(August 18, 2016)

We're in Manchester! We took the train from Euston Station in the morning.

After checking into our hotel we went to the Imperial War Museum North, an impressive building designed by architect Daniel Libeskind. It is one of five branches of the IWP--we've been to the one in London and loved it. This branch focuses on the effects of war on people, beginning chronologically with the First World War and ending in present-day conflicts.

Interspersed with historical overviews (I learned more about the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations, the brainchild of Woodrow Wilson, and how the United States Senate didn't support US participation), were quotes by soldiers. This was one that particularly stayed with me.

Art related to war was also displayed throughout, like these linocut prints by Helmuth Weissenborn.

Oxford Street London, 1941 and Soho London, 1941

City Church London, 1941 and Holland Park London, 1941

Suburban Church London, 1941

There was a section on the Commonwealth's participation, including India and Canada. I learned that, in the Second World War, Canada had begun with only 19 ships and 37 front-line aircraft, but expanded its forces rapidly and by D-Day had the third largest Allied navy and the fourth largest Allied air force, Consequently they played a major role in the liberation of North-West Europe.

The museum was full of interesting artifacts and one could spend hours pouring over them (although the necessary low-lighting made it more difficult). Here is an original issue of Canada's Front Line Newspaper, The Red Patch, and some other artifacts from the Canada section.

The impact on Britain after World War II was discussed, as were the changes militarily, politically, socially and economically.

And there was a section on 9/11, including a steel window piece from the World Trade Center, and an interactive display where you could watch video and listen to survivors talk about their experiences during and since the tragedy.

There were exhibits about the Iraq War and about migration, how in times of conflict, families and whole communities are sometimes forced to leave their homes to avoid death. This archway of suitcases represents those forced to pack their bags in search of safety.

One of the more striking displays for me was this one wall that had tags with quotes. One of the tags, from Ruby Ord after the First World War, particularly stood out:  "...people think they were fighting for something that's going to be an uplift and it's going to make everything better. It doesn't. War never makes anything better..."

Fashion on the Ration: 1940s Street Style was a temporary exhibition going on, but we didn't buy tickets. It looked interesting, though, and I'm kind of sorry we didn't.

We walked across the bridge to MediaCityUK, where the BBC moved 26 of its London departments in 2011, followed by ITV in 2013. The piazza was filled with people, there was a huge screen showing the Olympics in an area set up called the Fanzone, where children could try their hand at badminton, long jump, or table tennis. We happened to arrive there just as the triathlon was finishing and the two Brits won gold and silver. I cheered along with everyone else.

We tried to figure out the tram system but ended up taking an Uber instead back to our hotel room to rest a bit and to freshen up. At about 6:30 (“half six”) we set off for the Manchester Art Gallery, which on Thursdays is open until 8. We had trouble following the GPS on our phones, but eventually got there. They also had an exhibition on fashion during the First World War. There is a lot of programming related to this war as it is the centenary. We didn’t spend much time in this section of the museum because there was so much else to see.

Like this lovely earthenware piece by Grayson Perry, Jane Austen in E17.

They even have a Banksy on loan.

A nice Turner.

A couple of Lord Frederic Leightons.

This lovely Walter Sickert, The Mirror.

Their collection includes a lot of Pre-Raphaelite works.

Another exhibition on the art of the First World War included this lithograph, Tending the Wounded: Casualty Clearing Station in France 1917 by Claude Shepperson.

Wall text for this installation noted that World War I “was the first conflict to produce a wealth of works by Britain’s official war artists who fought on its battlefields and experienced the devastation first-hand. These artists were selected and commissioned by the government to create a visual account of the war.”

It was a beautiful sky when we left to meet up with Jo and Mark for dinner.

Jo and Mark with sculpture of L.S. Lowry at Sam's Chophouse

We first met Jo and Mark in Glens Falls, when Jo spent a few weeks at The Hyde in, I believe, 2004. Visiting them was the impetus to get us up to Manchester. It was great to catch up, as it has been four years since we last saw Jo in Saratoga (and nine years since we saw them in London). She is the head of development for The Whitworth Art Gallery, the Manchester Museum and the Manchester Art Gallery, as well as a printmaker. Mark is an author and on the creative team of an audio branding company. We had a lovely dinner at Sam’s Chophouse. During the course of the evening I asked about L.S. Lowry, a statue of whom was seated at the bar of the restaurant. He was a very well-known English painter of the 20^th century who had a naïve style. I couldn’t remember seeing any of his drawings or paintings. Well on our walk back to the hotel, we passed a gallery with one of his paintings in the window, for sale for a mere £8,950.

The roads in Manchester are torn apart right now while they upgrade parts of their bus and tram systems.

Currently reading: Harm Done, by Ruth Rendell

(August 19, 2016)

We walked to the Whitworth Art Gallery in the rain. The Whitworth had undergone a major renovation in the last two years, but it did not go unrewarded. In fact, in 2015 it received Art Fund’s Museum of the Year award (the award went to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2016), as well as something like 16 other awards, and they were shortlisted for European Museum of the Year and six others. The building itself is beautiful, as are the gallery spaces.

We started with the Revolutionary Textiles 1910-1939 exhibition. This 1930 block-printed cotton jacket by Nancy Nicholson was beautiful. I would wear it today.

So were these women’s coats from Russian Turkestan.

Again marking the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, the exhibition Visions of the Front 1916-18 showcased the frontline artists. One example is Advanced Dressing Station on the Struma 1916 by Henry Lamb.

We spent a lot of time in the exhibition Portraits. Here are some of my favorites.

Heinz Koppel, Self-portrait

Lucian Freud, Man's Head (Self Portrait I) 1963

Frank Auerbach, Head of E.O.W. III 1963-4

We also spent quite a bit of time in In a Dream You Saw a Way to  Survive and You Were Full of Joy, curated by Elizabeth Price, “one of Britain’s most acclaimed artists.”

And they have a nice Jacob Epstein.

Jacob Epstein, Genesis 1929-31

Tibor Reich drawing 1970s

We then stopped for lunch in the café with Jo, before heading upstairs to the Tibor Reich retrospective of his pioneering textile designs, as well as Wallpaper, showcasing mid-century wallpaper designs. The Whitworth has a huge collection of textiles.

On our walk back to the hotel, we did a quick tour of the Manchester Museum, the natural history museum of the University of Manchester. We didn’t stay long—it was very warm inside, it was teeming with families, and we had reached our saturation point for today. Back in our room, I worked on this blog entry before and after dinner. The internet has been down all afternoon, so hopefully I’ll be able to put it up tonight. We found a decent Indian restaurant next to our hotel for dinner.