Wednesday 18Th November
Julian Cooper completed a series of seven paintings entitled Under the Volcano in the 1980s. They take particular episodes from the book and evoke its Mexican setting. The novel was instrumental in the artists search to develop a kind of abstract painting using figurative methods, one capable of taking on contemporary experience in the way that Lowry's novel does, with its intricate symbolism and a vivid representation surface. For Cooper the book 'had everything. It was set in a landscape, it was outer narrative and inner narrative as well, it had lots of references to literature and cannibalistic religion - it had all the complexity of a Renaissance painting.'
Cian Quayle installation comprises a looped film featuring the ferry journey between Liverpool and Douglas on the Isle of Man. This is accompanied by a series of photographs of locations and other references made to the island in Lowry's writing, principally in the short story Elephant and Colosseum. Lowry had a fascination with the Isle of Man, which he visited as a child, the island being a popular holiday destination from Liverpool. He also befriended Manx boat builder Jimmie Craige when he and his wife Margerie lived in a squatter's shack in Canada. As well as helping the Lowry's survive the harsh conditions, Craige helped fuel Lowry's interest in Manx folklore. Quyle, himself from the Isle of Man, is interested in Lowry's affinity with the sea, the idea of the journey, and 'the way that fact and fiction, myth, folklore and history are interwoven in narratives of exile and return'. the installation's title is taken from Lowry's overarching concept for his various works in progress.
Jorge Martinez Garcia described as a 'Neo-Baroque' print maker and painter, Jorge Martinez Garcia has read and re-read Lowry's writings since first discovering Under the Volcano. Inspired by the writer's famous letter to his publisher Jonathan Cape, in which he proposed thee were at least five levels at which the book could be read, Lowry has been a constant point of reference for the artist. In the series of intaglio prints, Martinez interacts with Lowry in diverse and layered ways, each print being both compositionally and thematically complex. Many familiar elements from Under the Volcano are evident. The consul, the volcano, an 'eternal' cantina, and the ever present bottle of mescal, for instance, are all rendered through Marinez's exquisite printmaking technique.
Sunday, 6 December 2009
TATE GALLERY - Learning by Context
Wednesday 11Th November
Hamo Thornycroft 1850 - 1925
"Teucer" 1881
bronze
The champion Greek archer Teucer was one of the heroes of Homer's story of the Trojan War. When this bronze was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1882 a quotation from Pope's translation of Holmer was printed in the catalogue, as the subject was unusual. Thornycroft admired the Elgin marbles, and his early works were in a Greek style. With 'Teucer', in emulation of the grandeur of Leighton's 'Athlete', he made a monumental ideal nude. The critic Edmund Gosse wrote that it had 'something almost archaic about its serenity and rigidity...this is courageously realistic'.
When i first saw this sculpture i was intrigued by the amount of detail that was shown in the body of work, e.g. like the muscles. The proportion of the sculpture itself is in very good detail and i was inspired. I really like the way the sculpture is standing, it draws attention to itself as i walked into the gallery. The sculpture itself doesn't reflect my art work but i did appreciate this piece. It almost reminds me of the work by Michelangelo and how he sculptured his art work.
Anthony Gormley born 1950
"Three ways: Mould, Hole and Passage" 1981
lead sheet and plaster
'You are aware that there is a transition, that something that is happening within you is gradually registering externally'. This is how Anthony Gormley described his experience of making plaster casts of his own body. For Three Ways he used such casts to make lead figures in three simple poses: curled into a ball, bending over and lying down .
This sculpture by Gormley i feel also draws attention to itself by the audience, as it did to me. The way the sculptures are positioned in the corner of the room are very different. I feel like i didn't like this piece, i wasn't inspired or influenced, i did however stand and look at the way the body parts on the sculpture sat and it made me think about why they were: sitting, laying and curled up like a ball. I also found that the mouth area on the sculptures had a hole in the mouth. I wasn't sure why this was but it made me think, why aren't the detail of the eyes and nose put into place. The humour of the sculpture with his body part showing was almost child like.
Reg Butler 1913 - 1981
"Girl on a Round Base" 1968 - 72
bronze, paint, glass and hair
This is an almost life-size and life-like sculpture of a naked girl. It is one of four such sculptures that Butler in collaboration with his partner, Rosemary, between 1968 - 72.
The erotically controlled figure writhing on a mattress shares much with bacon's paintings of reclining figures. butler greatly admired Bacon. Intriguingly, during the 1960s Bacon often told the critic John Russell that he wanted to make realistic, painted figurative sculptures. Bacon never realised this ambition, but Butler's figures seem quite close to the ideas he expressed to Russell.
When i first saw this piece, i wasn't sure what to think about it. The more i looked at it, the more i seem to appreciate it. I liked the way the sculpture was functioned on the round base, it reminded me of a round bed. The detail on the sculpture was very careful, i really liked that especially the face. I felt i got a different feeling as i looked at the sculptures at different angles, it was weird i thought but interesting at the same time. The woman on the bed looks comfortable as her neck looks strained at the same time.
Ron Mueck born 1958
"Ghost" 1998
fibreglass, silicon, polyurethane foam, acyclic fibre and fabric
Australia born, Ron Mueck first came to public attention during the Royal Academy's 1997 Sensation exhibition. He has been living in Britain for sixteen years and began his career as a puppet maker. He is currently producing figurative sculptures in a hyper-realistic style.
Mueck's simulations of human subjects possess an eerie exactitude. He bases them on friends and relatives but does not directly cast from his subjects. Instead he makes works in fibreglass and silicone from marquette modelled in clay. The distorted size and awkward posture often indicate the subject's emotional state. Ghost 1998, represents a seven-foot girl. Her enlarged scale and uneasy demeanour emphasise a sense of adolescent anxiety.
This was my favourite pieces of sculpture out of all the gallery. I loved the way the piece just stood there against the wall, and how the detail of the moustache, big hands and big feet were introduced. The sculpture itself looks real, and scary at the same time. I feel the name of the piece, Ghost, is given because it represents that she is like a ghost, she seems surreal. I was inspired by this piece because the first time i looked at it, i was standing there for minutes just inspecting the detail, as they look so real. Although her body proportion its right, she seems to carry it off well and looks comfortable. She's wearing a plain black leotard, and is covered but she seems to be showing a lot of flesh because she's so tall.
Edgar Degas 1834 - 1917
"Little Dancer Aged Fourteen" 1880 - 1
cast circa 1922
"Petite danseuse de quatorze ans" painted bronze with muslin and silk
The model for this sculpture was a ballet student at the Paris Opera, where Degas often drew and painted. Degas first made a reddish-brown wax sculpture for her in the nude. Then, aiming for a naturalistic effect, he dressed a three-quarter life-size wax sculpture for her in clothing made of real fabrics - cream-coloured silk for the bodice, tulle and gauze for the tutu, and fabric slippers. He also gave it real hair tied with a ribbon. When the wax sculpture was first exhibited, contemporaries were shocked by the unprecedented realism of the piece. But they were also moved by the works' representation of the pain and stress of ballet training endured by a barely adolescent girl. After Degas' death his heirs decided in the early 1920s to make bronze casts - nearly thirty of them - of the wax original. In these versions, all is bronze except for the dancer's gauze tutu and silk ribbon. Recent investigations into the casting of this piece has shown how the founders attempted to match the colours and aged appearance of the original wax sculpture, which, by this point, had spent forty years in the artist's studio. Pigmented waxes, ranging in colour from pale orange through pink and brown, were rubbed into the flesh areas. The bodice was painted a cream colour, but a pigmented wax was applied to darken the lower part. The skirt was dipped in a mixture of animal glue and pigmented in order to created an aged effect.
This piece, by Degas is interesting because i like the way the fabric around the ballet is on her, it almost looks real. The position the sculpture is standing almost makes her look peaceful. I did feel the more i looked at the more i didn't appreciate it. I walked away from it and then seemed to come back to it and was looking at it from a different angle, i did however feel influenced and seemed to accept it more.
Hamo Thornycroft 1850 - 1925
"Teucer" 1881
bronze
The champion Greek archer Teucer was one of the heroes of Homer's story of the Trojan War. When this bronze was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1882 a quotation from Pope's translation of Holmer was printed in the catalogue, as the subject was unusual. Thornycroft admired the Elgin marbles, and his early works were in a Greek style. With 'Teucer', in emulation of the grandeur of Leighton's 'Athlete', he made a monumental ideal nude. The critic Edmund Gosse wrote that it had 'something almost archaic about its serenity and rigidity...this is courageously realistic'.
When i first saw this sculpture i was intrigued by the amount of detail that was shown in the body of work, e.g. like the muscles. The proportion of the sculpture itself is in very good detail and i was inspired. I really like the way the sculpture is standing, it draws attention to itself as i walked into the gallery. The sculpture itself doesn't reflect my art work but i did appreciate this piece. It almost reminds me of the work by Michelangelo and how he sculptured his art work.
Anthony Gormley born 1950
"Three ways: Mould, Hole and Passage" 1981
lead sheet and plaster
'You are aware that there is a transition, that something that is happening within you is gradually registering externally'. This is how Anthony Gormley described his experience of making plaster casts of his own body. For Three Ways he used such casts to make lead figures in three simple poses: curled into a ball, bending over and lying down .
This sculpture by Gormley i feel also draws attention to itself by the audience, as it did to me. The way the sculptures are positioned in the corner of the room are very different. I feel like i didn't like this piece, i wasn't inspired or influenced, i did however stand and look at the way the body parts on the sculpture sat and it made me think about why they were: sitting, laying and curled up like a ball. I also found that the mouth area on the sculptures had a hole in the mouth. I wasn't sure why this was but it made me think, why aren't the detail of the eyes and nose put into place. The humour of the sculpture with his body part showing was almost child like.
Reg Butler 1913 - 1981
"Girl on a Round Base" 1968 - 72
bronze, paint, glass and hair
This is an almost life-size and life-like sculpture of a naked girl. It is one of four such sculptures that Butler in collaboration with his partner, Rosemary, between 1968 - 72.
The erotically controlled figure writhing on a mattress shares much with bacon's paintings of reclining figures. butler greatly admired Bacon. Intriguingly, during the 1960s Bacon often told the critic John Russell that he wanted to make realistic, painted figurative sculptures. Bacon never realised this ambition, but Butler's figures seem quite close to the ideas he expressed to Russell.
When i first saw this piece, i wasn't sure what to think about it. The more i looked at it, the more i seem to appreciate it. I liked the way the sculpture was functioned on the round base, it reminded me of a round bed. The detail on the sculpture was very careful, i really liked that especially the face. I felt i got a different feeling as i looked at the sculptures at different angles, it was weird i thought but interesting at the same time. The woman on the bed looks comfortable as her neck looks strained at the same time.
Ron Mueck born 1958
"Ghost" 1998
fibreglass, silicon, polyurethane foam, acyclic fibre and fabric
Australia born, Ron Mueck first came to public attention during the Royal Academy's 1997 Sensation exhibition. He has been living in Britain for sixteen years and began his career as a puppet maker. He is currently producing figurative sculptures in a hyper-realistic style.
Mueck's simulations of human subjects possess an eerie exactitude. He bases them on friends and relatives but does not directly cast from his subjects. Instead he makes works in fibreglass and silicone from marquette modelled in clay. The distorted size and awkward posture often indicate the subject's emotional state. Ghost 1998, represents a seven-foot girl. Her enlarged scale and uneasy demeanour emphasise a sense of adolescent anxiety.
This was my favourite pieces of sculpture out of all the gallery. I loved the way the piece just stood there against the wall, and how the detail of the moustache, big hands and big feet were introduced. The sculpture itself looks real, and scary at the same time. I feel the name of the piece, Ghost, is given because it represents that she is like a ghost, she seems surreal. I was inspired by this piece because the first time i looked at it, i was standing there for minutes just inspecting the detail, as they look so real. Although her body proportion its right, she seems to carry it off well and looks comfortable. She's wearing a plain black leotard, and is covered but she seems to be showing a lot of flesh because she's so tall.
Edgar Degas 1834 - 1917
"Little Dancer Aged Fourteen" 1880 - 1
cast circa 1922
"Petite danseuse de quatorze ans" painted bronze with muslin and silk
The model for this sculpture was a ballet student at the Paris Opera, where Degas often drew and painted. Degas first made a reddish-brown wax sculpture for her in the nude. Then, aiming for a naturalistic effect, he dressed a three-quarter life-size wax sculpture for her in clothing made of real fabrics - cream-coloured silk for the bodice, tulle and gauze for the tutu, and fabric slippers. He also gave it real hair tied with a ribbon. When the wax sculpture was first exhibited, contemporaries were shocked by the unprecedented realism of the piece. But they were also moved by the works' representation of the pain and stress of ballet training endured by a barely adolescent girl. After Degas' death his heirs decided in the early 1920s to make bronze casts - nearly thirty of them - of the wax original. In these versions, all is bronze except for the dancer's gauze tutu and silk ribbon. Recent investigations into the casting of this piece has shown how the founders attempted to match the colours and aged appearance of the original wax sculpture, which, by this point, had spent forty years in the artist's studio. Pigmented waxes, ranging in colour from pale orange through pink and brown, were rubbed into the flesh areas. The bodice was painted a cream colour, but a pigmented wax was applied to darken the lower part. The skirt was dipped in a mixture of animal glue and pigmented in order to created an aged effect.
This piece, by Degas is interesting because i like the way the fabric around the ballet is on her, it almost looks real. The position the sculpture is standing almost makes her look peaceful. I did feel the more i looked at the more i didn't appreciate it. I walked away from it and then seemed to come back to it and was looking at it from a different angle, i did however feel influenced and seemed to accept it more.
Black E - Learning by Context, Wednesday 28th October
VOICES - from The Songs by Judy Chicago.
Judy Chicago is an artist, author, feminist, educator, and intellectual whose career now spans four decades. Her influences both within and beyond the art community is attested to by her inclusion in hundreds of publications throughout the world. Her art has been frequently exhibited in the United States as well as in Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. in addition, a number of the books she has authored have been published in foreign editions, bringing her art and philosophy to thousands of readers worldwide.
In the early seventies after a decade of professional art practice, Chicago pioneered Feminist Art and art education through a unique program for women at California State University, Fresno, a pedagogical approach that she has continued to develop over the years. In 1974, Chicago turned her attention to the subject of women's history to create her most well-known work, the Dinner Party, which has executed between 1974 and 1979 with the participation of hundreds of volunteers. This monumental multimedia project, a symbolic history of women in Western Civilization, has been seen by more than one million viewers during its sixteen exhibitions held at venues spanning six countries.
Judy Chicago is an artist, author, feminist, educator, and intellectual whose career now spans four decades. Her influences both within and beyond the art community is attested to by her inclusion in hundreds of publications throughout the world. Her art has been frequently exhibited in the United States as well as in Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. in addition, a number of the books she has authored have been published in foreign editions, bringing her art and philosophy to thousands of readers worldwide.
In the early seventies after a decade of professional art practice, Chicago pioneered Feminist Art and art education through a unique program for women at California State University, Fresno, a pedagogical approach that she has continued to develop over the years. In 1974, Chicago turned her attention to the subject of women's history to create her most well-known work, the Dinner Party, which has executed between 1974 and 1979 with the participation of hundreds of volunteers. This monumental multimedia project, a symbolic history of women in Western Civilization, has been seen by more than one million viewers during its sixteen exhibitions held at venues spanning six countries.
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Victoria Art Gallery, Wednesday 28th October
John James Audubon 1785 - 1851
Audubon was born to a sea captain and a maid in Santo Domingo today's Haiti. He grew up in France with his father's wife and at 18, his father sent him to his farm in Pennsylvania, USA. Even as a child he said he,
Audubon was born to a sea captain and a maid in Santo Domingo today's Haiti. He grew up in France with his father's wife and at 18, his father sent him to his farm in Pennsylvania, USA. Even as a child he said he,
"felt an intimacy with nature bordering on frenzy"
Alone in the wilderness, he would spend months hunting, fishing and drawing. Other artists were publishing drawings on birds, but their animals looked stiff and unrealistic. Audubon realised his pictures of birds were more natural.
Audubon sailed to Liverpool in 1826 to seek funding and patronage for a book. He carried letters of introduction, including one of Liverpool merchant Richard Rathbone. The Rathbones accommodated Audubon, introduced him to important local people and hosted a promotional exhibition at the Liverpool Royal Institution. Their support greatly promoted Audubon's international reputation.
In 1838 Audubon published Birds of America, and from 1845 to 1848 Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. Liverpool Central Library has a copy of Birds of America - one of the most valuable books in the world.
Audubon arrives in Liverpool in 1826. He wrote in his diary:
"...it was raining. Yet the outward appearance of the city was agreeable. But no sooner had i entered it than smoke from coal fires was so oppressive...that i could scarcely breathe".
Inspired by the Light.
The artists have used fiery or moonlit settings to evoke a particular atmosphere or feeling. Wright of Derby uses silvery light, gentle shadows, and still water to achieve a sense of tranquility in Snowdon. Turner creates a more dramatic picture with the fiery lava of the volcano against a contrasting dark sky.
In the late 1700s, fashionable people travelled to experience rural landscapes in places such as North Wales and the Lake District. These places also inspired artists, who often used their own experiences of picturesque scenery as subjects in their paintings.
Nature elements dominate the small insignificant humans. People play only a very small part. They give a sense of scale to nature whose power dominates the small insignificant humans.
The Eruption of Soufriere St Vincent on 30Th April 1812 1815
Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851)
Soufriere is the volcano on the island of St Vincent in the Caribbean . Turner did not see this eruption himself, but based his paintings on a drawing by Hugh Perry Keane, the son of the chief prosecutor on the island. The newspapers in 1812 said that the noise of the eruption was heard over 100 miles away. Soufriere St Vincent is still an active volcano, and last erupted in 1979.
It was common in the late 18Th and early 19Th centuries for artists to depict powerful natural events such as earthquakes and volcanoes. Turner sketched and painted images of shipwrecks, avalanches, storms and dramatic skies.
This is the first of a series of pictures of volcanoes by Turner. He painted Mount Vesuvius in Italy several times, and visited that volcano himself. Turner's personal experience of Vesuvius no doubt contributed to the more realistic eruptions. St. Vincent appears quite retrained in comparison in his latter images.
Icons.
The icons in this collection come from Russian, Greece and Crete.
The date from the 1500s to 1800s. Many of the designs have remained close to the Byzantine originals but show minor variations in style and representation that appeared as other influences began to take hold.
Professor Robert Roaf gave these paintings to the University of Liverpool. He was Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery here from 1964 to 1976, his father and grandmother were also Professors.
Professor Roaf's work on spinal deformities took him all over the world. On his travels he cultivated an interest in mystical religion - particularly that of Eastern Europe and Russia.
St George and the Dragon
Russian, late 16Th Century
The legend of St George and the Dragon is an important to the Eastern Christian tradition as it is to our own. Stories of the soldier-saint date back to the 6Th century at least, long before George was adopted as patron saint of England. George was adopted as patron saint of England. George came to represent the virtues of military valour and selflessness and was a familiar figure in Byzantine art.
The Tate Hall Museum.
The room was orginally the main library for the University of Liverpool and was designed to hold 30, 00 books.
It was named after Henry Tate (of Tate & Lyle sugar) who was the largest donor to the Victoria Building - giving £20, 000 and a further £5,500 for new library books.
By 1903 the library housed 40,000 volumes - but by 1937 space was needed for 110,000. In 1938 all the books were transferred to the new Harold Cohen Library which had an initial capacity for 250,00 books. The Tate's library fittings were then stripped out and the room was re-named the Tate Hall. It has since had various uses including a display area for the University's collections of fine art and early English porcelain.
Originally wooden beams extended across the ceiling - but these were removed after World War II - probably as an attempt at modernisation. The cut ends of the beams were covered with plaster shields. One is the arms of the University - showing three Liver Birds and an open book inscribed FIAT LUX (let there be light), the other is Henry Tate's coat of arms.
Radial Engine.
Presented to the University of Liverpool in 1919 by W.H. Allen Son & Company.
This engine was invented by Monsieur Verdi of Paris in 1912, and was produced by the Gnome & Le Rhone Engine Company in 1913.
- It gives 90 horsepower and runs at 1200 to 1300 R.P.M.
- Nearly every part of the engine is made of steel.
- It consists of 1156 separate pieces.
During World War I, mass production was undertaken by W.H. Allen Son & Co. of Bedford, and the engine was fitted in the following aeroplanes:
D.H 5, Sopwith Scout ('Camel' and 'Pup'), Bristol Scout, Avro.
It was employed on all fronts WWI, and has also been used extensively for pilot training.
Monday, 23 November 2009
Bridget Riley - FlashBack, Walker Art Gallery.
25 September 2009 to 13 December 2009
This major exhibition tracks the career of Bridget Riley, from her exciting beginnings in the early 1960s to the ambitious and powerful works of recent years.
Riley's distinctive and optically vibrant partings generate extraordinary sensations of movement, light and space. The exhibition includes eight large scale paintings, with four coming from Riley's personal collection. Alongside these are around 30 drawings and studies that illuminate her working methods over her five-decade-long-career.
A seminal work in the show is 'Movement in Squares', which was purchased by the Arts Council collection in 1962, the year after it was made. Consistently exhibited in retrospectives of her work, she credits the work as the beginning of her breakthrough into abstraction. This shows an insight into the role of the Arts Council collection in supporting British artists and collecting the art treasures of the future.
Many of the works will be exhibited for the first time and the show is the first in a major new series of touring exhibitions from the Arts Council collection, Southbank Centre. Each venue on the tour has collected work by Riley, including the Walker, which has 'Sea Cloud' in its collections.
An illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition with new text by the artists that is a very personal account of her approach to making work.
This major exhibition tracks the career of Bridget Riley, from her exciting beginnings in the early 1960s to the ambitious and powerful works of recent years.
Riley's distinctive and optically vibrant partings generate extraordinary sensations of movement, light and space. The exhibition includes eight large scale paintings, with four coming from Riley's personal collection. Alongside these are around 30 drawings and studies that illuminate her working methods over her five-decade-long-career.
A seminal work in the show is 'Movement in Squares', which was purchased by the Arts Council collection in 1962, the year after it was made. Consistently exhibited in retrospectives of her work, she credits the work as the beginning of her breakthrough into abstraction. This shows an insight into the role of the Arts Council collection in supporting British artists and collecting the art treasures of the future.
Many of the works will be exhibited for the first time and the show is the first in a major new series of touring exhibitions from the Arts Council collection, Southbank Centre. Each venue on the tour has collected work by Riley, including the Walker, which has 'Sea Cloud' in its collections.
An illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition with new text by the artists that is a very personal account of her approach to making work.
John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize
In 1957 John Moores (1896 - 1993) sponsored a competition for contemporary artists at Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery, with the intention of showcasing the best of new British painting.
The John Moores, as it is always known, has since been held approximately every two years. It has become one of the most familiar events in the British Art world and now forms one of the four main strands of the Liverpool Biennial.
John Moores Prizewinners 1957 - 2006 exhibition
The paintings in this exhibition are, with two exceptions, from the Walker Art Gallery's permanent collection. They were all main prizewinners in the John Moores Liverpool exhibitions, held approximately every two years at the Gallery since 1957.
The exhibition, which was one of Britain's first contemporary art prizes, was intiated by Sir John Moores (1896 - 1993), fonder of Littlewoods. His aims were:
'To give Merseyside the chance to see an exhibition of painting and sculpture embracing the best and most vital work being done today throughout the country' and 'To encourage artists, particulary the young and progresive'.
The John Moores, open to artists working in the UK, has always been an open submission competition with prize money - a total of £458,350 has been awarded since 1957. Until 1967 'distingushed' artists were invited to submit work, some also being eligible for prizes. Those invited included Oskar Kokoschka, LS Lowry, Francis Bacon and Barbara Hepworth.
The exhibited works and prizewinners are selected by a different jury each year. The exhibition has consitently helped to raise the profit of the artists and in particular to further the careers of its winners, including Jack Smith, Peter Blake, David Hockney and Peter Doig.
For the Walker Art Gallery it has created the backbone of its collection of contemporary British painting, reflecting some of the major trends over the past 50 years, including Kitchen Sink realsim, abstraction, pop art and figuration.
The John Moores, as it is always known, has since been held approximately every two years. It has become one of the most familiar events in the British Art world and now forms one of the four main strands of the Liverpool Biennial.
John Moores Prizewinners 1957 - 2006 exhibition
The paintings in this exhibition are, with two exceptions, from the Walker Art Gallery's permanent collection. They were all main prizewinners in the John Moores Liverpool exhibitions, held approximately every two years at the Gallery since 1957.
The exhibition, which was one of Britain's first contemporary art prizes, was intiated by Sir John Moores (1896 - 1993), fonder of Littlewoods. His aims were:
'To give Merseyside the chance to see an exhibition of painting and sculpture embracing the best and most vital work being done today throughout the country' and 'To encourage artists, particulary the young and progresive'.
The John Moores, open to artists working in the UK, has always been an open submission competition with prize money - a total of £458,350 has been awarded since 1957. Until 1967 'distingushed' artists were invited to submit work, some also being eligible for prizes. Those invited included Oskar Kokoschka, LS Lowry, Francis Bacon and Barbara Hepworth.
The exhibited works and prizewinners are selected by a different jury each year. The exhibition has consitently helped to raise the profit of the artists and in particular to further the careers of its winners, including Jack Smith, Peter Blake, David Hockney and Peter Doig.
For the Walker Art Gallery it has created the backbone of its collection of contemporary British painting, reflecting some of the major trends over the past 50 years, including Kitchen Sink realsim, abstraction, pop art and figuration.
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Walker Art Gallery - “Learning by Context", Wednesday 7th October
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1828-82
‘Dante’s Dream’, painted 1870-81Oil on canvas, 216 x 312.4cm
Rosseti had a life-long interest in the Italian poet Dante. This painting shows an episode from the 'Vita Nuova'. In it Dante dreams that he is led by Love to the death-bed of Beatrice Portinari, the object of his unrequited passion.
This is Rossetti's largest ever painting. In it he creates a visionary world through soft, rich colours and complex symbols. The attendants wear green for hope, while the spring blossoms signify purity. The red doves indicate the presence of love and the poppies symbolise the sleep of dreams and death.
Rossetti was fascinated by Dante's autobiographical Vita Nuova (or new life) in which the great Italian medieval poet recounts his mystical and unconsummated passion for Beatrice Portinari. This painting embodies Dante's dream on the day of her death, he is led by love (with the arrow) to her beside and sees her ladies covering her with a veil; the poppies signify the sleep of death; the flowers and blossom represent purity and virginity; the doves symbolize love; the dying lamp suggests the end of life; Florence can be seen through the window. This painting, based on a watercolour of 1856, has all the rich language of Rossetti maturity despite its gloomy subject. Jane Mooris was the model for Beatrice. The frame was designed by the artist and it was the largest canvas Rossetti painted.
The model for Beatrice was Jane Morris, with whom Rossetti had a long-term affair.
I was inspired by this painting because it made me think about the perjury of heaven and hell. I was fascinated about the history behind the painting and how the painting was inspired by the poem. Dante buried the poem where Beatrice was buried; years later he dug her up and also found the poem. He found the body decomposed but the hair was glooming with a rich copper colour
William Holman Hunt, 1871-1910
'The Triumph of the Innocents', painted 1876-87
Oil on linen, 157.5 cm x 247.7 cm
'The Triumph of the Innocents', painted 1876-87
Oil on linen, 157.5 cm x 247.7 cm
The landscape setting is on the road to Gaza, at a spot about a day's journey from Bethlehem. Originally, Hunt had intended the whole picture to be bathed in moonlight. Feeling that this would be too monotonous, he instead gave a luminous supernatural glow to the foreground infants.
The work differs from the earlier 'Scapegoat' and 'Finding of the Saviour in the Temple' in that Hunt here tonally separates foreground and background and does not give equal attention to all parts of the picture. Much more detail is lavished on the foreground.
In landscape and figures, Hunt sought to reproduce as closely as possible the event as it might have looked. In one of his letters to Harold Rathbone he wrote;
'I am always interested to the deepest extent in the illustration of religious history by such means. Since I first knew the East, the opportunities of illustrating old events by existing customs and tradition has enormously decreased, and in another fifty years the world will wonder why, when the mood of European manners had not destroyed primitive forms, painters had not full worked to perpetuate these'
Sidney Colvin characterised Hunt's attitude well;
'He shows himself a child of his age by attending first of all to geography and ethnology and archaeology and local colour, performing the work of "Societies of Biblical Archaeology"',
Hunt's interest in depicting scriptural episodes with geographical and historical accuracy was not merely scientific but designed to awaken the spectator's religious emotions and make him confront the problem of whether or not these biblical events had taken place.
Mary and the infant Christ on the donkey are being led on their nocturnal flight to Egypt by Joseph. They are fleeing from the massacre of all the male babies in Bethlehem organized by King Herod in his attempt to murder the infant Jesus. The souls of these babies, the Holy Innocents, accompany the Holy family drawn along by mystic bubbles representing Jewish confidence in Ultimate Salvation. The large bubble includes Jacob’s dream, the Adoration of the Lamb and the Trees of Life. Hunt was inspired by his personal experience of contemporary Palestine particularly in the principal figures, in the donkey and in the background but he combines this with an original and erudite symbolism intended to re-interpret the Bible for late Victorian England. The frame was designed by the artists and contains a seed symbol which implies the millions of the unfaithful.
I was not inspired by this painting; I feel I did not like the appreciation of the painting itself, however the history behind the painting was attentive. I was however intrigued at how an area of canvas is inserted to include the head of the virgin and child, but the painting itself does not show unless I looked closely at the painting, because when the light shines at an angle you can see the patch.
John Everett Millais, 1829-96
'Lorenzo and Isabella', painted 1848-9
Oil on linen, 103cm x142.8cm
Millais's first Pre-Raphaelite painting was painted during 1848 when he was 19 years old. The subject is taken from Keats's poem 'Isabella' or 'The Pot of Basil'. The painting is also sometimes simply known as 'Isabella'. When exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1849, the following quotation from the poem was included in the catalogue:
Fair Isabel, poor simple Isabel! Lorenzo, a young palmer in Love's eye! They could not in the self-same mansion dwell Without some stir of heart, some malady; They could not sit at meals but feel how well It soothed each to be the other by. These brethren having found by many signs What love Lorenzo for their sister had,
And how she lov'd him too, each unconfines His bitter thoughts to other, well nigh mad That he, the servant of their trade designs Should in their sister's love be blithe and glad When 'twas their plan to coax her by degrees To some high noble and his olive trees.
And how she lov'd him too, each unconfines His bitter thoughts to other, well nigh mad That he, the servant of their trade designs Should in their sister's love be blithe and glad When 'twas their plan to coax her by degrees To some high noble and his olive trees.
Keats's source for this poem was a tale by the 14th century Italian author, Bocaccio, and the story is broadly as follows: Lorenzo and Isabella were deeply in love with each other. Isabella was the daughter of a rich and greedy Florentine merchant family to which Lorenzo was apprenticed. Discovering their sister's love for Lorenzo, Isabella's brothers plotted to kill Lorenzo. They lured him into a wood and there murdered him. Isabella pined for her love and in a vision saw the spot where he had been killed. She found his grave and dug up his body. Then cutting off Lorenzo's head and taking it home, she kept it hidden in a flowerpot in which she planted the sweet smelling herb, basil. Eventually her brothers discovered her macabre secret and stole the pot of basil, and full off guilt, they fled to Florence. Isabella grew weak through sorrow, and died.
Keats's poetry was a major preoccupation with the Brotherhood. Rossetti first read his poems in 1845 and thought him 'the greatest modern poet'. Hunt discovered Keats's work in 1848 and introduced Millais to his verse. Hunt and Millais planned to produce a series of etchings for book illustrations of Keats's 'Isabella'. Millais worked up his drawings into this large painting. Hunts work on the project did not get beyond the drawing stage.
Hunt later suggested that Keats's work played a major part in uniting the group. In 1848, Keats was little known outside of a small group of devotees. His work had remained unpublished after his death in 1821. The Pre- Raphaelites were particularly attracted to the medieval themes in Keats's poems rather than to his classical subjects and it was the moral intensity of both 'Isabella' and 'The Eve of St Agnes' that they felt made them suitable as subjects. Both had the 'high seriousness' which the Brotherhood wished to characterise their work.
Keat’s rich medieval imagery made him a favourite poet of the Pre-Raphaelites. This was Millais’ first painting in the new, sharply detailed Pre-Raphaelites style. The bright colour, the flattering of the picture space and the deliberate stiffness and angularity of the figures were all features taken from the early Italian painting. The story is told through clear gestures and facial expressions, but Millais has also included symbolic details such as the hawk tearing at a feather, the blood orange given to Isabella and the passion flower above her head.
I did however appreciate this painting; I did like how the initials PRB were carved into the stool, and how the crockery tells the same symbol of the story. The painting itself I feel shows the story of the future. Symbolising the nutcracker as a shadow and reflection like a Pre-Raphaelite joke, this shows that a teenager painted it. I was also introduced at how the peoples sat on the right hand side looked like a pack of cards layed out this also implies the painting was painted by a teenager.
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