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| Wynford Dewhurst: art of ‘Manchester's Monet’ goes on show | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| They called him England’s answer to Claude Monet. “Nothing could be more delightful on a cold, dreary day than Mr Wynford Dewhurst’s landscapes imbued with sunlight,” wrote the Daily Express in 1910. | They called him England’s answer to Claude Monet. “Nothing could be more delightful on a cold, dreary day than Mr Wynford Dewhurst’s landscapes imbued with sunlight,” wrote the Daily Express in 1910. |
| Yet just over a hundred years later, the Mancunian artist is unknown to all but the most enthusiastic scholars of European impressionism. A new exhibition at the Manchester Art Gallery aims to change that with the first retrospective of Dewhurst’s work. | Yet just over a hundred years later, the Mancunian artist is unknown to all but the most enthusiastic scholars of European impressionism. A new exhibition at the Manchester Art Gallery aims to change that with the first retrospective of Dewhurst’s work. |
| The show, called Manchester’s Monet, celebrates one of the most colourful and controversial characters on the Anglo-French art scene at the turn of the 20th century. It also invites visitors to ask whether Dewhurst was more than just a Monet obsessive – he named his youngest son Claude and painted a suspicious number of pictures round the corner from Monet’s lily pads in Giverny – and worthy of veneration in his own right, not just as a painter but also an art historian who introduced Britain to the joys of impressionism. | The show, called Manchester’s Monet, celebrates one of the most colourful and controversial characters on the Anglo-French art scene at the turn of the 20th century. It also invites visitors to ask whether Dewhurst was more than just a Monet obsessive – he named his youngest son Claude and painted a suspicious number of pictures round the corner from Monet’s lily pads in Giverny – and worthy of veneration in his own right, not just as a painter but also an art historian who introduced Britain to the joys of impressionism. |
| Wynford Dewhurst was not his real name. It probably just sounded more romantic than boring old Thomas William Smith, the identity he was given on birth in 1864 in grubby Newton Heath in north Manchester. He changed it by deed poll at the start of his final year of art training in Paris, where he had gone after abandoning a career in law. | Wynford Dewhurst was not his real name. It probably just sounded more romantic than boring old Thomas William Smith, the identity he was given on birth in 1864 in grubby Newton Heath in north Manchester. He changed it by deed poll at the start of his final year of art training in Paris, where he had gone after abandoning a career in law. |
| Dewhurst approached his creative endeavours with what one can only imagine was the same no-nonsense approach he took to his legal cases. He had no time for dreamers wearing daft outfits who spent more time trying to look arty than actually producing any art. “One is much more an artist or poet when clean in mind, body and attire, living and sleeping the regulation number of hours. The wearing of one’s summer wardrobe in winter is no proof of talent, and a man can be a veritable genius on dry feet and three good meals a day,” he counselled students during a talk at Manchester School of Art in 1908. | Dewhurst approached his creative endeavours with what one can only imagine was the same no-nonsense approach he took to his legal cases. He had no time for dreamers wearing daft outfits who spent more time trying to look arty than actually producing any art. “One is much more an artist or poet when clean in mind, body and attire, living and sleeping the regulation number of hours. The wearing of one’s summer wardrobe in winter is no proof of talent, and a man can be a veritable genius on dry feet and three good meals a day,” he counselled students during a talk at Manchester School of Art in 1908. |
| The anecdote is recalled in an eponymous monograph about Dewhurst by the art historian Roger Brown, co-curator of the new Manchester show. Brown owns a few Dewhurst originals and says his subject is far more than just a second-rate Monet. “They are quite pleasing pictures which show there was a British artist at that time who was more than capable of matching some of the great impressionist painters,” he said, giving the Guardian an early preview this week. The original Monet wasn’t so sure, and took such offence to the Daily Mail referring, somewhat misleadingly, to Dewshurst as his “pupil” that he wrote to Dewhurst to complain. He had not actually taught Dewhurst, the Frenchman noted. | The anecdote is recalled in an eponymous monograph about Dewhurst by the art historian Roger Brown, co-curator of the new Manchester show. Brown owns a few Dewhurst originals and says his subject is far more than just a second-rate Monet. “They are quite pleasing pictures which show there was a British artist at that time who was more than capable of matching some of the great impressionist painters,” he said, giving the Guardian an early preview this week. The original Monet wasn’t so sure, and took such offence to the Daily Mail referring, somewhat misleadingly, to Dewshurst as his “pupil” that he wrote to Dewhurst to complain. He had not actually taught Dewhurst, the Frenchman noted. |
| But arguably more interesting than his landscapes were Dewhurst’s ideas about art. In 1904, he published the first English language exploration of impressionism. Dedicated to Monet – who else? – Impressionist Painting, its Genesis and Development explored the thesis that the English landscape tradition tradition of Turner and Constable inspired Monet and chums. | But arguably more interesting than his landscapes were Dewhurst’s ideas about art. In 1904, he published the first English language exploration of impressionism. Dedicated to Monet – who else? – Impressionist Painting, its Genesis and Development explored the thesis that the English landscape tradition tradition of Turner and Constable inspired Monet and chums. |
| Unsurprisingly, this theory did not go down terribly well over the Channel: Camille Pissarro was so narked that Dewhurst dared to suggest he and Monet had “no concept of light” until they visited London in 1870 that he dismissed the Englishman for understanding “nothing of the impressionist movement”. | Unsurprisingly, this theory did not go down terribly well over the Channel: Camille Pissarro was so narked that Dewhurst dared to suggest he and Monet had “no concept of light” until they visited London in 1870 that he dismissed the Englishman for understanding “nothing of the impressionist movement”. |
| Nonetheless it found a receptive audience among the French-hating intellectuals of turn-of-the-century Britain. Hannah Williamson, co-curator of the Manchester show, thinks he may have over-egged the idea somewhat. “He was selling it to people who were mildly xenophobic and anti-French, so he perhaps oversold the theory,” she said, noting that the Entente Cordiale was only reached the same year Dewhurst’s book came out. “You need to remember that the French were considered our enemies until then.” | Nonetheless it found a receptive audience among the French-hating intellectuals of turn-of-the-century Britain. Hannah Williamson, co-curator of the Manchester show, thinks he may have over-egged the idea somewhat. “He was selling it to people who were mildly xenophobic and anti-French, so he perhaps oversold the theory,” she said, noting that the Entente Cordiale was only reached the same year Dewhurst’s book came out. “You need to remember that the French were considered our enemies until then.” |
| Wynford Dewhurst: Manchester’s Monet opens at the Manchester Art Gallery on Friday | Wynford Dewhurst: Manchester’s Monet opens at the Manchester Art Gallery on Friday |