Details
Albert Square, Manchester 1910
Adolphe Valette 1876-1942
Albert Square resulted from many preparatory studies and was Valette's most ambitious Manchester painting.
The view is from the south-west side of the square showing, from left to right: the Albert Memorial, the statues of Oliver Heywood and William Gladstone and part of the soot-blackened Town Hall. Tram lines dissect hazy outlines of Victorian spires
and horse-drawn cabs mingle side-by-side with a new form of transport - the motor car. The figure of the cellarman pushing his barrow is silhouetted against a pale, pearly background in a bold and caricature-like way which prefigures the work of L.S. Lowry.