Nell Todd painting for sale

[Doctor Smellcroft]

…and the gallery provides a 300-word biography of the painter, who was Head of Art at CH Horsham for nearly twenty years:

https://www.facebook.com/MayMatthewsFin ... 310458717/

[Goatherd]

That's interesting. I'd heard about the Jacqueline du Pré connection and always wondered how that started. Nell Todd never taught me; she was always the rather mysterious 'old' lady in the studio next to Mr. Lane.

[ColA25]

Sadly the painting was sold...in 2019

[Doctor Smellcroft]

Sadly the painting was sold...in 2019

Dear me. I'd assumed that, if sold, it would have been removed from the gallery's Facebook.

Apologies for misleading you, folks.

[Katharine]

For some reason I’d always imagined her as a much younger woman when she went to Horsham. I remember my brother talking about her. She is possibly the only one of his teachers whose name and subject I remember!

[rockfreak]

She was certainly past the very first flush of youth Katharine when your brother and I were there. Her real name was (if I remember) Nell McClure Schlaunders Todd (or thereabouts) and she hailed from The Grampians. She was that rare breed at the English boarding school, an exotic bohemian. Which is perhaps why we remembered her. On one occasion, perhaps when she realised that our class was limited in artistic talent, she took us into her back room and showed us slides of modern art, telling us that art came in all forms, shapes and colours and didn't have to look like a photograph.

Well a grounding in artistic appreciation is the next best thing to being able to draw or paint, so perhaps this was what guided me on the day of my release from grim, grey, conformist Christ's Hospital in July 1960 from Victoria Station down the road to the old Tate Gallery (as was then) where the very first Picasso retrospective was attracting much attention. It was like a rite of passage. Out went greyness. In came colour, form and continental joie de vivre.

[Observer]

Nell Todd was a beacon of colour and originality in the drab, aesthetic wasteland that was the bachelor dominated Common Room of the 1960s. It is surprising that she appeared to flourish under Seaman’s rather joyless management, for she embodied a headstrong independence and Caledonian nonconformity, perfectly captured in the 1969 film: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, that hinted at a bohemian, hippy lifestyle that would never usually be allowed through the school gates.

She combined visual art with a passion for music (though curiously, I felt she had an unexplained antipathy toward the Music Dept). However, music played an important part in my art lessons - I learnt most of the cello repertoire in the Art School including the contemporary compositions of Shostakovich. On one occasion I heard some fine cello playing coming from the front room of her private quarters and she generously introduced to the source of the musical mastery - Jaqueline du Pre ,who was staying with, as I later gathered, her Godmother. She showed me her Stradivarius cello and chatted about her recordings. (My violin teacher at CH, Alan Wilkinson, also had a Strad).

She had strongly held aesthetic values. She abhorred black, a pigment she banned from the Art School. She loathed the Brangwyns in the chapel with each of those grotesque figures outlined in dark blue. I agree they are utterly hideous. She disliked the assorted classical decorative features Web and Bell sprinkled around the School’s buildings. My artistic education and aesthetic judgement was strongly influenced by her forthright and passionate views.

One reminiscence: Pupils arriving for the first lesson of the day would quickly become aware of the slightly acrid smell of poultry manure and would be directed to a miniature theatre, a Punch and Judy style structure, beneath which were two hens. Eggs would be taken to Miss Todd’s kitchen where she would prepare breakfast which she would eat with indulgent theatricality on the dais during the lesson. Outrageous in many ways but no-one complained as far as I know. At the end any misbehaviour during would be punished with the tedious and smelly cleaning out of the hen’s cage - the dreaded and memorably named Foul Fowl Drill.

Sadly, it is highly unlikely she would survive an Ofsted inspection today. Yet, for me, she was one of the very few truly inspirational teachers whose influence I have felt ever since.

[sejintenej]

by Observer » Sun Mar 14, 2021 9:27 am
Nell Todd was a beacon of colour and originality in the drab, aesthetic wasteland that was the bachelor dominated Common Room of the 1960s. It is
Sadly, it is highly unlikely she would survive an Ofsted inspection today. Yet, for me, she was one of the very few truly inspirational teachers whose influence I have felt ever since.

Sorry SM. Attendance there was the height of Sado Masochism. Inspirational? Rubbish. Competent teacher? she might have been but never when I was there. I curse the name now 60 odd years later now that I am trying to learn to paint with water colours because she had absolutely no interest in the subject or any of her pupils. Indeed she was so bad I reckon CH should n ow pay for me to get proper lessons.

[Phil]

Although it’s good to hear of the appreciation for some CH teachers, I fully agree with sejintenej.

The praises for Nell Todd’s devotion to her teaching and inspiration were not what happened to me at all. I wonder if my time in her art classes was an exception or if it reflected frequent experience. In essence I had the impression that she was only interested in pupils who had some artistic ability. I certainly had none although I enjoyed her classes. At the start of each class we were given powder poster paint, a large sheet of paper and were left to get on with it. She did come round once or twice per class (a double period of 80 min), made encouraging noises and quickly passed on the next painter. She disappeared for most of the 80 min, but also spent plenty of time with the few who clearly had talent. Apart from supervising our painting, she never discussed any art history nor showed us any artwork (books, slides, etc). Others were clearly luckier than those who were untalented and in all my classes.

In spite of my criticism, I agree that she was a pleasant person and clearly the only staff member who could be considered a Bohemian. Her clothing was colourful, always loose and often peasant-like in style. However most striking was her décolleté.

She joined the School Orchestra to play the cello in its concerts (and its last two rehearsals) as did a couple of other members of staff.

[sejintenej]

Although it’s good to hear of the appreciation for some CH teachers, I fully agree with sejintenej.

The praises for Nell Todd’s devotion to her teaching and inspiration were not what happened to me at all. I wonder if my time in her art classes was an exception or if it reflected frequent experience. In essence I had the impression that she was only interested in pupils who had some artistic ability. I certainly had none although I enjoyed her classes. At the start of each class we were given powder poster paint, a large sheet of paper and were left to get on with it. She did come round once or twice per class (a double period of 80 min), made encouraging noises and quickly passed on the next painter. She disappeared for most of the 80 min, but also spent plenty of time with the few who clearly had talent. Apart from supervising our painting, she never discussed any art history nor showed us any artwork (books, slides, etc). Others were clearly luckier than those who were untalented and in all my classes.

Phil; you are too polite. Yes- she dumped a bit of paper and powders in front of us and said "paint". Firstly, because of my circumstances I don't think I ever saw a painting before i left CH so I didn't know what the f*** she was talking about and secondly, as you write she never showed us anything artistic whether it was pictorial architectural,carved .... I am not sure if she even eve came round as you suggest. Encouragement? not in my hearing though she didn't criticise - I wonder if she ever spoke.

[Observer]

‘Recollections may vary’

I am sorry others didn’t share my experience. I suppose I must have been fortunate (I actually won a couple of art prizes so she must have seen something in me). I had no idea that her attentions were so capriciously directed.[*]

[J.R.]

I enjoyed spending free time with her in the art school. On one occasion. I spent some time with Miss Du Pre doing pottery. She was a charming girl.

[alterblau]

Apart from teaching art, Nell Todd (and her predecessor Mr A.A. Kent both) had another duty, which no one has documented so far in the Forum. They presided over “Bad writing classes,” but that probably wasn’t their official name.

I was forced to attend such classes held by each of the two. All they did was to provide a book with pages of joined italic writing, a pencil and sheets of tracing paper so that the page could be copied. This resulted from the fact that around that time the UK government decided that all primary schools should teach joined italic in place of the previously taught cursive with loops in the letters f, g, j, k l, y and z. I had the misfortune to be born in a year that meant I learned cursive script in my pre-CH primary school (or “elementary school” as it was designated in the 40s) and then had to relearn joined italic at CH.

After a few terms in these classes I stopped, for I suspect my case was considered to be hopeless and my handwriting remains terrible.

[Martin]

Kipper Kent (AA Kent, the previous head of art before Nell Todd) was as different from NT as could be imagined, except that he was equally indifferent to all the talentless members of his classes. But in contrast to her he was a loud, coarse, frightening character who swore frequently. I don’t remember anyone else on the CH staff who swore. The nearest to Kipper Kent in using expletives was CF Kirby, I suppose. But all his oaths were inoffensive (“The worst dog in Sussex,” “Mother’s dumpling,’ etc.)

[jhopgood]

Apart from teaching art, Nell Todd (and her predecessor Mr A.A. Kent both) had another duty, which no one has documented so far in the Forum. They presided over “Bad writing classes,” but that probably wasn’t their official name.

I was forced to attend such classes held by each of the two. All they did was to provide a book with pages of joined italic writing, a pencil and sheets of tracing paper so that the page could be copied. This resulted from the fact that around that time the UK government decided that all primary schools should teach joined italic in place of the previously taught cursive with loops in the letters f, g, j, k l, y and z. I had the misfortune to be born in a year that meant I learned cursive script in my pre-CH primary school (or “elementary school” as it was designated in the 40s) and then had to relearn joined italic at CH.

After a few terms in these classes I stopped, for I suspect my case was considered to be hopeless and my handwriting remains terrible.

Wonder what happened to the Golden Pen Prize?