This work follows on from Alex Hartley’s acclaimed series The Houses, in which he brings together photographic and painterly elements to examine the idea of the viewpoint, the frame and the boundary – between interior and exterior, manmade and natural environments, public and private space. Iconic examples of modernist domestic architecture, photographed by the artist over the past twenty-five years, form the basis of these atmospheric works, in which the photographic image and hand-painted elements – often embellishing or exaggerating a verdant landscape – create a mysterious sense of depth. For Hartley, a sense of narrative is key. He explains, ‘These houses (often recognised as icons and listed accordingly) are kept in frozen preserved perfection, more akin to a museum object than a dwelling. The passing of time is alluded to through my addition of accelerated and untamed nature… It’s all about the tension of that, and what that tension gives rise to.’

The Masters’ Houses were a collection of seven houses designed by Walter Gropius in 1925 to house the Bauhaus professors in Dessau. Only five houses remain and their restoration was  completed in 2002. The Gropius and Moholy-Nagy houses were rebuilt as contemporary and abstracted versions of the original buildings, which are now open to the public and used for exhibitions. This image depicts Gropius’ House. The foliage that partially obfuscates the architectural image is an imagined addition, painted by Hartley on the inside of the work’s acrylic glazing and contrasting with the more graphic quality of the photographic image, offset within its frame.

About the artist

Born in 1963, Alex Hartley has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally at venues including Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry, UK (2021); KØS Museum for art in public spaces, Koge, Denmark (2019); Royal Academy of Arts, London (2017); Contemporary Arts Centre, Ohio, US (2014); Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark (2013); Fundación Canal, Madrid (2008); and The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan (2001). In 2017, the artist’s work featured in the Yokohama Triennale while the monumental, site-specific installation, Wall, was on view as part of the Folkestone Triennial until November of the same year. In 2013, Hartley undertook a residency with the National Trust for Scotland. Earlier important projects include Nowhereisland. In 2004, while participating in the Cape Farewell Arctic expedition, Hartley went to the High Arctic searched for and discovered an island that had been revealed from within the melting ice of a retreating glacier. The island was taken out into International Waters where it was declared a new nation. In 2012, this new nation – Nowhereisland – embarked upon a 500-mile journey around the south west coast of England as part of the Cultural Olympiad.