|
John originated
from my home town of Accrington in East Lancashire. Born in 1947 a
few years before myself; we were born into the dying remnants of
industrialisation and the relics of the war.
The skies of Lancashire have a reputation for
being grey with endless days of rain, which spawned the cotton mill
industries and their smoking chimneys belching darkness into the
sky.
The moors around the town can be desolate and
dark, reflected in the tales of the Bronte's, (from just over the
border in Yorkshire).
I attach a photo from back in the 1971 of
John in his early days, taken by my father who was the local
professional photographer.
John Virtue at work: Picture Copyright Garth Dawson 1971
Like Lowry and Coronation street (certainly
in its origins), I feel John has been blessed with the feel of
Lancashire, retained, as he has moved onto wider fields and
different climes. A feeling perhaps both sour (as my father said
(“it’s all black!”),
and sweet; a dour, deep, guttural love.
Illustration of the Lancashire into which
John Virtue was born:
Photo : Blackburn (5 miles from Accrington)
Ref: BBC Lancashire History
https://www.bbc.co.uk/lancashire/content/image_galleries/blackburn_history_book_gallery.shtml?2
Emily Bronte’s poem elicits the feel of the
moors and the area around the Northern cotton towns:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3z1RXyC1rRA
John trained at the Slade School of Art in
London, then initially moved back to the Accrington area where he
developed many pen and ink drawings of the area in black and greys
whilst working as a postman.
View of Accrington from the Coppice.
(c/o Haworth art gallery Accrington)
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/accrington-from-the-coppice-150919
Hindley Farm Green Haworth Lancashire 1976
https://www.artnet.com/artists/john-virtue/hindley-farm-cold-day-green-haworth-0Yl1FTZOgyVrIhTg-fHiw2
Green Haworth 1972
https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Green-Haworth--near-Accrington--Lancashi/A89864183B307AB1
Street scene 1970-79
https://www.artnet.com/artists/john-virtue/street-scene-vUb_5DpNIaVh3nAVMzsYHw2
John abandoned the
use of colour in 1978 in order to “more clearly express” (John
Virtue in the Independent 2005) and so follow a more abstract
expressionist pathway.
Leaving Lancashire he went to Devon where he
concentrated on landscape images around Exeter and the Exe estuary.
Landscape no 567 1998-1999
https://www.artnet.com/artists/john-virtue/landscape-no-567-PljJdE6JtY1gBT4S1NXD8A2
Landscape 1992
https://www.artnet.com/artists/john-virtue/landscape-no-246-landscape-no-247-LRUPritubxF8qsyCo41kQg2
He Became the Associate artist at the
National gallery 2003-2005, and concentrated for a while on the
London landscape.
His paintings of London focus on the skyline
with familiar London landmarks emerging from the dark.
He uses shellac, black ink and white paint,
regarding colour as superfluous.
The Independent described his black like:
“gritty fresh ground coal”.
In discussing his paintings of London an
“Independent” article of 2013 states:
His work has maintained a “solemn, broody and
expansive vision.”
“There is nothing but light and darkness;
the light being engulfed by the darkness and light heroically
fighting back”(Independent 2013). “It is about atmosphere; evoking
Turner or the London of Dickens. Virtue has himself cited Turner as
one of his influences.”
In “The independent” article his work is also
compared to that of Blake (“black is a force,” said Blake).
To me the images remain more akin to the
writings of the Bronte’s, and the feeling ingrained by the mills and
the moors (even when transcribed to the greater grandeur of London).
Landscape of London (no 664)
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/landscape-no-664-29490
Landscape ( London) no 806
https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Landscape-806/5C09B045FE92BFBE
In 2003-2008 John was professor of fine art
at Plymouth University
and has lived and worked in Italy moving to live and work in Norfolk
in 2009.
His North Sea paintings are at present to be
seen in Houghton hall, Norfolk.
https://www.houghtonhall.com/north-sea-paintings-john-virtue/
https://www.meer.com/sainsbury-centre-for-visual-arts/artworks/38437
No 13 2011-2013
John Virtue Jan2015 image on Alamo.com
His works are to be found in the Tate, the
V&A and the Courtauld institute (to name a few) and at present
(until mid-September). His North Sea paintings are on display at
Houghton Hall in Norfolk.
John Virtue (book by Simon Schama)
|
