Kathryn Maple – A Year of Drawings

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R.B. Kitaj, Immortal Portraits, 1972 screenprint, 72.1 x 114.3 cm edition of 70 signed printed at Kelpra Studio, London Time has been offered but left in suspension, there is too much ground to cover, people don’t stop. About the artist: The 2020 jury represent a diverse group of artists and creative influencers: Hurvin Anderson; Michelle Williams Gamaker; Alison Goldfrapp; Jennifer Higgie and Gu Wenda. This exhibition presents prints made over two decades in Britain and includes work by Barbara Hepworth, Allen Jones, R.B. Kitaj, Henry Moore, Victor Pasmore, John Piper, Graham Sutherland and Joe Tilson.

Maple's 2020 painting The Common – which she described as a ‘meeting place, an intersection, people seemingly aware of each other, but minds elsewhere – all sharing an open space' - was chosen from 67 paintings selected from around 3,000 submissions for an exhibition showing at Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery until 27 June. A virtual tour of the exhibition is available here. Her winning painting will be acquired by the Gallery to join its world-class collection, while Kathryn will now also have a future solo exhibition. Thank you. Obviously these are not particularly celebratory times but it’s felt so incredible. It’s also felt a bit strange as it’s such a huge prize, and even just to have the painting in the Walker Art Gallery collection alone – that would have been enough! As for my practice changing, no not at all. I guess if anything it’s almost like a bit of a green light to just carry on. Under a Hot Sun is my first solo show, it is huge opportunity to show my paintings at the Walker Art Gallery. The Walker has a great permanent collection and I’m in the company of many artists who have inspired my practice. Kathryn Maple: Under a Hot Sun at the Walker Art Gallery Maja Lorkowska, Exhibitions Editor Last Updated 1 February 2023 'Paper Hats' (oil on canvas) is part of Kathryn Maple’s collection to be displayed at Walker Art Gallery.

It takes its revolutionary aim further and allows you to vote for a work to be ‘released’ from storage and put on public display. This hopes to open up the idea that museums could be democratic, and trial what happens if you democratically curate an exhibition. It focuses on the revival of printmaking in Britain in the 1950s and how over the following 3 decades artists sort to expand their practice by using the developments that were being made in etching, lithography and screenprint to extend and nuance their practices. This exhibition focuses on the move by French artists in the 1870s to the safely of England. These émigrés fled from insurrection in Paris and the Franco-Prussian war. It includes work by Monet, Tissot, Pissarro, Dalou, Sisley, Derain and Legros. Kathryn Maple, said, “Under a Hot Sun is my first solo show, it is huge opportunity to show my paintings at the Walker Art Gallery. The Walker has a great permanent collection and I’m in the company of many artists who have inspired my practice. Miss Lesbian VII’ (2009) by Zanele Muholi on display at the Walker Art Gallery Liverpool. Image by Robin Clewley.

Your work has been said to embody “the deeply social nature of humans”. Is that social side something you miss? Technically this exhibition focuses on these artists’ experience of London, the friendships they formed there and their involvement with the British art scene. The claim being they not only developed the British scene itself but it dramatically changed their own work. The Martin Tinney Gallery, which was established in 1992, specialises in the work of Welsh and Wales-based artists and sells to both individuals and large public galleries. Their Winter Show is one of the most popular of the year and is made up mainly of drawings and paintings by Wale’s leading artists, both past and present. The works very in subject matter and style from the figurative to the abstract. It has the exciting element that once a work is sold it is immediately removed and replaced by an alternative piece, meaning that any two days at the exhibition might never be the same. Yes, I think so Ellie. They reflect something of the time or the mood of a place. We live near a graveyard and [her painting] Old Bones reflects the people visiting. It’s an in-between space.John Stezaker’s curation of Paul Nash’s stunning and radical inter-war landscapes focuses on their transformative character which changed British landscape painting forever. Installation view of Under a Hot Sun by Kathryn Maple at Walker Art Gallery Liverpool. Image by Robin Clewley. In 2012 she won the John Moores Painting Prize, and was a runner up for the prize in 2004. Sarah studied at the Royal Academy Schools and the University of Newcastle. She won the Rome prize for painting in 1991, spending a year at the British School at Rome, which made a big impact on her practice. At the Walker there’s been a decent history of LGBTQI+ art – for example the Coming Outexhibition in 2017. But that was temporary, whereas this shows permanent additions. These artworks are in the collection along with works people know the Walker for, such as the Pre-Raphaelites. We’re putting our money where our mouth is – literally sometimes – when we’re buying work to add to the collection, to show we rate it as important as historical works.’

Petheram explains the process behind choosing which works to show. The curators drew from a list of seventy artworks that the gallery had acquired in the last ten years. They prioritised works that had not yet been exhibited – in some cases, five or six years had passed since their acquisition: When I've been out drawing you can see repetitive things, people walking the same routes. If you're static and people and cars are moving around you, you can notice these moments. I see it very much as form of cataloguing. Gethin Evans, Towards Skomer – study 3 graphite and pencil on paper 135cm x 105cm 2016, who is exhibiting at the Tregony Gallery Drawing In exhibition The Little Peasant c.1918, Amedeo Modigliani 1884-1920 Presented by Miss Jenny Blaker in memory of Hugh Blaker 1941 Have a routine, but remember how important it is to break it now and again and do something different. Take up opportunities that you had always thought about doing and grab anything that comes to you, particularly if you think there is something you can learn from in the experience.Additionally, the Tate has developed a VR experience of Modigliani’s The Ochre Atelier: his last studio in the centre of Paris in the early 20th century. This is a chance to enter into the mindset of Modigliani and fully consider his short and intense life. Kathryn Maple’s Under a Hot Sun opens on 11 February 2023 and runs until 30 April 2023. For more information, visit: www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/kathrynmaple

This comprehensive retrospective is a chance to see a large amount of Modigliani’s work and understand the inspirational and pivotal effect his work has had on the art world since the 20th century. His style is instantly recognisable and has become a beloved symbol of emotionally engaged pictorial work. In an adjoining room is New Works at the Walker, a corresponding display. Together, the shows demonstrate ‘two strands of an ongoing commitment to contemporary collecting and supporting newer artists’, according to Jessie Petheram, Assistant Curator of Fine Art at National Museums Liverpool. The most striking thing about this display of new works is its breadth. Elegant, delicate examples of decorative art by local crafters include ‘Magic Mushrooms’ (2022) by north Wales-based glass artist Verity Pulford, for which the artist used the ‘páte-de-verre’ technique of firing glass grains in the kiln to make a flat shape, and ‘Beech Leaf caddy spoon’ (2022), an enamel-on-silver spoon with a veined leaf by Ruth Ball, who is based in Southport. To the left is a dramatic glazed ­stoneware vase made in 2022 by Attila Olah, who started Altar Pottery in Toxteth in 2018. These items were made through a bequest by the family of Peter Urquhart with the support of the Bluecoat Display Centre, where Urquhart was the Chairman from 2001–18, and demonstrate the work of contemporary crafters. Many of the paintings on display are inhabited by figures that synchronise with nature’s deep rhythms. I hope to provide a connection that is made through the surface of the paintings which resonates and echoes a sense of place.”Kathryn Maple, said: “ Under a Hot Sun is my first solo show, it is huge opportunity to show my paintings at the Walker Art Gallery. The Walker has a great permanent collection and I’m in the company of many artists who have inspired my practice. The painting resonates with movement and communality and embodies the deeply social nature of humans,” said Michelle Williams Gamaker, one of the judges. “It fills me with hope and longing to be part of this form of connection again.” She has exhibited extensively including Southwark Park Galleries, London, Kukje Gallery, Seoul and the Museum of the Himalayers, Shanghai. The John Moores Painting Prize- The Walker Art Gallery, 12th February 2021- 27th June 2021 (Group Show)