National Museums Liverpool Blog - painting

Image courtesy of Liverpool Daily Post & Echo

I like the way Chinese artists have depicted the West over the centuries, particularly on ceramics and canvas.

Their work shows a fine delicacy which is charming as well as inspirational. Chinese marine art perhaps lacks the sense of movement captured by European artists but I am drawn in by the incredible technical detail.

A number of Chinese artists worked in Far East ports specialising in ship portraits for Western captains.

Several fine examples from the period 1850 to 1910 are on display in Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Art & the Sea gallery.

The artists generally painted on linen canvases which gave their works a very smooth appearance. Unfortunately the paint has often cracked over the years.

Most will be featured in the China, Shanghai and Liverpool exhibition at the new Museum of Liverpool opening later this year.

The sailing ship Maiden Queen is depicted by an unknown artist with a traditional junk cargo ship in the background. The painting is in its original lacquer frame.

Owned by T & J Brocklebank, Maiden Queen was employed in the tea trade sailing mainly to Hong Kong. She is seen off the Chinese coast. 

The Elizabeth Nicholson is another British ship painted by an unknown artist. She was built in 1863 in Dumfriesshire for the tea trade. She did one of the fastest runs from China in 1867-8 when she sailed from Foochow (Fuzhou) to London in 92 days.

Elizabeth Nicholson is pictured under full sail with a junk visible beneath the bowsprit.

The Scawfell off Hong Kong was painted by an artist in the Lai Sung studio active between 1850 and 1885. This tea clipper was constructed in 1858 for Rathbone Brothers of Liverpool who were involved in the China Trade.

Seen at anchor off Hong Kong, Scawfell made several record voyages. In 1861 she sailed from Whampoa (Huangpu) to Liverpool in 88 days.

Lai Sung was one of a handful of Hong Kong art studios producing ship portraits.

Anjer Head (artist unknown) is depicted at sea under full sail and steam. She was made in 1881 for Angier Brothers of London.

The Kwong Sang studio was active between 1890 and 1894, selling commissioned paintings in Calcutta. There has been a thriving Chinese community in the city since the late 18th century.

A Kwong Sang artist portrayed the four-masted iron barque Windermere (pictured) which voyaged from London or Hamburg to India, Australia and the Pacific. She was built in 1893 for Fisher and Sprott of London.

Some of the crew can be seen including the officer of the watch holding his telescope.

A new Maritime Tale by Stephen Guy appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo. A paperback – Mersey Maritime Tales (£3.99) – is available from the museum, newsagents and bookshops.

When you have your first ‘cuppa’ tomorrow morning you might want to give a little thought to one of the Walker Art Gallery’s best-loved paintings.

Mrs Mounter by Harold Gilman painted around 1916/17

‘Mrs Mounter’ is by the British artist Harold Gilman who was born 11 Feb 1876, 135 years ago tomorrow.

Gilman was a founder member of the Camden Town Group, an influential London artist collective formed at the start of the 20th century.

‘Mrs Mounter’ is a colourful portrait of Gilman’s landlady. The charming depiction of the elderly woman in her distinctive red head scarf, sat at a table with an un-matching tea set, is really popular with our youngest visitors. In fact to view the painting on a week day during term time you will often have to look over the heads of an excited school party!

Painted around 1916/17 the techniques Gilman used for Mrs Mounter were inspired by the European Post-Impressionist painters, such as van Gogh, Cezanne and Gauguin.

'Mrs Mounter', currently in store, goes on display in the new interactive gallery, 'British Art: 1880 to 1950', from 25 March 2011.

Keep an eye on the progress of the gallery on Flickr. 

A detail of 'St Lucy' by Vouet - one of the paintings featured in the exhibition 
© David Lewis family interests

We've just released a new video to give you all a sneak preview of our upcoming exhibition 'A Collector's Eye: Cranach to Pissarro', opening on Friday 18 February at the Walker Art Gallery! 

• Watch the video here

Our video gives a taste of what's going to be on display and lets you 'zoom in' and get closer to some of the paintings.

The exhibition will show the changing tastes of prolific art collector, David Lewis and his family. Expect to see serene landscapes by Sisley, a dramatic battle scene by Rubens and stunning portraits like the Vouet work pictured above.

If you want to see the exhibition before everyone else, then enter our Twitter competition! Up for grabs are 3 pairs of tickets to the private view of the exhibition at the Walker on Thursday 17 February.

To enter you should:

1. Log into Twitter
2. Go to @livmuseums and make sure you are following us
3. Find our recent tweet about the new video (tweeted on 1 February)
4. Re-tweet it
5. Wait and see if your name is picked out of the draw!

Do make sure you are following us though, so we can let you know if your name has been pulled out of the hat! The competition closes at midnight on Monday 14 February and we will inform all winners via Twitter, on Tuesday 15 February.

Full competition details can be found here.

Image courtesy of the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo

I like rocky cliffs and crags, especially those descending straight into the sea – a mysterious meeting of rock and water. These are places not only of beauty and inspiration but also danger and death where many a ship has been wrecked.

South Stack island off Anglesey has always been a favourite where the Irish Sea crashes in, foaming and writhing. As a teenager I walked along the coastal paths of the South Hams in Devon and was mesmerised by crystal clean waters revealing the marine world. The tang of the sea coupled with sun-drenched light was incredibly stimulating.

Another rocky cape has 100 foot high cliffs and is often shrouded in dense fogs and sea mists but for millions of people this was a symbol of hope. Cape Race, on the southern tip of Newfoundland, was the first sight of land for ships travelling across the Atlantic. The headland symbolised a new life for emigrants settling in North America.

This landmark is featured in an impressive oil painting by top marine artist Samuel Walters (1811- 82) in Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Art and the Sea gallery. He shows the paddle steamer Scotia heading for port in 1863 (pictured).

Scotia was Cunard’s last paddle steamer, taking passengers across the Atlantic from 1861 to 1875. Paddle steamers paved the way for the great steamship lines providing, for the first time, regular routes across the Atlantic. Scotia held the Blue Riband for the fastest ship across the Atlantic from 1862 to 1867.

A detailed view of Cape Race can be seen to the left of the painting. A lighthouse stands above rugged cliffs and a rock-strewn shoreline.

Scotia’s funnels are painted in the Cunard colours of red and black. Lifelike figures crowd the decks while five men in a rowing boat are overtaken by the steamer as they struggle through rolling seas.

The ship contrasts with later Cunard steamers because of its almost complete lack of a superstructure. There are no cabins or other living quarters above the main deck. The bridge is literally just that – a metal-railed walkway crossing above the deck between the paddle wheels on which a solitary figure stands. A figurehead dressed in white adorns the bows, probably symbolising Scotia – the Latin term for Scotland.

Cunard later sold Scotia and she became a cable ship after being converted to twin screws. She sank in 1904 after being wrecked on a reef off Guam in the Pacific’s Mariana Islands.

A new Maritime Tale by Stephen Guy appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo. A paperback – Mersey Maritime Tales (£3.99) – is available from the museum, newsagents or bookshops.

Are you ready for new year's eve? Thinking about what the new year will bring? I'm planning my party outfit and looking ahead to all the new exhibitions that will be coming to our venues. We've had a great year in 2010, with a record number of visitors to the 'John Moores painting prize' exhibition, the epic tale of survival brought to life in our Shackleton exhibition and the fascinating insight into wedding clothes and customs in 'Hitched' at Sudley House.

There will be a lot of variety on offer and it will all still be free entry! At the Walker, we'll have everything from gritty contemporary photography in 'Like you've never been away' to stunning illustrations from the art books of Henri Matisse. Plus, we'll be delving into the mind of a dedicated art collector in 'A Collector's Eye', which will feature works by Rubens and Sisley (pictured). We'll want to know what would be in your fantasy art collection, so look out for our Twitter discussion, where you will be able to join in and tell us about your favourite paintings.

'Port-Marley sous la neige' by Sisley. © David Lewis family interests

At the International Slavery Museum, you shouldn't miss the '42' exhibition, a powerful collection of colour photographs, which coincides with International Women's Day in March. The exhibition will tell the story of many women in Sierra Leone by depicting their daily life at home, at work and with their families. Both '42' and 'Like you've never been away' are also part of Liverpool's first international photography exhibition, called 'Look 11'.

So with all that in store, there's certainly lots to look forward to in 2011!

The new painting by artist Ged Quinn on loan from a private collection.

If you have been wandering around our 20th century and contemporary gallery recently, you may have noticed that our amazing 'Liverpool Cityscape' has disappeared! Don't worry, it's just on loan right now for the ‘Ben Johnson: Modern Perspectives’ exhibition at the National Gallery in London.

In the mean time we have an explosion of colour filling the wall, in the form of a new loan. This stunning landscape with quirky details is by Ged Quinn, the Liverpool-born artist and juror for the John Moores Painting Prize 2010. It's called 'The Exiled Forever Coming in to Land' and was painted earlier this year. Ged was inspired by the American landscape artist Frederic Edwin Church and his work called 'Twighlight in the Wilderness'.

Ged shows his love of traditional styles of painting such as the Baroque and Romantic, but he also includes his own references to contemporary culture. He says that the white horse is ‘a cheesy symbol of death and loved by fantasy poster artists.’

I like the surreal effect of the house floating in the sky, with its weird upside-down Christmas tree hanging off the bottom. It actually makes me think of Monty Python animation! It's an interesting painting to look at as you get the full impact of the colourful landscape and then the pleasure of peering at the tiny details, which gives it a sense of humour as well.

Come and have a look for yourself and see if you can spot the upside down office chair and the cart full of treasured possessions!

You can see another of Ged's paintings on our website from the John Moores 25 exhibition here and watch videos of Ged during the John Moores Painting Prize judging here.

Have you seen the flowers on the cover of the Independent newspaper today? This beautiful image has been created by acclaimed artist and John Moores judge, Gary Hume to help raise awarness about World Aids Day. Elton John is involved in editing the paper today and as Gary is one of his favourite artists, it's no surprise that he asked him to produce a piece of work for the cover.

This little piece of Gary Hume art could be yours!

Gary is also producing a limited edition of 100 prints of the front-page image, signed by the artist and Elton John, on sale for £1,000. But if your pockets are feeling the pinch, you can easily get your own piece of work by Gary Hume in the form of a lovely John Moores 2010 enamel badge!

Gary created the design for the badge specifically for the John Moores 2010 exhibition and all profits go back into funding future exhibitions. They are a snip at £9.95 and you can only buy them from the Walker Art Gallery shop. You'll also get a free John Moores tote bag with every badge. So if you know someone arty, pop one of these in their stocking and you're bound to give them a nice surprise on Christmas Day!

You might have already seen that on Thursday night (25 November) the 2010 John Moores Painting Prize winner, Keith Coventry, will be discussing his work with previous juror and independent art critic Sacha Craddock.

Both Keith and Sacha have kindly agreed to do a signing session after the event. Keith will signing copies of the JM2010 catalogue, and Sacha will be signing copies of the 2008 exhibition catalogue in which she features as a juror. Catalogues cost £9.95 and £5 respectively.

The event kicks off at 6pm in the Walker Art Gallery. Places are free but limited so call 0151 478 4697 to reserve yours.

If you can't make the event you can still buy (unsigned) copies of both catalogues in our online shop.

'Pandora' by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

We've got a beautiful new book to give away in our latest competition - I really wouldn't mind a copy myself.

British Watercolours and Drawings - Lord Leverhulme's Collection in the Lady Lever Art Gallery is more than 250 pages of wonderful images from the collection at Lady Lever. It includes work by Ford Madox Brown, Burne-Jones, Constable, Turner, Landseer, Millais, Rossetti and Reynolds, and is truly a celebration of British drawings and watercolours at their finest.

If you'd like to get your hands on your very own copy - and it would make a fab Christmas present if you decided not to keep it - just answer this question.

Q. British Watercolours and Drawings features this pastel, Pandora, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Who was the model for Pandora?

   a. Jane Morris   
   b. Elizabeth Siddal
   c. Alexa Wilding

Send us your name, address and answer using this contact form. The deadline for entries is noon on 12th November.

And as ever, if you don't win a copy remember that you can buy it in our online book shop.

Updated: Don't forget to enter via the contact form and not through the comments box.  

Here's Marketing Officer, Andrew Winder, to tell us about an interesting visitor to the Walker Art Gallery recently...

David’s event at the Walker, on Sunday 7 November, will form part of this year’s Homotopia festival, which runs from 1 – 25 November. He was enthralled by the two Lowry paintings currently on display, proclaiming that the artist is as important as Picasso. Sadly, they won’t form part of David’s tour as they’ll temporarily be replaced with other artworks. Look out for more information on the event here or on Homotopia’s website coming soon.

David and Charlotte checking out some of the paintings at the Walker.