Eric Tucker’s art “can be organised into three distinct categories: street scenes, bar and pub scenes, and images of the circus and theatreland.” Houses in Latchford is a work that falls into the first of these categories. Latchford, an area of Warrington that Tucker would have visited frequently, as he had relatives there, serves as the backdrop. Unlike his highly accurate preparatory sketches, this oil painting presents an amalgam of Latchford’s people and its characteristic red-brick buildings.

Houses in Latchford captures a dynamic snapshot of daily life. In the background, a couple amble down a parallel street, while in the foreground, an elderly lady posts a letter. To her right, a child dressed in red with a flat cap is held firmly by a relative, preventing him from wandering off. Grandparents, also congregating around the post box, lovingly dote on a baby, while below them, another child watches as a dog humourously lifts its hind leg to mark its territory. Such playful details are a constant feature of Tucker’s work and are inseparable from the artist himself. As Joe Tucker writes in The Secret Painter, “everyone was met with the same Eric Tucker and the aim was to swiftly dispense with any formality or decorum, usually through comedy.” Here, Tucker does precisely that, using wit and warmth to animate the familiar everyday.