May 2008

JOSEPH WRIGHT OF DERBY

At the May meeting of the FARNHAM DECORATIVE AND FINE ARTS SOCIETY, Frances Ashworth, the Chairman, told members of the new arrangements for the refurbished Maltings car park.

She reported on her visit to the NADFAS AGM in Liverpool and on the work of the NADFAS Young Arts and their association with the Royal Society of British Artists.  The FDFAS Young Arts group has been given a gift of £10,000 from Mary Joynes to support art projects for the young in Farnham, and Christopher Ellis will report on the administration of the gift at the next meeting.

Bookings are being taken for the ‘Art in Action’ visit to Waterperry Gardens on 17 July and the Study Day with the Dolmetsch Family on 4 July.  Booking forms for the 2009 tour to the Baltic capitals are now available.

The lecturer, Eric Shanes, Chairman of the Turner Society, Author and Lecturer, talked on Joseph Wright of Derby.  His lecture gave insight to the paintings of Joseph Wright, the foremost British painter of the period of the industrial revolution, and related his art to the various stages of his life.  Excellent slides were shown of his portraits, landscapes, industrial revolution paintings, history and literary pictures and depictions of the scientific experiments of the day.

Joseph Wright (1734-1797) was Derby’s greatest son, although he travelled and lived in London, Liverpool and Bath.  He was friends with Josiah Wedgwood and Richard Arkwright and felt himself a part of the industrial revolution taking place in this area at the time, and depicted what he knew of the new industries.

In 1751 he moved to London and studied under Thomas Hudson, the portrait painter.  He had his first exhibition in London in 1765 and continued to exhibit there for many years.  He was associated with the establishment of the Royal Academy but, following a disagreement with them, declined full membership in 1784.

His paintings depicted light in an exciting way, contrasting the warm tones of flames with the cool of moonlight in his landscapes and industrial revolution paintings, and using concealed light and candlelight to great effect in his portrayals of people.  His portraits captured the personality of the sitter, adopting a more natural stance than had been usual, often with a landscape in the background, and a perfect balance of colour and tone.  He paid great attention to textures and details of costume and fabrics.

His landscape painting in the early 1770s, much of it in the Peak District, was at the forefront of the Romantic movement, and had beautiful expressiveness, lighting effects, distribution of shadow and a sense of dynamism and vigour.  In 1774, he went on the Grand Tour to Italy and produced magnificent landscapes of Vesuvius, other scenes of the countryside around Naples, and firework displays in Rome.  He returned to these themes later in his life. 

Joseph Wright died in Derby and is buried there.  The most comprehensive collection of his paintings can be seen in the Museum of Derby.

copy by Maralyn Sharpe
photo by Graham Parlett

FDFAS VOLUNTEERS COFFEE MORNING

FDFAS volunteers enjoyed a cup of coffee and delicious brownies at a coffee morning held in the Barley Room at Farnham Maltings on Wednesday 28 May 2008.

It was an opportunity for the various volunteer groups of Church Recorders, Heritage, Garden Recorders and Young Arts to meet each other in an informal setting.

These photos, taken by Beth MacCulloch, depict some of those involved on a happy occasion.