In 1951, Sean Connery, at age 21, posed for an art class at the Edinburgh College of Art. There, a student, Robert Webster, also known as Rab, painted him wearing only a g-string and coyly looking over his left shoulder. Sexy art but still art nonetheless! Webster, being a real bro however, never showed these pieces to the public. But he passed away last month and his family feels differently about the situation. And rightfully so. As an artist, Webster never had an exhibition for any of his work, nor sold a single piece of art during his life. This is a real pity, because he was actually really good.
Nick Bihel, who is married to Rab’s niece, explains the reason for the exhibition:
‘There were a few sketches of Sean Connery which are distributed among the family, so to speak… The oil paintings was part of a whole load of paintings just stacked on top of each other in a studio he used as a darkroom. It’s a totally unseen collection. We always knew he had done work of Sean Connery.”
The Oor Rob exhibition at the Robson Gallery at Halliwell’s House Museum will run until 14 August.
[Source: BBC News]
