Take one Picture 2019: Children inspired by Joseph Wright of Derby ‘s “The Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump”


Enlightening exhibition at the National Gallery of responses by children to Joseph Wright of Derby ‘s “The Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump”.

I have loved this great Enlightenment painting from the first time it pulled me magnet like towards it. I also always enjoy this annual show of children’s responses to ta picture as it often makes you look at a work in a new way.

This year projects were not just artists but also scientific with some schools doing bird watching projects and another looking at the ethics of animal experimentation. My favourite scientific project let food decay then the children painted the effects and mounted them in petri dishes.

There were some great model birds in papier mache and wire, some colourful binoculars and silhouette lamps.  The works shown were paintings on black and white photographs of the children to explore the light effects in the picture which gave a rather Francis Bacon effect.

My favourite piece was from a school in Bath who photographed the houses in the street Wright of Derby lived in in the city and assembled them into a street of relief prints.

Closes 11 August 2019

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