French and Yorkshire Art

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A French Flavour Set To Light Up Leeds Art Gallery

With the arrival of the Grand Départ in Leeds, the very best of French art from the permanent collection of a popular city gallery is to be showcased as part of the special exhibition, Cross Currents; French Art from the Leeds Collection.

The exhibition focusing on the allure, excitement and positive impact that French art has had both on British artists and Yorkshire-based collectors, can now be seen at Leeds Art Gallery.

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Alfred Sisley-french art

Included in the exhibition are acquisitions from the early days of the Gallery and gifts from local private collectors when the taste was for Barbizon and the spirit of the outdoors. The pioneering efforts of former Gallery director Phillip Hendy (1934 – 1945) who brought paintings of modern life by post-impressionists Derain, Vuillard and Bonnard into the Leeds collection are also featured, along with works by Doré, Courbet, Lucien Pissarro, Alfred Sisley and Henri Fantin-Latour.

Also not to be missed, a new acquisition of a previously unseen bronze by Edgar Degas known as the ‘Portrait de femme, tête appuyée sur la main gauche’ (Portrait of a Woman: Head Resting on One Hand) that was given in lieu of tax from the estate of notable British painter Lucien Freud, is set to be exhibited in a supplementary display.

This display brings to the fore a wide range of significant work from French artists that currently reside in Leeds Art Gallery’s considerable collection.

To find out more about this collection display which will close in summer 2015, please see www.leeds.gov.uk/crosscurrents

Councillor Lucinda Yeadon, Leeds City Council’s executive member for digital and creative technologies, culture and skills said:

"With the Grand Départ arriving in our city on the 5 July, we thought this was the perfect opportunity to showcase the significant French art that currently resides in Leeds Art Gallery’s permanent collection.

"There is really so much to see, and it is exciting that amongst the modern British painting and sculpture that the gallery is justly known for, there’s also a great collection of French art, which the recent arrival of the exquisite bronze by Degas makes all the richer."

Different Strokes for Different Spokes for Artist Alister

North Yorkshire painter Alister Colley has been named as the Official Artist of the Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2014.

Alister and Painting

Colley, who was born in Harrogate and works out of his studio in Pateley Bridge, has commemorated the historic sporting occasion being in his home county with the production of an official painting and 2,014 limited edition prints of his work – to celebrate the year of the event.

The painting which reflects Yorkshire’s rolling landscapes full of cyclists pedalling past a backdrop of some of the county’s key landmarks, is typical of Alister’s style blending acrylic paint with chalk and oil base pastels. 28 pan-Yorkshire locations and landmarks are featured in the imagined landscape including the whale bones at Whitby, Sheffield’s famous Crucible Theatre, the Yorkshire coast, Bronte Parsonage and Ribblehead Viaduct.

Colley, who was recently shortlisted for the fifth consecutive year in the 2014 Fine Art Trade Guild Awards for the UK’s Best-selling published artist, runs his Zeitgeist Fine Arts company from Pateley Bridge with his wife Claire.

Alister Colley, said: “My wife and I honeymooned in the south of France in 2007, two weeks before the region was due to host their stage of the Tour de France. It was crazy you couldn’t cross the road for amateur cyclists arriving well in advance of the Tour. Hotels, restaurants and cafes were packed with tourists and fans arriving early, the enthusiasm was contagious. Unfortunately we were due to leave and we felt we were about to miss out on an amazing party.

“So when we found out that the Grand Départ was to be held in Yorkshire, we were determined; not only that we wouldn’t miss out this time, but that somehow, someway we would love to get involved. Being privileged enough to have been chosen as the Official Artist of the Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2014 is exciting enough but to be depicting the county I have lived in all my life and with which my work has become synonymous is even more exhilarating and rewarding, I am very proud.”

Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire said: “The quality of Alister’s work speaks for itself, but he won us over with his passion for Yorkshire and his passion for the Le Tour coming to our county. I am sure his piece will become a collector’s item for cycling fans around the world and possibly even some of the riders who take part.”

Colley has always lived in Yorkshire and studied for his BA (Hons) in Art and Design at Leeds Metropolitan University. His recent exhibition, the collection ‘A Yorkshire Mixture’ began touring in December 2013 and is based on lesser known landmarks of Yorkshire, including Bradford City Hall, Harrogate Royal Hall, Saltaire and Knaresborough Christmas Market. Having hosted exhibitions all over the UK including London, Birmingham and Essex Alister looks forward to his forthcoming invitations to exhibit in Australia, Shanghai and America.

Prints of the official painting will be available in two sizes:

1,007 Fine Art Limited Edition prints at 36” x 18” (91.4cm x 45.7cm) retailing at £1100.00

1,007 Fine Art Limited Edition prints at 26” x 13” (66cm x 33cm) retailing at £650.00.

Each edition will come numbered and framed, with a certificate of authenticity and be embossed with the official logos of the Tour de France, the Yorkshire Grand Départ and Zeitgeist Fine Art.

Orders for the official painting can be placed at www.zeitgeistfineart.com

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