjustment very difficult and for a while became very unsettled. He eventually relinquished this post and with his wife, Audrey, took over the sub Post Office in Great Broughton in 1952. He began to be successful, exhibiting his work at the RA and the RSA and selling a number of watercolours. Nonetheless, the depression that was never very far away overtook him seriously in 1958 and he suffered a serious breakdown. He felt that the only way out was to immerse himself totally in his painting and he also found a book on yoga in his local library. After some months of intense practice and of drawing every day he found that his health began to improve.

So began an intensely creative period in his artistic life. He began to work on a much larger scale than before and discovered the potential of charcoal as a medium, gradually editing down complex shapes into more abstracted forms. The power of these large-scale drawings is evident and they are considered to be some of his best work.

By choice, Kelly had few exhibitions during his lifetime and found it very difficult to sell work as it meant letting it leave his studio. Following a solo-show at the Fermoy Gallery in Kings Lynn he was plunged once again into depression and on occasion, having sold a work he would subsequently ask for it back. In one of his letters he announced, “I cannot paint for monetary gain. I would rather starve than sell one piece of my work—but when I depart this world people will stop and wonder at the beauty and truth I have endeavoured to portray”.