Exhibitions paint a picture of a bright future for northern art
In 2009, Yorkshire will show the world its tremendous breadth of artistic talent.
Sheffield Museums
Treasures from the V&A
Jan 29 to May 25 – Millennium Gallery
Treasures from the Victoria & Albert Museum is a glittering exhibition, spanning more than 1,200 years of European art and craftsmanship. Throughout this period, artists created awe-inspiring symbols of human wealth, power and religion. To complement Treasures from the V&A, Museums Sheffield has delved deep into Sheffield's own medieval and Tudor history. See rare documents from Beauchief Abbey and Bishops' House, letters from Mary Queen of Scots written during her imprisonment in Sheffield and a visual reconstruction of Sheffield Castle, as it looked before it was destroyed in the Civil War.
A Picture of You? Identity in Contemporary British Art: Feb 18 to May 2 – Graves Gallery
A Picture of You? is the first in a series of exhibitions devoted to the exploration of identity and nationality through British art. Over the next four years, Museums Sheffield will turn the spotlight on the British nation as a whole, in order to ask what its historic and contemporary art reveals about the British people.
A Picture of You? is part of The Great British Art Debate, a four-year collaboration with Tate Britain, Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service and Tyne & Wear Museums.
Hogarth: Industry and Idleness: From April 4 – Graves Gallery
Spring 2009 sees the Graves showcase a series of prints by the masterful forefather of the political cartoon, William Hogarth. A veritable 18th century comic strip, Industry and Idleness tells the story of two apprentices, one who follows the "good" path in life, Francis Goodchild, and one who strays from the road of the righteous, Tom Idle. These prints, from Sheffield's own collection, offer a rich window on Georgian London and show perfectly Hogarth's eye for detail and caricature.
Leeds
Trevor Bell, Jan 13 to March 27 – Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery at the University of Leeds
The gallery starts its 2009 exhibition programme with new work by Leeds-born painter Trevor Bell.
His new series of abstract paintings are mainly white and black and show fresh directions for this internationally-renowned artist and his lifelong interest in artistic experimentation.
Famous for his large, colourful and unusually shaped canvases, Bell's new works explore concepts of purity, truth and the sublime, elements which have been important throughout his
60-year career.
The works in the forthcoming exhibition show Bell paring down to the very fundamentals of his artistic expression. As he explains, he wanted "nothing extra" to intrude in these paintings.
Bell's work will also feature in a concurrent display at Leeds Art Gallery, dedicated to looking at the impact
the Gregory Fellowships (which ran from 1950 to 1980) had on the cultural life of the city.
The first stage of these displays, which continue through 2009, opens on January 13, with a special focus on Trevor Bell's work and how the Fellowship helped to shape his practice.
The Gallery is open Monday to Friday, 10-5pm.
The Northern Art Prize – Leeds Art Gallery
The winner of the second NAP will be announced on January 15 and the exhibition featuring the work of the
four shortlisted artists is on display until the beginning
of February.
Rank: Picturing the Social Order 1600-2009: Feb 11 to April 26 – Leeds Art Gallery
The working principle of the show is that images will create a picture of the components of society and map out our understanding of how people and groups differ.
Mark Wallinger curates The Russian Linesman: May 9 to June 28 – Leeds Art Gallery.
"The Russian Linesman", Tofik Bakhramov, is famous for a controversial ruling in the 1966 World Cup Final at Wembley between England and West Germany, the team that had eliminated the Soviet Union in the semi-finals.
Mark Wallinger's exhibition for Hayward Touring will be concerned with the liminal, a concept with physical, political, metaphysical meanings. It signifies the dissolution of boundaries and fixed identities.
Sculpture Park
Peter Randall-Page: June 27 – Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Peter Randall-Page is a stone carver and draughtsman of exceptional talent.
His major exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
in 2009 will be the artist's most extensive to date
and features a range of ambitious new work, including three monumental sculptures in Kilkenny limestone made especially for the vast space of the Underground Gallery and a striking terracotta wall work.
In the open air, sculptures in a variety of stones from marble to granite and limestone will resonate with the landscape.
Accompanying the new work will be a display of maquettes, models, prints and drawings spanning a 20-year period, reflecting on the artist's stylistic, technical and thematic developments.
Bradford
Baby, Picturing the Ideal Human 1840s – Now: Feb 13 to April 19 – National Media Museum.
Each era has its own idea of beauty and we are continuously confronted with images of what the ideal human being should look like.
In particular, parents, advertisers, consumers and society in general have always preferred to see idealised images of babies.
Baby: Picturing the Ideal Human follows this
theme, from the birth of photography until the present day; depicting the western baby through the work of famous photographers, amateurs, studio photographers and parents.
In contrast, a selection of images presents a wider view that serves as an antithesis to this ideal perspective.
Packed with family albums, postcards, advertising, documentary and creative photography, the exhibition offers a fascinating portrayal of babies throughout the history of photography.
Email to a friend
Print this page- Three-inch blanket of snow heading our way today
- Alan Shearer in list of favourites for Leeds and England jobs: Latest odds
- Barnsley’s Keith Hill invokes Fawlty Towers over link with Leeds job
- McCormack feels United search can be narrowed down
- Redfearn throws down gauntlet as queue builds at Elland Road
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
