Manchester
& Northwest England Visual Artists
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Manchester
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The Visual Arts (4)
Artists
and Architects around Manchester
(1860-1939)
John Cassidy was born in County Meath in Ireland, on the 1st of
January 1860. He studied at the Manchester School of Art, then
in London and later in Paris, before returning to live in Manchester,
where he remained for the rest of his life. He set up a studio
in Plymouth Grove. In 1887 he was engaged to give demonstrations
in modelling from life at the Manchester Jubilee Exhibition, at
which he reputedly modelled more than 185 portrait busts during
the six months of the Exhibition. His work was subsequently exhibited
at the Royal Academy, the Royal Hibernian Academy, and frequently
in Manchester City Art Gallery.
Cassidy also created two matching statues in white marble of John
Rylands and his wife Enriqueta Rylands, which stand either
end of the reading room at the John
Rylands Library in Deansgate. Also he produced portrait statues
of Sir Benjamin Dorrian and Benjamin Brierley.
Amongst many other works his Statue of Edward VII can still be
seen in Whitworth Park. Charles
Hallé and Charles Sutton are among the numerous busts
of local individuals by Cassidy to be on display in Manchester
Town Hall, as well as a plaque to Alderman Daniel McCabe.
"Adrift", his first figurative outdoor statue
of 1908, was first exhibited in London, was purchased by James
Gresham, head a local Manchester engineering company, who donated
it to the City of Manchester and after several suggested sites
it was eventually located on a plinth in Piccadilly Gardens. Recent
redevelopment of the Gardens has required its removal - it is
intended to relocate the statue eventually in St Peter's Square,
subject to planning permission.
Cassidy's public sculpture can be found at various places around
Manchester, as well as in Bristol, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Belfast,
Stourbridge amongst other sites around Britain. He remained a
bachelor for the whole of his life and died on 19 July 1939 at
his last home in Ashton-on-Mersey.
(1817-1876)
Matthew Noble was born at Hackness near Scarborough, Yorkshire
on the 23rd March 1817, the son of Robert Noble, a stonemason,
and served his apprenticeship with his father. As a young man
Noble went to London to study under John Francis. He regularly
exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1845 until his death in 1876.
He first came to public attention in 1856 after winning the competition
to design the prestigious Monument to the Duke of Wellington in
Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester. Though not a resident of the
region, Noble did a great deal of his best and most important
work within Manchester.
He eventually acquired great fame and respect as a leading portrait
sculptor, and was commissioned to make many portraits of important
figures, including Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, the Bishop of
York, Earl Feversham, and many others. His work is to be found
in museums and other locations in London, Bradford, York, Manchester,
as well as work in India.
Noble's London commissions include Sir
Robert Peel and the Earl of Derby in Parliament Square, statues
at the Royal Academy and monuments in St Paul's Cathedral and
Westminster Abbey. He also produced many notable church monuments,
including some in York Minster. He was responsible for the Queen
Victoria and Prince Consort statues, both in Salford's Peel Park
and in Leeds, as well as the statue of Prince Albert facing Manchester
Town Hall in Albert Square. He also produced several monuments
to Sir Robert Peel, in Salford, Liverpool and Tamworth, as well
as the celebrated statue of Oliver Cromwell in Wythenshawe, (formerly
facing Manchester Cathedral), and monuments to Richard Cobden
and Joseph Brotherton in Salford.
After a lifetime in poor health, Matthew Noble died in 1876, aged
56, with many of his works unfinished - most were completed by
his assistant, J Edwards. A monument to him can be found in St
Peter's Church in his hometown, Hackess.
(1845-1915)
Walter Crane was born on 15 August 1845 in Liverpool, the son
of Thomas Crane, was a successful local artist. While Walter was
still a young man, the family moved to live in London where he
was apprenticed to an engraver.
Crane became an important and major influence in late-Victorian
art and design in Britain, and was appointed Director of Design
at the Manchester Municipal School of Art from 1893-1896 - he
was instrumental in the establishment of the Art & Crafts
Exhibition Society in 1888, and was their first President.
Though he exhibited paintings at the Royal Academy (his "The
Lady of Shalott" in 1862, for example), he was predominantly
an illustrator and designer. By the 1870s he was an established
children's book illustrator, a designer for Wedgwood, and a leading
wallpaper and tile designer.
In the 1860s Crane began to take an active interest in politics
and was a supporter of the Liberal Party and some of their more
radical politicians such as John Bright
and William Gladstone and campaigned for the 1867 Reform Act.
Crane gradually developed socialistic views, and became friends
with William Morris. Both men deplored the effects of modern manufacturing
and the commercial system of craftsmanship and design. Deeply
influenced by Morris's pamphlet "Art & Socialism",
Crane gradually became involved in both the Art Workers' Guild
and the Arts & Crafts Society. Although a confirmed Marxist,
Crane hoped that Socialism would be achieved through education
rather than revolution.
As the first President of the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society
he was a leading light in the revival of arts and crafts of the
period, along with other major designers including William Morris,
Edward Burne-Jones, Philip Webb and Onslow Ford.
He was also Principal of the Royal College of Art from 1897-8,
and wrote many influential books on decoration and design, including
"The Decorative Illustration of Books" in 1896
and "Line and Form" in 1900.
Walter Crane is best remembered today as one of the most important
Victorian and Edwardian children's book illustrators, whose books
are now highly collectable.
(1918-1985)
Frank Hampson was born on the 21st December 1918 in Audenshaw,
and was to become a leading light in popular science fiction illustration,
notably with his best known creation, Dan Dare ("Pilot
of the Future!") for The Eagle Comic in the 1950s.
His original artwork and imaginative storylines, represented in
full colour, (then a revolutionary concept) sold around a million
copies a week, the most successful ever comic in the UK. Dan Dare
was to become one of the greatest English comic strip icons of
all time.
Hampson's family moved to live in Southport where from the age
of 11 he was educated at King George V Grammar School. He left
school at 14 to become a telegraph boy with the Post Office. During
the war he served in the Royal Army Service Corps and was a Dunkirk
evacuee in 1940.
In 1944 Frank married Dorothy Mabel Jackson and set up the family
home in Southport. In 1947 he enrolled on an Illustration Course
at Southport School of Arts & Crafts, where he was described
as "an outstanding draughtsman". Later he set up a screen-printing
business with fellow student Harold Johns.
His professional career as an artist began working on the 'Anvil',
published as a monthly national Christian magazine.
But it was the launch of the Eagle on 14th April 1950 that
his big break came and the immediate success of this new large
format, full colour glossy magazine caught a wide public attention
and Dan Dare became its front page characterisation. So complex
and time consuming were the drawings required that he had to bring
in several other artists to assist; these included Bruce Cornwell,
Terry Maloney and Eric Eden, and later others including Harold
Johns and Jocelyn Thomas, colleagues from his days at 'Anvil'.
Initially they worked in a converted Southport bakery before moving
to Epsom in August 1950, and to a purpose-built studio complex
in Bayford Lodge in 1954. In every aspect of his artwork Frank
was a meticulous perfectionist, who spent hours creating scenarios
for Dan Dare, regularly working 20 hour days to meet pressing
weekly deadlines.
In 1975,
Hampson was awarded the Yellow Kid Life Achievement Award at the
Italian Lucca Comics Convention, and was declared 'prestigious
maestro' as best writer and illustrator of strip cartoons since
World War II. The following year he was presented with a special
Ally Sloper award by the British Association of Comics Enthusiasts
to commemorate his major contribution to the art of cartoon strips.
Frank Hampson died on the 8th July 1985 at Epsom Cottage Hospital.
A blue plaque is located at his birthplace at 488 Audenshaw Road,
Audenshaw in Tameside and was unveiled on 2nd November 2001 by
his son Peter.
(Born 1912)
Born in 1912, Francis Lennon has affectionately been called 'The
People's Artist'. In 2004 Frances was included in the New years
Honours List and awarded an MBE for her contribution to the arts
in Manchester. Her unique and original artwork, very much in the
L S Lowry school, has been extensively used as patterns for cross-stitch
and embroidery. Titles such as "Our Rainy Manchester",
"Back Street Kids", "The Bowling Green"
and "One Too Many" exemplify the charm and nostalgia
of bygone days in Manchester.
James
Lamb
(1816-1903)
James Lamb was the leading Manchester cabinetmaker of his day
and founded a large cabinet-making and upholstery workshop in
the city, initially in John Dalton Street, and then in a large
factory building in Castlefield.
This factory has recently been completely restored and refurbished
and is resurrected as industrial and commercial premises.
Lamb led the way in local wood craftsmanship in the north of England
from 1850-1885; his company exhibited work at the London Universal
Exhibition in 1862, and in Paris in 1867 and 1878, winning several
awards.
An important figure in the so-called Aesthetic Movement, (a precursor
of the English Arts & Crafts Movement), Lamb worked in association
with several leading designers of the time, including Alfred Waterhouse
and Charles Bevan and is said to have been "…the most
aesthetically advanced cabinetmaker outside London in the 19th
century".
He made furniture to Waterhouse's designs for the Manchester Assize
Courts, which were shown at the Paris Exposition, and exhibited
furniture at the 1887 Manchester Jubilee Exhibition.
James Lamb died in 1903 and is buried in St Mary's Parish Church
in Prestwich. His company was taken over by Goodall, Lamb &
Heighway in 1899.
(Born 1956)
Ralph Sweeney was born in Manchester in 1956 and attended the
local Grammar school where he developed his interest in art.
Completely self taught he soon found himself busy fulfilling commissions
for local businessman and several of his works have recently been
sold to national companies based in Manchester. In 1994 Ralph
Sweeney turned professional and twelve months later with the help
of his family formed his own publishing company to help market
his work. His paintings have featured in national newspapers and
have also been used to raise money for a variety of charities.
Although Ralph Sweeney can paint using most mediums he specialises
in pastel, particularly nostalgic scenes. He has produced several
portraits of local Manchester footballers including George Best,
Sir Alex Ferguson and Eric Cantona, a series of ballerinas and
ballet dancers and local urban scenes around the region. Recently
some of his work has been reproduced as limited edition fine art
prints.
