Christopher Wood, The Harbour, 1926, Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate Museums and Arts, Harrogate Borough Council
Exhibition: 100 Years of Gifts at York Art Gallery until May 3 2010
‘100 Years of Gifts’ at York Art Gallery brings together gifts from the Contemporary Art Society to galleries around Yorkshire including a vast variety of photography, painting, projection and sculpture.
With a piece of artwork from every decade the exhibition provides the perfect opportunity to map the evolution of art as it shifts from the canvas to the screen and back to somewhere in-between.
Taking pride of place and possessing an inscrutable gaze and unsmiling lips is the ‘Mapped Head’ (1992-3) that seems plagued with an air of despair.
Scratchy lines make scribbles on the smooth clay surface and a large cut obstructs the curve of the skull. There is a rugged unfinished quality to the sculpture, no slip to make it shine, no colour to hide the pale grey clay.
John Craxton, Girl in a White Scarf, 1949, Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate Museums and Arts, Harrogate Borough Council © John Craxton 2009. All Rights Reserved, DACS
Another startling profile hanging on the wall opposite is the portrait of ‘Susan Smith’ (1995) by Craigie Horsfield. Though originally a photograph the artist has manipulated the picture by altering the texture, scale and light. From the speckled freckles to the wrinkles framing the mouth, the tiniest details have been captured.
It is perhaps the intricate curatorial care of this exhibition, which turns it into something special. While sight lines collide, touching themes sit side by side.
In one corner of the gallery is a painting by Alfred Walters Bayes (1902-3) of a woman sprawled on a sofa daydreaming. Positioned next to it is Torsten Lauschman’s digital portrait of a mother and baby sleeping.
Calmness pervades each piece of art and yet it is Lauschman’s ‘Mother and Child’ (2004), which is truly enchanting. Projected onto a gold background the image looks like an oil on canvas. It is only through watching it closely that you notice the deep breathing of the mother accompanied by the light flutter of the baby’s breath.
William Patrick Roberts, The Red Turban, 1921, Museums Sheffield ©The Estate of John David Roberts. Reproduced with the permission of the William Roberts Society
The exhibition ends with a collection of street scenes. Jacques-Emile Blanche paints ‘Knightsbridge to Sloane Square’ (1903-13) in a flurry of fancy hats and carriages.
Seamus Nicolson, in his blown up photograph entitled ‘Wajid’ (2000), depicts a boy at the door of a convenience store. A subtle comment on immigration the boy is positioned on a threshold, neither indoors nor outdoors.
Each piece of artwork seems to interact with one another, to shed light on something old yet hint at something new. Abstract shapes and rigid formality might occasionally clash but it is these points of difference, which bring the exhibition to life.
