Exhibition of work by James Lindsey Bird (1903 - 1972)

James Lindsey Bird (1903 - 1972) was born in Crook and gained a place at The Royal College of Art in London, where he was a contemporary of Henry Moore (1898 - 1986), and later visited Europe on a Travelling Scholarship. He was the art master at the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Darlington, for twenty years between 1948 and 1968, and is one of our best known artists.

A retrospective exhibition of his work was held at Darlington Library Art Gallery in 1976 and the works in watercolour, oil on canvas, and pastel, by this artist have attracted admiration and positive comment when shared here as part of our Borough Art Collection. We are delighted to host this exhibition containing works kindly loaned for exhibition here alongside works held in Darlington Borough Art Collection, fifty years later.

We hope this exhibition will delight some of James Lindsey Bird's former students in Darlington, delight people who have seen some of his brilliant work before, and that it will introduce his work to others who have not seen it before.