A Garland for May Day, Walter Crane, 1895

Exhibition Preview: Art and Labours Cause is One: Walter Crane and Manchester 1880-1915 until September 2009, The Whitworth Gallery, Manchester.

Whitworth Art Gallery is hosting an exhibition of work by designer, theorist and socialist Walter Crane.

His astonishing body of work challenged the artistic and social boundaries of his time, and the exhibition includes book illustrations, political cartoons, social emblems and works of art.

Crane played a key role in the art and politics of 19th century Manchester, where art education, design theory, community activism and socialist politics came together to create a uniquely rich visual culture.

Design for the World Order of Socialism, Walter Crane, 1914

The exhibition has been devised and selected by Morna O'Neill, Mellon Assistant Professor, History of Art Department, Vanderbilt University, Nashville.

The University of Manchester holds the Walter Crane Archive, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Friends of the Whitworth, The Headley Trust and the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust.

The Print Gallery refurbishment has been supported by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the CMS, the Wolfson Museum and Gallery Improvement Fund and The Idlewild Trust.

For more information visit http://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/

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