Howard's abilities are obvious for all to see. He can paint a chair with a shirt on the chair-back with sunlight shining through it utterly convincingly, or , with a single stroke of orange paint, depict a switched-on bar of an electric fire so that its heat can be felt by the viewer. Famously he paints his own studio time and time again, with a figure, usually a life model, sitting in shade with, perhaps, her back to a window, and against the light. To do this requires an a top-level ability to draw and judge tone. It is no accident that views from room interiors, out of a window, or reflections in mirrors, as in this self-portrait, crop up so frequently in academic or traditional paintings. His brushwork is loose and impressionistic, and looks casual, but in fact is millimetre accurate, or else the drawing would disintegrate. The pleasure of looking at a Howard, as with many impressionistic paintings, lies in walking backwards and forwards, looking at the brushwork up close, and then stepping back until reality snaps into focus.
When I was at college I tried to get the teaching staff to show some enthusiasm for Howard, but failed. I put this down to ignorance and /or professional rivalry.
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