Youngest successful painter-Kieron Williamson sets
world record
HOLT, Norfolk, UK -- Seven-year-old artist Kieron
Williamson has sold his 16 watercolours for £17,000 in
just 14 minutes-setting the world record for the Youngest
successful painter.
His latest batch of paintings of Norfolk
landscapes, seascapes and churches were supposed to be on
display for a month at the Picturecraft gallery in Holt.
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photo)
They went on sale at 9am but had all been bought
by 9.14am – some by telephone from abroad.
Adrian Hill, who runs the Picturecraft
Gallery with his father, Michael, said of Kieron:
“He is red hot. I believe the last child artist in this bracket
was Picasso. And Kieron is getting better and better and better:
the pace at which he learns is quite amazing."
"He has a very mature hand and has mastered
certain techniques at an early stage which some artists would
take years to perfect.
"His work has been phenomenal in the past
six months. His use of tone, colour and light is wonderful.
The way he gets his paintings to do the talking is incredible.
"His parents are lovely people and are
very grounded. There is no element of pressure on him at all.
He just paints when he wants. He still likes kicking a football
in the park and playing computer games like any other seven-year-old." The sale follows an earlier sealed
bid auction of his work in the summer when 19 of his paintings
were sold for £14,000. Adrian Hill: "People
are saying that he could become an all-time great. They want
his paintings as investments because they think the price
will go up."
Inspired to start painting on a family
holiday in Devon and Cornwall last year, Kieron Williamson
was just six when he asked his parents for paper to draw a
boat and swiftly developed a mature and assured talent for
seascapes and rural scenes that has been described as close
to the "young Picasso".
Kieron’s father, Keith, a self-employed
art dealer, said: “People are saying that he could become
an all-time great. Kieron can do a watercolour in an hour,
pastels take two hours upwards and oils take longer because
of the drying time.”
Kieron's mother, a 36-year-old nutritional
therapist, was stunned to find she had missed the sale completely
after turning up at the gallery at 9.15am. "Of course, we
are all absolutely thrilled. We are so pleased for Kieron,
because obviously other people's opinion about the paintings
matters a lot," she said.
The talented boy, who described his
show's sellout success as "brilliant", now plans to buy himself
a new set of pastels for Christmas, as well as a work by his
artistic hero, the late Norfolk landscape artist Edward Seago.
His parents Keith, 44, and Michelle, 36, will
invest the rest of his cash for him until he is 25. Kieron
only began to paint last year after being inspired to take
up the hobby on a family holiday in Devon and Cornwall.
Kieron said: “It’s absolutely excellent.
I was only expecting one or two to sell. Painting is my favourite
hobby – but I like football as well.” Related world records: Youngest live portrait artist - Harris Imtiyaz Khan
