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Exhibitions, books, events
Here we'll give you the latest news about exhibitions around the country and further afield, new books and more. Do you know of a good show coming up? Let us know.
Please note - items included here are for your information and are not necessarily endorsed by the C&TA
All museums have now closed due to the Coronavirus - but it's still interesting to take a look online.
Here we'll give you the latest news about exhibitions around the country and further afield, new books and more. Do you know of a good show coming up? Let us know.
Please note - items included here are for your information and are not necessarily endorsed by the C&TA
All museums have now closed due to the Coronavirus - but it's still interesting to take a look online.
Sainsbury Centre exhibitions
Art Deco by the Sea February 9 - June 14 The Sainsbury Centre, Norwich This is a major new exhibition that explores how the Art Deco style shaped the modern seaside during the 1920s and 30s. In a new age of mass tourism, new coastal resorts were built and existing resorts modernised using the Deco style while the networks of transport – by road, rail, sea and air – met the needs of the modern traveller. The show celebrates iconic examples of seaside architecture, from hotels and apartment blocks, to piers, cinemas and lidos, and reveals how Art Deco became the key style for pleasure, leisure and entertainment. From the Midland Hotel in Morecambe to the villas of Hunstanton, Art Deco became the seaside style. Through some 130 works including paintings, posters, brochures, drawings, photographs, fashion, furniture, ceramics and textiles, the exhibition explores the sports, activities and amusements of the seaside between the war. Opening on March 29 - Art Nouveau: The Nature of Dreams Visit the Sainsbury Centre website Unbound: Visionary women collecting textiles
Unbound: Visionary Women Collecting Textiles celebrates seven pioneering women who saw beyond the purely functional, to reveal the extraordinary artistic, social and cultural importance of textiles. The exhibition is at Two Temple Place, described as one of London’s architectural gems, an extraordinary late Victorian mansion built by William Waldorf Astor on the Embankment. It runs until April 19. The exhibition is fully described on the website here and sounds fascinating. An extract from its website reads: "From the exquisite anthropological collections of traditional Balkan costume by Edith Durham, to the ground-breaking contemporary South Asian collection of Nima Poovaya-Smith, these women defied the ‘traditional’ concept of collecting – an activity still more often associated with men – and forged the way for textiles as crucial documents of social history as well as works of art in their own right." 
Portraying Pregnancy exhibition
Portraying Pregnancy is an unusual exhibition at the Foundling Museum in London exploring representations of the pregnant female body through portraits, over 500 years. It closes on April 26. Until the twentieth century, many women spent most of their adult years pregnant. Despite this, pregnancies are seldom apparent in surviving portraits. This exhibition brings together images of women who were depicted at a time when they were pregnant (whether visibly so or not). The exhibition includes Woman in Red, by Marcus Gheeraerts II (photo left, copyright Tate); Holbein’s portrait of Thomas More’s daughter, Cicely Heron, which was sketched from life; and the maternity dress Princess Charlotte wore for her portrait painted by George Dawe in 1817, the year that she died in childbirth, the latter two on loan from the Queen. Visit the Foundling Museum website 
New exhibitions for 2020 at the Fashion and Textile Museum
Out of the Blue: Fifty years of the Designers' Guild February 14 - June 14 2020 Founded by Tricia Guild, Designers Guild started life in 1970 as a small section of a single shop in Chelsea’s Kings Road. The brand has since evolved and grown into a global enterprise, whose products have changed the way we view colour, pattern and texture in our homes. Offering unique access to Designers Guild’s archive, with never before displayed original designs and art work, Out of the Blue will showcase the story of Designers Guild, in settings that capture the changing tastes in interiors over the past five decades. (Images taken from the FTM website) Beautiful People: the Boutique in 1960s Counterculture July 3-October 4 2020 Beautiful People explores fabulous and rare examples from these era-defining stores and designers, examining the shared free spirit of Granny Takes A Trip, Hung On You, Apple, Biba, Mr Fish, Thea Porter, Ossie Clark and more. Clothes worn by the likes of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix will be displayed as part of recreations of these iconic boutiques. Chintz: Cotton in Bloom October 23 2020-January 24 2021 This exhibition showcases some 150 examples of this treasured textile, originating from all around the world; from mittens to wall hangings and from extravagant 18th-century sun hats to stylish mourning dresses. Further information from the Fashion and Textile Museum website The V&A - Kimono : Kyoto to Catwalk A new exhibition opens at the V&A in February. Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk is Europe’s first major exhibition on a dynamic and constantly evolving icon of fashion, both in Japan and the rest of the world. With 125 kimono on display, including rare pieces shown for the first time in the UK, discover kimono's sartorial and social significance from the 1600s to the present day. The opening is Saturday February 29, and to judge by the photos on the V&A site it will be another fantastic show. Take a look at the V&A preview page. |
New books for
the new year The Pocket: A Hidden History of Women's Lives, 1660-1900 Barbara Burman and Ariane Fennetaux Pencils, a sketchbook, cake, yards of stolen ribbon, thimbles, snuff boxes, a picture of a lover, two live ducks: these are just some of the fascinating things carried by women and girls in their tie-on pockets, an essential accessory throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The authors draw on an unprecedented study of surviving pockets in museums and private collections to identify their materials, techniques, and decoration; their use is investigated through sources as diverse as criminal trials, letters, diaries, inventories, novels, and advertisements. Already out in hardback, out in paperback April 2020, price £19.19. Yale Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Cloth that Changed the World: The Art and Fashion of Indian Chintz
Sarah Fee and Sven Beckert Chintz, a type of multi-coloured printed or painted cotton cloth, originated in India yet exerted influence far beyond its home shores: it became a driving force of the spice trade in the East Indies, and it attracted European merchants, who by the 17th century were importing millions of pieces. In the 18th century, Indian chintz became so coveted globally that Europeans attempted to imitate its uniquely vibrant dyes and design—a quest that eventually sparked the mechanical and business innovations that ushered in the Industrial Revolution, with its far-reaching societal impacts. Hardback, February 2020, £35, Yale Books More books on our reference page |