Harmony, beauty and bright colors welcome you into the second substantial retrospective on Albert Moore since 1894.
A full display of Moore’s beautiful classically draped ladies greets you in the first room, which immediately sets the scene for the leading York-born artist of the Aesthetic movement. You might predict your own suspension in this timeless atmosphere for the rest of your visit, but this is not the purpose of this exhibition, which displays one of York’s most famous painters for the second time after more than 100 years. The exhibition’s first aim is to launch a campaign to permanently return Albert Moore’s most famous work 'A Revery' (above) to York, which will otherwise return to the Agnews Gallery in London after the exhibition.
This retrospective wants to re-establish the lost relationship between the artist and his city. In the following rooms are works by Moore’s family, other artists belonging to the Aesthetic movement and fellow students of the York School of Art and Design, which was hosted in the gallery’s building until 1976. All these pieces, especially those made by the Moores and fine art students, are intrinsically and nostalgically linked to York and Yorkshire. By displaying the artistic and naturalistic beauties of the town and its surrounding area, the curators are ultimately trying to re-establish York's artistic importance through emphasising its medieval origins, modern development and the achievements of the York School of Art and Design 20th century artists. The exhibition also takes the opportunity here to celebrate the gallery itself and its privileged connection to both Moore and the School where he was trained. In accordance with the common curatorial choices of York Art Gallery, curators have chosen to display tradition alongside modernity, employing a wide range of materials and objects, in an attempt to introduce the general public to Albert Moore alongside York's history.
The biggest triumph of Moore’s work is certainly 'Midsummer' (above), the painting also displayed in the exhibition posters. This painting is not only a triumph of brightness, unusual for Moore, who usually employs tenuous nuances of green, yellow and white, but also an explosion of detailed decorations, disguising hidden symbols and messages. Despite the bright colours, critics have often read this piece as a reflection on death due to the personification of the seasons. The woman seated on the throne appears to be sleeping and the sensual movement of her right hand places her in relation to the other female figures who populate the artist’s imagination, passively exposing themselves to our gaze. Hung next to 'Midsummer' is 'A Revery'. The same woman is depicted on a different throne, but this time she is alone, contemplating her present loneliness while absently staring at her only company: the viewer.
The issues aroused by Moore’s ladies regarding female passivity and the power of looking at someone who is not aware or cannot be aware of our presence and gaze is an issue that cannot be ignored when regarding his paintings from a contemporary perspective. However, we might suggest his “art for art’s sake” approach diminishes the relevance of such socio-historical, gender-based analysis. In his work, women are depicted as if they were still-life objects or classical sculptures brought to life. They are surfaces where he can exercise his knowledge of classical motifs or experiment with patterns and decorations from Japanese prints shown to him by the American colleague James McNeil Whistler. Whilst trying to avoid the reality of his epoch through depicting timeless dimensions inhabited by classical figures, Moore was directly benefitting from the fast-paced industrial revolution. This enabled him to engage with his major sources of inspiration: classical and oriental art, by travelling and visiting exhibitions. In this sense, Moore's women are rendered timeless, disconnected from temporal socio-cultural considerations.
As the curator and critic Sidney Colvin summarised in a quote that neatly embodies the concept of aestheticism, 'The subject, whatever subject is chosen, is merely a mechanism for getting beautiful people into beautiful situation'.
Albert Moore: Of Beauty and Aesthetics runs from 1 April 2017 - 1 October 2017 at York Art Gallery
Lea Marrazzo