Yale Center for British Art

  After an exhausting couple of days of food and family, going into the city seemed less and less likely. Instead I opted for a visit to the Yale Center for British Art. This museum is nearly as impressive as it across the street neighbor, the Yale Art Gallery. The collection is remarkable in its scope and the quality of the work. There are paintings, of course, but also sculptures, drawings and rare books, although the latter was closed to visitors on this day.

   The Center was established in 1966 when Yale alum and philanthropist Paul Mellon gifted his art collection, as well as the funds needed to build the Center. It was designed by renowned architect Louis I. Khan, with the interior constructed of marble and white oak and the outside made of steel and reflective glass.    The sky lit rooms allow for a lot of natural light with artificial light only used in the evenings. Below is a photo of the skylight that floods the museum with natural lighting as designed by Kahn.

   I went in, having been before, thinking myself not overly fond of British art. I found the portraiture rather staid, thinking primarily about the many painting of the royalty and aristocracy of old England. That stance however, likely said more about my views on social structures than that of the art itself.

  Being a British art museum, there are several periods of the country’s history that is represented. Here are a few examples Becoming Great Britain 1530-1688. 1530s were a period of sweeping transformations along the British Isles beginning with religious reformation that also change the way art was represented. Below are some examples.

An oil painting by an unknown artist of Sir Percival Hart, who served as Knight Harbinger to Henry VIII, as well as three successive Tudor heirs.

Another unknown artist painted Robert Dudley, first Earl of Leicester, who at one point was thought to be a credible suitor to marry Elizabeth I. He, of course, was unsuccessful in that endeavor.

Yet another unknown artist depicted, in 1590, An Allegory of the Tudor Succession: The Family of Henry VIII. This painting was adapted from a painting made by Lucas de Heere. The artist compared the blessings of the English Reformation with the imaged threat of Catholicism (information provided by museum placard).

Next is an assorted mixed of same period pieces. All these and the previous paintings were donated by Paul Allen from his private collection.

Later periods highlighted some brilliant artist such as Theodor Von Holst, who painted the below The Wish.

On a personal note, I found this painting captivating and am sorry that my camera didn’t quite capture the vividness of the painting.

Or John Constable’s Hadleigh Castle, The Mouth of the Thames- Morning after a Stormy Night, 1829. Constable made drawings of the castle fifteen years earlier, with the intention of one day making the painting. It was the death of his wife that inspire him to finally make the painting as he compared himself to the castle despair (information provided by museum placard).

Joseph Wright painted Academy by Lamplight in 1769 and the Blacksmith’s Shop in 1771. Wright became renowned for his paintings of everyday London with subjects lite by an artificial light source. Wright applied what is called the chiaroscuro effect which creates a strong contrast between light and dark, effecting the entire composition of the painting.

Academy by Lamplight

Blacksmith's Shop

Captive Bodies: British Prisons, 1750-1900

  In 1773, penal reformer John Howard began a four-year study of prisons before he published his State of Prisons in England and Wales (1777), depicting the woeful conditions under which individuals were confined. 

Artist George Romney was a portrait painter, who also produced hundreds of drawings that were to serve as prep for paintings depicting penal reformer, John Howard as a Christ-like figure. For some reason Romney never created the paintings, but the draft drawings remain.

Jacob Hogg also drew Howard in Visiting and Relieving the Miseries of a Prison.

Many other drawings depicting prisons and poverty were created in response to Howard’s book. A few examples follow.

The collection housed within the Yale Center for British Art is as impressive as it is massive. There is much more to discuss, and I will do so as a separate paper. I fully enjoyed this trip and have learned to view art through a lens separate from any other societal opinions I might hold.

I will conclude with a photo of the Long Gallery room, which is in a word, spectacular.

Cites

Yale Center for British Art

Wikipedia