Exhibitions at Birmingham (part one) - Scent and the Pre-Raphaelites

 Last Saturday, we headed off to Birmingham to see two exhibitions, one called Scent and the Pre-Raphaelites at The Barber Institute and the other called Victorian Radicals at Birmingham City Museum and Art gallery.  Our journeys there and back were awful as although we went by train, earlier trains had been cancelled so we were all squashed in like sardines and far from comfortable.  We have decided not to try travelling on a Saturday in future!

However, the journey aside, the exhibitions were really good.  I had last visited the Barber Institute around seventeen years ago.  We were able to really get up close and see lots of details that are missed when you look at reproductions in books. There were eleven paintings featured in this exhibition, some lent from other galleries.

Chris was fascinated by this painting 'Thoughts of the past' by John Roddam Spencer Stanhope.    

When you can get close, you notice the veneer missing off the drawer, lots of items on the table, the reflections in the mirror and all the details.  

Proserpine by Dante Gabriel Rossetti was one of the paintings which first got me interested in the Pre-Raphaelites.  He painted eight versions of this subject.  In this version, she has red hair.

'Medea' by Evelyn de Morgan was another painting full of fascinating details.

Some of the frames were as elaborate as the actual paintings they housed.

The Blind Girl by John Everett Millais had some incredibly vibrant colours.

This beautifully observed harebell is on the left on the painting, near the girl's hand. There was a podium where you could press a button and a scent would be released to go with a painting. One for this painting did smell like fresh grass, or hay.

I didn't much care for the central figure in Frederick Sandys' painting, 'Gentle Spring' but the details of the flowers and dandelions really grabbed my attention.

The gallery also houses this beautiful portrait by Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun of 'Countess Golovina'.  There is more information about the painting here. (This face reminds me of an actor, Julia Sawalha.) 

This is another lusciously coloured painting, The Blue Bower by Dante Gabriel Rossetti of one of his muses, Fanny Cornforth.  No reproduction can do the colours justice, as they really are vibrant.  I particularly like the blue and white background. 

Victorian Radicals will follow...

Art Everywhere - even here!

 I was excited to read about the Art Everywhere project, organised by The Art Fund, where posters and billboards all over the country would be displaying art, rather than advertising.  According to the website:
"Showcasing great British art across the UK, Art Everywhere is the largest exhibition of its kind in the world. From the 12–25 August 2013 some of the nation's greatest art is on display across 22,000 poster sites and billboards up and down the country. Artists, curators, media owners and entrepreneurs joined by a love of art have fuelled this massive charitable celebration, and the general public crowd-funded over £30,000 to help make it happen."
The link to the website is here.
As Lincoln is regarded as a bit of a backwater, I felt it extremely unlikely that this project would arrive here, but last Friday, on the way home from work, just outside Lincoln Central Station, what did I spy?
Ophelia by Millais. Not only a fabulous work of art, but a fabulous Pre-Raphaelite work of art!

A slightly closer view of the image

 Then, about two seconds away, there was another billboard, with yet another Ophelia. This duplication did make me wonder why two of the same image were put so close to each other, but at least it made a lovely change from an advert.

The project has finished now, but it will be interesting to see how long the billboards remain.  More art, please!

Have you spotted any of the Art Everywhere images where you live?