Harry Ousey (1915-1985)

Catalogue Note

Harry Ousey was born in Rusholme in 1915 and his early years were spent walking the Derbyshire moors, a landscape that would inspire him throughout his career. Drawn to the wide expansive landscapes of Scotland, Cornwall, Derbyshire and later the South of France, Harry would collect ideas for his abstract paintings, observing the shapes of drifting clouds the patterns of dry stone walls, the flow of water and the colours and scents of wild flowers. Nature was his greatest inspiration.

Ousey painted in all media and was very interested in collage.  He believed the only way to convey atmosphere was through abstraction, but this style was greeted with mixed reaction by the public. 

Throughout the war years he lived in London, then returned to Derbyshire before moving to Cornwall in 1950. In Cornwall he lived mainly in Perranuthnoe and Marazion until the early 1960s, but travelled widely in the UK.

Disillusioned with the Britsh Art scene in 1975 he and his wife Susie moved to Aix-en-Provence, France where they settled, enjoying Harry's increasing profile. Unfortunately Harry died before completing work on a major exhibition he had been planning. Susie returned to England but found it too painful to exhibit Harry's work. Instead she left the large collection of his work for his niece Sue Astles, who has spent the last 10 years rekindling the interest of this great but underappreciated artist.

A large Collection of his work is owned and exhibited by the Falmouth Art Gallery, Cornwall, who rate his work amongst the finest in abstract paintings emanating from the St Ives school.