Accompanied by OCA tutor Bryan Eccleshall we looked at and discussed the paintings of many artists who were commissioned at the start of the war to “Record Britain”. The exhibition included a range of artists from the well-known e.g. John Piper to the less well known and covered images of working Britain to rural idealism. A 1940s news reel explained the importance of the countryside and its maintenance.
Our visit culminated in attending a talk by Paul Evans http://www.pkevans.co.uk/ who specialises in drawing wild and wonderful animals, many at microscopic level such as the giardia parasite. His drawings were accompanied by poetic lines read by the poet (whose name I have regretfully forgotten).
Recording Britain
The “brainchild” of Sir Kenneth Clark, the images of Britain are painted in watercolour,the aim was to boost Britain’s morale and to record the landscapes under threat from the war. ref: www.vam.ac.uk (http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/r/recording-britain-collection/)
“By focussing on quiet corners and local scenes Recording Britain takes us off the beaten track of iconic British landmarks and postcard images” quote sourced on line August 2014 from :www.museums-sheffield (http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/museums/millennium-gallery/exhibitions/current/recording-britain-1)
Kenneth Rowntree (1915-1997) Underbank Farm, Woodlands, Ashdale, Derbyshire. 1940 E.1259-1949 CT19000 sourced on line from: www.vam.ac.uk (http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/r/recording-britain-collection/)
I was fascinated to see paintings of Downham, a village nestling on Pendle, which was the same then as now only blighted these days by the presence of the motor car. The villagers are not permitted to despoil the buildings with television aerials etc and so the 1940s appearance is much retained. We discussed the inability to paint these days without the view being obstructed by vehicles and how Wainwright had written of their nuisance in his drawings of the Lake District.
Downham by Dawson, pen and ink and watercolour 1940 sourced on line from : www.vam.ac.uk (http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O17253/downham-village-near-clitheroe-lancashire-watercolour-dawson-byron/)
photo taken from further down the road towards the bridge and into the village
I thought it would be interesting to relate some of the paintings in the exhibition to the places as they exist now, not only to compare and note any changes but also to see how the artists had tackled the subject, changing it from an everyday record to a work of art.
A softly drawn perspective view in which the cobbled street and the shaded tall buildings frame and lead the eye to the church or cathedral. No figures in the picture which makes it quiet and gives it a feeling of having been there for centuries never to be changed.
Drawing Fish Street Shrewsbury, England (made) 21 October 1943 (made) Walker (artist) (http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O596491/fish-street-shrewsbury-recording-britain-drawing-walker/)
present day image of the street shows how the houses, still existing had been made taller in the artist’s image, the street wider (sourced August 2014 on line from:shrewsburytowncouncil.gov.uk
the Bridge at Tyringham Buckinghamshire April 1940, watercolour, John Piper. (http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O17228/the-bridge-at-tyringham-buckinghamshire-watercolour-piper-john/)
Photo of the Bridge sourced on line August 2014 from:www.waymarking.com
Piper has contrasted the pale bridge against a dark background of sketchily drawn trees or clouds and places an archway into a lighter area at the far end of the bridge so producing a feeling of a bridge taking you to doom! Piper was well known for dramatic paintings representing the war and perhaps this 1940 image was a fear of things to come. I can’t find any images in which the monument is visible in photos. so am unsure if he moved the trees to produce a more awe-inspiring image.
The Tithe Barn, Great Coxwell, Berkshire, (watercolour) John Piper 1940
sourced on line from:vam.ac.uk (http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O17238/tithe-barn-great-coxwell-berkshire-watercolour-piper-john/)
photo of the barn sourced on line (August 2014) from:www.geograph.org.uk
Pipers image leans away from the viewer due to the perspective of the roof which runs at degrees to the barn, this roof and building does not exist in the photographic image so could have been added to give the barn a greater and imposing perspective. There are windows ion Piper’s doors, have these been added to give a focus on the door? The tonal contrasts are accentuated and the sky depicted in Piper’s wild and dark manner. Has he added the stone which looks like a grave stone to the front of the building to add drama?
Alan Reynolds Dorset Landscape and abstract landscapes interesting -unable to find on line the image displayed at Sheffield but images at the Tate helpful in illustrating his images.
The Village Winter by Alan Reynolds see bbc.co.uk/arts (http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-village-winter-64018) angular white greys form a lower and upper frame to geometric houses grouped across the centre of the page and depicted in darker greys with blocks of russet. Trees are linear with thin trunks and globular white or grey heads. Chimneys are represented by small striped areas of varying shades of grey. I really like this image, it has a Scandinavian feel to it although I am not sure why -perhaps because of the angular patterns that remind me of those found on jumpers from Scandinavia or Scotland.
Two more of his paintings I like are Novemberscapes (in Aberdeen art gallery) and Poet goes poaching (c/o Plymouth city council)
Novemberscapes (http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/novemberscape-107809) is a black and white textured image in which a central dark band of ground runs across dividing the sky from the white and grey lines of a field or frozen pond. the sky has kriss crossing white lines of texture within a grey violet. The heavier textures are broken by thin black lines of plants.
Poet Goes Poaching (http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/poet-goes-poaching) is again a central image of houses which separates a pink grey sky from a similar foreground. Centrally placed are muted greens and russets, angular houses and round and oval ochre trees and a tall thin image of a man and his dog.
On being questioned by the tutor as to which image I most liked I picked:
Condemned property at Isleworth, painted in 1942 by Walker. (http://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?listing_type=imagetext&offset=0&limit=15&narrow=1&extrasearch=&q=walker+condemned+property+at+Isleworth&commit=Search&quality=0&objectnamesearch=&placesearch=&after=&after-adbc=AD&before=&before-adbc=AD&namesearch=&materialsearch=&mnsearch=&locationsearch=)
We questioned why the properties were in the shade. But my fascination was with the feeling produced by the image, old well used trust worthy in the past, a crumbling building to be demolished… perhaps I read too much into it but to me it reflected human life and perhaps how I feel after retiring and the fate that awaits.
Eric Ravilious Cement works no 2 1934 sourced from google search posted by jamesrussellontheweb (http://jamesrussellontheweb.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/olivia-laings-to-river-woolf-asham.html )
The grey pink sky in diagonal streaks and the dark grey green-blue of the hill give a rurally English setting to this industrial scene set in the Sussex chalk.Centrally tp the right, the cream buildings stand against the black lines of the trees and men appear from the right along a rail line, walking heads bent away from what appears to be the mine entrance. The foreground is grey pink chalk land with sprigs of grass and scattered winter twigs. Following the eye up the railway line to the left middle of the picture we are lead to a smoking chimney,its smoke light against the background hills. The image is soft and harmonious in its use of colour, Ravilious employs his typical streaks of paint and his doll-like people who appear silent. The picture gives a calm atmosphere of hard workers at peace with their environment.
The web site “jamesrussellontheweb” (http://jamesrussellontheweb.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/olivia-laings-to-river-woolf-asham.html) talks of the area being a haunt of Virginia Woolf’s, she had a house close and walked the downs.
Recording Britain Now
In a less reminiscent mood the artists who have depicted Britain today have chosen to highlight social problems:
e.g.
Conrad Atkinson Plutonium Landscape 1980 ref:vam.ac.uk https://theartstack.com/artist/conrad-atkinson/english-lake-district-plutonium-landscape) Here a depiction of the Lake District in Gouache lies at the centre of the image with the lines of the hills and river extending out beyond the main image. On these lines Atkinson lists the social problems of the age.
Laura Oldfield Ford ref: stanleypickergallery.org M6 Junction 9 Bescot 2011( http://www.stanleypickergallery.org/fellowships/laura-oldfield-ford/)and marlboroughfineart.com ( http://www.marlboroughfineart.com/exhibition_detail.php?detail=more_info&ExhibitionID=233) the images depict the Bitish environment in the medium of drawing with a view to highlighting the social problems and deprivation and how the environment plays a part in shaping problems.
Maggie Hargreaves winner of the Recording Britain Now depicts in pencil in Changing Space 11 (http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/museums/millennium-gallery/exhibitions/current/recording-britain-now) a detailed image of a children’s slide set in the scrub ground behind the housing estate. It has a certain romance, perhaps by its silence and lack of figures but is harsher than the images from the 1940s in application of pencil. Perhaps the deserted slide is a statement that the children are insode on computers or watching television, as she is concerned with “Our increasing reliance on indirect, mediated experience through TV, cinema and console games distances us from the ‘real’ world affecting the way it is perceived and treated.” ref: maggiehargreaves.weebly.com (http://maggiehargreaves.weebly.com/)
The paintings, many water-colour gave a colourful and romantic view (in most cases) of an England in the 1940s which brought back memories of the 1950s when I was a child. However, looking at photo images of some of the places depicted they are no different today, but not seen through such Romantic a lens. I conclude that the images were not only a record of the area at the time but were painted in the 1940s to have a feel of ages past, in light and faded colours, blurred outlines and dramatic skies or aspects and the skill of the artist was to produce a sensation of pride in an ancient land and the works of its population. Plus as the social situation is different these days the thrust in depicting Britain Now is to highlight the problems inherent in the environment rather than provide a boost of pride for a country worth fighting for.
playing with creativity 