Museum needs your help to trace two paintings last seen in Northampton

John McGowan's paintings that the museum wants to trace.

Northampton Museum and Art Gallery is asking the public to help them trace the whereabouts of two paintings created by a local artist.

In 1980, John McGowan created two paintings depicting scenes from Northamptonshire’s canals, which the museum would like to include in an exhibition of his work in early 2023.

The first work is a five feet square acrylic on canvas showing the Lockkeepers House, the top lock near Gayton, which was gifted to Mereway Upper School in Northampton and was last seen at the school in 2005, before it was demolished.

The second is a multi-frame oil on canvas measuring 20 inches square portraying lock gate 11 near Rothersthorpe which was sold at the 1980 Art Teacher’s Exhibition at Northampton Museum and Art Gallery.

Councillor Adam Brown deputy leader of West Northamptonshire Council said: “We need the public’s help to try and locate these delightful paintings, as the museum, the Canal and River Trust and Mr McGowan would love to include them in the upcoming exhibition.

“The exhibition will showcase his long career, with a particular focus on his works which depict the Northamptonshire canal network, so the paintings are also an interesting piece of local history.”

John McGowan has been making prints for more than 50 years and after his retirement from teaching art at Oundle School he became a full-time printmaker.

Anyone with information on the location of these works is invited to contact Victoria Davies, Northampton Museum and Art Gallery’s Exhibitions Officer at [email protected] or 01604 837632.