Metropolitan-Vickers Works, Trafford Park

Charles Ernest Cundall 1890 - 1971

Summary

The view of the factory floor at Metropolitan-Vickers Works in Trafford Park, Manchester, during wartime. Factory workers in ‘aisle D’ can be seen making parts for torpedoes, with two imported canons on the factory floor. Charles Cundall depicts the scene like the nave of an engineering cathedral with its high windows bathing the busy workers and half-finished tanks in slanting light. In the summer of 1945, Lawrence Haward, Director of Manchester Art Gallery, devised a scheme to secure the patronage of local industry in an attempt to build up a collection of Second World War pictures. This was to differ from that of the First World War by including more local artists and by illustrating the industrial work carried out behind the scenes, especially in the Manchester area. Selected firms were invited to commission an artist with Manchester connections to make a record of their main contribution to the war effort, which the directors would then present to the art gallery. The Metropolitan-Vickers Works made torpedoes.

Display Label

Metropolitan-Vickers Works, Trafford Park 1945 Charles Cundall 1890-1971 Oil on canvas Metropolitan-Vickers Works at Trafford Park played an important role in Britain's war effort, producing tanks, guns and the Lancaster aircraft. Towards the end of the Second World War, the Director of Manchester City Galleries set up an art scheme with local industries. Firms were invited to commission a local artist to record their contribution to the war effort. Cundall captures dramatic shafts of light and amalgamates views of separate workshops. This conveys a more complete idea of the war work which combines the artistic with the documentary. Gift of Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd 1945.252