FROM LIVERPOOL TO ITALY AND BACK

Frank Green has been described as ‘a modern Herdman’ because of his dedication to documenting a city in a state of change. William Gawin Herdman (whose 200th Anniversary is celebrated this year), saw Liverpool experiencing growing pains. Old buildings were being demolished, roads widened, fields built on, and he set out to show the changes and how the new was growing from the old: how they were linked. Frank Green also sees Liverpool changing: but feels the changes of the last thirty years are an attempt to divorce the old from the new, to decimate old communities and impose a new order. This is not to be put down as mere nostalgia, it is a cry from the heart and a celebration of what was best in those communities that should not be overwritten, but is already being forgotten.

This exhibition gives a flavour of Frank Green’s work over more than fifty years. The paintings on show range from something from his first box of oil paints at the age of 9 to the watercolours that are familiar and popular today. Frank has shown the range of his work that is much greater than most people have realised. A student in the early 1960s, Frank had a-sound art school training at Liverpool before exploring Italy with his paints. There is a genuine excitement in the discovery of what paint can do.

In the 1960s Frank travelled extensively in Italy and in this time he developed both his skills and his instincts as an artist. This body of work will form a distinct part of the exhibition to show his artistic roots. These bright loose pictures of Italy are followed by darker but equally broad visions of Liverpool. The city took its hold and chalk drawings of demolition, so much a part of Liverpool in the 60s and 70s, began to form the themes and subjects that have occupied Frank for most of the rest of the time. You can feel the genuine hurt that is recorded in demolished streets, derelict sites and lost communities.

There was increasingly a concentration on public buildings, churches and schools, which was to clearly document the city before its entire heritage was gone. These buildings that Liverpool as a town (and city), or certain philanthropic individuals from within, had built to serve the future generations were being erased. Not so much the ‘great’ buildings in the city centre, but the more modest ones that found genuine places in the hearts of those that used them.

You can see the art-work of Frank Green by visiting his website www.frankgreen.co.uk and by visiting our Local Artists webpage click here to visit our Local Artists page now.

FRANK GREEN'S PICTURES OF LIVERPOOL

Frank Green has spent more than 3 decades recording with pen, pencil, water colours and oils the changing face of Liverpool. Frank's work over the past 30 years has made many people aware of Liverpool's history and heritage. He has also captured the seascape and landscape beauty that is here on our doorstep.

We thank Frank for regularly calling into the Scottie Press in support of the paper's involvement in the Scotland Road 2003 project. On a recent visit Frank brought with him the early stage work for a painting depicting Scotland Road. Readers familiar with Scotland Road will observe that central in Frank's painting is the Newsham Public House, known locally as 'The Holy House' - which was demolished some 12 months ago.

Frank Green's painting of Scotland Road and all his pictures of Liverpool can be viewed at his Liverpool Gallery,

97 Oakfield Road,
Anfield,
Liverpool L4 OUE.
Telephone 0151 260 3241.

You can also access information by logging onto
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