This charming hand drawn illustration is by North west based artist John Hewitt. It shows a view of the infamous Manchester Free trade Hall as seen from Peter Street and was drawn in an A6 size sketchbook on location.
The handwritten text reads:
'Manchester's Free Trade Hall was built between 1853 and 1856 on the site of the great political rally that became infamous as the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. This building is where Annie Kenney and Christobel Pankhurst took the first direct action of the suffragette movement in 1905. The hall was bombed in the Christmas blitz of 1940, and rebuilt behind the original facade from 1950 to 1951. It was here that Bob Dylan was called Judas for playing an electric set in 1966, and where the Sex Pistols staged a legendary performance on 4th June 1976. It is now a luxury hotel.'
John is a Senior Lecturer in Illustration with Animation at MMU. He has taught widely in English art schools since 1981, in the areas of fine art, printmaking and illustration at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. John was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art in 2003 and won the Hugh Casson Prize for drawing at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 2016:
‘My creative practice switches between the medium of drawing and etching. Its subject matter invariably deals with observed events, people, animals, objects and locations. Notions of memory run through it.’
‘In addition to my work for exhibition or publication I post a daily drawing on Instagram, under the name w_john_hewitt.’
Fine art quality print, hand trimmed and packed with care in Manchester, UK.
