A "TRAMP" PAINTER

Evening Star, Issue 20993, 6 January 1932, Page 10

A "TRAMP" PAINTER

Among the exhibits of an art exhibition of the work of members of the . Bethnal Green Men’s Institute opened at the Foyle Art Gallery, London, recently were paintings from milkmen, railwaymen, clerks, a professional boxer, and labourers of all classes. Several interesting seascapes by a man who spent his early days in a windjammer were very well received. .A self-portrait of the boxer, done in oils, attracted considerable interest. A little mystery surrounded a group ! of landscapes signed “ The Tramp.”' Many people conjectured as to tho identity of the artist. He is Mr F. J. Lee, of Northampton street, Bethnal Green. 44 I have always been interested in art,” Mr Lee told a ‘ Sunday Chronicle ’ representative. “ I’ve been an actor and a musician, but now I ami principally interested in paintings. “ I spend most of my time wander* ing around the country with my little stool, and when I see some particularly, beautiful spot ! just sit down and paint it. “But it was not because of my tramping around the country that I started signing my work 4 Tho Tramp,’ ” continued Mr Lee. 44 My wife tfas the cause of that. 44 She was always nagging away at me to buy a new suit, ana I was always so busy 1 that I kept putting the purchase off. One day she became so exasperated that she exclaimed: 4 You look like nothing so much as a tramp,’ and ever since then, six years ago, my pictures have all carried the signature 4 The Tramp.’ ” Mr Lee considers that the best artist in the institute is Mr Jack Boston, tho professional boxer.