Manchester Art Gallery is quite a deceiving place, with its old, grand exterior and entrance rooms housing some key Pre Raphaelite and Renaissance painting, it is a surprise to venture into the back and find a modern extension. Floor to ceiling windows across 3 floors of open staircases leading to various exhibition spaces including that of Lowry, Leonardo Da Vinci, and a personal favourite, Martin Parr.
Parr, M. 1972. Prestwich Mental Hospital. [Photograph] Prestwich, England.
I’ve always had a soft spot for photography exhibitions, particularly those focused on society and the people as an individual or group. Parr’s exhibition was a chronological documentation that addressed several issues of social, race, LGBT (just a few examples) and showed the passing of time through use of black and white film leading into colour. As you walked into the room the two types of film were sepearated by a freestanding wall that distorted the change. The Prestwich Mental Hospital series was particularly harrowing and left a slight impression on me. I always try and make my own mind up on an image before reading the wall placard information; with this series there were a few images that could’ve been taken of anyone, anywhere, whether just of his friends or just in a normal hospital but when I discovered the true nature it completely contorted my view of the short series. It really evokes your emotions to feel for the patients pictured, especially when compared to the other series around them of colourful, everyday life and companionship that were on display.
Parr, M. 1973. Return to Manchester. [Photograph] Manchester, England.
This exhibition was in great contrast to another of the Leonardo Da Vinci: A Life In Drawing which was a lot more modest and controlled than Parr’s exhibition or even the Liverpool venue. It was contained within a small 15ft by 15ft dark maroon room and was followed up by a room filled with Lowry and (a new artist who’s impressionist work I loved,) Valette. He worked onto a material called jute (something I’d never seen before; a rough weaved, stringlike canvas) layering thick paint to distort the roughness of the surface whilst it also complimented certain areas of the image by showing through. He was a french impressionist who moved to Manchester to pursue his career, and his style was perfectly suited to the smoggy, dim landscape of the industrial city as it distorted the figures and allowed him to use a muted colour palette of greys and purples. After previously focusing on Impressionism in Paris in an assessment, it is still something that fascinates me and now I’ve found Valette’s work, he is certainly someone I’m going to look further into.
I’ve never been to that gallery before but definitely intend to go back soon and have a closer and longer look at the work on offer.
HXLLISON ART HISTORY 