Monday, August 31, 2020

"Social Studies" by Twentieth-Century Painters - III

Laura Knight
Take-Off: Interior of a Bomber Aircraft
ca. 1943
oil on canvas
Imperial War Museum, London

Ruskin Spear
Scene in an Underground Train: Workers Returning from Night Shift
1943
oil on panel
Imperial War Museum, London

Frank Brangwyn
Fisherwomen
ca. 1954
oil on canvas
Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford, Yorkshire

Nadia Benois
Piazza Navona, Rome
1949
oil on canvas
Government Art Collection, London

Moira Maitland
Dressmaking
1955
oil on board
Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland

Anthony Fry
Dancing Figures in a Landscape
ca. 1957
oil on canvas
Hatton Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Robert Medley
Swimming Pool, Gravesend
1960
oil on canvas
Government Art Collection, London

L.S. Lowry
July - The Seaside
1943
oil on canvas
Southbank Centre, London

Relativity

I like relativity and quantum theories
because I don't understand them
and they make me feel as if space shifted about like a swan that can't settle,
refusing to sit still and be measured;
and as if the atom were an impulsive thing
always changing its mind.

– D.H. Lawrence (1929)

Josef Herman
In the Canteen
1954
oil on canvas
Aberdeen Art Gallery, Scotland

Renato Guttoso
Death of a Hero
1953
oil on canvas
Estorick Collection, London

Leslie Hurry
Palace Dream
1942
mixed media on paper
Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art

Robert Sivell
Noon
1958
oil on panel
Aberdeen Art Gallery, Scotland

Ben Levene
Musicians
1957
oil on panel
University College London Art Museum

John Kenneth Long
The Reading Room, Barnsley, South Yorkshire
1956
oil on canvas
Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry

David Hockney
Man in a Museum
1962
oil on canvas
British Council Collection, London

Sunday, August 30, 2020

"Social Studies" by Twentieth-Century Painters - II

Anna Zinkeisen
St Mary's First Aid Post by Candlelight
1941
oil on canvas
Imperial War Museum, London

Ethel Gabain
Sandbag-Filling, Islington Borough Council
ca. 1941
oil on canvas
Imperial War Museum, London

Claude Rogers
The Broad Walk, Regent's Park
1938
oil on canvas
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Victor Pasmore
The Palace Pier, Brighton
ca. 1936
oil on canvas
The Hepworth, Wakefield, Yorkshire

Anne Finlay
A Woman's Life
1938
oil on board
Leamington Spa Art Gallery and Museum, Warwickshire

from In Reference to Her Children

I had eight birds hatcht in one nest,
Four Cocks were there, and Hens the rest.
I nurst them up with pain and care,
No cost nor labour did I spare
Till at the last they felt their wing,
Mounted the Trees and learned to sing.

– Anne Bradstreet (1659)  

Mabel Frances Layng
Tea Dance
ca. 1925-30
watercolour on card
Shire Hall Gallery, Stafford

Meredith Frampton
A Game of Patience
1937
oil on canvas
Ferens Art Gallery, Kingston-upon-Hull

James Bateman
Silage
ca. 1940
oil on canvas
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

William Roberts
Sawing Wood
ca. 1930
oil on canvas
Ulster Museum, Belfast

Carel Weight
Two Lovers Interrupted by a Sprite
ca. 1938
oil on canvas
Portsmouth Museums, Hampshire

Jack Butler Yeats
Return of the Wanderer
ca. 1928
oil on board
Ulster Museum, Belfast

John Leigh-Pemberton
The Gallery Objects
ca. 1925-35
oil on canvas
Wolverhampton Art Gallery, West Midlands

Bernard Dunstan
Listening to Music
ca. 1940
oil on cardboard
University College London Art Museum

Christopher Campbell
Self Portrait - The Artist and his Sister
ca. 1930
oil on canvas
Ulster Museum, Belfast

Christopher Clark
London for State Occasions
ca. 1930
oil on canvas
(for reproduction as poster)
National Railway Museum, York

Saturday, August 29, 2020

"Social Studies" by Twentieth-Century Painters - I

Nora Cundell
The Back Parlour, Café Loos, Étaples
ca. 1920
oil on canvas
Atkinson Art Gallery, Southport, Merseyside

Malcolm Drummond
Chelsea Public Library
1920
oil on canvas
Burton Gallery, University of Leeds, Yorkshire

Maurice Greiffenhagen
London: Piccadilly
1926
oil on canvas
(for reproduction as poster)
National Railway Museum, York

Harold Harvey
Blackberrying
1917
oil on canvas
South Shields Museum and Art Gallery, Tyne-and-Wear

George Washington Lambert
Horse Fair
ca. 1908
oil on canvas
Brighton and Hove Museums and Art Galleries

S. MacAntisionnaigh
The Slade Tea Party
1924
oil on canvas
University College London Art Museum

from Lines for People After the Party

And whenever they couldn't speak they looked at each other.
How long should I look at the world before I go home?
It's a moody life like Debussy on a weekend
and all the appointments and money and drinks they do go.
So with our beautiful coats we went back to that mess
and what happened? Someone found what they wanted
by night, by mistake.

– Alex Dimitrov (2013)

Elsie McNaught
Frieze of Figures Standing in a Landscape
1910
oil on canvas
University College London Art Museum

Ludwig von Hofmann
Weinlese (Harvest)
1905-1906
oil on canvas
Neues Museum, Weimar

James Clark
The Apprentice
ca. 1900
oil on canvas
Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate, Yorkshire

Richard Ernst Eurich
Sailors and Other Figures Carousing by a Quay
1925
oil on canvas
University College London Art Museum

Stanhope Alexander Forbes
The Old Pier Steps
1911
oil on canvas
Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford, Yorkshire

Thérèse Lessore
Place d'Aix, Marseilles
1922
oil on canvas
Portsmouth Museums, Hampshire

James Cowie
In the Classroom
1922
oil on canvas
Aberdeen Art Gallery, Scotland

Mabel Frances Layng
Café
1925
watercolour on card
Shire Hall Gallery, Stafford

Byam Shaw
Such is Life
1907
oil on canvas
Leeds Art Gallery, Yorkshire

Friday, August 28, 2020

Post-Enlightenment Piety (Narratives and Figures)

John Jackson
St Peter
ca. 1815-16
oil on canvas
York City Art Gallery

David Scott
Nimrod
ca. 1832
oil on canvas
Glasgow Museums

James Sant
The Novice
1856
oil on canvas
Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, Lancashire

William Mulready
The Lesson
ca. 1859
oil on panel
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

John Pettie
Head of St John
ca. 1870-80
oil on canvas
Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art

Francis Augustus Lathrop
Study for Angel
ca. 1899
gouache and pastel
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

William Stott
The Entombment
ca. 1900
oil on canvas
Williamson Art Gallery and Museum, Birkenhead, Merseyside

Unit, like Death, for Whom?
True, like the Tomb,
Who tells no secret
Told to Him –
The Grave is strict –
Tickets admit
Just two – the Bearer – and the Borne –
And seat – just One –
The Living – tell –
The Dying – but a syllable –
The Coy Dead – None –
No Chatter – here – No Tea –
So Babbler, and Bohea – stay there –
But Gravity – and Expectation – and Fear –
A tremor just, that all's not sure.

– Emily Dickinson (1863)

William Stott
The Good Samaritan
1910
oil on canvas
Ferens Art Gallery, Kingston-upon-Hull

Charles Ricketts
The Deposition
ca. 1910
oil on canvas
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Charles Ricketts
The Deposition
ca. 1910
oil on canvas
Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford, Yorkshire

Charles Haslewood Shannon
The Wise and Foolish Virgins
1919-20
oil on canvas
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

Frank Brangwyn
The Prodigal Son
ca. 1952
oil on canvas
Royal Academy of Arts, London

Diana Cumming
The Flood
1954
oil on canvas
Southbank Centre, London

Patrick Hennessy
The Spanish Christ
ca. 1960
oil on canvas
Ulster Museum, Belfast

Joanna Price
Small Blue Pietà with Dogs
1992
oil on canvas
Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, Warwickshire