Roger Hampson 1969-78

MAFA President 1969-1978

Roger Hampson was an important Northern School painter and printmaker. He was born in 1925 and grew up in Tyldesley, Wigan. He is best known for his paintings, drawings and prints of the industrial surroundings in which he was brought up. His artwork focused on mining, mills, street scenes and painting the people that he encountered in these surroundings.

Hampson’s inspiration stemmed from his childhood and upbringing. He was motivated to paint a landscape and way of life that he knew was fast disappearing. His paintings are social documents and capture the bleakness of the northern landscape as well as the warmth and humour of its people.

Roger Hampson studied at Manchester College of Art from 1946 – 1952 and followed a career in teaching art, becoming the principal at Bolton College of Art & Design from 1978 to 1986. He was also a graphic designer working for several Manchester firms and was elected president of MAFA from 1969 to 1976. 20 of his pictures, particularly those depicting mines and miners, are held in public collections and a book on his life and work entitled “Roger Hampson – a lost landscape” was published in April 2009 to coincide with a retrospective exhibition at Gallery Oldham.

See some prints by Roger Hampson.