Our brush with the past... and the riddle of the lost sketchbook
IT is a classic whodunnit stretching back more than 40 years to a chance find in a London bookstore, where John and Alicia Makin first discovered the sketchbook.
Yet the identity of the artist who sketched the scenes between the 1920s and 1940s remains a mystery to this day.
Some of the sketches were apparently made as far afield as South Africa, but a large number are of scenes from Scotland – and the Makins have now appealed for information to help solve the puzzle.
Such is their determination to trace the artist that they have published a book of the sketches which feature scenes from the Nairn and Aviemore areas as well as the Firth of Forth, pictured in 1941.
Sketchbook Mystery – On the Trail of an Artist Unknown tells the story of the set of sketches which the Makins discovered in a slim blue leather-bound volume when they were browsing in a bookstore in the King’s Road, Chelsea, in 1971.
They begin on an ocean liner in the 1920s and conclude in London in the 1940s.
One clue is the initials JP on the front cover of the sketchbook, but written in an ‘inelegant’ hand which suggests that it may not be that of the artist.
The early sketches, all dated but unsigned, were done on board t he ocean l i ner SS Balmoral Castle as she was steaming to Cape Town in South Africa at the end of 1925.
Next come sketches ‘up country’ in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and then there’s a pause before the artist resumes sketching in the UK between 1940 and 1942.
In June 1941, the artist sketched scenes of North Berwick and the Bass Rock. A month or so later, sketches were made of the Moray Firth near Nairn, and the next week was at Aviemore and the Cairngorms.
The Makins have noticed that most of the UK sketches were close to RAF establishments, and they believe the artist – or his or her spouse – was probably in the RAF at the time and moving around, possibly to help with training.
The book even contains a list of all the passengers for the voyage on the Balmoral Castle, in a bid to identify anyone on board who might be able to help join the dots.
Mr Makin, who lives with his wife in Oxshott, Surrey, said: ‘We’re especially interested to know if anyone has any pictures or memorabilia relating to the RAF around Nairn, North Berwick or Aviemore i n the summer of 1941, so we can try and cross-check any names with the passenger lists.
‘For the most part the sketches are dated, so we can pinpoint precisely where the artist was at various times in those years. But who was the artist?
‘The sketches are charming, most likely the work of a gifted amateur rather than a trained professional.
‘The artist was maybe using the sketchbook as a camera when travelling or on holiday, capturing special scenes for her or his memory.
‘On and off over the years we have chased down all sorts of clues, but f ew have yielded worthwhile nuggets for us, except the passenger l i st – hidden among the 225 or so souls listed on the manifest is the name of the man or woman who did the sketches.
‘It is, of course, unreasonable to think that the artist is still alive today – he or she would be aged well over 100.
‘On the other hand, it is highly likely that children or grandchildren are still with us.
‘So our success in identifying the mystery artist lies in one of those descendants hearing this story, directly or indirectly, and recognising a forebear who “ticks the boxes”.’
The list of passenger names, accompanied by a selection of the sketches from the book, can be viewed online by visiting www. sketchbookmystery.co.uk