Cartwright Hall Visit

The Impressive entrance

The weather was terrible so we headed to Listers Park to look at the art galleries at Cartwright Hall. Jack is doing a project at school about Bradford and wanted to have a look around the hall. Walking into the main entrance and straight away we were greeted by the massive 'Bigger Trees Near Wartner (2007)' by David Hockney. It's a great piece of work and we spent several minutes walking backwards and forwards, both looking at the detail and viewing the whole  vista. There are 50 canvases, 5 high and 10 across, to make it fit into the space the outside parts are angled, this makes you feel almost part of the landscape when stood up close.

The other galleries on the ground floor were closed so we headed up stairs to look at permanent art displays. There are three main areas, a central gallery and wings at either side. There is a great variety of things to look at, paintings and sculpture. Finlay soon lost interest but Jack engaged with many of the paintings, he was quite happy to explain his thoughts about many of the pieces on display. Jack described how he thought the the lady in Black was a jilted lover in the 'The Marriage (1886)' by J P Sinibaldi. Andrea disagreed saying she was a widow, I'm with Jack!


L S Lowry - Industrial Landscape (Ashton-under Lyne)

There is a massive variety of thing to look at, my favourite is the 'Industrial Landscape (Ashton-under-Lyne) (1952)' by L S Lowry. It's great to get up close to an original like this and really scrutinise how it was put together.

It was interesting looking at the two versions of Goredale, a Photo collage by Hockney and the dark 'Goredale Scar (1813)' by James Ward

We then headed back downstairs. I enjoyed looking at the Bruce Rimell images, especially the 'Digital Visions' work.

The weather was still poor so we didn't go into the park with the kids. Interesting couple of hours, it's nice to see the kids engaging with the art!