Research Catalog

Title

The power of the sea : making waves in British art 1790-2014 / edited by Janette Kerr PRWA and Christiana Payne.

Publication

Bristol, United Kingdom : Sansom & Co Ltd., 2014.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

• Kerr, Janette
• Payne, Christiana
• Royal West of England Academy, host institution.

Description

159 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), maps; 21 x 27 cm

Summary

• From the sublime spectacle of crashing waves to the vast and open expanse of the oceans, the sea has long fascinated artists in Britain. 'The Power of the Sea' offers a multi-disciplinary approach to this fascinating subject, showcasing work by internationally-renowned contemporary artists alongside key historical works from national and regional art collections. Many of the earliest artists in the exhibition - George Morland, Francis Danby, John Brett and Walter Langley - emphasized the Romanticism of the sea through images depicting the human costs of shipwrecks and their aftermath. Meanwhile JMW Turner and John Constable were captivated by its elemental nature - its fury and fluidity, breeze and light. By the late nineteenth century, the sea seemed more benign, a source of leisure and health: Henry Moore, David James, and Sydney Mortimer Laurence experimented with different ways to capture the movement of the waves.^
• In the twentieth century Paul Nash, Edward Wadsworth and Paul Feiler found reassurance in the simple geometry of sea walls and boats, while Peter Lanyon, John Piper and Joan Eardley portrayed the coast as much more insubstantial, a place of swirling winds and shifting moods, reflecting personal experience. In contemporary art, maritime environments have been both minimalist panoramas and places of familiarity and intimacy. Maggi Hambling, recognised for her celebrated series of North Sea Paintings, has depicted the power and energy of the sea in both paint and bronze. Gail Harvey creates colourful waves, while Kurt Jackson, Len Tabner and Janette Kerr depict seas that furiously foam and froth. The monochromatic photographs and etchings of James Beale, Norman Ackroyd and Thomas Joshua Cooper capture the moods, beauty and momentary movements of the ocean. History, memory, myth and maritime tradition inhabit the works of Hugh O'Donoghue and Will Maclean.^
• Coastal erosion and rising sea levels are portrayed in work by Simon Read, Michael Porter and Jethro Brice, while Peter Matthews and Andrew Friend immerse work in the sea or create devices that deliberately disappear beneath its surface. This significant exhibition demonstrates the contrasts and continuities in artists' engagement with the sea over a period that spans more than two centuries. It encompasses a time of great change in man's relationship with nature - and the understanding of that relationship - bringing us to the present day and the effects of climate change upon rising sea levels, which has only lent greater urgency to their work.^
• Exhibiting Contemporary Artists: Norman Ackroyd RA, James Beale RWA, Jethro Brice, Annie Cattrell, Thomas Joshua Cooper RSA, Susan Derges, Andrew Friend, Maggi Hambling, Andrew Hardwick RWA, Gail Harvey, Sax Impey RWA, Kurt Jackson RWA, Janette Kerr PRWA, Rona Lee, Marian Leven RSA, Anne Lydiat, Will Maclean RSA, Peter Matthews, Joanna Millett, Hughie O'Donoghue RA, Michael Porter RWA, Simon Read, Terry Setch RWA, Len Tabner.--http://www.rwa.org.uk.

Alternative Title

Making waves in British art 1790-2014

Subject

• Sea in art > Exhibitions
• Waves in art > Exhibitions
• Art, British > Themes, motives > Exhibitions

Note

• Catalog accompanies an exhibition organized and held by the Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, April 5-July 6, 2014.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Foreword / Alison Bevan -- Introduction / Janette Kerr PRWA and Christiana Payne -- Acknowledgements -- From sublimity to modernism : British artists and the sea 1790-1950 / Christiana Payne -- Sea and the contemporary gaze / Janette Kerr PRWA -- 'The horizon holding the edge of the known world' : placing the sea / Owain Jones -- The power of the ooze / Simon Read -- Fascinating and monstrous ocean waves / Kristian Dysthe, Harald Krogstad and Anne Karin Magnusson -- Nineteenth and twentieth-century artists / Christiana Payne -- Contemporary artists : words and images -- About the authors.

ISBN

• 9781908326577
• 1908326573

OCLC

869770197

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library