Original painting, mixed media on paper titled "The Stove" by Arthur Berry.
Title The Stove 1977
The painting is of a Victorian stove often found in English pubs pre 1980s. Berry has placed the faint outline of a trousered leg with a boot in the background. This is perhaps of a drinker warming himself from one of the best seats in the house.
Berry describes the Stove in public houses in his monolog 'Lament for the Lost Pubs of Burslem'. In particular he describes the Queens which was knocked down to be replaced by a modern 1980s row of shops, which included a rows of seats with stoves at the end of each row.
Again Berry uses the Stove as a subject transcending us into a simpler life. It reminds us of the basic needs of human existence; to be warm. Thereby upholding the Stove as an object to be admired and honoured. Painting this in 1977 he captured a moment which is now in the 21st century disappeared. Although the appearance of log burners in recent times and the cost of living crisis suffered in 2022/23 do bring the meaning of an image of The Stove into greater clarity.
Signed and dated