New exhibition at Sheffield's Millennium Gallery explores Colour in all its forms
Colour is such an important part of our lives. It surrounds us every day, seeping into our consciousness, sometimes on a subliminal level, connecting us with the world in complex and nuanced ways. That relationship is explored in a new exhibition at Sheffield’s Millennium Gallery which investigates colour in all its forms.
Entitled simply Colour, the exhibition features over 150 objects spanning art, science, nature and cultural histories to look at colour from a range of perspectives through four key themes – how we see it, how it is made, how it is used and what it means. Colour helps us to make sense of the world and enables us to connect and communicate with each other – people, plants and animals all use colour to send out messages and give out signals.
The exhibition has been created for the Museums and Galleries Network for Exhibition Touring (MAGNET) and curated by Sheffield Museums in partnership with four other organisations in the group – Tullie Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle, Hampshire Cultural Trust, Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art gallery and Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. “Working together, we thought about topics that would allow us to show a wide range of objects and that would also fit with all the audiences at the partner museums and galleries,” says Lucy Cooper, exhibitions and displays curator at Sheffield Museums. “We wanted something that had a broad appeal and we felt that colour was the right theme. It’s sometimes easy to overlook how remarkable colour is and we wanted to highlight the world of wonders it represents. And It’s really exciting to be showing objects from lots of different museums and a good selection from our own collections.”
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Highlights from the Sheffield collection include artworks by Walter Sickert, Bridget Riley, Kandinsky, Andy Warhol and more. “We selected some of the big names to explore the use of colour in different art movements – Impressionism, Pop Art and Op Art,” says Cooper. “And there are also some items from our social history collection such as the Chinese Lion Dance Costume donated to us by the Chinese community, that is a big focal piece, and items from the Ruskin collection which contains some fantastic ornithological illustrations.”
Other objects on display include a diamante-studded Trinidadian carnival costume, pre-historic gold jewellery, bird plumage and iridescent insects, decorative ceramics and textiles demonstrating the use of natural and manmade pigments and dyes. A centrepiece of the exhibition is a new large-scale mural by local artist Grace Visions, created as part of Sheffield’s Lick of Paint street art festival. “We were approached by the organizers of the festival, which is taking place in September, and we were able to provide a large wall in the gallery,” says Cooper. “They introduced us to Grace who wanted to do a piece around how bees see flowers and that linked nicely to the themes of the exhibition. Grace spent about seven or eight days in the gallery painting the mural. It is a great piece and works really well in the space.”
Cooper and the curatorial team also worked in collaboration with a group of local cultural advisors who helped to shape the themes and stories showcased in the displays, particularly relating to the different meanings we attach to colour and how colour can reflect our identity, history, culture and beliefs. “We have a lot of knowledge in-house on how colour in used in artworks but we also wanted to include and explore the meaning of colour in different cultures,” says Cooper. “We put out a call-out last autumn and got a good response; we had a number of sessions with the advisers who had input into the design of the show and they loaned us some objects.” Those loans include a hand-woven cotton keffiyeh scarf from Yemen, a beautiful red wedding sari and a handmade Renda de file blouse from Brazil. “Because colour is so much about lived history and experience, those items really bring the human story,” says Cooper. “We wanted to create something that wasn’t just an art show but also contained personal connections with colour.”
It is a rich and varied exhibition with an uplifting vibrancy. Cooper hopes that visitors will feel the sense of wonder that colour can engender. “We want the exhibition to dazzle,” she says. “It feels like a bit of a treasure box and it is a celebration of colour. It’s welcoming and joyous, bright and celebratory; a place to be happy.”
Colour is at the Millennium Gallery, Sheffield until September 14, then touring. Free entry. The exhibition is accompanied by a full programme of events and family-friendly activities. Sheffieldmusems.org.uk