Southwold Boatyard with Red Flag Fishing Sheds and Harbour Walkway Watercolour

Title: Southwold Boatyard with Red Flag Fishing Sheds and Harbour Walkway Watercolour
By Tony Herbert (1927-2024)
Signed: Lower right
Medium: Watercolor on artists paper
Size: 11 x 15 inches
Condition: Good overall; light edge wear to paper corners and slight foxing in lower right, otherwise well preserved
Provenance: From a large private collection of this artists work, Oxford, England

Description: This expressive harbour scene by British artist Tony Herbert (1927–2024) was painted in April 1997 and shows a working boatyard in Southwold, Suffolk. A dirt road stretches into the middle distance, flanked by moored vessels and weathered timber sheds. A vivid red flag flies from one of the buildings, adding a punch of colour against the pale coastal sky. Figures are loosely suggested in the centre of the composition, enhancing the sense of a place quietly alive with activity.

Southwold’s harbour and boatyards were central to Herbert’s practice, and this particular painting is an excellent example of his ability to capture the atmosphere of place with minimal brushwork and muted tone. The balance of warm and cool pigments creates both light and structure, while the distant boats, masts, and poles lead the eye along the waterline.

The inscription on the reverse – “April 97 Southwold” – places this work near the end of Herbert’s active period, and it reflects the same observational focus and immediacy that defined his coastal scenes from the 1980s and ’90s. Ideal for collectors drawn to East Anglian landscapes, maritime painting, or British plein air watercolours, this work carries all the hallmarks of Herbert’s mature style: clarity, restraint, and emotional resonance through simplicity.