A discussion on railway art.

[bluebottle]

... the better paintings capture aspects of the railway that aren't saccharine.  See point 1 - saccharine has been done to death already.  Good paintings capture character of the railway - the industrial grime, or the big landscapes of Northern England.  They use light in a way that sets the scene, e.g. storm lighting (which is the sunshine you get with very changeable weather, you get quite a warm lit shafts of sunshine but with really dark skies).  Or early morning/late evening sunset/sunrise light which is low and very golden.  Or snow.  Or night-time.  Or just grey overcast and smog (see point about industrial grime).

 

    The Victoria Bridge over the River Wear (1838) in oils by John Wilson Carmichael (1800-1868) 

 

I don't know whether you'd consider this Romantic Style painting saccharine, Tony. It is Northern England; not much of the landscape showing from a low viewpoint, but a dramatic sky. The few figures are typical of the period, and add foreground interest. The new bridge (completed on the 28th of June 1838, the day of Queen Victoria's coronation), carrying the Durham Junction Railway over the river, is a magnificent sight. A pity that the sheen on the varnish is somewhat obtrusive.

The painting is in the public domain.

 

Edit: added year of completion of bridge.

Edited November 11, 2016 by bluebottle

[John B]

The late Tom Harland, of Bramblewick fame, was a fabuously talented artist. He rarely turned his eye to railway subjects, though.

 

I have in my (small) collection a number of Tom's works a L/E print from a series commissioned by Dale Farm / Northern Dairies, entitled "Collecting Milk on the North Eastern Railway". It's a beautiful depiction of Withernsea station in NER times. Copies are often available on eBay for a modest sum..

 

Another of my personal favorites is David Shepherd's "Nine Elms, the last hours" - depicting a couple of filthy locomotives in the squalor of Nine Elms shed at the death of steam. Twee or saccharine it is not!

[bluebottle]

"The Western Railway at its Exit from Paris", 1886, by the Neo-Impressionist Charles Angrand.

 

 

I imagine that the figure on the left is a ferrovipathe (from Collins English-French dictionary)! Whatever, despite the date and the foreign location, the picture calls to mind lazy days watching the trains go by from a grassy vantage point.

 

The painting is in the public domain.

 

Edit: Tidying up typing.

Edited November 20, 2016 by bluebottle

[Oldddudders]

I do love the 1920s/1930s art deco style poster art from London transport, 

 

Completely agree. E McKnight Kauffer comes to mind as a most powerful artist of that genre. 

[EddieB]

All good stuff - from the impressionist masters who painted trains (Monet) to those who mastered the portrayal of trains as a specialism (Cuneo, Shepherd & co), to the stylised representations of poster art.

 

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Georges Remi - much more widely known by his initials reversed as Hergé - the creator of Tintin.  In his time he produced much publicity artwork for the SNCB in his native Belgium.  Many forms of transportation, but especially railways, feature in the Tintin series of comic books, but in just about every case Hergé carefully researched and accurately drew trains from actual prototypes.  Illustrations were updated when the stories were revised and reprinted.  It might not be fine art, but a distinct form and an artist who has a massive following in his native land and worldwide.

 

Here's a little taste from the cartoonist's work.

 

 

 

When Tintin visited Britain in "The Black Isle", he was lucky enough to come across one of the three SR dc electric locomotives.  Earlier in the book he had travelled behind on of the Belgian 122 series (later class 22) electrics.

 

 

A fuller account is available in this book (https://www.amazon.fr/Herg%C3%A9-Tintin-trains-Yves-Crespel/dp/2203100516 - a Flemish/Dutch version is also available), which can be purchased from Train World, Brussel-Schaerbeek.

[Andy Kirkham]

There is a painting named "Dawn near Reading" showing a westbound broad gauge train and in the background a train on the South Eastern line. It belongs to the collection of Sir Arthur Elton now in the care of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum. I have seen it reproduced several times in different contexts, for instance here http://www.brunel200.com/great_western_railway.htm

 

The artist is said to be unknown, but recently I came across a reference to this http://artuk.org/discover/artworks/up-mail-passing-reading-188712 by one Brownlow D. Knox (died 1878), which is surely by the same hand.

 

I contacted Ironbridge to point out the similarity, and they said they would follow it up, but haven't heard back from them since.

 

Although I live in Bristol and have often visited the Museum & Art Gallery, I have never seen the Knox painting on display; presumably it is kept permanently in store.

Edited November 24, 2016 by Andy Kirkham

[Quarryscapes]

I quite like the work of Nick Harling. When the opprtunity came up I snapped up both the Pannier in Cwm Prysor and the Aberllefenni print:

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=533722053464305&set=a.133430923493422.28452.100004795446283&type=3&theater

[Neil]

Paul Delvaux for me; I love the other worldly quality of his paintings. This is a favourite, just look at the weathering on the van. Here's an overview of his work with railway content.

[Wolseley]

This is one of my favourites.  It was painted by my father in 1983 and is hanging in one of the spare bedrooms in our house.  I think he based it on an official NSWGR photo from the late 1940s or early 1950s.

 

[Northroader]

I agree with Neil, I'm a big Paul Delvaux fan, although the proliferation of ladies without much on does mean you have to careful who's around when you start looking at them. The interesting thing for me is that the date the painting was done is well after the period of the trains in the painting, most of them clearly being pre WW1 settings and paintings dated late 40s. Memories of a trainspotter with a overlay of sexual surreal dreams?

[wollastonblue]

I love any railway art, and I am fortunate to own a Signed print by David Shepherd of the Scotsman on shed (Scotsman '34) and a massive fan of John Austin. I have a signed print of my favourite ever piece of railway art as it includes my beloved Birmingham City's ground and a 9f called Blues 1 Stoke 0.

[RJD]

I love the JC Bourne drawings (London and Birmingham Railway and Great Western Railway), the French impressionists, the railway poster art of the 20th century, and Turner's Rain, Steam, and Speed for starters.   Some of the modern painters are excellent - I like Phillip Hawkins particularly, perhaps being a fellow Brummie helps.  He does grime and the tough working conditions very well.  

 

I can almost taste and feel the smoke in Monet's St. Lazare paintings.

 

My son is putting the best modern railway art to good purpose in his modelling by borrowing their designs for scenes on his layout.  

 

RJD 

[Jenny Emily]

I like the watercolours of John Wigston, and own quite a few originals. My favourites are 'In the beginning' and 'Eden Valley Standard' which adorn the chimney breasts in my lounge and my library respectively. He does more than just railway art, and I have a lovely one of a first World War Battlecruiser firing a broadside in a heavy sea which has such a great energy to it, like it really did manage to capture a moment in time accurately.

[bluebottle]

The railway station, Redfern (1893) oils, by Arthur Streeton (1867-1943)

 

I came across this while perusing the Wikiart website (well worth a look if you like viewing pictures, though only a relatively few of them are of railway scenes).

Sir Arthur Streeton, whose work was influenced by French Impressionism and the art of JMW Turner, was one of Australia's best-known painters.

Redfern is a suburb of Sydney, and its station today has a busy twelve platforms; at a glance, however, the scene in the picture could be taken for one anywhere in Britain in pre-Grouping days.

 

 

Edited December 1, 2016 by bluebottle

[Wolseley]

the-railway-station-redfern-1893.jpg

The railway station, Redfern (1893) oils, by Arthur Streeton (1867-1943)

 

I came across this while perusing the Wikiart website (well worth a look if you like viewing pictures, though only a relatively few of them are of railway scenes).

Sir Arthur Streeton, whose work was influenced by French Impressionism and the art of JMW Turner, was one of Australia's best-known painters.

Redfern is a suburb of Sydney, and its station today has a busy twelve platforms; at a glance, however, the scene in the picture could be taken for one anywhere in Britain in pre-Grouping days.

 

 

There was an exhibition I went to in 1994 at the S H Ervin Gallery called "Paint on the Tracks" where the exhibits were all works by Australian artists of railway subjects, and this was not only one of the works on display, it was also the one used for the cover of the catalogue (and a detail from it is on the rear cover).  This painting (as is the case with almost all of Streeton's work) is one that stops you and makes you have a closer look.  It is about 61cm by 40cm in size.

Edited December 2, 2016 by Wolseley

[ejstubbs]

Quite an arresting painting, and very evocative - it really captures the feel of a chilly, rainy day.  Almost makes me feel like getting my own brolly out right now!  Interesting composition, as well, given that there is nothing going on in the bottom 25% of the painting apart from a wet street.  A mark of a confident artist.

[ejstubbs]

...the proliferation of ladies without much on...

 

You make that sound like a bad thing 

 

Here's an overview of his work with railway content.

 

 

Quite a few of those have no visible railway content at all, as far as I can see.  And I made sure to inspect them all very carefully.  Highly disappointing... 

Edited December 2, 2016 by ejstubbs

[BobM]

This is today's featured picture on the Wikipedia home page:

 

^{"City of Workers is an oil painting on canvas completed by the Berlin Secessionist painter Hans baluschekin 1920. It depicts a dark and dirty working class sector of the German capital, Berlin, in which industrial smoke dominates the skyline and the few lights of windows are drowned in the gloom. The 48.44 × 36.25 in (123 × 92.1 cm) work is held at the Milwaukee Art Museum." It is in the Public Domain.}

 

Hans_Baluschek_-_Arbeiterstadt_(1920).jpg

 

A powerful piece - it makes the old West Riding look almost idyllic!

Thank goodness that's so obviously an upper quadrant signal, otherwise he'll have a sore and a very large lump on his head ! (Memories of that classic Ealing Studios film - 'The Ladykillers' )

Edited December 2, 2016 by BobM

[bluebottle]

Paul Delvaux? That link to "an overview of his work with railway content" made AdBlock crash on my laptop - it's never done that before!

[bluebottle]

 

I couldn't resist a bit of Dudley D. Watkins, an Englishman who created, with the writer/editor R D Low, The Broons and Oor Wullie - cartoon characters for The Sunday Post who came to typify working class Scots. Plus, of course famous figures such as Desperate Dan, Lord Snooty - and Black Bob the sheepdog.

With a few lines and a little shading, Watkins could conjure up urban and rural landscapes and populate them with a seemingly endless variety of humanity. And, of course, there were trains!

[Rob Pulham]

Chris has recently (December) finished a couple more paintings. 

 

The first is a lovely "chocolate box" scene. The compressions required to make it a small image doesn't really do justice to the overall vibrancy of this painting. I am really looking forward to getting it framed and hung.

 

 

[bluebottle]

No mistaking who painted this - and not an iris or sunflower in sight!

 

The railway bridge over avenue Montmajour 1888.

[Rob Pulham]

Chris has been beavering away for the last few months and has recently finished a couple more paintings.

 

The first of them is entitled "Startled By Steam" It's taken it's basis from a photo by a gent called Alan Harris which is entitled "leaving Quorn" and used with his kind permission.

 

I asked if she would paint a snow scene so that I could get some Christmas cards done from it.

 

 

[Bernard Lamb]

There was a group of artists known as The East London Group who worked in the late 1920s and 1930s.

Being based in Bow they were surrounded by railways and their paintings include quite a few railway based scenes.

I went to an exhibition a couple of years ago and have been on the look out for chances to see some more of their work since the. 

Various pictures can be found on line by searching for the group or by individual artists.

They were all amateur artists but the general standard achieved was very high. Even if it had not been so I still find it interesting as a record of an area I knew as a young kid.

At one time the Institute they attended was actually located in Bow station.

Elwin Hawthorne, Albert Turpin and Walter Steggles in particular painted scenes with a railway content.

Bernard

[Rob Pulham]

The other painting that Chris finished recently we took to the picture framers this morning. 

 

It's an interpretation of a photograph by Stephen Dance and again used with his kind permission. Stephen advised us that he had been taking photographs both under the bridge and on top of it for over 30 years and never before had he encountered such still conditions allow for such a good reflection in the water.