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Sky Giant by Robert Taylor.


Sky Giant by Robert Taylor.

In the mid 1930s, at a time when Pan American had led the way with two generations of four0engined flying boats. the United States Navy sought a much larger, heavier flying boat for over-water reconnaissance bomber service. Consolidated Aircrafts PB2Y Coronado was the result, this massive all-metal flying boat first taking to the air in 1937. Several models and extensive modifications followed, and in 1943-44 a number of the latest types were converted for the Naval Air Transport Service for the carriage of cargo and passengers. This wartime fleet, based at San Franciscos Treasure Island and at Pan Americans North Beach facility, now part of New Yorks La Guardia Airport, performed vital transport services across the Atlantic and throughout the Pacific. Flown by contracted Pan Am crews, the Sky Giant saw its share of action. On one notable occasion Captain Bill Moss and his crew landed in heavy seas to rescue 48 survivors from a torpedoed merchantman, lifting off in a 15ft swell to fly the oil-soaked seamen 300 miles to safety.
Item Code : DHM2170Sky Giant by Robert Taylor. - This Edition
TYPEEDITION DETAILSSIZESIGNATURESOFFERSYOUR PRICEPURCHASING
PRINTSigned limited edition of 1000 prints.

Paper size 33 inches x 22 inches (84cm x 56cm) Sold out edition. Only one secondary market print available. Moss, William W
+ Artist : Robert Taylor

Signature(s) value alone : £40		Free
Shipping!		£200.00

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The Aircraft :
NameInfo
Coronado
Artist Details : Robert Taylor
Click here for a full list of all artwork by Robert Taylor


Robert Taylor

The name Robert Taylor has been synonymous with aviation art over a quarter of a century. His paintings of aircraft, more than those of any other artist, have helped popularise a genre which at the start of this remarkable artist's career had little recognition in the world of fine art. When he burst upon the scene in the mid-1970s his vibrant, expansive approach to the subject was a revelation. His paintings immediately caught the imagination of enthusiasts and collectors alike . He became an instant success. As a boy, Robert seemed always to have a pencil in his hand. Aware of his natural gift from an early age, he never considered a career beyond art, and with unwavering focus, set out to achieve his goal. Leaving school at fifteen, he has never worked outside the world of art. After two years at the Bath School of Art he landed a job as an apprentice picture framer with an art gallery in Bath, the city where Robert has lived and worked all his life. Already competent with water-colours the young apprentice took every opportunity to study the works of other artists and, after trying his hand at oils, quickly determined he could paint to the same standard as much of the art it was his job to frame. Soon the gallery was selling his paintings, and the owner, recognising Roberts talent, promoted him to the busy picture-restoring department. Here, he repaired and restored all manner of paintings and drawings, the expertise he developed becoming the foundation of his career as a professional artist. Picture restoration is an exacting skill, requiring the ability to emulate the techniques of other painters so as to render the damaged area of the work undetectable. After a decade of diligent application, Robert became one of the most capable picture restorers outside London. Today he attributes his versatility to the years he spent painstakingly working on the paintings of others artists. After fifteen years at the gallery, by chance he was introduced to Pat Barnard, whose military publishing business happened also to be located in the city of Bath. When offered the chance to become a full-time painter, Robert leapt at the opportunity. Within a few months of becoming a professional artist, he saw his first works in print. Roberts early career was devoted to maritime paintings, and he achieved early success with his prints of naval subjects, one of his admirers being Lord Louis Mountbatten. He exhibited successfully at the Royal Society of Marine Artists in London and soon his popularity attracted the attention of the media. Following a major feature on his work in a leading national daily newspaper he was invited to appear in a BBC Television programme. This led to a string of commissions for the Fleet Air Arm Museum who, understandably, wanted aircraft in their maritime paintings. It was the start of Roberts career as an aviation artist. Fascinated since childhood by the big, powerful machines that man has invented, switching from one type of hardware to another has never troubled him. Being an artist of the old school, Robert tackled the subject of painting aircraft with the same gusto as with his large, action-packed maritime pictures - big compositions supported by powerful and dramatic skies, painted on large canvases. It was a formula new to the aviation art genre, at the time not used to such sweeping canvases, but one that came naturally to an artist whose approach appeared to have origins in an earlier classical period. Roberts aviation paintings are instantly recognisable. He somehow manages to convey all the technical detail of aviation in a traditional and painterly style, reminiscent of the Old Masters. With uncanny ability, he is able to recreate scenes from the past with a carefully rehearsed realism that few other artists ever manage to achieve. This is partly due to his prodigious research but also his attention to detail: Not for him shiny new factory-fresh aircraft looking like museum specimens. His trade mark, flying machines that are battle-scarred, worse for wear, with dings down the fuselage, chips and dents along the leading edges of wings, oil stains trailing from engine cowlings, paintwork faded with dust and grime; his planes are real! Roberts aviation works have drawn crowds in the international arena since the early 1980s. He has exhibited throughout the US and Canada, Australia, Japan and in Europe. His one-man exhibition at the Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC was hailed as the most popular art exhibition ever held there. His paintings hang in many of the worlds great aviation museums, adorn boardrooms, offices and homes, and his limited edition prints are avidly collected all around the world. A family man with strong Christian values, Robert devotes most of what little spare time he has to his home life. Married to Mary for thirty five years, they have five children, all now grown up. Neither fame nor fortune has turned his head. He is the same easy-going, gentle character he was when setting out on his painting career all those years ago, but now with a confidence that comes with the knowledge that he has mastered his profession.

More about Robert Taylor

This Week's Half Price Art

From the ashes of the fires lit in the dog fights of the skies above the carnage of World War One, a phoenix would rise - the Luftwaffe of the Third Reich. No ordinary force, the Luftwaffe was to become the handmaiden of Hitlers dream of conquest and a vital component of Blitzkrieg or Lightning War. However the glories won in Poland, Scandinavia, Holland, Belgium and finally France, as the Nazis marched, victorious, through Europe, were to turn sour. The Fuhrers continual demands upon his airforce, as he fanatically pursued his Grand Design forced the Luftwaffe into the role of workhorse, though incompetence, intrigue and greed amongst its commanders made the task near impossible. Starved of new planes and pilots to fly them, stretched across two fronts in Europe and playing a vital role in North Africa, Goerings elite corps was fatally flawed. This tragic story chronicles the initial brilliant success of the Luftwaffe in Europe, its structure and tactics and the inherent weaknesses that were to drag the phoenix once again to its inescapable consummation within the fires of Berlin. The story is told using very rare footage only recently obtained from the eastern block and not seen in the west since the war.
The History of the Luftwaffe, A Phoenix Rising.
Half Price! - £5.00 		A sad, but magnificent sight on 24th October 2003 as the last three British Airways Concordes bring commercial supersonic travel to a close, as they taxi together to their final dispersal at Heathrow.

Concorde Farewell by Ivan Berryman.
Half Price! - £15.00 		Reformed in November 2000, 99 Squadron, based at Brize Norton, is now the operator of the RAF's new heavy transport, the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, an example of which is shown on the newly extended concrete runway at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The C-17s have become the mainstay of the RAF's supply train, shuttling between the UK and Afghanistan, as well as providing specialist aeromedical evacuation and humanitarian relief duties.

Globemaster III by Ivan Berryman. (P)
Half Price! - £800.00 		Our Gal Sal, a veteran of over a hundred ops, returning to base in the summer of 1944. The peace of the English country side is broken by the thunder of the mighty four engined bombers and keen observers will spot the rabbit scampering along the country lane as the Forts of the Bloody 100th circle the Airbase. With one engine feathered and showing signs of the gauntlet of Flak and fighters she has had to come through, the crew know they are only moments away from the safety of home.

The Veteran by Simon Smith.
Half Price! - £70.00

A Royal Air Force Wessex HC2 Helicopter picks up troops somewhere in Northern Ireland.

Pup Northern Ireland by John Wynne Hopkins (P)
Half Price! - £3000.00 		Squadron Leader H C Sawyer is depicted here flying his 65 Sqn Spitfire Mk.1a R6799 (YT-D) in the skies above Kent on 31st July 1940 at the height of the Battle of Britain. Chasing him is Major Hans Trubenbach of 1 Gruppe, Lehrgeschwader 2 in his Messerschmitt Vf109E-3 (Red 12) . The encounter lasted eight minutes with both pilots surviving.

High Pursuit by Ivan Berryman. (F)
Half Price! - £90.00 		Landing and taking off from the hillsides, rather than established airfields, this was extremely dangerous work which involved the pilot following the terrain and contours of the land that was being dressed in order to ensure an even distribution of the chemical. Australian-born Jim McMahon, served during World War II on B.25 Mitchell bombers before pioneering crop dusting and topdressing in New Zealand with ex-military De Havilland Tiger Moths which he converted himself for the purpose. He went on to form a company called Crop Culture, which specialised in aerial spraying equipment, both in New Zealand and in the UK, before becoming a partner in the newly-formed Britten-Norman aircraft company which produced the Islander and Trislander utility transport aircraft in England.
Top Dressing in New Zealand (1) by Ivan Berryman. (P)
Half Price! - £900.00 		A swordfish from HMS Warspite on patrol off the coast of Egypt, near the port of Alexandria.

Out of Alex by David Pentland.
Half Price! - £35.00
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