Adolphe Valette: A Pioneer of Impressionism in Manchester
Adolphe Valette: A Pioneer of Impressionism in Manchester (Sat 15 Oct 2011 – Sun 29 Jan 2012)
The artist who brought Impressionism to Manchester, and who taught LS Lowry is celebrated in an exhibition of over 100 works, including nine pieces uncovered following a public appeal.
The exhibition’s curator, Cécilia Lyon, has made new discoveries about Valette’s life and career, found further evidence of the relationship between Valette and his famous pupil LS Lowry and uncovered lost works, including a portfolio of around 200 sketches of animals, some of which are to be exhibited for the first time. Other highlights of the exhibition include preparatory sketches for further lost works, such as Manchester Street in Fog, as well as Valette’s first Impressionist view of the city (these views became known as his ‘Manchester-scapes’), called Manchester Ship Canal.
Cécilia says: “This has been an exciting exhibition to put together not only because Valette is an exceptional artist in his own right and deserves to be in the spotlight, but also because so many new works have emerged in recent months – even in the days leading up the installation of the exhibition I came across new poster and textile designs I had never seen before – and we’ve managed to include them at the last minute”
Cecilia’s eight years of research is culminating in the first major overview of Valette’s work in 17 years. The exhibition is to be formally opened by the French Ambassador at a private viewing on Thursday 13 October, which is the 135th anniversary of Valette’s birth. The exhibition incorporates loans from private and public collections, including Manchester Art Gallery, Musée d'Art Moderne de St-Etienne in France, Salford Museum and Art Gallery, Stockport Art Gallery and the Duke of Devonshire’s collection at the Chatsworth Estate.
During her research, Cécilia was shown photographs of lost works by a North West collector. Together, she and The Lowry launched a public appeal, in March 2011, in the hope of finding the originals.
The appeal generated over 60 responses – including one from a collection in the United States. It resulted in an additional nine works being incorporated into the exhibition; each piece contributing to the story of Valette’s life from his arrival in Manchester in around 1905 to his role as LS Lowry’s art teacher and his later years which saw him return to painting the light-filled landscapes back home in his native France.
The nine works loaned as a direct result of the public appeal include a preparatory sketch of a lost work thought to be entitled Les Baigneuses. Its North West owner, who bought the sketch in the 1980s, did not know the true significance of the work until responding to the appeal.
The reason why Valette relocated from his native France to Manchester is unknown, but he was to enjoy the most successful and prolific years of his career in a city he described as having “beauty”. He brought with him his knowledge of Impressionism; and understood the practice of painting outdoors, known as ‘en plein air’, capturing an immediate visual impression of a scene and rendering the exact effect of light.
In 1906 he became Master of Painting and Drawing at The Municipal School of Art, All Saints, which is now part of the Manchester Metropolitan University, where he taught LS Lowry, whose fame was destined to outstrip his own.
The exhibition also includes life drawings of models used as subject matter by both Lowry and Valette, including Hetty – affectionately known at art school as ‘The Magnificent’ – and Old Julian, who also sat ‘in costume’, dressed as characters ranging from a barrister to a monk, a fisherman, a peasant or a Bedouin.
“I cannot over-estimate the effect on me” said Lowry “of the coming into this drab city of Adolphe Valette, full of French Impressionists, aware of everything that was going on in Paris.”
The exhibition explores the relationship between these two artists, highlighting the possibility that Valette’s strongest influence may have been on Lowry’s choice of subject matter, as opposed to his style. After Valette, Lowry was the second major painter in the North West to focus on the industrial scene. Lowry recalled that his ‘first idea of doing it’ was ‘about 1912 or 1913’ (when Valette had already exhibited many of his major city scenes, known as ‘Manchester-scapes’). When commenting on his own painting Country Lane, Lowry said “I was going through my Impressionist period”. However, Lowry gradually found his own artistic style and by the mid 1920s Valette’s influence became less pronounced, with Lowry eventually declaring, “We did not see eye to eye at all about my paintings. I did not show them to him again.”
-ends-
Media enquiries:
Aimee Wood, Media Relations Executive, Tel 0161 876 2044, aimee.wood@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) – Private collection
- Hetty – Private Collection
- Tugboat on Manchester Ship Canal - Private collection
- Manchester Ship Canal, 18 March 1908 - Private collection nb this is the earliest dated painting by Valette of a Manchester scene
- Manchester Ship Canal – Nicholas & Anthony Goeritz Collection
- Manchester Street in Fog – Private collection
- Minshull Street with Old Magistrate’s Court in the Distance – Nicholas & Anthony Goeritz Collection
- Drawing from the Antique nb low res - same antique cast as painted by Lowry (see below)
- Photograph of Lost Painting 1912 – Private Collection
- Julian, 9 Mai 1910 – nb same subject as Portrait of a Man (Old Julian) by Lowry (see below) – Private Collection
LS Lowry images
- Head from the Antique
- Nude from the Antique nb same antique cast as painted by Valette (see above)
- Self Portrait
- The Lodging House
- Portrait of a Man (Old Julian) - nb same subject as Julian, 9 Mai 1910 by Valette (see above)
- Country Lane
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Notes to Editors:
Gallery Information
The Lowry, Pier 8, Salford Quays M50 3AZ
Information & Box Office Telephone 0843 2086005
www.thelowry.com
Gallery Opening Times:
Galleries open everyday 11am – 5pm (10am – 5pm on Saturdays)
Admission to the Galleries is FREE. On arrival, visitors need an admission ticket from the Galleries Desk.
The Lowry celebrated its 10th anniversary on 28 April 2010 and has spent over a decade 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
Posted on Friday, 14 October 2011 under News Press General Press Galleries Press