Fancy having a famous painting in your front room? It could happen if Hull wins its bid to become City of Culture 2017. Ian Midgley reports.
FITTINGLY, for an English impressionist masterpiece, The First Born has hung on some pretty impressive walls since it was painted 100 years ago.
For the past eight decades Fred Elwell's touching oil paining, depicting a newborn baby being cradled by its doting parents, has been an important part of the Ferens Art Gallery's Edwardian collection.
It usually hangs in Gallery Six, next to a epic canvas showing Ulysses resisting temptation by the mythological sirens. It isworth thousands.
But this week a copy of the Beverley artist's painting went for a walk to highlight one of the 1,500 events that could come to Hull, should it succeed in its bid to become the UK's City Of Culture 2017.
As part of the In The Frame scheme, framed reproductions of some of Ferens Art Gallery's priceless art works will be loaned to homes and shops across Hull, turning people's front windows and whole streets into living art galleries.
The venue for The First Born to become the first painting taking part in the scheme was, appropriately enough, Leonardo's restaurant in Princes Dock Street, where it took pride of place in the window while diners tucked into their lunchtime porter house steaks and beef goulash specials.
If In The Frame becomes a reality the Ferens' collection of old Dutch masters, Canalettos and Constables could, in four years' time, be popping up in the windows of eateries such as DaVinci's or Larkin's – or simply in a neighbour's sitting room.
Andrew Dixon, 2017 bid advisor, says the aim of In The Frame is to demystify art and take it out in the community – contrasting priceless paintings with everyday locations.
He said: "The idea for In The Frame came about during one of the workshops with local artists and community groups as a way of making the whole city into a gallery and taking art into peoples' everyday lives. 'Imagine whole streets as galleries' said one participant.
"Simon Green, who looks after the council's gallery and museums, then came up with the idea of taking digital copies of the city's great art collections out into peoples homes.
"Hull has been buzzing with cultural ideas for 2017 and, with over 100 people already consulted, the bid is full of great ideas for a 2017 programme.
"If Hull is shortlisted we will be developing more detail and looking for even more ways to bring Hull's rich culture of art, music, theatre and writing to audiences across the UK."
Should Hull be successful in its bid to become City Of Culture 2017, it would mean an £11m influx of funding for cultural "happenings" including 1,500 individual events, 25 festivals, 12 artist residencies – including one on the Humber Bridge – and collaborations with partner cities such as Rotterdam and Reykjavik.
Hull is one of 11 cities bidding for the title and is up against current favourites such as Plymouth, Leicester and Swansea.
A shortlist of four contenders will be unveiled on Monday, June 17. Should Hull make the list it will then produce a detailed report by September, with a winner chosen by November.
At the bid launch, last week, organisers revealed they plan to focus on Hull's "moral" case for City Of Culture status, arguing that being awarded the title could spark real social change in Hull and help create thousands of much-needed jobs in the tourism industry.
Claire Longrigg, assistant curator of exhibitions at Ferens Art Gallery, says In The Frame would be an ideal way to share some of the gallery's treasures with people who wouldn't normally consider stepping foot inside the Queen Victoria Square building.
She said: "If we win City of Culture 2017 we could see reproductions of artwork from the Ferens collection across the city in shop windows and people's front windows with communities seeing art on their doorsteps.
"We are always trying to improve access to our collections from working with our Future Ferens group, activities, workshops and kids clubs to get people involved with art and the gallery, but this would take access to another level."
Follow Hull's City of Culture bid on Twitter @Hull2017
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