The Art Gallery Entrance

Roger Oldham 1871 - 1916

Summary

The watercolour was produced as part of a series called 'A Manchester Alphabet'. We have a set of the printed proof illustrations for 'A Manchester Alphabet', which was published in 1906. The image depicts the original entrance to Manchester Art Gallery, with the staircase flanked by sculptures in the centre. Several groups of well-dressed figures are depicted. To the left of the staircase is a group of four people (this differs from the version in the printed book, which has only two people lower left). To the right of the stairs is a small girl in red and two women fighting over umbrellas. Three figures are on the stairs, while at the mezzanine level, a woman loses her hat.

Display Label

Room 2: Cold Cases This room showcases a changing selection of 10-15 sculptures under investigation. These are artworks about which we have little information, are in poor condition or have been off display for a long time and would benefit from new research. The aim is to open up this research process more publicly and consider how a public gallery and its users can care for and use collections. Each object has a case file that includes the object record from our database and copies of any archival material in the artist’s file with new material to be added as research develops. A research board for each object will raise questions and lines of enquiry and be a space where new information can be shared. Artists’ files are normally only accessible by appointment – this time we are crowd-sourcing information. By filling in the gaps in our knowledge, we can all better understand these works of art. At the start of this room are three sculptures by Algardi, Cassidy and Hepworth which are well documented, researched and regularly exhibited, so have been considered ‘collection highlights’. Other works we know little about.