Manchester's rich feminist history just got richer
manchestereveningnews.co.ukWith its strong feminist history, Manchester is the ideal city to own it. A painting by a Victorian woman satirises the limited choices of employment for middle class females in 1861.
Now, after support via grants and a public appeal last month to raise the final £18,000 needed, Woman's Work: A Medley by Florence Claxton, has been acquired by Manchester Art Gallery.
It will eventually hang in Gallery 7 at the Mosley Street building, just a few hundred yards from St Peter's Square, where the bronze statue of suffragette leader, Emmeline Pankhurst - Rise up, Women - was unveiled in 2018, the centenary of the 1918 general election in which women over 30 could vote. 'Our Emmeline', as it is also known, was the first statue in Manchester honouring a woman since the statue of Queen Victoria. READ MORE: School hits back at claims pupils are carrying out 'calculated' crimes The Claxton painting cost just under £130,000 and was bought with support from Art Fund, Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Fund and donations from the public.
The work currently is part of the Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520-1920 at Tate Britain in London. The painting is regarded as one of the most ambitious known paintings by any artist on the theme of women's work.
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