Nationality: English
' The cottage, which was divided from the old meeting house by a narrow lane, was the residence of one George Beacham, a man who passed in the district not only for a cattle doctor but a conjuror. Tradition even credits him with the possession of a wizards staff and magic books '
Francis Knight The Heart of Mendip, 1915
John Caple was born in 1966. He is entirely self-taught and as untroubled by contemporary art as he is unbothered by academic training. His work requires neither. He has worked out the way he paints entirely for himself, a manner of painting that is straightforward, simple and perfectly suited to the job. It belongs to that long tradition of English folk art that one sees in medieval church carving, samplers and early English pottery. In the twentieth century the folk tradition was often confused with naïve art, yet an important distinction exists between the two and that distinction in many ways helps to understand John's work. Whereas a naïve artist paints entirely from within a private, enclosed world, an artist like John Caple is expressing stories and sentiments that have a shared ownership. In the twenty-first century he is an oddity amongst painters - though that is an observation that will trouble him little.
John Caple says Mendip is a hard county. His family have farmed and quarried in this corner of Somerset since the eighteenth century and certainly the quarrymans life was, and remains, a tough one. Old pagan traditions survived despite the concerned attentions of nineteenth century missionaries and even the strict sect of Plymouth Brethren, who maintained a strong foothold in the Mendips. The tight community in which John grew up has a rich history of remarkable people whose stories were pased down through successive generations. They and their history continue to be as much a part of the countryside as his own.
John Caple's knowledge derives mainly from family tradition and his Great Uncle Orion Owen Caple, who wrote a brief set of memoirs in old age. Orion Owen also learnt some of the wider history and folk-lore of the Mendips through his encounters with the antiquarian, Francis Knight, whose books The Heart of Mendip and A Corner of Arcady were published at the beginning of the last century. Orion Owen recalled meeting Knight: "I used to deliver milk to Wintrath, the home of Francis Knight, and on a few occasions he would open his little glass house door, which was set back in the rockery for to do most of his writing in quiet and peace, and he would invite me inside to have a little chat; as he would put it, to have a few moments relief from writing. He was an interesting old man".
Yet Orion Owen and John Caple both have a direct role in Mendip history in a way that an antiquarian like Francis Knight never could. John Caple is the most recent link in a chain that stretches back centuries. His art represents the collective memory of generations of Mendip land-workers; as such his paintings present a rare and important survival of folk art. It is a living art and the more one becomes familiar with it, the more one finds the reality of this community emerging out of the shadows of his extraordinary and powerful imagination.
John Caple's paintings, all done in mixed media, feature re-occurring faces of his mother, grandparents, uncles and others in scenes drived from his imagination through stories he is told of their pasts. Each painting describes specific episodes in the lives of these characters.
John has shown regularly with the gallery in mixed shows including The Contemporary Art Fair in Islington for the last four years and the Chelsea Art Fair.
Solo Exhibitions:
Group Exhibitions:
' The cottage, which was divided from the old meeting house by a narrow lane, was the residence of one George Beacham, a man who passed in the district not only for a cattle doctor but a conjuror. Tradition even credits him with the possession of a wizards staff and magic books '
Francis Knight The Heart of Mendip, 1915
John Caple was born in 1966. He is entirely self-taught and as untroubled by contemporary art as he is unbothered by academic training. His work requires neither. He has worked out the way he paints entirely for himself, a manner of painting that is straightforward, simple and perfectly suited to the job. It belongs to that long tradition of English folk art that one sees in medieval church carving, samplers and early English pottery. In the twentieth century the folk tradition was often confused with naïve art, yet an important distinction exists between the two and that distinction in many ways helps to understand John's work. Whereas a naïve artist paints entirely from within a private, enclosed world, an artist like John Caple is expressing stories and sentiments that have a shared ownership. In the twenty-first century he is an oddity amongst painters - though that is an observation that will trouble him little.
John Caple says Mendip is a hard county. His family have farmed and quarried in this corner of Somerset since the eighteenth century and certainly the quarrymans life was, and remains, a tough one. Old pagan traditions survived despite the concerned attentions of nineteenth century missionaries and even the strict sect of Plymouth Brethren, who maintained a strong foothold in the Mendips. The tight community in which John grew up has a rich history of remarkable people whose stories were pased down through successive generations. They and their history continue to be as much a part of the countryside as his own.
John Caple's knowledge derives mainly from family tradition and his Great Uncle Orion Owen Caple, who wrote a brief set of memoirs in old age. Orion Owen also learnt some of the wider history and folk-lore of the Mendips through his encounters with the antiquarian, Francis Knight, whose books The Heart of Mendip and A Corner of Arcady were published at the beginning of the last century. Orion Owen recalled meeting Knight: "I used to deliver milk to Wintrath, the home of Francis Knight, and on a few occasions he would open his little glass house door, which was set back in the rockery for to do most of his writing in quiet and peace, and he would invite me inside to have a little chat; as he would put it, to have a few moments relief from writing. He was an interesting old man".
Yet Orion Owen and John Caple both have a direct role in Mendip history in a way that an antiquarian like Francis Knight never could. John Caple is the most recent link in a chain that stretches back centuries. His art represents the collective memory of generations of Mendip land-workers; as such his paintings present a rare and important survival of folk art. It is a living art and the more one becomes familiar with it, the more one finds the reality of this community emerging out of the shadows of his extraordinary and powerful imagination.
John Caple's paintings, all done in mixed media, feature re-occurring faces of his mother, grandparents, uncles and others in scenes drived from his imagination through stories he is told of their pasts. Each painting describes specific episodes in the lives of these characters.
John has shown regularly with the gallery in mixed shows including The Contemporary Art Fair in Islington for the last four years and the Chelsea Art Fair.
Solo Exhibitions:
| 2007 | Sea and Hill and Wood, John Martin Gallery | |
| 2005 | The Greenwood Tree, John Martin Gallery | |
| 2005 | The Heart of Mendip, John Martin Gallery | |
| 2003 | The Ashen Tree, John Martin Gallery | |
| 2000 | John Caple, John Martin Gallery |
Group Exhibitions:
| 2007 | London Art Fair, John Martin Gallery | |
| 2006 | London Art Fair, John Martin Gallery | |
| 2006 | Into the Jungle - A Homage to Rousseau, John Martin Gallery | |
| 2004 | The Stuff of Magic, John Martin Gallery |
John Caple
b.1966
- Available Works
- Past Exhibitions
- Past Exhibitions
Born 1966, John Caple lives and works in Somerset.
Publication available:-
Somerset: The Paintings of John Caple
Introduction by Nell Leyshon
170 x 170 mm, 96 pages, 50 colour illustrations
ISBN 978-0-955-26674-4
Published: November 2007
Price £15.00 plus p&p
Signed copies available