Visit Bradford and Find World-Class Art at Cartwright Hall

When I say I come from Bradford, I’ve had all kind of reactions. The most telling part is usually a change in facial expressions. More often than not, I’ve witnessed people’s faces screw up like they’ve just smelt something rotten. The funny thing is, some of these people have never even stepped foot inside Bradford.

I’d like to say that Bradford is pretty and but that would be a lie. It’s not the kind of place that everyone loves. Many of the buildings are dilapidated, worn out, black, grey, and ugly. I don’t mean in the cool, Brutalist kind of way either. 

Then there are the people who dwell within Bradford. Sometimes you’ll see dull and dour expressions mimicking the facades of the buildings. At the same time, you’ll also find some of the friendliest, warmest people in the UK. Bradford is definitely a mixed bag of people and attractions.

A former industrial powerhouse

Bradford is a story of riches to rags. During the nineteenth-century it prospered from a booming textile industry. At this time it was one of the most important cities in the world, supplying people across the continents, giving it the name, ‘The wool capital of the world’.

To coincide with this new circulation of money, a demand for establishments to house entertainment grew. The city invested time and money building highly decorative buildings to fulfil such functions.

Many of these buildings are still around today, but most of them are coated with thick industrial soot and left empty to deteriorate along with Bradford’s reputation. Unfortunately, there isn’t much funding going into Bradford like I think there should be.

However, there’s one building, more than any other that symbolises the former glory of Bradford existing today – the beautiful Cartwright Hall. A baroque art museum that no person who enters Bradford should leave without visiting.

Exploring Cartwright Hall

Encased around a pretty park and tall decorative gates, it’s hard to believe that Bradford is home Cartwright Hall. It’s impressive in a way that you only usually find in London or a country estate belonging to a Lord or Lady.

I wouldn’t hold that thought for too long though. As soon as you step out of the gates you crash back down to reality. The first row of houses opposite are all boarded up and left derelict. It makes Cartwright Hall appear ever more the ‘rose between thorns’.

As far as art museums go, this is one of the best in the North. It might not be competition for Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Chatsworth House or the Tate Liverpool, but it still rank high. As far as Bradford goes. It’s the best in the city.

Granted art is subjective. Your experience of a museum is largely dependent on the exhibitions and your own personal taste. Saying this, Cartwright Hall has a diverse range of exhibitions as well as a permanent collection to ensure there is something for everyone any time of the year.

Unlike many art museums, it’s not intimidating, you won’t overhear any pretentious conversations, and the invigilators will be sure to give you smile.

You’ll see a lot of familiar and surprisingly big names. David Hockney, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Bridgette Riley, Anish Kapoor, and Dante Rossetti to name only a few.

Am I making you want to go? I hope so, because it deserves far more attention than it gets at present.

Some notable works

David Hockney’s ‘Le Plongeur’ (Paper Pool) 1978

Peace Through Chemistry (1970) by Roy Lichtenstein. How many faces can you spot among these geometric shapes?

Above is the Study for the head of the dead Beatrice (1871) by Dante Rossetti who was responsible for the Pre-Raphaelites.

The portrait is beautiful pastel drawing of Jane. She was the wife of artist William Morris who hailed from Walthamstow in East London.

If you’ve not heard of Dante Rossetti but the name rings a bell, that may be because you’re familiar with his sister and writer Christina Rossetti. During a time when art and literature was dominated by men, Christina managed to carve out her own career.

Anish Kapoor’s sculpture, Turning the World Inside Out was funded by Cartwright Hall in 1997, though it’s often on loan to other galleries. You can also see a painting by Kapoor on the top floor of the museum.

I don’t think there’s any need to introduce the artist or subject of this one!

The city’s working-class roots

In a city often scoffed at for its working-class roots and lack of finesse, there is a painting inside Cartwright that beckons a special mention. I’m talking about Industrial Landscape (1952) by L. S. Lowry. In an article published in the Guardian, T J Clark, a curator and scholar of French Impressionism had this to say about Lowry:

“An artist who is taken for granted and condescended to. The reaction from London art world friends over the last year and a half, when I have said I am working on Lowry, has been of deadpan incomprehension and disappointment.”

There has, said Clark, been a “metropolitan resistance to taking the north seriously as a subject for art”, and he added: “It is extraordinary to me, this image of him as an amateur, as someone who could barely paint, won’t die. To me it is absolutely astonishing. And coded into this conversation by the metropolitan elite is the idea that someone who paints this subject matter can’t be taken seriously.”

It’s fair to say that L. S Lowry’s faces a lot of elitism. Interestingly, his decision to focus on the industrial landscape of Northern England seems to mirror the discrimination that Bradford receives for being a working-class city.

An interesting fact about Lowry is that he currently holds the record for the most rejected British honours during his life, including a knighthood. He really didn’t care about being part of the elite, even when he was invited to join. I think this say a lot about him as a person, and not just as an artist.

You may not be able to find the glamorous shops, bars or restaurants in Bradford that you can find in nearby Leeds or other cities across England.

However, what you will find is one of the country’s most culturally diverse and interesting cities, with an array of museums to explore.

Go on, give Bradford a go…