2016-12-02

8436 - New display featuring more than 60 works from the Tate collection opens in Liverpool

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George Grosz, (1893-1959), Suicide 1916. Oil paint on canvas, support: 1000 x 775 mm frame: 1106 x 887 x 67 mm. Tate. Purchased with assistance from the Art Fund 1976 © DACS, 2016.
 
Tate Liverpool unveils a new display, featuring more than 60 works from the Tate collection with pieces by some of the greatest modern and contemporary artists being exhibited including L.S. Lowry, Georges Braque, Robert Delaunay, Pablo Picasso, Camille Pissarro and Sarah Lucas.
Constellations: Highlights from the Nation’s Collection of Modern Art is made up of two new groupings of artworks with each grouping, or ‘constellation’, focussed around one particular piece that has relationships with a variety of modern and contemporary artworks. The two works are L.S. Lowry’s Industrial Landscape 1955 and George Grosz’s Suicide 1916.

Most famous for his scenes of mid-20th century life, Lowry’s painting Industrial Landscape 1955 is typical of the urban town and cityscapes that he painted throughout his career and reflects the North West’s industrial history and heritage. Although it is an imaginary composition, elements of the view are recognisable as real places, for example the Stockport Viaduct. Meanwhile George Grosz’s Suicide 1916 was created in the midst of the First World War, it expresses Grosz’s ‘profound disgust for life’, a feeling intensified by his experience of being drafted into the army in 1914. Alongside Industrial Landscape and Suicide are paintings, sculpture and photography, a selection of which have never been publicly displayed by Tate before.

Constellations is a unique presentation of the Tate collection that has been introducing visitors to both familiar and unfamiliar artists since 2013. Continuing in the gallery are constellations featuring pieces by artists including American contemporary artist Glenn Ligon (b. 1960); British sculptor Barbara Hepworth (1903 –1975); German artist Joseph Beuys (1921–1986); French-American sculptor Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010); and American photographer Cindy Sherman (b. 1954).

At the heart of the new constellation display is a custom built room designed to host a new project called Tate Exchange Liverpool. This is a ground-breaking new project that invites the public to come together with organisations from across the North West and international artists to collaborate, test ideas and discover new perspectives on life, through art. Tate Exchange Associates hosting events include, Edge Hill University, Liverpool John Moores University, University of Liverpool, Hope University, DaDa Fest, Open Eye Gallery and The Windows Project who will all present a series of activities including dance performances, creative writing sessions and workshops dealing with dementia. Artists including Roman Ondák and Tamara Henderson will also contribute to the Tate Exchange Liverpool programme through interventions and commissioned pieces.