People with books
After seeming the image of a woman reading in the last Webinar I was reminded of this artwork by William McCance “Portrait of Joseph Brewer 1925” which I knew must be somewhere in my photo files. I took this photo at one of the National Galleries of Scotland a couple of years ago. It gripped me for quite a few minutes as it particularly reminded me of someone I knew and I particularly loved the way the books on the bookshelf had been portrayed.
Unfortunately, I’m not able to remember which gallery as I had travelled to both Glasgow and Edinburgh. However, I do recall it was the one where my two girl friends and I got ‘chastised’ and hissed at loudly, by a man, for talking in loud whispers. We hadn’t seen each other for over 3 years due to lockdown and other circumstances. We talked almost continuoiusly throughout the 5-day trip and were actually talking about the art at the time. This rather spoilt the mood. Thank goodness there were no noisy children visiting too. Also, I was in a charity shop the other day and a fellow female customer shushed and admonished two teenage girls who were chatting to each other about which items to purchase. I was rather enjoying the warmth and joy of the surroundings in both cases.
Back to the artwork - I believe it is in the style of ‘Vorticism’ which I need to find out more about as it really appeals to me. This piece puts me in mind of work by Tamara de Lempicka whose work I also favour.
I thought that I had already commented about this. I’ve been here a few times but obviously was disturbed and never finished my comment.
I’m moved by this painting. Thanks for sharing Dareth. Like Sarah, I’m not familiar with this artist. It feels very tender to me. I don’t often get a chance to sit quietly and read unless it is late at night so I really value it when I do it.
On the subject of being shushed. I feel strongly about this too. It's funny how museums and especially art galleries seem to be expected to be quiet. For me they are places of lively discussion. Instead groups of people whisper in hushed tones.
@Dan McDermott and I have a project called ConFab that encourages participants to talk to each other. We situate it in galleries and public spaces. When we did it at Leeds Art Gallery, the gallery space became a place full of conversation and chat. I wonder if the 'art' label made that ok.
I want my young children to explore art galleries and talk about what they find. We were in the National Gallery once and my youngest was laying on the floor looking at the beautiful air vents. At the time a thought flashed through my head about whether I should ask her to stand up. Now the work of the artist in residence encourages people to lay on the floor. Does it make it art because an artist said so or was my little one being creative?