用英语介绍英国绘画的发展历程
We have the Industrial Revolution in the late
eighteenth century to thank for this magnificent collection of art works. During
those times of great prosperity, a great many artists lived the North West of
England and glorious collections were formed in the greater Manchester region by
the wealthy.
About the exhibition
This exhibition offers a fascinating parallel to
the wider intellectual, cultural and political life of the nation. This was a
period during which Britain emerged as a modern nation, not by outright
revolution, but by the impassioned lead of remarkable individuals, often
themselves non-conformists in the religious or political sense.
In Manchester, a new and progressive school of
economists was established in the nineteenth century and a political alternative
to the London-based conservative hegemony was fostered.
This exhibition draws on this rich legacy of art
in the North West and celebrates the open-mindedness of the collectors and their
belief that art should be enjoyed by all. While the contributing galleries and
museums have different specialisations, by drawing on the entire spectrum of
styles, the exhibition presents a comprehensive survey of the development of
British painting from the mid-eighteenth century to the present day.
It includes mainstream as well avant-garde art,
twenty-first century works as well as two-century old works, paintings as well
as drawings, historical and religious subjects as well as portraiture and
landscapes (two staples of British art), along with works depicting everyday
life in a kind of artistic vernacular. It celebrates the individuality and
eccentricity of British art as well as its sophistication and extraordinary
levels of intrinsic skill.