India House, Manchester

Adolphe Valette 1876 - 1942

Summary

A sheltered view down the River Medlock in Manchester, seen from Oxford Bridge and looking in the direction of India House, a large office building on Whitworth Street. The top of the scene is framed by the black underside of an archway belonging to the railway viaduct spanning Oxford Road. In the centre of the composition is the hazy, looming form of India House, its numerous lit up windows reflected in the water below. To the left, extending out over the river is part of the Refuge Assurance building (now the Palace Hotel). To the right are two large, industrial looking buildings beyond which are the various indistinct forms of girders and trails of smoke. Travelling along the river in the middle-distance are two flat barges.

Display Label

India House 1912 Adolphe Valette 1876-1942 Oil on jute Ruth, Learning Manager: I really like the lighting ... I think late at night in Manchester you’ll see this sort of lighting still along the canal. Natasha, Curator: I think it’s really interesting, the whole mythologising of the city, which has happened in the past and still happens today. In 1912, it would have been very smoggy, very polluted, a lot of inequality. But here Valette romanticised this view… Lesley, Volunteer: I’ve got a reproduction of this in my hall. It was also my bus route to school. Winter on Oxford Road. It makes me feel nostalgic thinking about the journey with my friend who I met on the school bus, who’s still one of my greatest friends and she still lives in Manchester. Purchased from the artist when he moved back to France, at the insistence of his friends. 1928.38