Painting by Lothar Götz donated to The Collection and Usher Gallery, Lincoln

The Collection and Usher Gallery in Lincoln have received this work Retreat for the Good Shepherd, 2017 by Lothar Götz through the Contemporary Art Society’s acquisition scheme. The acrylic on board painting is a unique example of the colours and forms that Götz uses for his large scale murals and immersive architectural displays.

Retreat for the Good Shepherd takes its imagery from an installation with the same title, realised by Götz in 2016 at The Collection, Lincoln. Götz was invited by The Collection to paint a mural inside a 1:1 scale reproduction of the Russell Chantry, a small chapel of Lincoln Cathedral. The murals adorning the chapel’s walls were dedicated to St. Blaise, the patron saint of the wool industry, and executed between 1953 and 1959 by Duncan Grant (1885-1978), a member of the famous Bloomsbury Group. Götz spent days in the original space, taking in its features, before creating his own temporary version of the chapel for The Collection. As the installation Retreat for the Good Shepherd was intended to be deconstructed after its display, the acquisition of this painting allows The Collection to include a tangible piece in its collection that is representative of the commission. At the same time, the work complements The Collection’s existing holdings of sketches by Duncan Grant and enhances the collection of other contemporary commissions relating to Lincoln Cathedral.

Götz has also been working at Leeds Art Gallery, who have commissioned him to do a work leading up the Victorian staircase of the newly refurbished gallery space. ‘I am interested in how artwork  can be experienced by ones whole body, the image changing constantly as one moves up or down the stairs’ - Lothar Götz