Art in York

On the walk from the flat into town there's a street with a bit of street art.

It was a nice start to a day of art. At the York Art Gallery the featured exhibition was "The Art of Wallpaper: William Morris." The glass entryway was decorated with a William Morris pattern.

The exhibition focuses on William Morris, looking at his wallpaper designs in the context of the radical changes in taste seen in the Victorian era. It doesn't sound like it would be terribly compelling, but seeing the evolution of wall decoration in general was actually fascinating. Walls had traditionally been painted or covered in cloth until the advent of wallpaper.

Wallpapers started out as block-printed sheets, as in this example by William Woolams & Co, 1846.

By 1850 Woolams had developed a technique whereby the background was colored by hand, then the paper was block-printed with varnish. Gold leaf was then applied to the varnished print, like the one below.

Rothman and Co. imported leather wallpapers from Japan which were so expensive that only the very wealthy could afford them. They would have sold for the equivalent of $300 per roll today.

William Morris' designs were greatly influenced by the Asian papers. Here is his "Chrysanthemum" from 1877.

The Reform Movement in wallpaper design (who knew there was such a thing?) was led by Augustus Pugin and Owen Jones. They condemned wallpapers replicating naturalistic florals embellished with rococo motifs. (Quite a dig at what Morris was doing.) Pugin became synonymous with British Gothic style which became terribly popular in Westminster. His papers still decorate many public buildings.

1875 saw Morris & Co releasing Acanthus, a paper that I find both bold and subtle, if that makes sense.

It was at this point in my wander through the gallery that I was approached and told that taking photos was forbidden. Oops! The rest of the exhibition featured many of the patterns that are well-known and still available today. I even saw the Golden Lily paper with which I papered my bedroom. It was interesting and really got the creative side of my brain firing, imagining all the walls I could paper upon my return home.

Leaving the special exhibition we walked upstairs to the general collection. I mentioned in my last post that the Roman walls had been threatened with destruction and that a group of citizens, led by artist William Etty, got the city to reverse this decision and restore and add to them. How happy I was to find painting by William Etty in the gallery. I guess I had expected rather traditional paintings by him, but was surprised to learn that he specialized in nudes. Male nudes. One card explained that were he alive today, it is thought that Etty might have identified as asexual, though his work, and the following painting, Male Nude with Arms Upstretched, is iconic amongst the LBGTQI+ community.

Study of a Boy by William Etty, 1833:

Preparing for a Fancy Dress Ball by William Etty, 1833:

The Wrestlers by William Etty (1835-45):

After attending the "Now You See Us" exhibition at the Tate Gallery in September, I've become somewhat obsessed with woman artists.

Decoration: Morning by Ethel Walker, 1933-36:

Walker is thought to be one of the first lesbian artists to explore her sexuality in her work.

Globe Fish by Ann Stokes 1970:

Stokes is best known for her inventive animal sculptures.

The Lamp by Amy Beatrice Atkinson (1882):

Tropical Birds by Daphne Fedarb (1960):

I found this so lovely and evocative.

Liverpool Docks at Night by John Atkinson Grimshaw (1870s):

Landscape with Woman Washing by Emile Barau (1887):

The permanent collection is an eclectic mix of paintings, glass and ceramics. I had wanted to capture some of the ceramics, but the lighting was such that the glare made it all but impossible. Bruce got this photo of a giant swan ceramic by Ann Stokes:

From the museum, Bruce left for a pub crawl. I wandered around town a bit. The Shambles was a little less crowded so I was able to get another photo of it, decorated for Christmas.

When I got back to the flat I was looking through my wallet and found these next to each other. I had no idea that Charles had already made it onto the currency.