How An Artist's Wife is Celebrating Her Late Husband's Paintings and Legacy
Eight years after his death, hundreds of original paintings by Yorkshire artist Philip Wiseman have been revealed to the public with the launch of a new website
she'll be bringing to Living North LIVE (22nd-24th March at York Racecourse).
Electrician Phil found his purpose in painting. ‘He started painting when he was 20 – I bought him a paint set for his birthday,’ Teena tells us. In 1997, he enrolled in a fine art course at the College of Ripon and York St John (now York St John University) and took inspiration from the Italian Renaissance, impressionism and contemporary art.
Teena, also born and raised in York, was married to Phil for 36 years – they first met in 1975 in York nightclub The Cat’s Whiskers. When Phil sadly lost his battle with cancer in 2016, he left behind hundreds of pieces of art. Some were sold to art dealers, some were passed on to friends and family, some were never completed, and the rest were boxed up and kept safe. A former staff benefits manager at York NHS Foundation Trust, Teena began to hold exhibitions in North Yorkshire to showcase Phil’s art and, following a positive response and with help from her family and friends, this year she has launched BEYOND | Art by Philip Wiseman – a new website in tribute to Phil and his passion for fine art.
Phil’s art captures mood, light and colour beautifully. ‘We travelled to lots of European countries, especially Italy, and he loved to capture landscapes, seascapes and cities, and I think there’s a lot of emotion in his paintings,’ Teena says. ‘The website has information about Phil and what made him tick and what he enjoyed. The three collections are: mood (seascapes and landscapes but with a moody feeling behind them), structure (more cities and towns with architectural buildings and scenes) and texture. Phil was very versatile in his work and while he could do seascapes, landscapes and still life, he could also create very abstract paintings. Texture is all about colour, depth and feeling and it’s his very modern, abstract work.’
Though the stories behind some of the artworks are known, some remain a mystery and therefore open to interpretation. ‘The one big challenge was, when I had all the paintings, how do I decide which to include? How do I decide which is a collection?,’ Teena says. ‘I found that I was putting seascapes and landscapes in one area then thinking “is that really right?” Then there were cities and towns, still life and abstract. So what was really great for me was to have someone else then come along and take a look – having help like that was really good.
‘One of the main challenges was that I’m not the artist,’ Teena continues. ‘I don’t know (in many cases) what area the painting is painted from. Most of them are signed, not all, but he [often] used to write on the other side what the scene was, for example if it was Terrington Bank, the Moors or Venice. Some of them I can work out but there are many I’ve looked at that I can’t work out. I know what medium it’s painted in but I just don’t know the area, so we’ve had to come up with names for paintings that maybe Phil wouldn’t have named them. If it was a landscape or a seascape and we couldn’t work out the location we’ve had to come up with a new name. For instance, there’s one that I love so I’ve just called it Haven – it’s a beautiful seascape. There’s one called The Flood for example. That was a really difficult part, but we’ve finally got there!’
Sorting through his paintings, Teena felt proud of Phil and what he created. For Teena, BEYOND is about sharing his artistic legacy. ‘I really wanted to give people a chance to see them, and for them to be in other people’s houses,’ Teena explains. ‘I think BEYOND is his life living on in a way really. When I left work I thought I can really put some energy into this now. I wanted to set this up to be something professional and to let people see what’s there, not just friends and family. With the help of web designers we’re making this look professional so people can look at [his art] differently. It’s getting people, especially online and on social media, to view these paintings.
‘I really wanted to give people a chance
to see them, and for them to be in other people’s houses’
‘Family and friends have got quite a lot of Phil’s artwork on their walls, especially my close friends, and I think what will be interesting for me is to see how other people react to it, that don’t know me or Phil. To me that means that the artwork is something extra special. Prints and some of the originals are for sale. I’ve kept quite a few of the originals and my children have got a lot of them, but there are still quite a lot for sale. There are 93 paintings altogether on the website in three collections and I’ve got another two collections that I’m going to be launching in August which are still life and summer seascapes. There are still hundreds to show!’
Teena is keen to continue exhibiting Phil’s work too, and we’re looking forward to welcoming her to Living North LIVE from 22nd–24th March at York Racecourse. She’ll be selling a variety of prints (some framed, some mounted) from the current three collections in different sizes as well as blank cards.
Visit beyondbywiseman.co.uk to view and buy Phil’s art, and see his paintings in person at Living North LIVE from 22nd–24th March at York Racecourse.
Sunset over the East Coast original painting, £400
Sunset fine art print, £75–£149
Cayton Bay fine art print, £75–£149
