Lady Lever offers views of London and New York
The changing face of 19th century London and New York are the subject of a new exhibition at the Lady Lever Art Gallery.
Drawings created by James McNeill Whistler and Joseph Pennell are now on show.
Whistler and Pennell: Etching the City features 38 prints drawn from National Museums Liverpool’s own collection.
Whistler’s images of London (pictured above) capture the city and its workers, with ships, sailors and warehouses giving a sense of working life on the River Thames.
Pennell was inspired by Whistler, and his later works include views of New York burgeoning skyline as well as etchings of neighbouring steel, coal and oil works.
Curator Alex Patterson said: “The prints in this exhibition are bursting with the bustle, life and energy of two major cities going through extraordinary growth and change. It’s fascinating to compare the work of the two artists whose approach differed but who shared a passion and a belief in the medium of etching.”
All the exhibits come from the Walker Art Gallery’s collection of more than 8,000 works on paper, which spans from the early Medieval and Renaissance period to the present day and features works of international significance.
Whistler and Pennell: Etching the City is at Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight until October 7.