Lux Fine Photography: February 2011

Monday, 28 February 2011

Tate Britain Sculpture No1.

I went to the Tate Britain this weekend to see the Watercolour exhibition - which was cool in it's own right, but I still find the sculptures very cool. This is Frederich Leighton's 'An Athelete Wrestling With a Python' which I thought was kinda cool.

From Wikipedia:

"Leighton was born in Scarborough to a family in the import and export business. He was educated at University College School, London. He then received his artistic training on the European continent, first from Eduard Von Steinle and then from Giovanni Costa. When in Florence, aged 24, where he studied at the Academia di Belle Arti, he painted the procession of the Cimabue Madonna through the Borgo Allegri. He lived in Paris from 1855 to 1859, where he met Ingres, Delacroix, Corot and Millet.

In 1860, he moved to London, where he associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. He designed Elizabeth Barrett Browning's tomb for Robert Browning in the English Cemetery, Florence in 1861. In 1864 he became an associate of the Royal Academy and in 1878 he became its President (1878–96). His 1877 sculpture, Athlete Wrestling with a Python, was considered at its time to inaugurate a renaissance in contemporary British sculpture, referred to as the New Sculpture. His paintings represented Britain at the great 1900 Paris Exhibition.

Leighton was knighted at Windsor in 1878, and was created a Baronet, of Holland Park Road in the Parish of St Mary Abbots, Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, eight years later. He was the first painter to be given a peerage, in the New Year Honours List of 1896. The patent creating him Baron Leighton, of Stretton in the County of Shropshire, was issued on 24 January 1896; Leighton died the next day of angina pectoris.

As he was unmarried, after his death his Barony was extinguished after existing for only a day; this is a record in the Peerage. His house in Holland Park, London has been turned into a museum, the Leighton House Museum. It contains a number of his drawings and paintings, as well as some of his sculptures (including Athlete Wrestling with a Python). The house also features many of Leighton's inspirations, including his collection of Iznik tiles. Its centrepiece is the magnificent Arab Hall. The Hall is featured in issue ten of Cornucopia."

Friday, 25 February 2011

London Town

Just another London Town scene - it was just two people saying Hi and Bye but when you look at the picture a whole different story develops. Photographic story telling is fun! The site is close to the Burough Market - a fabulous food market - with to die for coffee! It can be a hard thing getting a good cup of coffee in the UK - you have to savour it when you do come across good coffee.

Tuesday, 22 February 2011

Tautoko Christchurch

Tautoko means support in Maori. Yesterday there was a large and shallow earthquake in Christchurch that felled many buildings, and wounded and killed many people. All of our thoughts are with our friends and family in Christchurch. I unfortunately don't have any photo's of Christchurch in my collection. So I thought about the idea of support and being a world away in the UK while I was going through my photos. I thought about hands holding you up when you can't do it for yourself which is tautoko. This is one I took in Paris of a sculpture in the Tuileries Garden overlooking the Place de la Concorde.

Kia Kaha Christchurch. E aroha nui atu ana ki a koutou i tēnei wā.

Saturday, 19 February 2011

People on the Move

Kings Cross has just a lovely buzz and hum about it - a sea of people, vehicles and lights - fabulous. This is a shot from a quick trip to see the British Museum and the wander back to St. Pancras. I like the movement and the stillness of the buildings, and the obligatory cctv camera.

Friday, 18 February 2011

Hôtel de Ville, Brussels

One of the few photos from the 2007 Benelux trip that survived the hardrive meltdown. These are a handful of the statues that line the Hôtel de Ville, and the Grand Place in Brussels. The Grand Place is pretty OTT when it comes to decoration and very touristy - it's nice to visit though.

From Wikipedia:

The Town Hall (French: Hôtel de Ville, Dutch: Stadhuis) of the City of Brussels is a Gothic building from the Middle Ages. It is located on the famous Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium. The oldest part of the present Town Hall is its east wing (to the left, when facing the front). This wing, together with a small belfry, was built from 1402 to 1420 under direction of Jacob van Thienen, and future additions were not originally foreseen. However, the admission of the craft guilds into the traditionally patrician city government probably spurred interest in expanding the building. A second, shorter wing was completed within five years of Charles the Bold laying its first stone in 1444. The right wing was built by Guillaume (Willem) de Voghel who in 1452 also built the Magna Aula.

The 96 meter (310 ft) high tower in Brabantine Gothic style emerged from the plans of Jan van Ruysbroek, the court architect of Philip the Good. By 1455 this tower had replaced the older belfry. Above the roof of the Town Hall, the square tower body narrows to a lavishly pinnacled octagonal openwork. Atop the spire stands a 5-meter-high gilt metal statue of the archangel Michael, patron saint of Brussels, slaying a dragon or devil. The tower, its front archway and the main building facade are conspicuously off-center relative to one another. According to legend, the architect upon discovering this "error" leapt to his death from the tower. More likely, the asymmetry of the Town Hall was an accepted consequence of the scattered construction history and space constraints.

The facade is decorated with numerous statues representing nobles, saints, and allegorical figures. The present sculptures are reproductions; the older ones are in the city museum in the "King's House" across the Grand Place. After the bombardment of Brussels in 1695 by a French army under the Duke of Villeroi, the resulting fire completely gutted the Town Hall, destroying the archives and the art collections. The interior was soon rebuilt, and the addition of two rear wings transformed the L-shaped building into its present configuration: a quadrilateral with an inner courtyard completed by Corneille Van Nerven in 1712. The Gothic interior was revised by Victor Jamar in 1868 in the style of his mentor Viollet-le-Duc. The halls have been replenished with tapestries, paintings, and sculptures, largely representing subjects of importance in local and regional history.

The Town Hall accommodated not only the municipal authorities of the city, but until 1795 also the States of Brabant. From 1830, a provisional government assembled here during the Belgian Revolution.

Thursday, 17 February 2011

Balls, Balls, Balls

Just before Christmas last year in the middle of a very cold snap and lots of snow we visited Edinburgh, Scotland. Once you got over it was very cold and got the knack of walking on slushy snow without embarrassing yourself it was rather lovely. This shot is from the German Christmas Market which I am told is a yearly event. It was nice, it had sausage and christmassy goodness. I even brought a delicate wooden christmas tree decoration which unfortunately didn't survive the very long trip home. It got squashed at some point along the way.

Friday, 11 February 2011

Nottingham Canal

The canal runs close to the Nottingham railway station which you cross to get to the station. I grabbed a filled roll and went for a walk, and this made me do a double take. I like reflections and interesting buildings.

From Wikipedia:

The Nottingham Canal was a 23.6 kilometres (14.7 mi) long canal between Langley Mill in Derbyshire and Nottingham, England. It opened in 1796, and most of it was closed in 1937. The southern section is now part of the River Trent Navigation, and the northern section is a nature reserve.

The idea for the canal first rose in 1790. The opening of the Cromford Canal would favour coal transport from Pinxton over pits nearer Nottingham. Moreover transport to Nottingham itself was by the circuitous route down the Erewash Canal and along the River Trent. It was also felt that the canal proprietors would exploit their position.

In 1791 the charter group called in surveyor William Jessop, who had experience with the successful Cromford Canal. Jessop himself was ill at the time and employed James Green of Wollaton to carry out the actual survey, with Jessop preparing the report and assisting its passage through Parliament. The canal would begin at the Cromford Canal, just north of its junction with the Erewash, and proceed to the Trent at Nottingham with a branch to the river at Lenton. In 1792 the canal was promoted through Parliament, opposed vigorously by the Erewash owners who were fearful of possible loss of their water. Jessop proposed a reservoir at Butterley, which would provide a sufficient supply (not mentioning that it would alleviate his own problems at Cromford).

At first, the canal was praised by the citizenry, who saw shipments of building materials, coal, and agricultural tools come in to the area. However, the canal owners' tolls soon became excessive, and led to mass discontent. When the first railways arrived in the 1840s, a number of shippers quickly abandoned the canals. Throughout the 19th century the canal was in continuous decline as a transport route, and it was finally abandoned altogether in 1936.