Where? 1901-1904 Central Leeds

Si · Post by Si » Tue 30 Oct, 2012 9:30 am

Not Leeds, but another fantastic AG painting. Just look at the detail. Where do you start painting a picture like that?

James · Post by **James** » Tue 30 Oct, 2012 9:40 am

Si wrote: Not Leeds, but another fantastic AG painting. Just look at the detail. Where do you start painting a picture like that? Ghyll Beck, Barden, Yorkshire - painted in 1867. The detail is almost photographic and it has been suggested by some that Grimshaw's technique involved 'cheating'.

Si · Post by Si » Tue 30 Oct, 2012 9:53 am

I guess by 'cheating' they meant he used photographic reference. Nothing unusual about that. Degas and Mucha famously worked from photographs. Pre-photography, many artists used a wire grid placed between them and the subject. Others used a camera obscura. Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel was drawn on the ground and then transfered onto the ceiling by tracing. What a bunch of cheats!

James · Post by **James** » Tue 30 Oct, 2012 11:22 am

Alexander Robertson, one time Keeper of the Leeds City Art Gallery, discusses technique in his book on the life and work of Grimshaw - which I happen to possess. Here's a fragment from that discussion: "One story, long current in the Grimshaw family, concerns an 'open day' held at the artist's studio around 1890 when Grimshaw invited the press to observe how he could project an image from a lantern slide on to a canvas and draw over the projected outlines. Such methods were reported as far back as the 1850s but no fist-hand reports of Grimshaw's using of this technique have been located in the Leeds press, nor is it clear for how long the process might have been used by him. If it was for some time, it would explain the large number of his suburban lane paintings and dock scenes, which are often identical compositions in reverse."Robertson doesn't accuse Grimshaw of 'cheating' but puts the whole controversy in the context of how the invention of photography affected 'artistic licence'.

biofichompinc · Post by **biofichompinc** » Tue 30 Oct, 2012 11:33 am

LS1 wrote: Park Row, the old cathedral at the top of St Annes.New one is on Cookridge Street. The old court house was on the left at one point long ago. Think they pulled it in the early 1900's and built what became the NU building. The site on the left is number one, but number 1 city square. 1 Park ROw is on the other side.The numbering system starts on the right and goes up numerically and then back down the other side at the Headrow jnctn. A quick trawl around LEODIS shows that the Norwich Union site originally belonged to Standard Life Assurance. Their name still appeared on the building in a photograph dated 1947, although in the undated photograph here...http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?reso ... FULL....it has been replaced by that of Norwich Union.Now for the real trivia.I spent some time in the blue monstrosity that Norwich Union created during the sixties and at that time the address of the building was 37 Park Row. The latest building is of course 1 City Square as LS1 says.The original Standard Life building had a door which fronted on to City Square, or it may have even been Infirmary Street. The question is - what was the postal address of the original building built for Standard Life around 1901?One of the guys with access to the old Leeds directories must know. I said it was trivia.

Jogon · Post by **Jogon** » Tue 30 Oct, 2012 11:38 am

JamesInteresting thanks. He did a good Whitby too.Brochures to occassional London Exhibitions of JAG works are, apparently, worth seeking out for both the images of works featured and narrative:- "By 1870, Grimshaw had become successful enough to move to Knostrop Old Hall, a seventeenth century mansion about two miles from the centre of Leeds, which featured in many of his paintings. He rented another home near Scarborough which he called ‘The Castle by the Sea’, towards 1876. Grimshaw suffered a serious financial disaster in 1879 and had to leave his house at Scarborough. He moved to London and rented a studio in Chelsea, leaving his family at Knostrop. He returned to Knostrop, where he died in 1893. Several of his children, Arthur Grimshaw (1864-1913), Louis H Grimshaw (1870-1944), Wilfred Grimshaw (1871-1937) and Elaine Grimshaw (1877-1970), became painters.http://www.richard-green.com/John-Atkin ... tegoryid=0

uncle mick · Post by **uncle mick** » Tue 30 Oct, 2012 12:09 pm

salt 'n pepper wrote: Now for the real trivia.I spent some time in the blue monstrosity that Norwich Union created during the sixties and at that time the address of the building was 37 Park Row. The latest building is of course 1 City Square as LS1 says.The original Standard Life building had a door which fronted on to City Square, or it may have even been Infirmary Street. The question is - what was the postal address of the original building built for Standard Life around 1901?One of the guys with access to the old Leeds directories must know. I said it was trivia. This is from 1908 & it's the same address in other years

tilly · Post by **tilly** » Tue 30 Oct, 2012 3:33 pm

If the church was still in the same place it would be in the middle of a very busy crossroads.

Si · Post by Si » Tue 30 Oct, 2012 4:27 pm

Here's the 1847 map (yard to a mile) of St Anne's. Unfortunately, Park Row runs down the join of two maps, so I hope it's clear.

Si · Post by Si » Tue 30 Oct, 2012 4:34 pm

And here's Atkinson Grimshaw's view of Park Row. I guess he set up his easel (or camera tripod) at the corner of Bond Street.