The Lowry seeks artwork and memories of Valette,
Lowry’s art teacher, for new exhibition
The Lowry is looking for works of art by Adolphe Valette (1876 – 1942) which may be hanging in private homes around the North West, for possible inclusion in a forthcoming major new exhibition about the artist, who also taught LS Lowry.
LS Lowry and Valette arrived the same year (1905) at the Manchester School of Art. Valette’s talent very quickly won over his teachers and he was himself offered a teaching post. LS Lowry found himself in Valette’s life classes and became his student for ten years, commenting: “I owe so much to him, for it was he who first showed me the good drawings by the great masters…He was a real teacher, sir, a dedicated teacher. There aren’t any more.”
Valette brought from France his enthusiasm for and knowledge of Monet and Degas, introducing Impressionism to Manchester. His fascinating paintings of urban and industrial landscapes record the city in all its mystery and beauty. Valette’s canvases are dynamic and powerful, with fog and pollution shrouding buildings, squares, and waterways, with hardly discernable figures hurrying across them, and with light sparkling through the gloom.
Cécilia Lyon, curator of this exhibition and author of the only complete work of reference on his life and work is convinced there are more Valettes out there. She comments:“There are still Valettes we don’t know of, possibly displayed in peoples’ homes in Manchester, Cheshire, Lancashire and North Wales. It would be useful both to increase our knowledge of the artist’s work and potentially incorporate previously unseen work into this exhibition.”
Lyonis also interested to find out if anyone in the region has any memories or photographs of family or friends who may have modelled for Valette’s life classes. As Valette could not speak English very well he liked to teach by demonstration, drawing the models alongside his students. Lyon thinks it likely that Valette and LS Lowry would have drawn the same models in life classes.
She says, “Very little is known about the models. Most of them were of Italian origin, such as Valente, who was a circus professional, and the Pachito sisters; the name of Louise Gunnery recurred frequently as a female model, and some also worked in the Manchester theatres. There was also a model discovered in an Altrincham chemist’s shop, ‘a young 16-year-old beauty with Titianesque hair who posed for a wage of four shillings an hour, with tea and biscuits’. This particular circle of artists and models was a small but well-tempered microcosm, which must have been a one-of-a-kind experience for the somewhat timid LS Lowry.”
The Lowry is looking for more information about these models. It is possible that their descendants - grand-children or even great grand-children - live in Manchester or the North West region and might have some photographs or documents. A photograph of one of Valette’s life classes at the Manchester Municipal School of Art in 1910 shows people who may have relatives still living in the region. These include William E Daly, who became principal of an art school in Kidderminster, Joseph Milner and Harry Coller who later specialized in magazine illustrations. Charles Whitham, one of Valette’s prize winning pupils, and the model Louise Gunnery are shown alongside David Ghilchick (with his future wife Josephine Duddle) who made a career for himself as an illustrator for Punch magazine. However, none of Valette’s students achieved true fame, with the major exception of LS Lowry.
This Autumn exhibition at The Lowry will provide a chronological survey of Valette’s work, a multi-talented artist and a fascinating player in the panorama of early 20th century British and French painting. The life story of Adolphe Valette, with a foot in two countries, the UK and France, is one of exemplary modernity. The exhibition will provide the first overview of his work in 17 years. It is anticipated that this exhibition will bring new research and understanding to Valette’s relationship with Lowry. Many of the works are loans from private collections which have not been seen before in public galleries.
The themes that made both Lowry and Valette famous are their portrayals of the urban and industrial landscapes of the North of England, painted in shades of smoky greyness like the factories, trapped by mist and fog. Lyonbelieves that Lowry was most certainly influenced, either consciously or unconsciously, by Valette in his choice of subjects. They were the first artists to place Manchester ‘centre stage’. Manchester was raised to the level where the city itself was in the spotlight of their paintings.
Lowry said of his teacher “I cannot over-estimate the effect on me at that time of the coming into this drab city of Adolphe Valette, full of the French Impressionists, aware of everything that was going on in Paris. He had a freshness and a breadth of experience that exhilarated his students.”
If anyone owns a work by Valette and can help build our knowledge of his work and/or is prepared to consider loaning it to The Lowry for the duration of the exhibition (15 Oct 2011 – 29 Jan 2012) or has any memories of the models, please contact Claire Stewart, Curator LS Lowry Collection (ideally with a photograph of their painting) on tel 0161 876 2096 or email: claire.stewart@thelowry.com
Media enquiries:
Michelle Bowey, Head of Media Relations, The Lowry Tel: 0161 876 2037or email: michelle@thelowry.com
Pictures:
For high resolution images, please go to The Lowry’s image library www.thelowryimages.com – access details below
To date, images available for press use for the purposes of illustrating this exhibition are:
Valette Images:
- Standing Nude (Louise Gunnery)
- Tugboat on Manchester Ship Canal
- ManchesterShip Canal, 18 March 1908
- ManchesterShip Canal
- Manchester Streetin Fog
- Minshull Streetwith Old Magistrate’s Court in the Distance
LS Lowry images
- Head from the Antique
- Girl with Bouffant hair Style
- Self Portrait
- The Lodging House
Other image
Valette’s Life class at the Manchester Municipal School of art, in 1910’, courtesy of Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections’
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Notes to Editors:
Gallery Information
The Lowry, Pier 8, Salford Quays M50 3AZ
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The Lowry celebrated its 10th anniversary on 28 April 2010 and has spent 10
years delighting, engaging and challenging both local and national audiences with the very best in visual art and performance. The Lowry Centre Trust is a not-for-profit charitable organisation and registered charity (no. 1053962). All income supports our world-class Theatres and Galleries programme, the care and display of the LS Lowry Collection and our life-changing Community and Education work. The Lowry’s Chief Executive, Julia Fawcett (www.thelowry.com/juliafawcett) was awarded an OBE for services to the Arts in the Queen’s 2010 New Year Honours list.