Late 18th and early 19th British and European Landscapes
#SUBHEADING#Dutch Tradition#SUBHEADINGEND# Late 18th and early 19th Century British Art revived the Dutch landscape tradition of focussing on the natural environment in contrast to the practice of placing landowners against a background of their landed estates. From the late 18th century a new merchant and industrial class, began to gain an interest in pure landscape painting as new patrons of Art. #SUBHEADING#Neo-Classicism and Regional Schools#SUBHEADINGEND# Italianate landscapes in the Grand Style were inspired by earlier classical style landscapes of the French 17th Century masters, Claude Lorrain and N. Poussin. This can be seen in the works of British artists of the 18th century such as A.Cozens, Richard Wilson and P. Nasmyth, who composed perfectly balanced vistas of tree framed rivers and mountain valleys. These draw on both the Dutch and Italian landscape traditions. Regional versions of this type, were developed by local landscape schools throughout England in and around Norwich, Lincoln, Yorkshire and Derbyshire, by artists such as J. Sell Cotman, Thomas Girtin and John Rathbone. #SUBHEADING#Realism#SUBHEADINGEND# Another branch of regional landscape painting in early 19th century Britain grew out of the Dutch realist tradition. These show intimate portraits of a particular local landscape and its working environment. English examples of this can be seen in the works of George Morland and Edmund Bristow around London and more locally, Peter de Wint, in 'On the River Witham'. J.C. Ibbetson, working in the Lake District developed a fine local variation on the Dutch landscape tradition in his rustic lakeside scenes or picturesque farms among the Cumberland fells. #SUBHEADING#Naturalism and Topography#SUBHEADINGEND# Truth to nature in the works of Constable and Turner revolutionised landscape painting by working directly from the natural subject and in the landscape of the early 1800s, as Constable has clearly done in his 'Cloud Study'. Other artists were more concerned with the historical formation and layout of a view, such as John Varley and his pupils, David Cox and A.V. Copley Fielding. 'Loading timber wagon in the grounds of Cave Castle, Yorkshire' by G. Arnald is an example of the natural and human formation of the land, with an unusual side view of the newly built neo-Gothic Cave Castle. Striking views of working life in open countryside around Glastonbury or the Thames valley can be seen in the watercolours of a follower of Turner, James Baker Pyne. The French coast is also brought vividly to life by the works of R.P. Bonington or Le Prince, with rugged and open shorelines inhabited by local fishing communities in the examples, 'Coast scene in Picardy' or 'Beach scene with figures'. #SUBHEADING#Coast and River Scenes#SUBHEADINGEND# Coastal and river scenes play an important part in the collections of the Ferens Art Gallery, from its base within the old shipping and fishing port of Kingston upon Hull. These include local views such as 'Shipyard at Hessle Cliffs' by J. Wilson Carmichael. Other British estuary waters are illustrated in Thomas Luny's views of Plymouth harbour and bankside views of the Thames from Limehouse Reach to Westminster Bridge by various artists. A European parallel to these works, can be seen in an early painting of the Grand Canal in Venice by the Venetian master, Canaletto.
History of the Ferens Art Gallery (part 2)
The Ferens Art gallery was completed in eighteen months and opened in 1927. Read about the changes and develpments the gallery has been through from its opening to the present day.
History of the Ferens Art Gallery (part 1)
At the turn of the twentieth century Hull's art collections were housed in variety of locations. Thomas Robinson Ferens decided that a purpose built art gallery should be constructed and so work began on the Ferens Art gallery in 1926.
Dutch 17th Century Landscapes
The Ferens Art Gallery collection has a particularly good representation of the 17th century Dutch landscape tradition. Read on to find out more about how this genre developed and who was involved.
Early 20th Century British Art - Between the Wars
After the devastation of WWI, radical movements in art had retreated to more conservative forms that celebrated the local and familiar, representing a national character in relation to European art movements. However, some developments were completely original responses to the art that had gone before and an attempt to encompass the state of the natural and human world as it appeared to British artists of the time. This led to new forms of visual expression that represented the cutting edge of the Art World at the outbreak of WWII.
Early 20th Century British Art - The Rise of Modernism
The period of British Art dating from the turn of the 20th century, marked the rise of modernism in response to the influences of French Impressionism and reaction against the Art establishment in the form of the Salon in Paris and the Royal Academy in London. This gave rise to the various movements into which impressionism divided through the works of Cezanne, Degas, Renoir, Van Gogh, Gauguin. It also led to the recognition of 'Post-Impressionism' and the ideas and methods of European modernism from Fauvism to Cubism.
Hull & Barnsley Railway Albums
Wonderful photographic images of the construction of the Hull & Barnsley Railway, now available to view on our collections website.
Fred Elwell
Frederick William Elwell was born in 1870 in Beverley, a market town situated seven miles from Hull. His father James was a cabinet-maker, and it is to him that Fred owed his high standards of achievement and his love of craftsmanship. Fred began to study art at evening classes at the Lincoln School of Art. In 1887 he won a scholarship which enabled him to embark upon full time studies. It was during his period at Lincoln that he developed an interest in the work of the French Impressionist painters.
Early 20th Century British Art - Artists Groups
From the creation of 'Post-Impressionism' by Roger Fry in London, further groups began to form around the studios of particular artists, following the example of the leading independent artists in France. It is from this point that London began to contribute to the direction and development of modernism on an equal footing with Paris, with radical artists moving easily between both cities.
