Chadderton artist’s gallery retrospective

Reporter: Richard Hooton
Date published: 03 December 2015


THE latest exhibition in Gallery Oldham’s community gallery is a homecoming for the work of a local artist.

The exhibition charts the life and work of artist and illustrator Marjory Emma Taylor, who died in 1989.

Marjory was born in Chadderton in 1908 and studied at Oldham Municipal Technical School where she showed a real flair for illustration. A scholarship took her to Regent Street Polytechnic in London and then a career as a professional artist.

In the early 1930s Marjory worked as an artist and illustrator for the publishers Harmsworth Press in London, where she was one of only five women in a studio of 40 men.

She then moved to publishers DC Thomson in Dundee working on daily and weekly newspapers.

This exhibition has been a labour of love for Marjory’s family which has collected work dispersed across a wide range of locations. It includes sketch books, student work and a fascinating range of the illustrations Marjory produced in the 1930s.

Her son Lorne Anton said: “My mother never had the chance during her lifetime to display her work in her home town. We are delighted Gallery Oldham has helped us to bring this exhibition together and share her work with a wider audience.”

The exhibition, “Marjory Taylor: Chadderton Lass”, runs until January 9.