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One Day, Something
Happens - Paintings of People
Image by Lynette Yiadom Boakye.
A new Arts Council Collection
exhibition of paintings of the figure is being exhibited at The Atkinson,
Lord Street, Southport over 20 February 2016 to 22 May 2016, curated by
Jennifer Higgie, co-editor of frieze magazine.
This exhibition reflects a personal view of a period of radical change in
art, from Jennifer Higgie, who herself studied painting. We can see in many
of the paintings the art historical influences felt by the artists but this
unique touring exhibition primarily captures stories and snapshots of lives
past and present. The paintings also convey the theatricality of painting.
By choosing work by the well-known and not so well known, the exhibition
uses the Arts Council Collection to tell a wider story of the twists and
turns of British figurative painting over the past century.
The paintings range from some of the very earliest by date in the Arts
Council Collection, such as the study of a woman by Walter Sickert (1906)
including those and by artists as diverse as Robert Colquhoun (Seated Woman
and Cat, 1946), Prunella Clough (Lowestoft Harbour, 1951), and the Pop
artists Richard Hamilton and David Hockney, who worked from the 1960's. The
present is represented by a group of figurative works by contemporary
artists including Enrico David, Michael Fullerton, David Noonan, Renee So,
Martin Westwood and Lynette Yiadom Boakye.
Jennifer Higgie said:- "What a privilege it was to be asked to curate
an exhibition from the Arts Council Collection. Spending time immersed in
this extraordinary group of over 2000 paintings has been a joy. This
exhibition took shape organically: I realised that the pictures that
particularly attracted me all evoke something theatrical, in the broadest
sense of the word; they also hint at some kind of narrative and their
gestures; however small; are always significant. These wonderful paintings
of people also offer a decidedly idiosyncratic snapshot of over a hundred
years of life in Britain."
Jill Constantine, Head of the Arts Council Collection, said:- "For nearly
70 years, the Arts Council Collection, managed by the Southbank Centre, has
supported artists based in the UK by purchasing their work. The Collection
has been built through the support of the many distinguished artists,
curators and writers who have been invited to advise on the purchase of
works and it is arguably in this very open and democratic approach to
acquisition that the Collection's greatest strength lies. We are delighted
to be working with Jennifer on this exhibition, drawing on her expertise as
a curator and a painter."
All artists in the exhibition will include:- Eileen Agar, Michael Andrews,
Liz Arnold, Walter Bayes, Peter Blake, Glenn Brown, Jeffery Camp, Steve
Claydon, Prunella Clough, Robert Colquhoun, Enrico David, Milena Dragicevic,
Malcolm Drummond, Lucien Freud, Michael Fullerton, Alastair Gray, Roy
Grayson, Richard Hamilton, Georgia Hayes, David Hockney, Donna Huddleston,
Jock McFadyen, Katy Moran, Ryan Mosley, David Noonan, Paula Rego, Ceri
Richards, William Roberts, Bob Robinson, Walter Sickert, Renee So, Euan
Uglow, Peter Unsworth, Phoebe Unwin, Barbara Walker, Martin Westwood, Alfred
Wolmark, Rose Wylie, Lynette Yiadom Boakye.
For more information on the exhibition please call Box Office on:- 01704
533333 or visit:-
TheAtkinson.Co.UK.
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