Events, arts and heritage - Art Gallery - special collection openings
Art Gallery - special collection openings
Prices from £2,500A Rational Aesthetic: The Systems Group and associated artists
Galleries 1 - 2
11th January - 30th March 2008
Curated by Dr Alan Fowler, A Rational Aesthetic will be the first major exhibition devoted entirely to the work of members of the 1970s Systems Group and some associated artists since the Arts Council exhibition, Constructive Context, in 1978.
Key figures include: Malcolm Hughes, Jeffrey Steele, Richard Allen, Michael Kidner, Peter Lowe, Kenneth and Mary Martin and Anthony Hill.
Robert Anderson Trust Collection of 20th Century British Drawings and Paintings
Galleries 3 - 4
11th January - 30th March 2008
The Robert Anderson Trust Collection was conceived with a practical question in mind: What role does drawing play in the work of artists? Intended as a resource for practitioners to reflect upon the nature of drawing, the collection includes works by Craigie Aitchison, Frank Auerbach, Gillian Ayres, Leon Kossoff, Peter Lanyon, Henry Moore, Stanley Spencer and Graham Sutherland.
Ancient Landscapes - Pastoral Visions: Samuel Palmer to the Ruralists
Galleries 1 - 3
17th April - 22nd June 2008
This exhibition seeks to trace and affirm the pastoral tradition of British art as a distinct entity from the universal Modern Movement. It will consider the impact of the re-discovery of the vision and work of Samuel Palmer in the 1920's on the Neo-Romantic movement of Paul Nash, Graham Sutherland and John Piper of later decades.
The subject will be brought up to date by the Brotherhood of Ruralists, whom from the 1970's, embraced the Victorian revival, Romantic escapism and the pastoral tradition. The Ruralists will present old and new work and include Graham Ovenden who studied at Southampton School of Art and the celebrated Pop artist, Sir Peter Blake.
Bi-Annual Open Exhibition
Galleries 1 - 2
10th July - 7th September 2008
The Gallery welcomes back the biannual open exhibition for local professional and amateur artists in the region. The selection is made by a jury and as many works as possible are hung in the gallery space, resulting in a very eclectic and exciting exhibition. In the past, each show has been themed (self-portrait, the art of pattern) so that artists are encouraged to make new work especially for the exhibition.
The theme for the 2008 Open Exhibition is still in consultation.
Robert Bevan and the Cumberland Market Group
Galleries 1 - 4
25th September - 14th December 2008
Southampton holds one of the finest collections of work by the Camden Town Group and related artists in the world and has long championed the promotion of that formative era. Of the more important of the 16 members (including Harold Gilman, Spencer Gore and Charles Ginner), Robert Polhill Bevan has perhaps been the most neglected. Robert Bevan was a founder member of both the Camden Town Group and its main successor, the London Group in 1914. His studio in Cumberland Market gave its name to the small group of artists (Bevan, Gilman and Ginner) who banded together after acrimonious demise of the former. In the following year a few progressive younger artists, John Nash, Christopher Nevinson and McKnight Kauffer were also invited to join.
The exhibition will consider Bevan’s artistic development and key influences. His most familiar subject, the horse, will be prominent through examples of his cabyard and London horse sales paintings. It will also seek to affirm Bevan as a prime mover of the British Post-Impressionist movement and central to that fascinating fusion of French modernist aspiration with the quintessential Englishness of subject matter and treatment that the Camden Town Group uniquely embodied.
Call Clare Mitchell on 023 8083 2152 or email clare.mitchell@southampton.gov.uk
Last updated: 22 August 2007
