Screenprint on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
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Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/kenneth-rowntree-1879" aria-label="More by Kenneth Rowntree" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Kenneth Rowntree</a>
West Front Durham
Presented by the artist 1985
architecture
cathedral
Durham
Durham, Durham Cathedral
England
England, North East
England, Northern
inscriptions
letter of alphabet
places
religious
symbols and personifications
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
paper print screenprint
West Front, Durham
image: 483 × 488 mm
Presented by the artist 1985
<strong>Kenneth Rowntree</strong> born 1915
<p>
<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/rowntree-west-front-durham-p02836" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P02836</span></a> <strong>West Front, Durham</strong> 1976
</p><p>
Screenprint 483 x 488 (19 x 19 3/16) on paper 913 x 585 (35 15/16 x 23); printed by the artist and Audrey Dalby as the Design School, Department of Fine Art, University of Newcastle upon Tyne and published by the artist in an edition of 75<br/>
Inscribed 'Kenneth Rowntree 76' b.r. and '18/75'; image includes words and numbers (see below)<br/>
Presented by the artist 1985
</p><p>
All quotations from the artist come from a letter to the compiler dated 13 April 1988, unless otherwise stated.
</p><p>
The artist writes that he was 'enormously impressed by the visual aspect of the West Front at Durham Cathedral', being especially impressed by 'its splendour when the sun moved infinitesimal stages onto the West Front'. The <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>print</span></a> was made after specially prepared <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/photograph" title="Glossary definition for 'Photograph'"><span>photographs</span></a> of the similarly entitled construction made in 1974 ('West Front, Durham' 1974, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, repr. <em>Kenneth Rowntree: <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>Painting</span></a> <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>Drawings</span></a> and <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/collage" title="Glossary definition for 'Collage'"><span>Collages</span></a></em>, exh.cat., Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne 1976, (1), [p.10]). They were made on a photo screen, which enabled the artist to print in black on colour. In a letter to the compiler dated 4 May 1988 he writes that the work was 'influenced by the Victoria Penny Black' stamp.
</p><p>
The earlier work, described as a 'wood construction', was made after 'working drawings of Durham in situ'. The artist wished to emulate in a print the weathered effect of the stone achieved by his use of wood in the original construction. He describes the effects he sought and the methods pursued in making the wood construction of 1974, from which <span>P02836</span> was made:
</p><blockquote>
This was the first of my 'tea chest' constructions, or rather, a print from it. I wanted to see if an alternative to the original fabric (stone) could be made to work and I found that the fairly battered tea chest gave an almost exact replica of the weathered cathedral for my purposes. The architectural features are done with a combination of dowelling, match sticks, and acrylic paint forced through a bakers cake decorator [this describes the making of the wood construction of 1974].
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The construction and its related print mark a culmination of the artist's interest in the pictorial combination of paint and lettering. He writes:
<blockquote>
I have always been intrigued by the combination of paint and lettering (largely the stencil lettering used for tea-chests), and here in this print I have added to the original lettering the name of the bishop who was particularly concerned with the West Front, Carileph, Epis, Bishop of Calais [appointed Bishop of Durham 1081, died 1096].
</blockquote>
He states that <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/kossoff-outside-kilburn-underground-stage-proof-p02936" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P02936</span></a> is quite unlike other prints he has produced.
<p>
The artist has approved this entry.
</p><p>
<strong>Published in:</strong><br/>
<em>The Tate Gallery 1984-86: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions Including Supplement to Catalogue of Acquisitions 1982-84</em>, Tate Gallery, London 1988, pp.454-5

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Catalogue entry
2004-09-14T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
architecture cathedral Durham Durham, Durham Cathedral England England, North East England, Northern inscriptions letter of alphabet places religious symbols and personifications UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions