Overview of the paintings of Claude Buckle RI RSMA.
This page shows an overview of the different types of paintings made by Claude Buckle. Watercolour paintings were made for the private market and commercial work. The posters for the railways were painted in oils and water colour. Claude Buckle also made many pencil drawings which were used by the railways and many others which were proposal sketches. For a further overview of Claude Buckle's commercial work please see the section COMMERCIAL.
Claude Buckle trained as an architect and this training enabled him to be successful as a commercial artist. The architectural type picture was much in demand by British Rail and Buckle was asked make an architectural series of posters and carriage prints. Many of these are iconic and have not been painted by other artists. Three examples can be seen below. On the left an example of a pencil sketch showing the construction of Hinkley Point, in the middle the iconic Pulteney Bridge one of the features that makes Bath famous and on the right the architectural magnificence of Lichfield and Cardiff Civic Centre. Cathedral paintings are also a Buckle speciality.
Strong architectural lines are evident in all of Buckle's paintings even ones done for the private market. This was not unusual at the time and can be found in paintings by some of his contemporaries notably Frank Sherwin and Fred Taylor. Buckle injected more atmosphere and suggestion moving away from the rigorous detail of the commercial world to a more subtle painting style when painting for the private market. Examples of his atmospheric water colours and oils are shown below. On the left hand side is an oil painting of Dean Cottage, followed by a water colour of a fishing scene, then an example of trees, a barge and finally the picture Sunset. (Click on the pictures to enlarge)