Jacob Kramer’s Industrial Landscape (1914) is one of the latest works the Friends have been able to contribute to. Kramer is an important part of Leeds’ artistic past, being a highly respected artist of his day and since, with his work being shown in galleries across the UK.
After moving from Russia at a young age, he grew up and studied at Leeds School of Art, now Leeds College of Art. A large number of his works are already housed in Leeds Art Gallery but this landscape is a rarity for Kramer, an artist known for his portraiture, making this work all the more significant and being a unique part of the Gallery’s collection.
Kramer’s subject of a bleak northern town is suggestive of the period, as Britain was on the edge of the First World War. The piece shows a country devastated by war, both in the physical landscape and in human life.
See Kramer’s work, as well as other local artists at Leeds Art Gallery.
