Rigby Graham: Artist's rare work goes on display at Leicester museum

Graham's niece Ondine Gordon-White, left, and his daughter Eleonora Graham said they were delighted to see "Newborn" on display at last

A rare painting by renowned Leicester artist Rigby Graham has gone on display for the first time.

"Newborn" was painted in 1959 but spent years in storage in a derelict chapel, owned by the artist's brother, before it was acquired by Leicester City Council in 2021.

It can now be viewed at the Leicester Museum & Art Gallery in New Walk.

Relatives of Graham, who were invited to view the piece on Friday, said they were pleased to see it on display.

Graham's sister and her newborn niece feature in the painting

The artist's daughter, Eleonora Graham, said: "I love it and I love seeing it up, and now it's hanging on the wall, it's in just the right place to be seen by more people.

"It looks absolutely smashing."

The work, a large, abstract mural-style oil painting, includes a tiny image of Graham's sister and his niece as a swaddled baby in her arms.

Rigby Graham helped establish Leicester Polytechnic (now De Montfort University), where he was a lecturer and course administrator

Graham, who died in 2015, was a celebrated landscape painter who moved to Leicester as a schoolboy in 1942.

During the 1960s and early 1970s, he painted many murals in Leicester schools and in Leicester Royal Infirmary's cancer unit in the 1980s.

'Only example remaining'

"Many of those works have been lost, either painted over or lost when buildings were demolished," his daughter said.

"He painted murals in Landsdowne Boys' School - the building's still there but the murals are not - and Overdale School and Ellis Boys' School.

"He would go there to teach art students and someone would say 'would you mind painting this wall for us, Rig?'

"And he did. One head mistress asked him if he would mind doing a mural because it was cheaper than wallpaper, so he told her what she could do with that idea.

"But he was quite happy to work for very little because his passion at the time was murals.

"Sadly this is the only example remaining."