J.W. Waterhouse

Like you Cathy, I'll admit to being a little sad that these exhibitions have now passed but my memory of Groningen is sweet and will last a long time; it's inspiration though, will last a lifetime :)

I was lucky enough to get to see the London exhib as well, though I'm curious if anybody got to see the three of them and which they thought represented Nino's work the best? Groningen beat London hands down for me.

Kind regards,

Jim

Hi Cathy I was just thinking today of the end of the exhibition. It is sad that it's over but I'm glad I got the opportunity to see it, as there probably won't be another Waterhouse exhibition on this scale for many years to come. Jim, I'm curious as to why you think Groningen beat London in your opinion? I never saw the Groningen exhibition but did visit the other two locations. I prefered the Montreal exhibit as there was a lot more space to view the paintings, the colours really popped out of the dark surroundings, and even at it's busiest, there was far fewer people in Montreal. London was chock-a-block in comparison. On the downside, in Montreal the spotlights on the paintings made some of them difficult to view without reflected glare. I also missed some of the paintings which didn't transfer from London (especially 'Hylas and the Nymphs') but was pleased to see some paintings which weren't on display in London. If I had discovered Waterhouse earlier, I would very likely have gone to the Groningen exhibition too - but two out of three isn't bad. At least I'll be able to view a few of the paintings again when they return to London. Now I'd love to see more Waterhouse which wasn't part of 'The Modern PreRaphaelite' exhibition.

The 'countdown' at the MMFA website just ended ... the exhibition is a wonderful memory.
Many thanks to Peter Trippi, Elizabeth Prettejohn, Robert Upstone, Patty Wageman and everyone else who worked to bring us the exhibit ... Groninger Museum, the Royal Academy of Arts and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and those who lent works to the exhibit.

Nino has received the recognition he deserves ...

From John Physick, Waterhouse’s Great-nephew:
"My twin brother and I have always lived in the shadow of J.W. Waterhouse, as we were born in 1923, only six years after his death in 1917. His stepsister Mary (1866-1953) was our grandmother, and in the 1930s she told us that she had been painted by her brother as 'The Lady of Shalott' (1888), seated in the boat. My father, Nino William Physick (1890-1946), was Waterhouse’s godson and namesake. As I grew up, I realized that Waterhouse’s reputation was at a low ebb. When I donated several of his sketchbooks to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1949, James Laver, Keeper of the Print Room there, told me that within another thirty years or so, appreciation of Waterhouse would have risen enormously. Laver was right. Eventually, there were small exhibitions of Waterhouse’s art in 1978 at Sheffield and Wolverhampton, followed by monographs by Anthony Hobson in 1980, Peter Trippi in 2002, and Aubrey Noakes in 2004. In 2002, English Heritage bestowed a Blue Plaque on Waterhouse’s home in Saint John’s Wood, London, which I unveiled. His star was certainly now high in the sky. Today I know that the large exhibition on tour to Groningen, London and Montreal will ensure Waterhouse is never again relegated to the shadows of art history."

Yes, well done and thank you to all the organisers and lenders. Because of the exhibition, many more people have discovered the wonderful work of this artist.  I'm one of them.

Waterhouse's  legacy is also being kept alive by this website and those who contribute here. I'm very glad I found it. Thank you in particular to Julia and Cathy.

Thanks so much for your comments, Jim and James.

So happy you were introduced to Waterhouse by the exhibition, James ... and that you found Julia's wonderful website. It's been a joy to meet you.

Looking forward to sharing more about Waterhouse and his work in the future.

All the best ...

 I'm rather sorry now I missed those first two venues, but I rationalized it by telling myself that I could see most of the English museum owned paintings any time I wanted to go back for a visit. Those paintings seemed to be the ones that didn’t make it overseas. I did manage to be among the first few into the Montreal galleries on opening night and the very last one to leave this evening. I put three thousand miles on my car visiting six times in all. This entire weekend the rooms were packed each day, with at least five hundred people stuffed inside nearly all the time. You could barely turn around. Long lines stretched out the door on Saturday. It was quite a contrast with the Sheffield show where I was usually one of a few people in the galleries on the opening days. It’s been over 31 years since I scraped together enough money to fly over to see that show in 1978. That was a very small exhibit by comparison, but still a marvel. Pandora, my favorite from that exhibit didn't make it to this show, but so much more did! In 1977 I’d tried unsuccessfully to talk my way into storage at the Tate to see St. Eulalia and I’d missed seeing St. Cecilia at the Maas gallery by a few months. I finally got to see them both!  It was especially lovely to see all the preparatory art and the beautiful drawings. I send my deep and genuine thanks to the organizers and the lenders.

One other thing—I wonder if anyone knows if Anthony Hobson stuttered? There was a lecture at Sheffield by one of the organizers (who I think may have been Mr. Hobson). His stutter became so bad that he had to stop part way through and have his talk completed by another. It was a good lecture too. 

James, if you follow this link to an earlier thread I posted, you'll find out my thoughts about the RA exhibition. It seems I had the same reservations as yourself though it was still a real pleasure, as ever, to see Nino's work. As David mentions above, it was wonderful to see the drawings and sketches for his paintings and ideas, some of which sadly never made it to canvas. We can only dream about what they may have looked like. Btw David, I've no idea if Hobson stuttered. I looked on the net but couldn't find any info.

Lastly, like James, I'd like to thank Julia and Cathy too for all their contributions to the site and keeping us up-to-date with info that I'd probably never find myself :)

Kind regards,

Jim

Great to see such support for JWs work. Everyone involved in the creation and presentation of this exhibition series has my admiration. The contribution of John Physick to  the revival of interest in JW also a wonderful achievement. Hopefully there will be more exhibitions that feature JW's work after this major event.

The presence of long ques at the venues and large numbers of visitors every day is a clear indication of a broader appreciation of all types of art by the general public.

The New South Wales Art Gallery (Sydney, Australia) will have a Victorian exhibition this year.... with a couple of Waterhouse paintings that were not at Groningen, RA or Montreal.

There is no indication of which paintings will be included but Ophelia 1894 and Flora and the Zephyrs were in the collection, though there have been a couple of sales from the collection in the last few years.

The blurb from the gallery is:

VICTORIAN VISIONS

FROM THE JOHN SCHAEFFER COLLECTION

ART OF THE PRE-RAPHAELITES

20 MAY – 29 AUGUST 2010

A rich and fascinating collection of 50 European paintings, watercolours, drawings and sculptures of the 19th century assembled in recent years by John Schaeffer, Australia’s most passionate collector of 19th-century European art. The exhibition brings to Sydney major Victorian paintings by such artists as Redgrave, Faed, Holman Hunt, Collinson, Leighton, Sandys, Watts, and Waterhouse. The exhibition complements the Gallery’s own rich holdings of Victorian art. From poverty depicted in social realism to the riches of high Victorian aestheticism, the exhibition reflects a wide range of human experience in the emergent modern world.