The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

A rare painting by Oor Wullie and The Broons creator Dudley Watkins has been discovered after more than fifty years, hanging on the wall of a family home in Fife. The painting which depicts Christ’s crucifixion is thought to have been a gift to his friends in the Kinnell family and was noticed when Gillian Parsons from Arts and Theatres Fife visited while putting together items for an exhibition of the late Jack Kinnell’s work: “I find it a very thought provoking picture. It’s disturbing to see distress on the faces of characters just like those in Oor Wullie or The Broons which you’ve been familiar with since childhood.”

Its an interesting little insight into one of the most famous cartoonists to ever work in Scotland (and one whose characters still delight huge audiences on a weekly basis). Jack Kinnell’s widow Jean told the BBC that the artist had presented it to the family one day, rolled up in a cardboard tube; Dudley often attended the services of her father James who had been a lay preacher in Cowdenbeath. And I think Gillian Parsons is right – it is very odd to see a well-known scene like the crucifixion (which is an image embedded in our culture, regardless of your personal views on religion, we’re all exposed to it) with characters who resemble the ones generations of Scots have grown up with in the Broons and Oor Wullie, gives me quite a peculiar feeling. The article doesn’t mention if the work will stay with the family or if it is ever likely to go on public show at any point. Regardless of my own lack of religious conviction I find it somehow appropriate it should be rediscovered around the time of Easter.