© WikiMedia (Wikimedia) Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. Source Taken by Chris Howells, Septe
© WikiMedia (Wikimedia)
What to do at Walker Art Gallery?
Big Art for Little Artists
Of the many museums and galleries in Liverpool, the Walker Art Gallery is particularly child-friendly.
Big Art for Little Artists introduces children, up to the age of eight, to art. Appropriate books and audio-visual displays encourage young visitors to explore specific works from the collections. Children can dress up as characters from paintings, or play with puppets and create their own stories and art.
Big Art provides a stepping stone to this Liverpool museum.
Collection
The museum‘s collection also includes works by Rembrandt van Rijn, Lawrence Stephen Lowry, Claude Monet, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, David Hockney and others.
General information
The Walker art centre also features many fine sculptures. At the entrance to the gallery visitors are greeted by magnificent marble sculptures depicting Raphael and Michelangelo, created by John Warrington Wood. The figures were commissioned by Sir Andrew Barclay Walker, after whom the gallery is named.
The Craft & Design gallery
The Craft & Design gallery is devoted to the decorative arts. More than 500 items are displayed, spanning from the 17th to the 20th centuries. The installation highlights a wide range of items, some mass-produced.
Topics covered
The topics covered are as follows:
Why were the articles made?
How are they made?
Why do they look the way they do?
What materials are used, and how are they decorated?
How are they used?
The gallery explores all aspects of design, addressing all these questions and more.
Walker Art Gallery, the highlights
Peter getting out of Nick’s pool
One of the highlights is Hockney’s Peter getting out of Nick’s pool (1967), part of a series of paintings of swimming pools inspired by a visit to Los Angeles in 1966. The painting is an invention! It shows Hockney’s friend, Peter Schlesinger, climbing out of a swimming pool. In reality, the artist extracted this figure from a photograph showing Schlesinger posing against his MG sports car. This saucy painting won the 1967 John Moores competition.
Final Word
The gallery hosts a varied program of special exhibitions, events and activities, such as gallery talks, workshops, study days and parent and baby days. Admission to all events and exhibitions are free. Further details can be obtained from the art gallery website at Liverpoolmuseums.org.uk.
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