An Education in Art

I had a fun and educational time at Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.  I do love my art and because of my studies I've gained an appreciative understanding about why the artists draw/paint the way they do.

 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

Visiting the Walker Art Gallery was no exception.  The gallery offers a variety of works ranging from medieval art to contemporary works.   I chose some exhibitions to check out which were of personal interest to me.

As well as it being emotive with the works I've seen I also felt I was re-educated (would have been handy for my fine arts studies in my humanities modules).  I was reading about the techniques artist used for their works in the Post Impression Era such as Formalism (Robert Fry), Impasto, Tempera, Abstract Art, Fauvism, Surrealism and so far.  I've appreciated how the artists applied these techniques such as the use of colour, symmetry/positioning of objects and lighting and how these attribute to how the artist felt at the time.

I share a bit of background about the Walker Art Gallery.  The art gallery opened in 1877 and it gained national status in 1986.  The building was used in World War II for distributing ration books and venue held the inaugural John Moore contemporary painting prize in 1957.  Today it is part of the National Museums Liverpool.

I enjoyed looking at Pre-Raphaelites' works and learning how the Pre-Raphaelites Brotherhood was launch in 1848 by seven young artists. The artists weren't happy with then the British Art existing standards and they felt that their work should represent something symbolically and morally.  I particularly loved William Davis Corner of a Cornfield.

There was an interesting gallery housing works of Sir John Moore (1896-1993) prize winners from 1957 to today.  I read about Moore aims about giving Merseyside residents opportunities to see paintings and sculptures done by country's leading artists and also to promote contemporary arts.  Some works included David Hockney Peter Getting Out of Nick's Pool and Peter Davies Andy Warhol Text Painting.  Davies simply sums up today's world and I was reading how he wanted to 'combine the sensuality and beauty of formalism with the humour and toughness of conceptualism' (Davies).  One piece of work that stood out for me was Martin Greenland Before Vermeer's Cloud. It represented the changing seasons and I loved how the seasons blended in with each other. I noted a Lowry painting, Waterloo Dock in Liverpool and I loved his work especially the paintings I saw on the Lowry Trail in Berwick Upon Tweed.

There were some works which I'm familiar with Impressionist painters such as Degas, Mattis, Henri, Cezanne et al.  Their mission was focusing on nature (whether natural or human) and lighting such as natural and artificial lights and the change in weather.  The painters took in account the social and industrial changes combined with emotives that were happening at the time.  Two paintings that stood out for me were Morning Twilight by Charles Conder (1868-1909) and Monet Icebreaking Up on the Seine near Bennecourt (1893).

This sums up a perfect and personal visit I had at the Walker Art Gallery (Further information is available on the website).