Manchester UK, Art Gallery
Art Gallery Manchester show conflicted feeling about Victorian Nude art.
A digital Zoom visit with your private art historian, our plan B in Covid 19 / Corona times. I will show you my image bank of paintings inside. And give you a high quality tour.
Please book a time slot ticket for yourself and for the guide. New: Private Audio system available.
The Art Gallery of Manchester, England, moved and reopened 1882; it is a short train trip away from Liverpool. The gallery has fine art collection consisting of more than 2,000 oil paintings, 3,000 watercolours and drawings, 250 sculptures, 90 miniatures and around 1,000 prints.
Francis Derwent Wood, Atlanta, c 1907. “Perceived as modern muscular”. In 2019 I witnessed a school class of about 10 year old muslim boys spotting this sculpture and getting the thrill of a lifetime.
William Etty, The Sirens and Ulysses (detail) 1837. They are trying to let Ulysses sail into the rocks, but do not succeed.
Birmingham Art Gallery, NOT to be confused with Birmingham Museum.
Ford Madox Brown. Work, painted between 1852-1856. This painting requires close reading and pondering. It is an image of society as a whole.
British Navvies hard at work, in Ford Madox Brown. Work, detail.
Street girl pulling boy’shair in Ford Madox Brown. Work.
William Holman Hunt, The Light of This World, 1951-1856. Outdoor, moonlight. Christ wearing a crown.
William Holman Hunt, The Hireling Shepherd, 1851 (detail). The flock goes astray due to lack of serious attention of the male + female. Bad work ethic.
William Holman Hunt, The Scapegoat (detail) 1854-55. Dead sea and Atonement. Referrals to Christ.
Frederic Lord Leighton, an XXL painting of Captibve Andromache, ca 1888. Shown here is Hector her husband, with premonition of doom.
Dutch gallery: Jan Miense Molenaer, 1635, Child in trouble, school master punishes. Harsh beatings were considered normal.
Soul searching by the staff: do we want too how this male chauvinist sexist art? Out with it! Middle background Roman Chariot Races, c 1882, by Alexander von Wagner.
Heavy stairwell in the old entrance. Shown here is bad male-dominated art. Be aware.
John William Waterhouse, Hylas and the Nymphs, 1896. Water Numphs try to keep the Argonaut Hylas from dong his manly task. Transfixed, he drowned. Lots of female sensuousness. Removed by female staff in the quest to get rid of male chauvinist Porn. There was a serious backlash and an the press reported: Feminism gone Mad. The painting was back in the gallery after a week of uproar.
It seems that the present day staff and director do not like what they own and wish that everything in the museum must be transformed into a perfect woman-friendly, anti Male-Chauvinist, anti-Patriarchy, anti-Porn and anti Rich dead Males art museum. Ideal: to be woman-friendly. With gender Equality.
Quality of this tour: The day after my return from the art museums in Middle England, I gave a tour of the Royal Collection of Paintings, Mauritshuis, The Hague. My client write this review the same day: “Hello Kees! I want to thank you again for our exquisite tour of the Mauritshuis museum today! This might sound cliche, but it was truly a dream come true!! I could never have imagined having someone of your qualifications leading our private tour! You are such a gift to art lovers! Thank you again and best wishes! Virginia Swanson. PS. And, by the way…. your tour was worth 10 times… even100 times, the amount we paid! We’re beyond grateful! Again , best wishes!”
More trips:
ENGLAND, London, National Gallery
ENGLAND, London, British Museum
ENGLAND, London, Wallace Collection
ENGLAND, Liverpool, Lady Lever art Gallery and Walker Art Gallery
ENGLAND, Birmingham Museum and Barber Institute
ENGLAND, Fitzwilliam, Cambridge
Drs Kees Kaldenbach, art historian, in front of the Night Watch by Rembrandt.