Wall spent most of his teaching career at Cleveland College of Art and Design, arriving in 1968 and staying for 23 years, ending up as principal lecturer for art.[2] He retired in August 1991 to devote the rest of his life to his beloved art.
He was described as a "painter of great talent with a remarkable personal vision" by Kenneth Clark, who also said he was "a natural painter who is also a poet".[3][4]
The major body of his work was entitled "Visionary Landscapes" and he was highlighted as "a true artist on the verge, perhaps of visions so transitive that they become revelations" by the Yorkshire Post.[5] He also produced other series such as "Journey Paintings", "Symphony in Colour" and "Fantasy Landscapes".
His 1985 exhibition at the Warminster Arts Centre (organised by a former pupil-John Henshaw- https://sites.google.com/a/henshaworks.com/www/biography) generated so much interest that it was nearly a sell-out.Indeed one of his largest works in that exhibition (6' x 4')was sold to the local Warminster Hospital where it still hangs for all to appreciate.
Wall's last exhibition was held jointly with a former pupil of Cleveland College of Art and Design, Mackenzie Thorpe at St. Martin in the Fields Gallery, London, 28 June – 11 July 1992.[6] Thorpe later said of Wall, "His style (of working) made a great impression on me and was the beginning of what I have gone on to do."[7]
Exhibitions
Sources: [8][9][10][11]
Welsh Arts Council Annual Exhibitions – 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964
South Wales Group – 1959, 1960, 1961
Leicester Galleries, London – Selected work from the South Wales Group – 1961
Group Show, Cardiff −1964
Amolfini Gallery, Bristol – Joint One-Man Show, January – February 1966
Spring Exhibition Contemporary British Art, Bradford – 1966, 1967
Winter Exhibition, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull – 1970, 1971
Welsh Arts Council/South Wales Group, "NOW" Exhibition – 1971
Teesside College of Art – December 1973
Chapter Centre for the Arts, Cardiff – October 1974
Rennie Hamilton Gallery, Barnard Castle – 2008 (posthumously)
References
^"Sudden death of artist Tom Wall" (obituary) unsigned, Abergavenny Chronicle, 5 November 1992. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
^"Well-known artist and lecturer dies aged 51" (obituary), The Hereford Times, 5 November 1992. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
^"A Passion for Colour" (obituary) by Phillip Gatenby, The Northern Echo, 10 October 1992. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
^"A Passion for Colour" (obituary) by Phillip Gatenby, The Guardian, 20 October 1992. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
^"Byre Art Gallery, Glaisdale: "Visionary Landscapes by Tom Wall and Selected Classical Prints", Yorkshire Post, 26 June 1982. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
^Modern Painters: Modern Painters magazine, summer 1992. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
^Mackenzie Thorpe's web site Archived 2012-04-26 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 31 August 2010.
^"Wall/Wilson at Bristol", The Guardian, 18 January 1966. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
^"Northern Exhibitions: Work and Roy Britton by William Varley", The Guardian, 1 April 1969. Retrieved 28 September 2009.