Yorkshire is home to some of the finest oil painting collections in the country with hundreds of galleries and museums of every size, from small independent studios to nationally recognised civic venues, offering something for every art aficionado. Until now, seeing these stunning works of art involved visiting each gallery to see its own collection, but from today for the first time the region’s favourite paintings will be online to view at www.yorkshiresfavourites.org.
‘Yorkshire's Favourite Paintings’ is a project put together by a group of 30 museums and galleries from across the region, including Leeds Art Gallery, to celebrate the outstanding quality and variety of paintings in the collections within Yorkshire. Funded by the Yorkshire Regional Museums Hub, the website contains 100 of the most-loved paintings chosen by the public from across the region, dating from the 17th to 21st century and covering a range of artistic styles and genres.
The project was triggered by an ongoing nation-wide campaign by the Public Catalogue Foundation which is photographing and recording all oil, acrylic and tempera paintings in publicly owned collections in the UK. It is estimated that there are some 200,000 such paintings in the UK, with more than 10,000 in Yorkshire, but at any one time, some 80% of these are hidden from public view, either in storerooms or public buildings in official use. Yorkshire’s Favourite Paintings allows visitors to view treasured works which may have been in storage for years but are now displayed to the public once more.
Visitors to the website can win the chance to take home an exclusive replica of their preferred painting by going online and stating which is their favourite and why and where they would like to hang it. Entries can be posted at the participating museums or via the website and on the project’s Facebook page and other visitors can go online and vote for the ones they like the best. The most enthusiastic and popular entries will be selected and 5 winners announced in March.
Comments at Theodore Wilkins, curator at Leeds Art Gallery: “We are delighted to be part of this project which gives everyone the chance to view in one place a selection of the fantastic collection of oil paintings we have in the region. Anyone in the world can now go online and see the paintings and the stories behind the pictures, with the ability to zoom in and see the incredible detail and techniques used by the artist including those at our gallery from the 18th century San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice by Francesco Guardi, to the colourful and contemporary ‘Helios’ by Gillian Ayres painted in 1990.
“We also hope that seeing the paintings online will encourage people, including new audiences, to come visit us and get the full experience of seeing these stunning pieces up close.”
Other participating galleries in the Leeds region include the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery and Temple Newsham House. Curious culture vultures looking to explore the collections region-wide can go to Yorkshiresfavourites.org and choose from a variety of ‘art-trails’ which can be customised depending on interests and taste.
For more information and to view Yorkshire’s 100 favourite paintings go to www.yorkshiresfavourites.org
