PEOPLE
People’s lives and actions were always powerful inspirations for Hollweg and in the 1980s he sought new ways to make people central to his art. He became unofficial ‘artist in residence’ at London theatres including the National Theatre, welcoming the opportunity to draw bodies in action and to observe actors as they expressed emotion.
In the 1990s he also began painting portraits, a development partly driven by a difficult art market and by Hollweg’s recognition that there was a living to be made in this traditional field. He regarded his portrait commissions as contemporary ‘conversation pieces’ that could comment on the relationship of his sitters to their social environment.
Watercolour and pencil on paper, 41 x 52 cm
Hollweg had a lifelong interest in theatre, reaching back to his participation in school plays and his experience as a set builder in the army and at Oxford. In depicting actors he was particularly drawn to lighting rehearsals when ‘sharp diagonals of coloured light threw circles and ellipses on the stage’.
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Ink and watercolour on paper, 32 x 37 cm
Hollweg produced a number of artworks showing musicians playing gigs, including this picture resulting from a trip to see the jazz orchestra, Henry’s Bootblacks. He was himself a talented multi-instrumentalist on guitair, banjo, ukelele, double bass and sousaphone. In 1982 he began playing with the jazz band Doctor Jazz.
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Oil on canvas, 62 x 80 cm
The writers Margaret Drabble and Michael Holroyd were longstanding friends of the Hollwegs. They met while Drabble was living at Nettlecombe during the ’70s and ’80s. Hollweg depicts them in a relaxed and informal composition at home in Porlock Weir, a view of which beckons through the windows.
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Acrylic on canvas, 97 x 82 cm
Auberon Waugh (1939-2001), son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh, was a highly-regarded writer and journalist. He lived for many years at the Waugh family home in Combe Florey, and is depicted here in his office.
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