Background
He was born to a mining family in Biddulph, Staffordshire and studied at Burslem School of Artist
He was born to a mining family in Biddulph, Staffordshire and studied at Burslem School of Artist
He is best known for "a long series of bleak, sombre oils on board" of the Mow Cop area in which he lived for much of his life. Reginald Haggar highlighted the "richness of colour that underlies the seemingly black and white effects, glints of terracotta and old gold through steely grey" in a Sentinel article of 1963. Simcock started exhibiting at London"s Piccadilly Gallery from 1957 after encouragement from Arthur Berry and went on to have more than fifty solo shows worldwide.
His work is in the National Collection and can be seen via the British Broadcasting Corporation Your Paintings project
Simcock"s autobiography, Simcock, Mow Cop (1975) discusses his life, his beliefs and his artistic preferences. In the same year, Simcock also published a book of poetry entitled Midnight Till Three.