Collection Spotlight: About Time

20 Apr-15 Jun 2024

The Amber Necklace, 1930, oil on canvas. Credit: Courtesy, Grundy Art Gallery Collection, Blackpool Council

Overview

The next in an ongoing series of exhibitions that profile works from the Grundy collection in thematic displays. For this exhibition, works from the collection have been selected in response to the key themes of time, rest, and fragility, being explored in RA Walden’s solo exhibition.

Works on display include The Amber Necklace by John Collier (1854-1934) and The Hourglass by Patti Mayor (1872-1962) wherein central to both is an object with strong symbolic meaning. In the first of these works, the natural gemstone amber, formed from the fossilisation of ancient tree resin and sometimes referred to as ‘frozen time’ takes centre stage, whilst in the second, a timekeeping device in the form of an hourglass reminds us of the passage of time, the inevitability of change and the cycle of life.