Peckham Unionist Club, Peckham Hill Street

Peckham Unionist Club, Peckham Hill Street

Date: 1952
Dimensions:
406.4 x 711.2 mm
Medium: Oil on canvas
Object number: GA0080
DescriptionThis local scene is typical of many of the works in the Southwark Art Collection. It shows the club house of the Conservative and Unionist Party situated on the corner of Commercial Road in Peckham, South East London.

A girl in a yellow jumper chats to a well-dressed man, perhaps a member of the club. The building was demolished in the 1960s. This painting is attributed to Thomas (Tom) Keating, a trained restorer and rather unsuccessful commercial artist. Turn it over and you get a modernist abstract in pastel colours that provides a clue that things are not always what they seem. Keating became a consummate forger of Old Masters. He deliberately left signs as to the true nature of his fakes that could only be determined by careful and scientific examination. He was arrested in 1977 and his prolific output under the names of masters such as Rembrandt, Titian, Cézanne and Samuel Palmer was revealed.

Culture: Story of Southwark