EDDIE SHAKESHAFT

Eddie aspired to be a skilled and diverse artist, devoting his later years to his painting and sculpting. Mainly self-taught, apart from briefly attending Liverpool College of Art evening classes as a young man, he aimed to explore as many artistic directions as he could: his work includes landscapes, life and portraits in a variety of media, mainly watercolour, but also oil, acrylic, pastel and sculpture.

 

His love for the city of Liverpool, where he spent most of his life, is reflected in many of his paintings. The holidays that he and his wife, Betty, enjoyed in the Lake District, Yorkshire and South Wales were the inspiration for others. 

 

Raised as one of six in a terraced house in Toxteth, Eddie left school at age 14 before training as a lithographic artist. His career, interrupted by six years’ service in the Royal Artillery during the war, was in the printing industry. His final post before retirement was as Printing Department Manager, in charge of design, metal decorating, paper printing and plate making. 

 

It wasn’t until his retirement in the late '70s that his artistic flair really began to develop. He would disappear for hours into the little box room he adopted as his studio and he became a dedicated and active member of the Liver Sketching Club. His prolific output of paintings was enough to cause a fellow artist to term him ‘the fastest brush in the west’.

 

His work was exhibited in public and private galleries around Merseyside, including Liverpool Academy of Arts, University of Liverpool Art Gallery, Pilkington Glass Museum and Calderstones Park. Liverpool Anglican Cathedral used one of his paintings as its official Christmas card one year, and he was commissioned to paint a mural in the Liverpool Teaching Hospital. He was a member of Wallasey Arts Society and gave demonstrations in figure, landscape and watercolour painting at local amateur art groups.  He also exhibited at the Dylan Thomas Boathouse in Laugharne, South Wales, for a number of years. 

 

Eddie is warmly remembered by all those who knew him as a lovely man, renowned for his mischievous sense of humour. We, his daughter and grandaughter, are very proud to be able to share his work with the wider world. Eddie would be amazed and humbled by the thought that, thanks to modern technology, his paintings and sculptures could be made accessible to so many.

 

Much of his original work has been sold over the years, but if you own any paintings we would love to hear from you to find out where they have found their home. Contact us

 

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