PV Windows and Floorboards

Rose Wylie, 2014

WAG 2015.15

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Highlights from the Walker Art Gallery collection

From Rossetti to Hockney, there is a diverse range of art at the Walker including contemporary art and work from as far back as the 13th century.

Exhibition

Currently on display in Room 15, Walker Art Gallery

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About this object

Rose Wylie won the first prize in the John Moores Painting Prize in 2014. This painting depicts the private view of Wylie’s exhibition at the Approach Gallery in London in 2011. The figures include Rose herself and the art critic Nancy Durrant who was present on the opening night.

The composition began to take shape before the event itself. Wylie had been particularly struck by the way the Gallery’s Director, Jake Miller, had described the space to her on the telephone, and even at that stage the image started to form in her mind’s eye. She recalls how he described the ‘nice floorboards and lovely windows.’ She went on to draw in biro, as is her method, the L-shaped floor plan of the gallery on a piece of paper, before consulting the Observer newspaper’s magazine supplement for an example of ‘good’ windows. She settled on the Georgian windows that appear in the finished canvas, despite the fact the Approach’s windows are Victorian. Wylie explains: “That didn’t matter; it’s my answer to good windows.”

This witty determination exemplifies the artist’s approach to her subjects. She is not attempting to recreate reality in her paintings. Instead, she is concerned with capturing what she describes as the ‘particularity’ of a moment – her own subjective and characterful impression that blends the real and the imagined.

Wylie was particularly struck by the appearance and clothes of the three women at the event, and this fascination is reflected on the canvas. She remembers: “There was a lot of work on the particularity of things the four people were wearing. They were all wearing very different things.” Wylie drew each figure from memory after the event.

Related blog

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Object specifics

Artist(s)

Rose Wylie (British: English, born:1934-10-14, died:unknown)
Date

2014
Materials

Oil paint; Canvas
Measurements
Physical description

Two panel painting of a room interior with three standing figures and one seated.
Related people

Art Fund (Purchase funder); Rose Wylie (Artist/maker, previous owner)
Other number(s)

previous number: FADB 2015.8
Credit line

Purchased with Art Fund support in 2015
Location

Walker Art Gallery, Room 15
Collection

From the Walker Art Gallery collections

Gallery

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Ownership

Previous owners

Rose Wylie
Owned from: 2014
How acquired: Maker
Owned until: 2015
Disposal method: Purchased by the Walker Art Gallery

Inscriptions

Item inscriptions

Inscription text: Rose Wylie
Inscription method: Paint
Inscription note:
Inscription location: Back

Object view = Fine Art
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