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George Eliot Triptych 2

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Description

George Eliot Triptych by n4t4
Spray paint on wooden boards

The original central piece, the portrait of Mary Ann Evans, was done as a one day demonstration piece created in Ropewalk Shopping Centre, in Nuneaton for an event run, a few years ago, by the local art group, Art Alert. I was pleased when I found out that the piece had been donated to the hospital and was, until recently, on display in the maternity wing.

The Arts Co-ordinator at the Hospital approached me about making the piece into a triptych by painting two additional panels, and moving the work for display into the George Eliot Training & Education Centre.

I have tried to keep a nostalgic look to the work and, as requested, I have incorporated a little bit of Nuneaton’s hospital history (taken from Nuneaton Hospitals ‘The First Hundred Years’ written by Dr Jennifer Burton and Dr John Bland) this also shows how, over the years, the hospital has become a big part of the communities it serves.

I have used a lot of gold because I wanted to play with the idea of the triptych and its classical use in religious church icon painting. The gold also makes use of the natural reflective light coming through the big window to the left of the artwork, as the light hits the wall very directly the stencils are layered up using different golds in order that different patterns will emerge as the sunlight moves throughout the day.

My intent was to create a sense of nostalgia, narrative and some of the hope and belief behind the history; an image that works in the space and stands up to repeat viewing.

In the first panel at the bottom is the "college for the poor" the workhouse, the place for the old and infirm that offered some form of health service. George Eliot would have been aware of this formidable building because her father was the church warden for the Coton area of Nuneaton. She recalls the college in "Scenes of Clerical Life".

Above is a portrait of Dr Edward Noel Nason, the driving force behind the establishment of a hospital in Nuneaton. Above him is the Nuneaton General Hospital that opened in 1893 along Manor Park Road, which became the Manor Hospital that closed a hundred years later and services were transferred up to the George Eliot Hospital site.

The central piece is a portrait of Mary Ann Evans, or George Eliot. She wrote with a keen eye for detail and had a great knack of observing and recounting; a lot of her material was based around people and places of Nuneaton. There is a reference to "Mill on the Floss" in the bottom of the panel. Mary Ann Evans was a brilliant thinker, writer, feminist and, in her time, a strong rational voice for social and health care reform.

The last panel, at the top is the 1933 General Hospital Nurses Badge, the year the first student nurses in Nuneaton became qualified. Beneath the Nurses Badge is a portrait of Alice Nason wife of Edward, she was responsible for much of the initial setting up of the hospital, she also ran the Nuneaton Maternity Committee. Below that is the old clock face and rooftops from Nuneaton town centre, herons can be seen flying past every now and again as they follow the river Anker through the town.

I really enjoyed painting this piece, the Arts Co-ordinator was very helpful both with assisting with my research and providing materials and space, my two nights of painting away in a hidden part of the hospital was ideal for getting my creativity flowing.
Image size
3072x2304px 640.91 KB
Make
FUJIFILM
Model
FinePix S5700 S700
Shutter Speed
1/69 second
Aperture
F/3.5
Focal Length
6 mm
ISO Speed
400
Date Taken
Jan 12, 2011, 3:25:49 PM
Sensor Size
5mm
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