Arthur Delaney was born on 9th December 1927, the son of Genevieve Delaney, a music hall artiste, a dancer, who performed with her sister Mary Kelshaw as ‘Delaney and Lee’. Their mother’s second husband was a James Delaney, Arthur’s grandfather.

Arthur was born in what was Chorlton-on-Medlock, an inner city area of Manchester, off Oxford Road, a relatively poor area of the city in the late 1920’s. At the age of thirteen Arthur joined a textile design studio in Manchester, at that time still the centre of the textile manufacturing world.

He remained there for 32 years by which time Manchester’s textile industry was in terminal decline.

Delaney was married with 4 children and had taken up painting as a form of relaxation, taking as his subject the city of his youth.

Clearly L.S. Lowry (1887-1976) was a significant influence though Delaney’s works demonstrated a certain optimism in their subject and palette.

Following his retirement Delaney exhibited at the Tib Lane Gallery, Manchester in 1974. Many of his paintings were reproduced as limited edition prints contributing to Delaney’s widespread popularity.

Delaney died in his native city of Manchester 17th April 1987.