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John Cooke Bourne (1814--1896) is among the foremost artists of the great industrial period. In the space of just under 10 years, he documented the construction of the railways, and with it, the transformation of the British landscape. From the mid-1830s to the mid-1840s, Bourne's work focused primarily on the building of two major railways: the London and Birmingham and the Great Western. Bourne brought a skilled technical eye to his work, taking the notion of the picturesque and fusing it quite deliberately with the aesthetics of industry. Fantastically detailed and beautifully executed, his work illustrates everyday life and changing industry and was, in part, designed to allay the fears of those who saw railway building and the relentless progress of industry during the period as the destroyer of the unspoiled English countryside. A fascinating collection to celebrate and record the life and times of this seminal British artist.
About the author
Dr. Matt Thompson is the senior curator at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, responsible for all ten museums along with the library and archives. Matt has a doctorate in history from the University of York. MattHe is the author of
Mile by Mile London to Paris and
Modern Eurostar.
Summary
John Cooke Bourne (1814-96) captured one of the most exciting periods in modern British history - the building of the railways.
