Bric-à-brac
by Frederick William Elwell
Date painted: 1931
Oil on canvas, 91.4 x 71.1 cm
Collection: The Collection: Art & Archaeology in Lincolnshire (Usher Gallery)
Im not one to visit museums but seeing as though my site specific lesson is situated at an art and archeology museum I have contracted my soul to keep an open mind towards museums and galleries. Standing in the centre of a room at the Usher gallery, I find myself gazing at the pieces the exhibition has to offer BUT my eyes were drew to a certain painting in particular. Bric-à-brac, by Frederick William Elwell, is an oil painting of a continuous hallway/coridoor neatly cluttered with furniture, paintings and ornaments.
From the word go I had been asked to think about collections and what they are, the Usher gallery itself is a collection of art and exhibitions but looking deeply at this painting, I saw a deeper story relating to the idea of a collection.
Bric-à-brac is known to be a gathering of ‘miscellaneous objects and ornaments of little value’. (Oxford Dictionary, 2014) To the owner of these items they dont nessisarily have to be worth anything in value but can be a collection of things creating sentimental value whether they are passed down from relatives, collected from geographical places as memories or even related to a hobby or personal interest. In this painting you can see that the person who would own this stuff has created their own personal collections of items they have gathered over time.
After a few moments of looking at this painting I began to feel a bit uneasy because of how realistic it was, my mind was even beginning to tell me that someone was going to randomly appear and start walking across the hallway. Despite this feeling the idea of no escape flooded my head, the long hallway shows no possible way of escape and the only sign of something positive happening comes from the light shining through a window.
After looking at the painting for what seemed like an hour I realised that the usher gallery itself was similar to the painting, its full of corridors that connect one room to another and whilst walking through it and realizing theres a lack of windows and doors, you instantly connect yourself to the possible feeling of no escape.
Oxford Dictionary. 2014. The Oxford Dictionary [Online]. [Accessed: 4 April 2014]. Available from: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/bric-a-brac