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A Perfect Day (2003)
by Pete McKee (born 1966)
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Sheffield is not blessed with a wide array of art galleries. There's The Graves Gallery above The Central Library, The Sheffield Institute of Arts Gallery on Arundel Street and Weston Park Museum opposite The Children's Hospital.
The latter used to have four big display rooms but with the modernisation and expansion of the museum the gallery was reduced to just one big room. Yesterday, I was in the mood for absorbing some art so I ventured inside.
The on-going exhibition is of pictures associated with Sheffield going right back to the seventeenth century and right up to the present day.There was a fine selection of paintings but they weren't displayed well. The lighting was far too subdued and the artworks were hung at three different levels so to truly appreciate the top level pictures I would have needed a ladder. A torch (American: flashlight) would also have been useful.
The paintings show Sheffield's growth from a small market town into a fiery furnace of steel making and beyond that into the current post-industrial era.
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| Banner Cross, Sheffield 1890 by Albert Edward Boler (1864 - 1939) |
As is often the case in British art galleries, there was a big sign warning that photography is not allowed. It is funny that we once visited the amazing Getty Art Museum in Los Angeles and there there was absolutely no problem with taking pictures. A member of the museum staff said, "Yeah sure! No problem. Go ahead and take as ,many picture as you like but please no flash!"
I pretended I hadn't seen the sign in Weston Park Museum and snapped a few pictures anyway - cunningly waiting until the security staff had walked past.
As you can see I have three pictures to share with you. The older oil painting in not very accomplished but the location is just fifty yards from this house, looking up Psalter Lane when it was just a rough track heading out of the city.
The two more modern pictures are by living local artists Joe Scarborough and Pete McKee. Both view their home city with affection and perhaps nostalgia for more innocent past times. Their styles are very distinctive - possibly because they were both self-taught and simply driven by twin passions for art and Sheffield.
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| People Dancing to Bands (1996) by Joe Scarborough (born 1938) |
I've only been into the NSW Art Gallery a couple of times: once for a Monet exhibition and once for The Arts of Islam.
ReplyDeleteI bet security saw you!
If they saw me they should have wrestled me to the floor. That would have made a good picture!
Deletedepending on the angle!
DeleteWhich angel? Angel Gabriel?
DeleteI like the Joe Scarborough painting.
ReplyDeleteMy photo doesn't really do it justice. It's quite a big canvas, filled with colour, life and energy.
DeleteThree very different paintings and all are intriguing in their own ways. Maybe this is heresy, but the third one would make a good jigsaw puzzle - lots of interesting detail!
ReplyDeleteHa-ha! I know what you mean about Joe Scarborough's work!
DeleteNo photos in our galleries or museums! However it is pleasant to take a tour once in a while.
ReplyDeleteYou have to be in the mood for art appreciation.
DeleteI am a bit confused with your comment the older oil is not very accomplished...maybe my artful eye is not as astute as your own.
ReplyDeleteAnd I find Scarborough's painting colourful, unique and alive...
Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, I guess.
I have a very limited interest or knowledge in art but of the type that I can appreciate, the second painting is one, because it is both historical and presents a real scene.
ReplyDeleteI always love a good art exhibit! But I'm not a fan of multi-level hanging, either. I think the prohibition on photography has something to do with legality and copyright -- like, the artist or the museum owns the image and the rights to market/use it, maybe? I'm not sure. I've found that usually if I see something I like in a museum I can simply look for it online and find an image of it there, rather than trying to take my own picture -- but maybe not in this case, with this more specialized Sheffield exhibit.
ReplyDelete