Charles Ginner (1878-1952)

Early Morning

In 1914, after the demise of the Camden Town Group, Ginner and Gilman named themselves as Neo-Realists whose work was based on the real world, expressed with deliberate care and craftsmanship. They fell out with Sickert after he published an article criticising their use of impasto (thick paint). Ginner responded 'I shall paint as thick as I damn well please'. Sickert reacted with an article titled 'The Thickest Painters in London'.

Ginner's use of thickly applied paint can be traced back to his discovery of Van Gogh's method of painting a 'mosaic' of bright colours. In Early Morning Ginner restricts himself to reds, purples and greens to create a calm and harmonious depiction of morning light at Oxted, Surrey. His painstaking approach is shown in the portrayal of each brick and tile.

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