Vulnerability in art works

I went to the Graves Art Gallery in Sheffield to see whether developing my own "trail" round some of the works could add to my appreciation. Partly inspired by our "View of the young person in museum and gallery design" project - where we've been discussing this.

The idea of imposing a theme was quite a struggle at first, but then -






This self-portrait by Sam Taylor-Wood gave me a strong feeling of

Vulnerability

and I decided to explore the gallery with this feeling in mind.




..... and it started to spring out at me from lots of works:

... this picture of a Telephone Engineer by Prunella Clough - he seems bowed down by the machinery around him - which he is still part of - though still dignified.





Pictures of women too (well - OK - no surprises - mostly of women ) .... this is by Roberts - painting his wife - and she seems strong but vulnerable - though not in a stereotypical way.


And this picture - by Augustus John felt a bit more stereotypical - eyes with a mysterious vulnerability deep within them.









But also buildings - this is a painting of Sheffeild by Greaves (1927)




and this painting of a leaf on a couch (the photo hasn't come out too well - too much reflection.)
It was painted by a War Artist (Armstrong) just after the second world war - not sure whether that contributed to its feeling of vulnerability.







and this more obvious sculpture of a couple by Mark Quinn.
















Then I was surprised by the contrast with works where you'd have expected vulnerability, but where it seemed absent.
See my next post ......