top of page
Kathleen Hale
Grace Dressing Table .jpeg

KATHLEEN HALE OBE

1898-2000

 

 

 

With Cedric Morris and Lett-Haines


Cedric Morris said to me one day,


'Do you mean to tell me, Kathleen,
that you have hung your slender reputation
on the broad shoulders of a eunuch cat?'

 

 

Kathleen Hale Orlando

 

KATHLEEN HALE  ORIGINAL PAINTINGS & PRINTS FOR SALE

Please email: diana@parkinfineart.co.uk

" The Wind Blew his Eyebrows & Whiskers back from his face "

" The Wind Blew his Eyebrows & Whiskers back from his face "

Illustration for an Unpublished Children's Book

Rolls Royce and Cows

Rolls Royce and Cows

Illustration from an Unpublished Children's Book

"That Evening was spent round the great fire ..."

"That Evening was spent round the great fire ..."

Watercolour Illustration from Manda page 30

Little Lamb,Frog, Grasshopper

Little Lamb,Frog, Grasshopper

Lithograph for Child's Education Framed with original drawing

" I'd Like to write a Telegram "

" I'd Like to write a Telegram "

Original Illustration from Manda Watercolour Image : 5.5 x 17 Frame: 27 x 33

At the Photographer's Studio

At the Photographer's Studio

Illustration for an unpublished Children's Book watercolour and crayon Framed

Dogs and Cows

Dogs and Cows

Illustration from an Unpublished Children's Book Watercolour

Ben

Ben

Illustration for an Unpublished Children's Book

The Farmer had a Cold

The Farmer had a Cold

Watercolour Illustration for an Unpublished Children's book

Resting Deer

Resting Deer

Linocut Artists Proof Signed Unframed £180

Little Lamb, Frog, Grasshopper and Sun

Little Lamb, Frog, Grasshopper and Sun

Original drawing and Lithograph for Child's Education c 1920's Image : 14 x 11 Frame: 33 x 45

Little Girl, Etaples c.1920

Little Girl, Etaples c.1920

Pencil signed Framed exhibited KHME 2001 no 25

At the Dogs Home

At the Dogs Home

Pencil Drawing for an unpublished Children's story

Tearful Lamb

Tearful Lamb

Drawing Framed with original Lithograph Image: 14 x 11 Frame: 33 x 45

Reflection

Reflection

From : Little Lamb Watercolour and Lithograph

Thorpe

Thorpe

SOLD

Passport Control

Passport Control

" Now Manda , there's a lot of grand sounding words printed in this passport, by the Queen of England, indeed " said Mr.Evans, "which say that if you are in trouble in any foreign country , whatever, you must help all you can ' watercolour 11 x 17 frame: 27 x 33 SOLD

Manda in the Jaunting Car

Manda in the Jaunting Car

“Manda climbed into a funny Irish carriage called a Jaunting –car, which was waiting to take passengers back to their hotels: they sat back to back, down the middle, with their feet over the wheels” SOLD

Grace at her Dressing Table

Grace at her Dressing Table

Watercolour Signed 15 x 17 Framed SOLD

 

In the late 1950s I rented a cottage at Wivenhoe, near Colchester in Essex. There was not yet a concrete university in Wivenhoe; and the small village, with more than its fair share of eccentrics, retained something of the atmosphere of Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood. I had already known for several years Jack and Mary Gunnis, mine hosts at the George Hotel, and Michael Chase, the sensitive curator of the nearby Minories Art Gallery; now I came to know too the artists Jack Cross, Dickie Chopping and Denis Wirth-Miller, and their frequent guest Francis Bacon.

These new friends led me in turn to the art school at Benton End, started by Cedric Morris and Lett Haines, where the diverse talents of Lucian Freud and Maggi Hambling were nurtured. One of its pupils who became a great friend was Maudie O'Malley, married to Peter O'Malley, who taught ceramics at the Royal College of Art. I admired Maudie's paintings - exhibited under her maiden name, Joan Warburton - and her boundless joy in life at the White House at Stoke-by-Nayland.

It was Maudie who introduced me to another artist associated with Benton End: 'Moggie', alias Kathleen Hale, creator of Orlando the Marmalade Cat. When I opened my gallery in Motcomb Street in the 1970s, Kathleen was a frequent visitor. I remember her and her son Nicholas at my Fitzrovia exhibition, full of stories of Augustus John (whose secretary she had once been) and the Fitzroy Tavern. She never lost her admiration for Augustus - always insisting that there was a more serious side to him than his boisterous public image suggested - nor her love for Dorelia. When, later in that decade, I launched an annual exhibition named, with a sideswipe at the old Leicester Galleries, Cats of Fame and Promise, I asked Kathleen if I could exhibit her alongside Louis Wain and others. She readily agreed, and after writing the next year that she was sure 'Orlando and Grace would like to come out again', became a stalwart of the show. Kathleen's irrepressible humour was evident in all her contributions to those exhibitions, as well as in her letters - 'Congratulations on your CATalogue' - and even her wonderful Christmas cards. I treasure especially one she made for me in 1975 of the Rajah of Catmandoo.

I put Kathleen up for the Chelsea Arts Club. She was proud of her membership, and enjoyed talking to Fred, the very ancient club cat - I think he lived to 23. During dinner there with Kathleen and Nicholas there was always much laughter, and lively reminiscences - of Orlando's Silver Wedding, for instance, the Festival of Britain ballet for which she designed costumes and scenery and in which Harold Turner and Sally Gilmour danced Orlando and Grace in the Open Air Theatre in Battersea Park. I remember too meeting Kathleen there after she had been to Buckingham Palace to receive the O.B.E., wearing a necklace of Moroccan coins - 'my other medals'.

The first Orlando book, Orlando's Camping Holiday, appeared in 1938; the eighteenth and last, Orlando and the Water Rats, in 1972. The book Kathleen finally wanted to do was a pacifist declaration, 'Orlando Joins the Furry Legion', but failing eyesight sadly prevented her undertaking it. To the end of her long life, however, she remained sprightly and witty, continuing to draw and paint. She died on 26th January 2000, aged 101.

 

MICHAEL PARKIN


 

bottom of page