Visual arts

Tony Noble (b.1958) is an artist living and working in Batley, West Yorkshire.

He worked as a school teacher for almost 30 years, and decided to follow his passion to become a full-time artist in 2008.

He has said that he likes to draw and paint studies from life, including references to their lives and their interests.

When asked why art is important to society, he said "it helps us to recognise our similarities and our differences, and to sometimes celebrate or question the wonderful, the beautiful, the fantastic, the awful".

The painting by Noble, depicting local children surrounded by art helps us think about what the (social, health and educational) benefits of art could be.

This portrait of Harry Roebuck opens a story of Huddersfield-born collector and amateur artist Clement Roebuck who gifted this oil painting to Kirklees in 1977.

As well as commissioning works, C. Roebuck sat on the Huddersfield Art Gallery committee and often purchased the works he thought should be part of the collection.

In 1988 C. Roebuck bequeathed 145 pieces of his art collection 'to the people of Skipton', as he had lived nearby. To this day you will always find a portion of the Roebuck collection on display at Skipton Gallery.

Harry Roebuck went on to build The Roebuck Memorial Homes, in Huddersfield. In memory of his son and wife.

This late 20th century oil painting was commissioned by Wakefield Public Arts. This painting depicts Batley and the intergenerational figures that make a community - in vibrant colour, against a backdrop of branding and a distinctly Batley townscape.

David Prudhoe has often been described as a socialist painter, and his work often highlights the people and places of industrial towns.

This painting is very animated, with gestures and debate within the blue-collar figures of blue-collar, against the backdrop of industrial Huddersfield/Dewsbury or Batley.

This was painted in the mid-seventies at the height of union mobilisation. This work helps us reflect of what changes can be achieved when people work together.

Harold Blackburn (1899-1980) was a painter from Huddersfield.

Harold Blackburn (1899-1980) was a painter from Huddersfield.

The work shows a bustling Huddersfield Piazza, depicting the civic architecture, including the Town Hall and entrance to Huddersfield Art Gallery and Library.

This painting is one of a series of five 'murals' commissioned by the former County Borough of Huddersfield at a cost of £50 to decorate the children's department of the new Central Library.

They were commissioned from Charles Reginald Napier (1910-89) who was the first assistant master at the Huddersfield Technical College.

Napier worked with six of his students on the commission which were completed between 1938 and 1940.

Each picture depicts a story typical of traditional folk tales often told in one village at the expense of another. The central panel, Telling of the Stories, depicts an old man in the village telling his friends some of the legends of the district.

'Ripon Market' reminds us of the importance of market culture in the region (past and present).

Ripon's market has been at the center of city life since at least the 11th century, with some sources dating it back to the 10th century.

This painting reveals a narrative about a successful career in art education nurtured in the region.

This figurative street scene by Gerald Park (b.1937) has a beautiful colour palette, informed by an acute sense of perspective and form.

Park was born in Cleckheaton and studied at Batley, Liverpool, and The Slade (schools of art) in the fifties. Our records show he went on to become a visiting Professor at University of Wisconsin in the US.

This painting shows the townscape of Dewsbury, dominated by a large Shoddy Mill, which after redevelopment is now reused as flats.

Noël Spencer (1900 - 1986) was a printmaker and artist, born in Warwickshire. He held a number of teaching positions, notably principal of Norwich School of Art 1946-64.

Spencer was interested in depicting townscapes and landscapes, a notable achievement in the 1940s being many pen drawings of Huddersfield, completed while he was head of the Art School there.

Joseph Pinder was the last of the Kilpin Hill handloom weavers in Spen Valley.

The weavers' cottages had a loom chamber and scouring place, while outside, tenter frames for drying the finished cloth were on nearby land. This allowed them to weave blankets from home.

By 1850, mechanisation had led to a decline in handloom weavers. However, the Kilpin Hill weavers continued to work, and Joseph continued as a weaver until his death in 1910.

His cottage was 39 Kilpin Hill Lane Heckmondwike, which is now used as a garage.