A Life of Shifting Forms The story begins in Chorlton upon Medlock, near Manchester, on 17 January 1873. A young Lawrence Atkinson moves toward Paris, driven by the structured discipline of musical composition. The sounds of the conservatory define his early years. He is a musician first. However, the pull of the visual world eventually draws him back to London. Here, the focus shifts from the auditory to the canvas. The early works…