Art In The Age Of Steam

Yesterday I went to the Art In The Age Of Steam exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. During the so called age of Railway Mania in the mid nineteenth century some 2,000 railway themed prints were produced, the exhibition had examples covering this period and up o the 1960’s.

First impressions was the gallery was poorly lit, perhaps this is deliberate to prevent pictures fading, though my eyes did adjust somewhat to the dim light.

Strangely the celebrity painters: Manet and Monet did not impress me, I found their examples to muddy and poorly composed. My favourites from the exhibition were:

Gentleman in a Railway Carriage by James Tissot.
This painting is said to depict the nineteenth century man; he has a railway timetable open on his lap and is looking at his watch, depicting the railways influence in making time and punctuality important. This may have been the root of the modern day obsession with schedules and doing everything in a rush.

 

 

 

 

 

Railway Landscape by Eric Ravilous.
Though not a surrealist Ravilous has combined many elements from this movement into the composition – bring apparently unrelated items onto the canvas to tell a story.

 I also very much liked Train Leaving Newcastle by Bill Brandt. A photograph with superb composition and a graphic feel. I was impressed by the Soviet era railway posters

I thoroughly recommend this exhibition to you. It is open until Sunday, August 10, 2008. And it’s free entry.