Serpentine Swimming Club was honoured to have Bob Kelly as a member of the club for over 40 years. Bob who passed this life on 25 October, aged 85 will be greatly missed by family and friends. Bob's obituary from the Daily Telegraph is here.
Following a cold bright wintery morning’s swimming at ‘Serps’, Duff Kelly made a fine tribute to his father Bob at the post swimming presentation. Duff asked that all swimmers think of Bob when they look to the Serpentine Bridge and the shining waters where his Dad swam for more than 40 years.
Speaking about his father later in the week, Duff said that “Dad loved etching and painting in Hyde Park and he loved the Serpentine. He often said that no matter what problems you have in the world, when you walked out on that board in the early hours of a grey cold winter morning and dived into that water all your problems immediately disappeared.”
Possessed with a trained and constant eye for the visual, Bob always graced the Serpentine sporting his ‘Jams’ Hawaiian style shorts and shirts that were actually made by his brother-in-law. Bob was an American artist who came to Britain in the 1950s, joined the Serpentine SC in early 1968 and became Club President from 1983-85.
Bob had a highly distinguished career as an artist and he lived close to Hyde Park during his 61 years in Britain. His Bayswater studio adjacent to Kensington Gardens provided considerable inspiration for his etchings, aquatints and paintings. In 2011, Serpentine Swimming Club featured one of his aquatints on the annual membership card. Bob was delighted with this accolade. The Serpentine Lake aquatint is a limited edition printed in 1978 using a zinc plate.
Other Serpentine-inspired etchings, aquatints and painting featuring the park include Serpentine Arch, Evening Sun, March Hyde Park, Peter Pan, Romp, Serpentine Bridge and Winter Day They are all visible along with other works from his prodigious and masterful output on his website www.franciskelly.com His work has also been exhibited at the Royal Academy.
Bob was married to Martha Gail Kelly. Their three children Sean, Duff and Jesse are all members of the Serpentine SC. Moreover Sean’s family are also Serps swimmers; Cameron who set many of the club’s current swimming records, Erin who shows up more for moral support and young Caitlin, who has even managed a dip or two in the summers.
Francis Kelly was born in 1927 in St. Paul, Minnesota. He received his early education in Chicago and California and served in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1948. In 1946 he witnessed ‘Operation Crossroads’ – two atomic bomb tests held on the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
After completing his Navy service, Bob entered the Art Centre School, Los Angeles.
During 1951 and 1952 he and Gail lived in Paris, attending the Academie de la Grande, Chaumiere. In 1953 he went to the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, and then to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), where he was graphic laboratory assistant to John Paul Jones.
Awarded a Fulbright Grant in 1955 he joined the Graphic Department of the Central School, London. The St. George's Gallery were the first to exhibit his etchings in Britain and in 1958 Bob was awarded the Stacey Fund grant for painting.
In 1966 he was appointed art organizer for the U.S. Embassy "Festival of Arts and Humanities." His paintings were shown in the subsequent exhibition, "Five American Artists in Britain." During 1976 he acted in a similar capacity on behalf of Winsor & Newton Ltd., who sponsored an exhibition of American artists commemorating the U.S. Bicentennial. He appeared in the film, "Science in Art."
Bob studied painting conservation at the Courtauld Institute. In 1967 the aquatic and marine seam of his life expanded when he was sent by the Italian Art and Archives Rescue Fund to Florence to restore flood damaged paintings. In 1971 his book "Art Restoration" was published by David and Charles and in the U.S. by McGraw-Hill. His second book, “The Studio and the Artist “ was published in 1975.
During more than 60 years in Britain, Bob developed a growing affinity with the countryside, observing less the well-known landmarks but rather more the timeless rural lands and byways as yet still not encroached by building and industry.
Bob was also absorbed by the movement and play of light upon water in rivers and waterways. This fascination was expressed by stunning artwork as a result of his frequent trips to Venice. His attention focussed on the ever-changing refractions of light in the city's canals and an increasing pattern of abstraction is evident in these compositions.
On one occasion, a chance observation of weathered advertising posters in an old quarter of Venice inspired a new direction in his work. The transient nature of poster images (here today and covered tomorrow) often imparts a multi-subliminal message to passersby. Street posters have proven stimulating to the artist's imagination in evolving themes of fantasy and diversion. Multi-layered posters, subjected to the ravages of time, provide the basis for Bob's unique personal vision.
Bob's work has been shown at 24 museums in Great Britain and in numerous galleries. Acquisitions have been made by many public and private collections, universities, and educational services, including:
Los Angeles County Museum
Boston Museum of Fine Arts
New York Public Library
National Gallery, South Australia
International Chemicals Institute
IBM Corporation, New York
Union Bank of Switzerland
Winsor & Newton Limited
Glasgow University
Merchants National Bank, Indiana
Arts Council, Ottawa
Royal Collection - King of Sweden
Temple Newsam House, Leeds
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
South London Art Gallery
Inner London Educational Authority
Colleges of Oxford and Cambridge
British Army of the Rhine
