The Secret Painter: Joe Tucker's 'witty and touching' memoir explores lifelong hidden talent
A 'fitting tribute' to a man who explored working-class communities in his art

Eric Tucker – the uncle of this book's author, Joe Tucker – was a labourer from Warrington, Lancashire.
A bachelor who spent decades living with his mother, he "cultivated a dishevelled look", said Houman Barekat in The Guardian: he wore a "faded bomber jacket held together by sticky tape" and used a rope to hold up his trousers. Although generally solitary, he could be sociable, and "enjoyed carousing in disreputable drinking dens".
And he harboured a secret. When he died, aged 84, in 2018, his nephew Joe, a screenwriter, discovered more than 500 paintings in the attic of his council house. Joe knew his uncle painted "in his spare time", but was still astonished by what he found. Eric's "vignettes of working-class life" – scenes from pubs (such as Two Smokers, pictured), theatres and nightclubs; portraits of pigeon fanciers, carnival workers and down-and-outs – struck Joe as evidence of a serious talent. In The Secret Painter, he "unpacks the eccentric life behind this remarkable story". The result is a "tenderly affectionate, witty and touching" memoir – and a "fitting tribute to its subject".
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Joe's "fascinating portrait" of his uncle contains scenes that "will make you wince", said Miranda Green in the Financial Times. Eric's childhood was deprived and marked by bereavement. He had no formal art training, and in early adulthood suffered "upsetting" art-world rejections, which convinced him to put his paintings "out of sight", and to settle into poorly paid manual labour. Yet Joe also recounts the efforts the family made to win recognition for Eric's talent. After his death, they converted his "modest former home into a gallery for a weekend". Some small shows followed, at which many locals cried at seeing "their world celebrated". Eric's paintings are now highly sought after, giving "Joe and his family belated recognition for their enigmatic, brilliant relative".
Eric's paintings have been likened to those of L.S. Lowry, who was famed for his depictions of the industrial North, said Michael Bird in The Telegraph. The comparison, however, "rings false": Eric's "ruddy-cheeked working-class cast" are quite different from Lowry's "matchstick" figures. While he "certainly had a gift", it's harder to argue he had the kind of "intensely distinctive personal vision" possessed by some self-taught artists. Still, "The Secret Painter" is perhaps less about his art than it is about the "hidden life that expressed itself through its making". And, as such, it's a "wry yet moving account of how the creative imagination can flourish in the most inhospitable circumstances".
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
A potential railway megamerger raises monopoly questions
The Explainer Union-Pacific and Norfolk Southern would create the country's largest railway operator
-
At least 12 dead in Thai-Cambodian clashes
Speed Read Both countries accused the other of firing first
-
Friendship: 'bromance' comedy starring Paul Rudd and Tim Robinson
The Week Recommends 'Lampooning and embracing' middle-aged male loneliness, this film is 'enjoyable and funny'
-
6 head-turning homes for town house living
Feature Featuring a roof deck with city views in South Carolina and a renovated Harlem brownstone in New York City
-
Bookish: delightful period detective drama from Mark Gatiss
The Week Recommends 'Cosy crime' series is a 'standout pleasure' in an Agatha Christie-style formula
-
Music Reviews: Justin Bieber, Wet Leg, and Clipse
Feature "Swag," "Moisturizer," and "Let God Sort Em Out"
-
Film reviews: Eddington and Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight
Feature A New Mexico border town goes berserk and civil war through a child's eyes
-
Art Review: Hilma af Klint's What Stands Behind the Flowers
Feature Museum of Modern Art, New York City, through Sept. 27
-
Geoff Dyer's 6 favorite books about the realities of war
Feature The award-winning author recommends works by Ernie Pyle, Michael Herr, and more
-
Book review: 'A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck'
Feature A couple works to keep their marriage together while lost at sea