Obituary: Barry Peckham, renowned New Forest artist

THE New Forest lost a famous son and a creative talent in the death of the landscape, marine and equestrian artist Barry Peckham, aged 78.

Barry was a member of many London Societies: the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Royal Society of Marine Artists and the Society of Equestrian Artists, as well as a regular contributor to the Mall Galleries and Royal Academy summer exhibitions. He worked mainly in oils, ‘plein-air’, but also enjoyed working in pencil, watercolour, gouache and pastel.

Barry was born in 1945 at Ashurst and attended Bartley school. He spent his childhood roaming the woods and heathland of the New Forest on his doorstep. When he left school, and had completed an engineering apprenticeship, he at first thought he might prefer to study photography and film production as a career and won a cup for a short film he’d produced and entered in the 1968 Swindon Film Festival, but later decided to cultivate his talents for drawing and painting.

He studied at Southampton College of Art where he took courses in life drawing, etching and experimental abstract painting. He married Georgina Babey in 1975 and they had three daughters, Rachel, Rosalind and Leah. Barry and Georgina ran their own gallery and picture framing business on Rumbridge Street in Totton for several years and, although they separated in 1994, they remained good friends.

Barry always loved walking and discovered mountain climbing. It was while pursuing this hobby that he met Sarah Daysh. Barry and Sarah’s relationship blossomed and they were married in the Lake District in 1998, travelling, walking and climbing together ever since. They twice completed the coast-to-coast footpath across England.

Barry’s reputation as an artist continued to grow both at home and abroad and his subject matter increased. In 2008 his marine paintings in the RSMA London exhibition caught the eye of Wieger van Brug who ran a gallery in the Netherlands.

He asked Barry to produce 10 paintings for an exhibition which would be staged at the Frisian Maritime Museum and the Scheepskamer van Heeg Gallery. Barry travelled to the Netherlands, painting the old boats and harbours in places such as Hoorn, Sneek and Volendam. The exhibition was a success and he continued to produce work for the gallery for many years, until its eventual closure.

Barry produced two fully illustrated books of his work, Barry Peckham’s New Forest (Halsgrove, 2001) and Seasons on the Forest (Red Post Books, 2005). He featured in New Forest Painters(Langford Press, 2011) and also produced a full colour catalogue and biography, A Retrospective of 50 Years in Art, to accompany a major one-man exhibition of his work at the New Forest Centre, Lyndhurst, in 2018.

During his career Barry received many accolades from his peers such as the Cuneo Medal (twice), the Michael Steward Award, the Horse & Hound Prize, the Lyre Prize, the Champagne Mumm Award (Admiral’s Cup and Painter of the Year), the Hanson Prize, the Osborne Prize and the Menena Joy Schwabe Memorial Fund Award (ROI).

In 2013, one of his works was awarded the ‘Best Painting at the New Forest Open Art Exhibition’. He showed regularly at New Forest galleries and, most recently, was the featured ‘Artist of the Month’ at Beaulieu Fine Arts.

Barry travelled all over Britain on painting trips, often with a group of artist friends, but his most abiding passion was the depiction of his beloved New Forest, capturing it in all its varied moods and in every season. For decades Barry exhibited his work every year in the ‘New Forest Corner’ of the New Forest Show at Brockenhurst.

Georgina said: “His feeling for – and deep understanding of – the workings and culture of his native Forest shine through every one of his paintings.

“He will be sorely missed by the art community, by his many friends and, especially, by his loving family.”

Barry’s funeral will be at Christ Church, Deerleap Lane, Colbury, at midday on Friday 27th September.