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Life Class in the Old Barn; Howard Hodgkin teaching, 1957
(photo: Roger Mayne)*
One of the
first Corsham students (1950-54) to gain an international reputation,
Howard Hodgkin, also taught at the Academy 1956-66. As a student Hodgkin
remembers William Brooker arranging nudes on a brass bed against a
background of Victorian silk and flowered wallpaper. Martin Froy had
started in 1954, unusually full-time, and became Head of Painting five
or six years later, leaving in 1965 to become Head of Painting at Chelsea
and later Professor of Fine Art at Reading. Froy was succeeded as Head
of Painting by Joe Hope who continued until 1978. Robyn Denny taught at
Corsham 1959-65 and worked on the syllabus for the Visual Communications
Course which included Graphics and more. Denny taught on Thursdays and
Fridays. He travelled down from London on Thursday mornings with Adrian
Heath, Howard Hodgkin and sometimes Gillian Ayres. In the pre-Beeching
days there was a station at Corsham; later they were met at Chippenham
by Mr Buckle who ran the Corsham taxi service. On the train back (more
leisurely slower trains in those days) on Fridays there was time to have
dinner and talk.
*click the
photo above for a better quality version
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