Working Women

It it sometimes assumed that women have only entered the work place relatively recently.

It was only aristocratic, rich women or those who conformed to a certain Victorian middle class respectabilty who did not work .

An exception was the talented portrait painter Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun.Her popularity as a fashionable artist  gave her a freedom to travel and socialise not usual among women in her class.

                                                          

Elisabeth Vigee Le brun (self portrait)

 

  The women who made the lace for her clothing and who plaited the straw for her hat led a very different existance.Working from tiny cottages lacemakers were usually the wives and daughters of agricultural labourers.The money they earned contributed to the family income making the difference between a living wage and abject poverty.Working outside gave a better light .

Little girls began making lace in lacemaking schools from the age of four.It was a hard life. Get distracted and look away from the lacemaking pillow and your nose would be rubbed in the pins holding the pattern in place.As they grew older their eyesight was ruined and many contracted  tuberculosis from long winters working inside crowded, damp cottages

 

                                                                    

Lacemakers

One advantage of being a lacemaker was that you needed smooth hands and were excused from labouring in the fields like these country girls.

Haymakers

 

                                              

Painted Fake News

Paintings  of  Fake News.

Artists have frequently been persuaded ,bribed or coerced in painting pretty pictures of scenes that are not quite what they seem.You can see modern day examples of this coming from certain countries in the far east of jolly ,well fed workers who in reality have large sections of their population who are  starving.

 

     Helen Allingham  painted pretty pictures of cottages in the English countryside.   A simple cottager was usually standing by the door.The reality was that inside these cottages would be damp hovels full of dirty, hungry children. Washing, cooking facilities would be minimal, the water being fetched from that stream you can see shared with animals.There would be dirt floors  and a muddy unmade road outside.                                                  

Cottages, Helen Allingham

 These healthy looking mill girls enjoying a dinner hour were almost certainly posed in a studio for completion of the painting.The reality of their lives was deafness from the noise of the weaving machinery, rotten ,damaged teeth from the habit of chewing the end of broken threads to join them more easily.Damage to their lungs was appalling from the cotton fibres that wafted around them in the air they were breathing most of the time.

The Dinner Hour, Eyre Crowe

Under communist rule artists were obliged to show well fed ,happy workers like these construction site workers taking a break while pretty girls bring them their refreshments.Oppression,food shortages, grim living accommodation and constant fear was the reality of the dictatorships that governed their lives.

Russian Socialist Realism

  This is almost to ghastly to show. A charming rural setting while Hitler, painted in a flattering pose tries to show his affection for a small girl .At least the artist showed her struggling to get away.

Nazi Fascist Realism

                                                 

Work

Monday Morning

Monday morning tomorrow.  Back to work for many people.

My favourite paintings of people at work.

 

                                                        

Work,Ford Madox Brown

      A   famous Victorian scene of labourers at work in Manchester .Even small children   are roped in to help.

                                                                        

Going to Work, Lowry

 

 

          No one captured the dreariness of going to work better than Lowry.The 1930s when the cotton mills of Lancashire were at full production and thousands of workers streamed in every morning.

 

The ironers, Degas

                                                                     

                Endless ironing of linen shirts with a very old fashioned iron.No wonder these ladies turned to drink.

Signs of Spring

   Snowdrops

A few days warmth has had everyone out with their heads bent down looking for the first signs of early spring flowers which are just emerging from the cold earth just like this old guy in this  painting by Gary Blunt whose work can be seen at the Portland Gallery in London

 www.portlandgallery.com

     

                                       

Snowdrops by Gary Bunt

 

 C.F. Tunnicliffe was one of the best illustrators of the English countryside. These two  illustrations appeared in  a Ladybird childrens' book   called What to Look For in Winter.Although they are out of print copies can sometimes be found in charity shops (which was where I found mine) or Amazon and eBay.

Aconites, snowdrops and crocuses are just coming through and hazeltree catkins are  out in sheltered spots.

Another favourite illustrator of childrens' books was Cecily Mary Barker with her incomparable flower fairy series.

                            

Aconites,Iris reticular,Crocuses  Snowdrops,C.F.Tunnicliffe

 

 

 

 

Hazel Catkins,C.F. Tunnicliffe

 

 

The Snowdrop Fairy,Cecily Mary Barker

 

St Valentine's Day

Love and Romance in Paintings 

                                                             

The Kiss , GustavKlimt

This close up of  The Kiss shows Klimt's ability to capture passion .His rich colours and use of gold are gorgeous making him popular society artist in the 1920s and 30s Vienna

There is an excellent film starring Helen Mirren, Woman in Gold,about a war time survivor's quest to recover one of her families' paintings stolen by the Nazis.

 

                                           

             

In Bed, Toulouse Lautrec

 There a sexiness to many of Toulouse Lautrec's paintings that defines  his drawings and paintings.His work  often depicted ordinary men and women taking time off in the cafes ,theatres and dance halls of Paris.

        

  

Van Gogh's painting shows a couple resting together in the heat of the day when they are supposed to be cutting corn.They have kicked off their shoes  and the animals in the back ground are eating the corn.The lovers have nothing in mind but each other.

Art in Cambridge 2

The Fitzwilliam Museum (continued).

Personal favourites.  

use this link to check for details   www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk

 

 

                                                  

           

        The Bridesmaid 1851
 

The Bridesmaid

 

 This bridesmaid is carrying out a popular Victorian superstition that if a bridesmaid passes a piece of wedding cake nine times through the bridal ring she will have a vision of her own future husband. This must have been a very messy procedure and I cannot imagine any present day bride being too keen for her new wedding ring to be used in this way.
Painted by John Everett Millais,1851


 

 

 

  The Last of England 1860,  Ford Maddox Brown

 

 

 

 

 The young family pictured is embarking on the 3 month voyage to Australia encouraged by the Victoria goldrush in the1850s.The anxiety on their faces and the way the mother is holding the tiny baby's hand under her shawl is just as relevant today as we see the desperate look of so many immigrants moving around the world.

I find this painting especially touching as this is exactly what my great grandparents did in the 1880s ,they travelled not to mine for gold but to sew working clothes for miners in New South Wales.After ten years the whole adventure ended in disaster when my great grandfather dropped dead and my great grandmother had to return to England with 6 children and his body.

 

 

 

 

 

Springtime, Monet,1886

 

 

 I have visited the Monet's garden in Giverny, France, several times and have found it enchanting whatever time of the year I have been.This is part of a family scene in the orchard.The dappled sunlight on the blossom and clothing typify the Impressionists use of colour and light.

 

 

 

Children Paddling,Walberswick,1894,Philip Wilson Steer

 

 

 

Paddling at Walberswick

 

 A good painting should touch something in the viewer  and this reminds me of summer holidays when I was a child in the 1950s that were spent on the East coast of England.This painting shows the big East Anglian sky that enhances the colours of sand and water.

Art in Cambridge,UK 1

 Cambridge is a treasure  house for lovers of fine art. It would take several days to see all of the wonderful sources ,many of the  major art museums and galleries are free.It is worth travelling from London where special exhibitions can be expensive to see the art available in Cambridge. I am going to list  my favourite works from some of the permanent exhibitions.

 

 Kings College Chapel

  

 

                                                         The Adoration of The Magi,Rubens

                                                                              

 

This glorious painting was donated to Kings College in the early 1960s.It stands above the altar in the Chapel, a lovely building in it's own right.A good way to enjoy this painting is to attend a service where you may also hear the famous choir singing.Check the website to make sure that a service is available .This is a quiet , prayerful space, not the place to eat your sandwiches or take a noisy phone call.

                                                                         www.kings.cam.ac.uk

 

There are plenty of nice cafes and a good Kings gift shop in Kings Parade .There are a number of private art galleries with  quality original paintings for sale.A lovely card would be an affordable souvenir from one of these shops.  

 

 

Kettle's Yard 

 

What I really love about this  gallery in Castle Street is that it is set in a house and the paintings are hung in the way that the owner Jim Ede, intended.  All the rooms are cottage style with simple furniture and layouts. The paintings bought mainly in the 1930s, reflect   naive,unfussy styles.                   

A new gallery has now been added for special, temporary exhibitions.There is also a very good cafe serving light meals and refreshments. The shop does not have to accessed through the gallery.

 

Check for opening times before you visit  kettlesyard.co.uk

 

 These  are my favourite paintings  by a Cornish fisherman,Alfred Wallis.He painted on any cheap base that he could get hold of like cardboard with limited colours. He had no art training, no lessons in perspective,which helped him to retain the naive , child like style that makes his work so attractive.

French lugsail fishing boat,Alfred Wallis

White house and Cottages, Alfred Wallis

 Christopher Wood sought to portray his work in bright colours and modern style .This flower painting from the 1930s is a lovely example of his work.

Flowers, ChristopherWood.