Wakefield Museums and Castles

Cynthia Kenny painted many famous Wakefield buildings from a distance.

When inside the city, she preferred to paint the city’s ‘dwelling places,’ as she described them. The backstreets, yards and thoroughfares that are often used but rarely seen.

These houses near Kirkgate station have now been demolished.

Kenny worked at the West Riding County Architects department. She learned a detailed and precise drawing style. You can see this especially in her studies of yards and buildings.

"I do not paint yards and old buildings simply because they are going to be demolished, but because I have great affection for them, and I do not see them as drab objects." - Cynthia Kenny, 1973 

Painting digitally reproduced with the kind permission of the Cynthia Kenny estate and Wakefield Council Permanent Art Collection (The Hepworth Wakefield).