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Inspiration from Artists Wk 106 Bonus Artist : John Atkinson Grimshaw
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Message
Posted
Welcome to this weekend’s bonus artist thread the featuring artist this week is
John Atkinson Grimshaw 1836- 1893 was a Victorian era artist born in Leeds who is best known for his nocturnal of urban landscapes.
Grimshaw’s love of realism stemmed from his passion for photography, though entirely self taught he is know to have used a camera obscurer.
James McNeill Whistler whom Grimshaw worked with in his Chelsea studios stated “ I considered myself the inventor of nocturnes until I saw “ Grimmys “
moonlit pictures “.
In early paintings he signed “JAG” , “J A Grimshaw “ or “ John Atkinson Grimshaw, though he finally settled on “Atkinson Grimshaw “.
I featured this artist this weekend following a comment made by Tony Auffret in this weeks thread in respect of JW Inchbold and Grimshaw I thought it would be interesting to se the difference in their style etc.
I hope you enjoy my selection of his work.
Posted
Self-taught has disadvantages and advantages: the disadvantages are that you have to learn an awful lot, without any systematic teaching system to inform the choices you'll need to make; and some people might take you less seriously; but one of the advantages is that you're less likely to pick up the bad habits that prescriptive education can teach; there's a lot to be said for learning through your own researches - and that means reading whatever you can lay your hands on, and learning to evaluate it by testing it against other sources, and understanding that information sincerely offered can also be a) wrong, b) outdated by later knowledge.
So I always have respect for the self-taught - they've had to work hard, without academic support; and have missed out on the art-student's bohemian life - by no means a negligible feature of an artist's journey.
And - I loved Grimshaw's work from the moment I clapped eyes on it; obviously, being determinedly anti-romantic, I could do without the fairy or whatever she is; but the nocturnal scenes of suburban and urban life are fabulous in their treatment of light, and of course a tiny fraction of his considerable output can be shown here. Some have found his work grim, threatening, haunting - I think they just mean "dark", but there's so much colour in his darks - but being something of a creature of the night myself, I could happily walk through those almost deserted streets and enjoy the quiet and calm.
Posted
I first came across Grimshaw via the odd coincidence of visiting the Tate Gallery (many years ago) at a time I was living in Leeds. As you can see from Dixie's selection, nocturnes are his 'thing'; Moody at best, gloomy at worst, hence the comparison with his (also) Leeds born contemporary John Inchbold. Thought I would try and find a 'brighter' image and came across this one.....it is a nocturne (no surprises there) but it is entitled 'Moonlight Walk'.
Posted
It was the same painting 'Liverpool Quay' along with The Bowder Stone, Borrowdale (see below) that first brought Atkinson Grimshaw to my attention back in the 80's. I visited Tate Britain last summer but don't recall either of them being on display - it may just be my memory. Perhaps I was too struck by the dark earthy pigments of early pictures versus the explosion of colour in the Industrial Revolution as synthetic pigments became available. At risk of giving Dixie another idea, I do remember seeing Mark Gertler's Merry-Go-Round last year. That also caught my attention years ago, though, as a 1984 purchase, I can't have seen it on that first visit to the Tate . Another picture I recall from that early visit is Joseph Wright of Derby's 'An Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump' but that has now been transferred to the National. (note to self; Stick to the point, otherwise you'll worry you are turning into Robert. Then again, perhaps no bad thing).
Edited
by Tony Auffret
Posted
Tony - I do run on, I know... I like to think it's part of my charm! Discursive, we might call it; gabby would be another word...
This latest one - I didn't know this painting, but you notice here particularly the way he caught textures; those are very apparent in his damp streets in the moonlight, the way he shows the detail of the road surface without your ever feeling he's fussing over it.
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