John Atkinson Grimshaw: Artist’s moonlit masterpiece comes home to Leeds

Reflections on the Aire - on strike was painted by Leeds-born John Atkinson Grimshaw in 1879 and is a rare example of one of his signature ‘moonlit’ scenes combined with a social message.

Showing a sombre industrial cityscape with a lone female figure contemplating the dark waters of the River Aire in Leeds, the painting is a significant addition to the Leeds Art Gallery collection and its unparalleled holdings of work by Atkinson Grimshaw.

Alerted to the potential release of the painting after many years in a private collection, the gallery team has worked with the Leeds Art Fund to secure the painting for future generations.

The full cost of the acquisition has been met by the Leeds Art Fund thanks to the generous support of the Hurst bequest.

Nigel Walsh, gallery curator, said: “It will be amazing to bring together this oil painting which shows Grimshaw painting with rare social realism with what we believe to be its companion ‘Reflections on the Thames’, made by Grimshaw the following year when he moved to London, which has been in the collection since 1900.”

Born in 1836 in a simple back-to-back house in Leeds, Atkinson Grimshaw was a self-taught artist who left his job as a railways clerk and rose to become one of the most singular and significant artists of his era.

Hugely imaginative and experimental, with a keen interest in photography, he was fascinated by how to capture in oil paint the different effects of night light, combining moonlight with gas and the new incandescent electrical lighting.

Gallery curator Nigel Walsh worked with John McGoldrick, curator of Industrial History, to research contemporary maps and establish the location for Grimshaw’s viewpoint in the painting, across the river from Hunslet.

Together, they uncovered that the times were dire for industrial workers, and strike action prevalent in early 1879, when Grimshaw painted the scene just along the river from where he then lived at Knostrop.

Coun Jonathan Pryor, Leeds City Council’s executive member for economy, culture and education, said: “John Atkinson Grimshaw’s stunning paintings captured the dramatically changing face of Leeds as an emerging industrial city, and, as we can see in this painting, his empathy for the plight of his fellow citizens.

“We’re extremely fortunate to have such an extensive range of his work here in his home city and for this beautiful new addition to be joining the world class Leeds Art Gallery collection.”

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