WELCOME TO THE LAING ART GALLERY AND ARTICULATION

The Laing Art Gallery sits in the heart of Newcastle City Centre and opened its doors in 1904 thanks to the local merchant Alexander Laing who gifted the gallery to the people of Newcastle. Unusually, when the Laing Art Gallery first opened, we didn’t have a collection! Laing was confident that local people would support the Gallery and donate art.

In the early days the Gallery benefitted from a number of important gifts and bequests from prominent industrialists, public figures, art collectors, and artists. National galleries and museums continued to lend works, and, three years after opening its doors, the Laing began to acquire art. In 1907, the Gallery’s first give paintings were purchased.

Over the last 100 years, the Laing’s curators have continued to build the collection, and it is now a Designated Collection, recognised as nationally important by Arts Council England. The Laing Art Gallery’s exceptional collection focuses on but is not limited to British oil paintings, watercolours, ceramics, and silver and glassware, as well as modern and contemporary pieces of art. We also run temporary exhibition programmes which change every three months.

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WELCOME TO THE LAING ART GALLERY!

Here is your chosen artwork:

Early Morning, by Dod Procter

Key Information:

By Dod Procter (1892-1972) Produced in 1926 Medium: Oil on canvas, 49.7 x 60.2 cm Location: Art Deco by the Sea

PAINTING SUMMARY

Dod Procter produced many paintings in Newlyn, . Here, she was part of an artistic community. The soft colours

indicate a sense of warm familiarity and the angles of the rooftops lead the viewer’s eyes down to the figures on the pier. The terracotta tips of the roofs emphasise the sharp angles within The shadows in the painting suggest the the painting. rising sun, beginning the day in the quiet seaside town. From these shadows, the reader gets a certain understanding of their own position in relation to the sun. They are transported from spectator to participant in the painting. The theme of morning was also represented by Procter in her famous painting Morning, produced in the same year (1926) as Early Morning, Newlyn. A couple of people walk along the pier. They represent the first signs of life as the town wakes up. The figure wearing the white shirt (closest to

the right) sweeps the street, whilst

the other figures wander by the boats. The distance between the artist and the figures suggest a theme explored in other paintings by Procter of loneliness and sentimentality, as seen her many paintings of single female figures.

ARTIST PROFILE

Dod Procter (born Doris Margaret Shaw) (1890-1972) was an English artist who moved to Newlyn, Cornwall, at the age of 15. Later, her art would be most closely associated with this Cornish town. Her mother had studied at the in London.

Procter met her husband, , at Stanhope and Elizabeth Forbes’ School of Art in Newlyn. They went on to study art in Paris together. Here, Procter was influenced by the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artistic movements. The couple met several important artists within these movements, including Paul Cézanne and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

In the 1920s, Procter primarily painted women, both clothed and nude. She became especially famous for these paintings when Morning was voted Picture of the Year after being displayed in the Royal Academy in 1927.

Procter is often closely associated with her husband. They worked alongside each other and exhibited together. After the sudden and unexpected death of Ernest in 1935, she became even more active artistically. She undertook several trips abroad, including to Canada, the United States and Africa. In 1938, she returned to Cornwall. Here, she became active in many local art associations. For example, in 1966 she became President of the St Ives Society of Artists. In 1942, Procter became a full member of the Royal Academy.

During Procter’s life, she produced work at a time when female artists were often discriminated in the arts. Being aware of this, she adopted the androgynous name ‘Dod’. This was not an uncommon practice in the art world and prevented some of the discrimination many art dealers and buyers exercised against female artists.

* ‘Dod Procter’, Online, tate.org.uk/art/artists/dod-procter-1801, accessed 16/10/2020. * ‘Dod Procter’, Jenna Burlingham Fine Art, https://www.jennaburlingham.com/artists/604-dod- procter/biography/, accessed 16/10/2020.

LABEL TEXT

Doris Shaw (Dod) studied in Newlyn from 1907 to 1910, where she met and married Ernest Procter. From 1910 to 1911 they studied at the Académie Colarossi in Paris and

were greatly influenced by post-Impressionism and the

work of Paul Cézanne. This painting, with its flat areas of bright colour and its adoption of simplified shapes and planes, relates to Cézanne’s interrogation of structure and

form.

PROMPTS AND QUESTIONS

• Remember to write down your thoughts, ideas and feelings about the piece as you go.

• With the information you have, go find your chosen artwork and spend some time familiarising yourself with the piece.

• Is there anything that particularly stands out when viewing the artwork? Look at the use of colours, medium, subject matter.

• What is the subject matter? Explore the narrative behind the artwork. Use all the information you have been provided.

• Make a list of the key topic points you wish to discuss in your presentation.

Do any of the artist’s other works produce similar themes/emotions? How • do they compare/differ?

• Think of the historical context surrounding your chosen artist’s life and work.

• Make sure to prioritise which information you wish to include in your allotted presentation.

PRESENTATION SKILLS – THINGS TO REMEMBER

• Practice - Being familiar with your material is vital for delivering a good

presentation.

• Take notes of your classmates’ presentations – what have they done well and what parts could they improve upon? You do not have to share your evaluation, but think about how you can apply this to your own.

• Plan - Having a well-planned presentation ensures them to run more

smoothly, with mistakes less likely to happen. Practising with prompt cards could help you to maintain a good flow of speech and structure.

• Remember – Your classmates are probably just as nervous as you are.

• Breathe - A simple yet effective way to get through a presentation!

• Take pauses – Do not be afraid to take a pause in between sentences. This

helps ensure you are not speaking too quickly and makes sure you are breathing!

SIMILAR ARTWORKS

Dod Procter, Morning (1926). Oil on canvas, 76.2 x 152.4 cm. Tate Modern, London. © Tate. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/procter-morning-n04270

Dod Procter, Winter Scene from the Artist’s House, Newlyn (date unknown). Oil on canvas, 44.5 x 29.7 cm. Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, Bristol. © The artist’s estate. https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/winter-scene-from-the- artists -house-newlyn-188980/search/actor:procter-dod- 18921972/page/2/view_as/grid

Dod Procter, Girl in Blue (1925). Oil on canvas, 61 x 45.5 cm. Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle. https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/girl-in-blue-36446