Manchester art gallery review

I recently visited Manchester art gallery, formerly Manchester City Art Gallery, which is a publicly owned art museum on Mosley Street in Manchester city centre. The main gallery premises were built for a learned society in 1823 and today its collection occupies three connected buildings, two of which were designed by Sir Charles Barry. Both Barry's buildings are listed. The building that links them was designed by Hopkins Architects following an architectural design competition managed by RIBA Competitions. It opened in 2002 following a major renovation and expansion project undertaken by the art gallery.

Manchester Art Gallery is free to enter and open seven days a week. It houses many works of local and international significance and has a collection of more than 25,000 objects. More than half a million people visited the museum in the period of a year, according to figures released in April 2014.

While visiting this gallery I was thinking about my key word essay and looking out for pieces of work that could relate to my essay that interested me to potentially use for my essay as examples. I also found a few sculptures that were inspiring for my main project (the channel ident) that related to biological and mutational forms that inspired some founding ideas for my sci Fi channel ident and I ended up adapting my idea from these sculptures (I have written about these pieces in my channel ident blog post). 

what it looks like inside:
the front entrance hall had a rather regal visual feel to it with regards to the sculptures in the walls and the wall paper swell as the layout of the room with the steps leading off into different directions etc. 

however there were some rooms that had more modern appearances moving away from this older more regal style and representing the contents of the gallery on a whole which displays both modern and classic art. 

Sappho 1877 by Mengin Charles August. Oil painting on canvas Sappho was a Greek poet who lived around 600BC. She wrote about love, yearning and reflection, often dedicating her poems to the female pupils who studied with her on the island of Lesbos. Many stories are told about her. Mengin has chosen to paint one that says she threw herself into the sea because of unrequited love for a young man: (Still holding in that fearful leap By her loved lyre) into the deep, And dying, quenched the fatal fire At once, of both her heart and lyre.

The room this painting was situated in was an old looking style of rich red walls and wooden floor and furnishings and golden frames an all the paintings. This gave a warmer and more timely feel to the paintings environment and represented the painting itself in this manner showing its years of history reflected in the style of the room. The room was also quiet and echoey which created more of a personal connection to the painting as though looking at it was like looking into a portal or means of connection to its time of creation. 

The painting of the girl was very large and took up the. Amorites of wall height in the room almost reaching the ceiling. This represented the woman in a more realistic powerful and looming way as she was about the actual height a young woman would be nowhere due to where the painting was placed was looking down from above the viewer unmissable and very sad looking. Making this emotion being displayed more intense and more sorrowful. 

The woman wears all black in a gloomy landscape next to a miserable and stormy sea alone. She holds a harp that would represent music joy and liveliness but is instead held by her side as a cruel taunt against her misery and emotional exhaustion. The woman's breast are exposed perhaps representing the lust the poem speaks of (that the painting is based on) but this lust is overpowered by the black viel and sad expression on the woman's face and could combined represent the dangers and heart ache of love and lust. 

Untitled smoke series:
this was a piece in the gallery that was labeled as an unlisted artist and so i was unable to find out who made it however i liked the description and theme for these pieces which was based on the phrase 'smoke and mirrors' that describes a dishonest or imaginary act. The phrase originates from the traditional magic trick in which objects are made to disappear and reappear by moving mirrors whilst the audience is distracted by bursts of smoke as this happenes. 

and so although the piece shows smoke it is possibly representing this theme of somthing being a lie or not real/ a mystery, much like that of the origin (the creator). 

Bestie 2014 Joana Vasconcelos (faience ceramic and crocheted lace)

Portuguese artists joana vasconcelos has taken serious sculpture and subverted it by covering it with crotched lace. She has taken a masculine art form and overlaid it with a craft traditionally seen as feminine to give this piece a more feminist visual effect. 
The horses head that vasconcelos has appropriated is by rafael bordalo pinhiero (1846-1905), a renowned ninetieth century Portuguese artist. His factory still exists and produces ceramics. The lace is made by craftspeople in the Azores to traditional designs. 

This piece could be representing how women can do what ever men can do from a feminist point of view. 

Hylas and the nymphs 1896 John william waterhouse 

Oil on canvas

This pieces is based on the myth of Jason and the argonauts. Hylas who was one of the argonauts who sailed with Jason in search of the golden fleece. When the adventurers harboured on an island Hylas' task was to search for fresh water for the crew. He found a faded spring and was filling his pitcher when he was encircled by nymphs. Hypnotically they drew him into the water and although his friends searched for him he was never found again. 

This piece could be a representation of temptation and giving into temptations.