Françoise Taylor

Françoise Taylor

Françoise Taylor 1920-2007

Françoise Taylor was born in Bressoux, Liège in Belgium on January 1st, 1920 (née Wauters).  She moved to Brussels in 1924 starting primary school at 5½ in 1925 – a year early – at a Sacré Coeur girls’ school in Rue de Linhout, Brussels.

In 1935 Françoise was sent to a Sacré Coeur school at Blumenthal on the Dutch-German border, mainly to learn German. Françoise was in a special class of six foreign pupils and “painted a lot” (her words). Naturally left-handed, she was made to write with her right hand (the custom of the time) but always painted and drew with her left.

In 1937 she commenced studies at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, winning the First Prize for Drawing three years in succession. She went on to study art for a further six years at La Cambre (l’École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture et d’Arts Decoratifs) specialising in engraving, book illustration and typography, winning a Diploma with Highest Distinction and a Mastery in Book Illustration – the first in Belgium – “avec la plus grande distinction et les félicitations du Jury”.

Her experience of living throughout the German Occupation was reflected in her series of engravings ‘Pointes Seches sur la Guerre’. These engravings depict the deprivations of life in Belgium during the war years, as well as the Deportations and the Allied Bombardment.

Françoise made a series of thirteen drypoint etchings titled ‘La Guerre’ which she completed in August 1945. A complete set is in the permanent collection of the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester.

Woodcut: ‘Christ on the Cross.’ c1944.

The photo shows Françoise in a field during an allied air raid over Belgium in 1945. An estimated 1.5 million Belgians were displaced by the German occupation.

Françoise married Kenneth Taylor in Brussels in October 1946. During the war he served as an officer in the 6th Battalion of Green Howards then was attached to the Belgian army as a liaison officer. They moved to England in 1946, first to Oxford where, speaking little English, she studied lithography at the Ruskin School of Art then to Bolton where she spent the rest of her life.  They had five children, now adults — Patrick, Anthony, Martin, Michèle and Annik.

Bolton, an industrial town.

In 1949 moving to Bolton in the industrial North-West of England her inspiration came not only from a life-long interest in fables and nursery rhymes but an environment that she drew and painted with the fascinated unfamiliarity of an ‘outsider’. She would wander the streets of her adopted town Bolton sketching mills, railways, gasworks, coal mines, park bandstands, football scenes from Burnden Park (then the home of Bolton Wanderers) together with the people and their animals.

Barrow Bridge

The family initially lived at Barrow Bridge on the outskirts of Bolton town centre before moving to Heaton in 1953.

Above: Nativity Scene sent as a Christmas card to Marianne Straub. Also figures with sheep heads, sent to Marianne.

Françoise developed a life-long friendship with Great Bardfield artist Marianne Straub during Marianne’s time working for the textile firm Helios, a Bolton-based subsidiary of Barlow & Jones. Straub was the head designer of Helios from 1937 and became Managing Director in 1947.

During the 1950s she held a number of exhibitions of her Bolton scenes: Bolton, Salford City Art Gallery, Manchester and other places in the North of England. Work purchased by Manchester Corporation for the permanent collection in the City Art Gallery.

Pen and ink and wash paintings of Bolton.

A reviewer at the time wrote:

Mrs Taylor sees through the grime of industry and back streets to a kind of beauty – a pathetic, sometimes tragic beauty. There is sorrowful nobility, for example, in the eyes of the dog guarding a squalid door. The children who push perambulators or spot trains, the adults who go about their work, or sit at their doorsteps, or trail wanly by the gasworks, are thin and spectre pale and curiously detached from their surroundings. Only the footballers are well fleshed and fully extrovert. Only these match in human strength and drive the mechanical power and impetus of Mrs Taylor’s locomotives.

Engravings Bolton Wanderers: Football Match at Burnden Park. Kick-off at Burnden Park. Mid 1950’s.

Illustrative Work: Gulliver’s Travels, Wuthering Heights, the Little Mermaid and Alice in Wonderland.

In 1969 Françoise completed a teacher training course at Chorley College and was appointed Head of Art at Mount St Joseph girls’ school in Bolton.

Mount St Joseph – a convent-based secondary school, founded in 1902 by the Sisters of the Cross and Passion.

Bolton Through the Eyes of Children March 1980. Brian Barlow ‘Long Street.’ Roger Hampson ‘Nelson Mill.’ Trevor Lofthouse ‘Collagraph.’

Not as celebrated as St Ives or Great Bardfield, but Bolton was a hub of art education during the years that Françoise was teaching. Brian Barlow was an internationally acclaimed artist while Roger Hampson and Trevor Lofthouse were outstanding artists in their respective fields of painting and print-making. The 70-strong Bolton Art Education Association formed in 1979 saw exhibitions of children’s art celebrated in the Bolton Museum and Art Gallery supported by Bolton Education Authority.

Françoise retired from teaching art in 1982 but continued to draw and paint on-and-off during the 1980s and up to the mid-1990s. She became interested in pottery and ceramics, working in clay in a local pottery class and using her own kiln at home. 

Françoise Taylor died from pneumonia at her home in Stapleton Avenue, Bolton on January 24th, 2007, aged 87. Kenneth died from similar causes in 2011.

“What is there?” 1994. Human children emerging in wonderment into a naturally harmonious world of animals and vegetation. One of Françoise Taylor’s last drawings at almost 75.

Françoise is fondly remembered by many of her pupils at Mount St Joseph’s.

She was one of my favourite teachers I used to spend lunchtimes in the art room tidying up for her, she was just one of those teachers that really inspired you.

She really got my interest up as I could never draw and am not a talented artist, but she showed me ways that I could express my artistic flair without detailed drawing eg pastels. I produced a lot of work in the two years around 76/77. She could have quite a bite if girls misbehaved though! I remember the house she lived in in Bolton and pass it a lot.

I loved Mrs Taylor she inspired me so much and put me through my A level art one year early. She led me to be a book illustrator a few years later.

She was a brilliant teacher. I wanted to do art O Level but it didn’t fit in with my other studies. She let me do art in my lunch breaks and she helped my put s portfolio together. I got the O level thanks to her.

Mrs Taylor taught me too … “Be brave!” was the message I remember!

Also spent many happy days walking both locally and in the Lakes with Mr and Mrs Taylor (1977- 81) for the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.

I remember Mrs Taylor. she and her husband used to go walking in the Lake District and sometimes take along sixth form students. Great days out!

I remember her well; I wasn’t really talented at all but she always encouraged me and once held up my efforts to the class which made me feel brilliant. My work was always described as lively. She was wonderful.

Aw she was a really lovely lady and a great teacher. Remember her so well. Her and her husband came with us on a trip to Ingleton. He took photos of the group which I’ve still got.

Aw she was a really lovely lady and a great teacher. Remember her so well. Her and her husband came with us on a trip to Ingleton. He took photos of the group which I’ve still got.

Mrs Taylor was my art teacher from 76-81. I passed my o level even though I can’t draw. She was a great teacher and I looked forward to my art lessons. She inspired us all with great enthusiasm for our work. I designed the head dresses for the school play Midsummer Night’s Dream one year with her help. Lovely lady.

Houses and Children

Graham Bennison, June 2023 https://www.facebook.com/BennisonArtist I should state that a sizeable section of this blog is taken from https://francoisetaylor.com/ I have tried to contact the family via this site but with no success. Wikipedia also helped.