Victorian Radicals in the Gas Hall

There hasn't been a major exhibition in the Gas Hall at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery in about 5 years (since the Black Sabbath one I think in 2019). Then BM & AG was closed on and off since 2020 (pandemic, later re-wiring and restoration works etc). The Gas Hall only reopened in February for the Victorian Radicals from February to October 2024. A late April 2024 visit.

Three generations of British artists, designers and makers revolutionised the visual arts in the second half of the nineteenth century. The Pre-Raphaelites, William Morris and his circle and the men and women of the Arts and Crafts movement transformed art and design.

Selected from the city of Birmingham's outstanding collection, Victorian Radicals presents vibrant paintings and exquisite drawings alongside jewellery, glass, textiles and metalwork to explore their radical vision for art and society. Fresh from an award-winning tour of the US, Victorian Radicals is the first comprehensive showing of the city’s Pre-Raphaelite and Arts and Crafts collections in Birmingham for over five years. Discover the story of the Pre-Raphaelites themselves and their influence on artists and makers well into the twentieth century – especially in Birmingham itself. Paintings made by artists including Kate Bunce, Joseph Southall and Arthur Gaskin combined the poetry and intensity of the Pre-Raphaelites’ work with a distinctive identity all their own. Open Wednesday - Sunday, 10am - 5pm. In the Gas Hall at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. Pre-book to guarantee entry. Alternatively you can buy tickets on arrival (subject to availability). This exhibition is organised by Birmingham Museums Trust and the American Federation of Arts. Supported by the Friends of Birmingham Museums.

 

Book your Victorian Radicals ticket(s) at the link and go. Adults from £11 (can be more with gift aid etc). Note that if you buy anything from the shop in the Gas Hall, it's card payments only (no cash). February to October 2024.

 

This visit on the 27th April 2024.

 

The Victorian Radicals signs outside of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, as you pass through Chamberlain Square, and onto the part that was Edmund Street. Entrance at the Gas Hall. The rest of BM & AG remains closed for now.

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Some general views of the Victorian Radicals inside of the Gas Hall.

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Looking to the Future: New approaches to Victorian Art and Design at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.

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The First Industrial Nation. Mid-Victorian Art and Design

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Various landscape paintings.

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Gather the Rose of Love While Yet 'Tis Time, 1848. William Etty (1787-1849). Oil on canvas.

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Work, 1859-63 Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893) Oil on canvas.

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The Long Engagement, c. 1854-59. Arthur Hughes (1832-1915). Oil on canvas.

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Two Gentlemen of Verona (Valentine Rescuing Sylvia from Proteus), 1851. William Holman Hunt (1827-1910) Oil on canvas. Based on a play by William Shakespeare.

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Portrait of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1882-83. William Holman Hunt (1827-1910). Oil on mahogany.

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Portrait of John Everett Millais, 1853. Alexander Munro (1827-1910). Marble set in carved slate frame.

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The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple, 1854-60. William Holman Hunt (1827-1910). Oil on canvas.

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The Last of England, 1852-55. Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893). Oil on wood panel.

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Medea, 1866-68. Frederick Sandys (1829-1904). Oil on composite wood panel with gold leaf.

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La Donna della Finestra, 1881. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) Oil on canvas with underdrawing in chalk and graphite. Depicts Jane Morris as 'the lady at the window', unfinished, due to the artists death a year after it was started.

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Morgan le Fay, 1864. Frederick Sandys (1829-1904). Oil on wood panel.

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Beata Beatrix, begun 1877 (completed by Ford Madox Brown). Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882). Oil on canvas.

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May Morning on Magdalen Tower, 1888-91. William Holman Hunt (1827-1910), artist and designer Guild of Handicraft (London), frame maker Oil on canvas in original copper frame.

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Musica, c. 1895-97. Kate Elizabeth Bunce (1856-1927). Oil on canvas.

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Beauty and the Beast, 1904. John Dickson Batten (1860-1932). Tempera on canvas.

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Stained glass window: Dante and Beatrice II: The Wedding Feast, 1910 Florence Jane Camm (1874-1960), designer T. W. Camm & Co. (Smethwick, Birmingham), manufacturer.

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Tracery light from the east window of Holy Trinity Church, Grazeley, 1849-50. Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852) and John Hardman Powell (1827-1895), designers John Hardman & Co. (Birmingham), manufacturer Stained, painted, and leaded glass.

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Stained glass panel: Saint George Slaying the Dragon, 1872 (designed c. 1862). Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), designer Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. (London), manufacturer. Stained, painted and leaded glass.

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Stained glass panel: Winter, c.1865 William Morris (1834-1896), designer Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. (London), manufacturer. Stained, painted and leaded glass.

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Stained Glass Panel: Saint Mark, 1883 (designed 1874) Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898), designer Thomas G. Bowman (1836-1917), glass painter Morris & Co. (Merton Abbey, London), manufacturer Stained, painted and leaded glass.

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Pair of Stained Glass Panels: Sleepe after Toile, before 1905. Mary Jane Newill (1860-1947), designer and maker Stained, painted and leaded glass.

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Day dress, с. 1865. Maker not recorded Silk, with black ribbon, braid and cord trim.

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Another dress and a tunic.

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Paolo and Francesca by Alexander Munro (1825–1871). Marble statue.

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Chest: The Garden of the Hesperides, 1887-88. Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898), designer Charles Lumley (active 1887-89), cabinetmaker Osmund Weeks (active 1879-95), gesso moulder and gilder.

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Bedcover, c. 1908. Mary Jane Newill (1860-1947). Linen embroidered with wool.

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Carpet: 'Old Master', c. 1851. John Crossley & Sons (Halifax, West Yorkshire), manufacturer. Woven wool.

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Wallpaper design: Jasmine. William Morris (1834-1896), designer, 1874. Graphite, red chalk, and watercolour on paper.

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Floor tile, 1851. Minton & Co. (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire), manufacturer Earthenware, inlaid with coloured slips. Made for the Great Exhibition of 1851.

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The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, now newly imprinted (the 'Kelmscott Chaucer'), 1896. William Morris (1834-1896), Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898) and co-workers at Kelmscott Press, designers and makers Kelmscott Press (London), printer Joseph Batchelor and Son (Little Chart, Kent), paper manufacturer Bound book with 87 woodcut illustrations on handmade paper.

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Photography by Elliott Brown. Some captions from Birmingham Museums.