Salford Art Club
  • Home
    • Members of the committee and club rules
    • Contact us
  • Programme
    • Blog Demonstrations workshops Etc
    • Members pictures whilst the club is closed March 2020
  • History of the club from 1947
    • History of the club 2017-
    • Club Youtube videos
    • present Members Gallery >
      • Derek Croft
      • Ken Dovid
      • Tony Easom
      • Lynn Kirkley
      • Hilda Kirkman
      • Dorothy Pointon
      • Brenda Vitler
      • Peter Walker
      • Robert Watson
      • Liang Sun
      • Philip Westcott
  • Future Events
    • News and Past Events
    • Videos of past demonstrations. Useful information etc
  • Exhibition Information
    • Entry Form and Rules Downloadable
    • 2023 exhibition Opening
    • Exhibition 2021
    • Exhibition 2019
    • Exhibition 2018
    • Exhibition 2017
    • Exhibition 2016
  • Downloadable Files
  • History of the club from 1947

Demonstrations and Workshops

Peter Davis 'Painting the zeitgeist'

22/4/2023

1 Comment

 
#peterdavis #peterdavisartist #edwardhopper #lowry #JamesPatchellChettle
Picture

In his introduction, Peter described himself as a social realist artist who captures the modern day. He also introduced the term 'zeitgeist'  which was an unfamiliar term to some of our members.

He explained that it meant capturing the spirit of a time or in his case painting the characteristics of a period in time.


In his first talk he introduced us to Edward Hopper, one of his heroes and greatest influences. 
​
Hopper was born at a time of shift from rural life to towns, where people were working in factories and steel production was cheaper and more effective. This was the start of a building boom in the cities.

He moved to New York and  as the city changed, cars became affordable to middle classes and railways  connected towns and roads were being built.
​
These changes had an impact on several of his paintings  such as 'House By Railroad' which incidentally was thought to inspire the film Psycho.  Paintings such as 'Route 6 Eastham' with its stark shadows and 'Gas' where the pumps have been made bigger emphasizing the robotic feel to the scene,  capture the changing times.

It was interesting to hear about Hopper's detailed research  and sketches as he worked out the composition, including adding the tea urns seen in a nearby café.
Moving on, Peter talked about his own work and how it relates to modern life in the city and technology.
​
He likes to include posters and graffiti capturing the dereliction of old buildings that are often being replaced with soulless blocks. The theme of isolation, as seen in Hoppers work, is also present. Capturing todays' figures, his paintings often include phones or other aspects of technology that influence our everyday lives. 
After the coffee break, he moved on to introducing aspects of MAFA; The Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, a group of which he is the archivist. Here he  talked about how it originated and the strong influence of James Chettle in ensuring the growth of the society.
​
In 1935, it was due to Chettle's involvement that L S Lowry was invited to join the society and started to exhibit with them.
Although Chettle and Lowry were contemporaries, often painting similar scenes, the unique quality of Lowry's  style has made him famous.  Chettle has largely been forgotten, although his influence on the early art scene, especially in the north west, was very important.
​
An interesting talk by Peter and we all had a deeper understanding of the meaning of Zeitgeist and  links from other artists that had encompassed this theme.
1 Comment

    Author

    A record of Saturday afternoon  activities.

    Archives

    March 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    July 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    January 2024
    November 2023
    July 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    October 2021
    January 2020
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

  • Home
    • Members of the committee and club rules
    • Contact us
  • Programme
    • Blog Demonstrations workshops Etc
    • Members pictures whilst the club is closed March 2020
  • History of the club from 1947
    • History of the club 2017-
    • Club Youtube videos
    • present Members Gallery >
      • Derek Croft
      • Ken Dovid
      • Tony Easom
      • Lynn Kirkley
      • Hilda Kirkman
      • Dorothy Pointon
      • Brenda Vitler
      • Peter Walker
      • Robert Watson
      • Liang Sun
      • Philip Westcott
  • Future Events
    • News and Past Events
    • Videos of past demonstrations. Useful information etc
  • Exhibition Information
    • Entry Form and Rules Downloadable
    • 2023 exhibition Opening
    • Exhibition 2021
    • Exhibition 2019
    • Exhibition 2018
    • Exhibition 2017
    • Exhibition 2016
  • Downloadable Files
  • History of the club from 1947