The UK’s largest exhibition of contemporary stone sculpture will be held this summer in the Jacobean house and landscaped gardens of Asthall Manor in the Cotswolds.

On Form is a celebration of stone sculpture and will present the work of 28 of the most accomplished sculptors working today. Featured artists at this biennial exhibition will include Bridget McCrum, Matthew Spender and Emily Young. An events programme will offer painting workshops, geology talks, poetry, theatre and artists’ talks.

Asthall Manor overlooks the Windrush Valley and dates from the early 17th century. In 1919 the manor was bought by Lord Redesdale, father of the Mitford sisters. Nancy Mitford’s fictional Alconleigh in The Pursuit of Love is based on Asthall Manor, as well as the Redesdales’ other houses.

A flat above the Manor House’s Ballroom will soon be available for short-term lets for up to five people. These are the rooms where the older Mitford children – Nancy, Pamela, Diana and Tom – stayed when the family lived at Asthall. The murals in the main bedroom are by Nancy Mitford.

On Form runs from 17 June to 15 July, Wednesdays–Sundays noon–6pm, admission (including catalogue) £7.50 adults, £6 concessions, under-12s free.

Asthall Manor, Burford, Oxfordshire OX18 4HW
Tel: +44 1993 824319
Website: www.onformsculpture.co.uk

Sculpture Exhibition at a manor house in the Coltswolds is a post from: Anglotopia.net

Five important Monet paintings of water lilies will be brought together for a major exhibition at Tate Liverpool this June. Two of the pictures have never before been shown in Britain.

Tate Liverpool’s new exhibition, Turner Monet Twombly: Later Paintings, brings together more than 60 later works of three prolific artists, J.M.W Turner (1775-1851), Claude Monet (1840-1926) and Cy Twombly (1928-2011).

All three artists were considered radical painters in their time and the exhibition will explore their similarities in style, subject and artistic motivation. They were all concerned with mortality in their later work. The five Monet water lily paintings display an interest in water and reflection which he shared with Turner, as a response to both his personal grief and devastating world events.

Jeremy Lewison, curator of the exhibition, says: ‘The water lily paintings mark the crowning moment of Monet’s career and are among the most recognised of his paintings. To have five major examples in an exhibition is incredibly rare. Painted against the backdrop of the First World War, they represent an oasis of calm while all hell was breaking loose around him. For Monet these paintings assuaged his sense of personal grief. Mourning and loss are key themes in this exhibition for all three artists.’

Tate Liverpool is open daily 10am–6pm, admission free. Turner Monet Twombly: Later Paintings runs from 22 June to 28 October, admission £12/£9.

Tate Liverpool, Albert Dock, Liverpool L3 4BB
Tel: +44 151 702 7400
Website: www.tate.org.uk/liverpool
Facebook: Tate Liverpool
Twitter: @tateliverpool
YouTube: Tate
Flickr: Tate Gallery

Monet, Turner and Twombly united at the Tate Liverpool is a post from: Anglotopia.net

A unique artistic collaboration will turn a dilapidated building in Oxford into a giant compendium of strange, amusing and haunting stories in May this year.

Other Worlds is a series of installations in 25 rooms in Rochester House, an empty Victorian building that is destined to be a museum of storytelling. Throughout May, 25 writers will be paired with 25 other artists to produce works inspired by the current state of the building.

Among those taking part are writer and broadcaster Michael Rosen, composer Nick Bicat and Oxford city poet Kate Clanchy. The concept for the exhibition was devised by Dark Angels who run a creative writing programme of master classes at Merton College, Oxford.

Part of the Victorian building was a pub listed in the 1846 Oxford Directory. In 1899 Merton College bought the site from Magdalen College and developed it for residential accommodation, including the Master’s lodgings. In 1921 the site was sold to the Postmaster General for £6,400. Additional buildings were added for a sorting office and a telephone exchange.

The Story Museum is due to open in the refurbished Rochester House in 2014. It aims to be a world centre for story and storytelling and hopes to attract 100,000 paying visitors a year. Authors Philip Pullman, Michael Morpurgo, Michael Rosen and Jacqueline Wilson are patrons of the Story Museum.

Stuart Delves a director of Dark Angels says: ‘Discarded equipment, the last leavings of former occupants, abandoned spaces awaiting some magic… even when they’re empty, these buildings are atmospheric. When they are adapted, with a storytelling purpose, they become extraordinary. We wanted to show our support for The Story Museum in an exciting, practical way.’

Other Worlds, 1 – 31 May, The Story Museum, Rochester House, 42 Pembroke Street, Oxford OX1 1BP
Tel: +44 1865 790050
Website: www.storymuseum.org.uk/otherworlds
Facebook: The Story Museum
Twitter: @TheStoryMuseum

A derelict building has stories to tell in Oxford is a post from: Anglotopia.net

The art gallery that occupies the Georgian mansion of Compton Verney is to hold two new exhibitions when it opens for its 2012 season at the end of March.

Into the Light: French and British painting from Impressionism to the early 1920s marks a decisive period in the history of European art. This exhibition looks at paintings produced on both sides of the Channel from the 1870s to the early 1920s.

There will be 54 paintings and drawings on show by artists including Cézanne, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Sickert, Sisley, Vanessa Bell, Eugène Boudin, Alexander Stanhope Forbes and Philip Wilson Steer. The exhibition reveals interesting connections and shows how a more spontaneous approach to painting produced depictions of the shifting of light over the landscape.

Gainsborough’s Landscapes: Themes and Variations will be the first exhibition devoted solely to the landscapes of Thomas Gainsborough (1727–88). It brings together a group of paintings and drawings from public and private collections that span his whole career. If painting portraits was Gainsborough’s business then painting landscapes was his pleasure. These works reveal the mind of the great artist at work and play.

Compton Verney is a Grade 1 listed Robert Adam mansion set in 50 hectares (120 acres) of parkland. It was home to the Verney or Willoughby de Broke family for almost 500 years, until the early 20th century. Then their derelict 18th-century mansion was transformed into a gallery of international standing. The gallery houses six permanent collections which focus on areas currently under-represented in British museums and galleries, and include British Folk Art, masterpieces from the Golden Age of Neapolitan art from 1600 to 1800, and one of Europe’s foremost Chinese collections.

Compton Verney is open 11am–5pm Tue–Sun and Bank Holiday Mons. Admission to the grounds, the six permanent collections and special exhibitions is £12 adults, £10 concessions and students, £24 family ticket, £2 children 5–15, under-5s free. Into the Light and Gainsborough’s Landscapes will be on show from 31 March to 10 June.

Compton Verney, Warwickshire CV35 9HZ
Tel: +44 1926 645500
Website: www.comptonverney.org.uk
Facebook: Compton Verney
Twitter: @ComptonVerney
YouTube: Compton Verney art gallery

Art: Impressionists and Gainsborough at Compton Verney is a post from: Anglotopia.net

The largest ever exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci’s studies of the human body is to go on display in May at the Queen’s Gallery, next to Buckingham Palace.

Leonardo was not just one of the great artists of the Renaissance: he was also a pioneer in the understanding of human anatomy. He wanted to be ‘true to nature’ in his painting, so he researched the appearance of the physical world in all its aspects, especially the human body. But as human bodies were hard to come by, many of his earliest drawings were based on medieval treatises and his work on the bodies of animals.

Leonardo intended to publish this work in a treatise on anatomy. But when he died in 1519, his anatomical drawings remained among his private papers and their significance was effectively lost to the world for almost 400 years.

His papers were pasted into albums by his successors, and one of the albums was brought to England in the 17th century. It was probably acquired by King Charles II and has been in the Royal Collection since at least 1690. Today the drawings are among the Royal Collection’s greatest treasures.

The Queen’s Gallery is open daily 10am–5.30pm (closed 16 Apr–3 May and 8 Oct–1 Nov), admission adults £7.50, seniors/students £6.75, under-17s £3.75, under-5s free, family ticket £18.75. Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomist is at the gallery from 4 May to 7 October,

The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London SW1A 1AA
Tel: +44 20 7766 7301
Website: www.royalcollection.org.uk
Twitter: @BritishMonarchy
Flickr: The British Monarchy’s photostream

The anatomy of a genius – Da Vinci Exhibition Coming to Buckingham Palace in May is a post from: Anglotopia.net

Tracey Emin is to have her first major solo exhibition at Turner Contemporary, the new gallery in Margate, the town where the British artist grew up.

The exhibition, called She Lay Down Deep Beneath the Sea, will explore the themes of love, sensuality and romanticism and feature both new and existing works. It will include her drawings, monoprints, sculptures and neons and will be installed throughout Turner Contemporary’s suite of first-floor galleries.

Emin’s first known work was the 1997 Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995, which was a tent appliquéd with names. In 1999, she was nominated for the Turner Prize and exhibited My Bed, an installation of her own unmade dirty bed. The Turner Contemporary exhibition’s central themes will continue in a display of paintings, sketches and watercolours of erotic subjects by Tracey Emin as well as JMW Turner and Auguste Rodin, whose iconic sculpture The Kiss is on show at Turner Contemporary until 2 September.

These three very different artists have not been considered jointly before. Their works share, to varying degrees, an interest in the sexual side of life and female sexuality in particular.

JMW Turner (1775–1851) is one of the most celebrated artists in British history. He was educated in Margate and lived in the town with his mistress and landlady Sophie Booth between 1827 and 1847. Here, he said, he could paint, ‘dawn clouds to the east and glorious sunsets to the west…the loveliest skies in Europe’. The first major exhibition of his work, Turner and the Elements, brings together 88 watercolours and 12 late oil paintings at Turner Contemporary until May.

Turner Contemporary is open 10am–6pm Tue–Sun and Bank Holiday Mons, admission free. Turner and the Elements runs from 28 January to 13 May. Tracey Emin’s She Lay Down Deep Beneath the Sea is from 26 May to 23 September.

Turner Contemporary, Rendezvous, Margate CT9 1HG
Tel: +44 1843 233000
Website: www.turnercontemporary.org
Facebook: Turner Contemporary
Twitter: @TCMargate
Flickr: Turner Contemporary’s photostream
Vimeo: Turner Contemporary
Blog: Turner Contemporary
Media channel: Turner Contemporary

The art of Margate at the new Turner Contemporary Gallery is a post from: Anglotopia.net

We here at Anglotopia have come across many creations hand crafted by fellow Anglophiles. These hand-knitted, crochet, sewn, or painted items not only show off the immense talent of their creator but also show a love for all things Blighty. We want to highlight some of the really talented things that we come across in this column, Brit Knits.

Our first Brit Knit artist, Brenna Eaves, I met by chance at a local convention just by chance. I was handing out Doctor Who cards promoting Anglotopia and she walked past me with one of her marvelous creations. When I saw her hand crocheted David Tennant I knew we had to feature her as our first artist for this column, so without further ado:

HELLO ANGLOTOPIA! My name is Brenna Eaves, also known as Brenedict Cumberbunny, I’m a 5 foot 7 inch ape descendant from the same bloodline as Rupert Graves [BBC Sherlock's D.I. Lestrade] and am hopelessly, shamelessly and irrevocably Anglophilic.

I began crocheting when I was eleven or twelve, I think. Newly unschooling and trailing my dad around a Joanne Fabrics, I found a very colourful and attractive book entitled ‘Teach Me To Crochet’ and convinced my dad to buy it for me, along with my first crochet hook and two terribly mismatched skeins of yarn in light blue and bright orange…. By thirteen I had started designing my own patterns (I make amigurumi -or  ‘stuffies’ as I call them). Soon after my first pattern was written, my parents helped me open my Etsy shop, and I’ve been sharing my better designs with the world ever since!

I first watched the BBC series Sherlock in August of 2010, having previously refused to on the grounds that Benedict Cumberbatch was too ‘pretty-boy’ to be playing Sherlock Holmes, and seriously who was this Martin Freeman bloke playing Dr. Watson without a moustache? I thought the whole thing was laughable. Now I’d give anything for a trip in the TARDIS… to go back and punch myself in the face – I mean, how wrong is it possible to be?

Shortly after I became a Cumberbunny (all it took was one word out of Benedict’s mouth and I was head over heels) and avid Sherlockian, I started watching Doctor Who since I heard it was well worth my time and my dad has been a Whovian since the days of the Fourth Doctor. Nine was my first Doctor, Ten stole my heart(s), but if I were to choose I’d be hitching a ride with Eleven, because he’s my favourite and of course bow ties are cool.

I started using my crocheting skills to channel my inner fangirl/Anglophile after I got my sister hooked on Doctor Who. Her birthday was approaching and I wanted to completely blow it out of the water with a gift she’d appreciate above all else. I couldn’t summon the TARDIS, but I could crochet!  Thus Tiny Ten (as I affectionately refer to him) was born, a two-foot crocheted caricature with two button hearts and fantastic hair, and finally my sister and I could travel with the Doctor (we took him to London with us last year) and give him hugs whenever we wanted! Tiny Ten got a mind-blowing response online, the most exciting of which was Steven Moffat’s reply through Twitter, which rendered me dead for a couple of hours (after a good fangirl scream I can assure you).

Even though Tiny Ten had been such a huge undertaking, the project taking me around a month and a half to complete, it wasn’t long at all before I started on my next project; I had been wanting my own Consulting Detective to hug, and since Tiny Ten had worked so well I was incredibly eager to attempt it. A month and a half later I had Bitty Benny (as I affectionately refer to him), who proceeded to win major awards and praise at my local county fair and secure a spot at the Wisconsin State Fair 2012… but once he got home all he did was lie around and complain about the absence of his blogger. So, to keep my walls and sanity intact, I had no choice but to craft Mini Martin (as I affectionately refer to him) whom I finished a few days before Christmas and just in time for Season Two of Sherlock (whew!). My mini John Watson is 23″ to Sherlock’s 25″, has a tan but no tan above the wrists, and wears the matching button heart to the one inside my Sherlock.

Mini Sherlock and John have earned a nod from Amanda Abbington [Martin Freeman's wife, his wife, you guys!], and sat with me along with my shock blanket and a cup of tea while I watched the first episode of the long anticipated Season Two of Sherlock.

I don’t plan to stop here, oh no, you haven’t seen the last of me yet. As long as I have hook and yarn I will be stitching the praises of AngloLand. Cheers to you all!

~Brenna E.

If you would like to see more of Brenna’s work or get a piece of her work you can visit her Etsy shop. She can also be found on Ralvery as NAC13.

If you know of an artist t hat you’d like to see featured in Anglotopia’s Brit Knits colum please contact us to let us know about it!

Brit Knits: Crochet Artist Brenna Eaves’ Sherlock Dolls! is a post from: Anglotopia.net

A new £4-million art gallery opens in the seaside town of Hastings in March.

The Jerwood Gallery will display the Jerwood Foundation’s collection of 20th and 21st century paintings, which will be on public display for the first time. These include works by Sir Stanley Spencer, L S Lowry and Augustus John, alongside works from winners of the Jerwood Painting Prize, Craigie Aitchison, Maggi Hambling, Patrick Caulfield and Prunella Clough.

The gallery is part of a £9-million redevelopment of the Stade, a historic area in the Old Town area of Hastings on the south coast of England. Hastings has Europe’s largest beach-launched fishing fleet.

The Jerwood Foundation is a leading private arts foundation that has invested more than £75 million into the arts since 1991. Alan Grieve, chairman of the foundation, says the project is ‘the culmination of the initiative to make a new home for Jerwood’s collection of 20th and 21st century art and place it in the public domain for the first time. Hastings is linked with a number of artists who are featured in the collection. With its rich history and strong, ever-expanding artistic community, we felt that Hastings was the perfect location for the gallery.’

The new building is on the edge of the working fishing beach near Hastings’ unique net shops. The gallery’s exterior is clad in 8,000 black ceramic tiles which were hand-glazed a few miles away in Kent. The tiles reflect the changing seaside light. There will be a range of gallery spaces from small rooms through to a 180 sq metre gallery for a temporary exhibition programme. The building is being engineered to be as environmentally efficient as possible and will create 60% less CO2 than an average museum of comparable size.

It will establish Hastings in a ‘string of pearls’ of prestigious cultural attractions along the south coast: the Turner Contemporary at Margate, the Folkestone Triennial, the Towner in Eastbourne, the De la Warr Pavilion at Bexhill and Pallant House at Chichester.

The Jerwood Gallery will open on 17 March with the UK’s first retrospective of the works of Kent-based artist Rose Wylie, who has been awarded the 2011 Paul Hamlyn Prize for Visual Arts. Admission charges to be confirmed.

The Jerwood Gallery, Hastings, Sussex
Website: www.jerwoodgallery.org
Twitter: @JerwoodJVA
Flickr: Jerwood Gallery

Art: Hastings’ new gallery of modern art is a post from: Anglotopia.net

British sculptor Antony Gormley has been creating public artworks since the 80s but it was his famous Angel of the North, in the north of England, which made him a household name. Most of his works carry a similar theme: that of the human figure. Gormley describes this as “an attempt to materialise the place at the other side of appearance where we all live”. Those who want to see some of his best works should track down the following sculptures around the UK:

Another Place, Crosby Beach, Liverpool

On a wild stretch of beach near Liverpool stands 100 figures, all facing out to sea. Each of these cast iron sculptures were taken from a cast of Gormley’s own body – a technique he uses in many of his works. Tides cause these figures to be submerged and revealed by the sea and sand over and over again. The piece is considered to be a poignant expression of sentiments associated with emigration; both leaving the familiar, and the hope of a future somewhere new.

Quantum Cloud, London

So much of London’s greatest works of art are free to view, which means bargain holidays for art fanatics. The capital is also home to Gormley’s tallest sculpture to date. Quantum Cloud is 30 metres tall and sits next to the Millennium Dome on the Greenwich Peninsula. This incredible sculpture is a collection of tetrahedral steel units set together in a cloud-shape, forming within it the outline of one of Gormley’s human figures.

Voices from Oxford, Oxford

A 7ft version of one of Gormley’s figures was placed on the roof of Blackwell’s Art and Poster shop in Oxford, having been commissioned by Exeter College. Gormley described the sculpture as an expression of an exposed place, separated from the shelter of architecture. He also joked, “The casual passer-by will ask, ‘What is that naked iron bloke doing up there?’ for which I hope there will never be a single satisfactory answer”.

Angel of the North, Gateshead

Anyone spending their holidays in the north of England – or even just driving through – should take time to stop by the Angel of the North sculpture. This is one of the most iconic of Gormley’s pieces. At 20 metres high it is not quite as tall as Quantum Cloud yet its position on a hill in the Low Fell gives it a prominent position over the countryside. The wings of the Angel stretch 54 metres across, and are the defining feature of what Gormley describes as “a sense of embrace”.

Go Figure: Where to Find the Work of Artist Antony Gormley in Britain is a post from: Anglotopia.net

1). Tate Modern – The national gallery of international modern art and is one of London’s top free attractions. It’s packed with challenging modern art and is housed within a disused power station on the south bank of the River Thames. The imposing brick building, opposite St Paul’s Cathedral, has a superb permanent collection of modern art including masterpieces by Matisse, Picasso, Dalí, Magritte, Mirò, Pollock, Rothko and Warhol as well as regularly changing exhibitions by international artists.

www.tate.org.uk/modern

2). National Gallery - Gallery displaying Western European paintings from about 1250-1900. Includes work by Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Turner, Renoir, Cezanne and Van Gogh.

www.nationalgallery.org.uk

3). Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon - In Stratford, enjoy a performance by the world’s leading classical theatre company, the Royal Shakespeare Company. Experience the RSC’s spectacular 1030 seat Courtyard Theatre, specifically designed as a prototype for the thrust-stage auditorium which the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre will house.

www.rsc.org.uk

4). Sculpture Park (Bretton County Park), North Yorkshire - Set in the beautiful grounds and gardens of a 500-acre, 18th century country estate, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is one of the world’s leading open-air galleries, presenting a changing programme of international sculpture exhibitions.

www.ysp.co.uk

5). National Space Centre, Leicestershire - Launch yourself into the future at the National Space Centre, the UK’s largest attraction dedicated to Space Science and astronomy. From the minute you catch sight of the Space Centre’s futuristic Rocket Tower, you ‘ll be treated to hours of breath-taking discovery where the stories, personalities and technology of the past and present are used to explain our current understanding of space and how it will affect our future.

www.spacecentre.co.uk

6). Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art, Norfolk - An inspirational public art museum at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. It houses the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury collection in a breathtaking Norman Foster building. Works by Picasso, Bacon and Henry Moore are displayed alongside African masks, Indian miniatures, Japanese scrolls, pre-Columbian pottery and ritual objects from ancient European art.

www.scva.org.uk

7). Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, Buckinghamshire – Located in Great Missenden where Roald Dahl (1916-1990) lived and wrote many of his well-loved books. There are 2 galleries telling the fascinating story of his life and displays featuring copies from his unique archive, showing how he worked. In the Story Centre there is a dazzling display to show how other contemporary authors work, with some fun and challenging interactive games.

www.www.roalddahlmuseum.org

8). BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Tyne & Wear - Housed in a landmark industrial building on the south bank of the River Tyne in Gateshead, BALTIC is the biggest gallery of its kind in the world – presenting a dynamic, diverse and international programme of contemporary visual art. BALTIC provides an ever-changing calendar of exhibitions and activities. BALTIC is the first non-Tate venue outside London to host The Turner Prize, widely recognised as one of the most important and prestigious awards for the visual arts in Europe.

www.balticmill.com

9). The World of Beatrix Potter, Cumbria - The World of Beatrix Potter is a unique experience. All 23 Peter Rabbit tales are brought to life in three-dimensions, in a magical indoor recreation of the Lake District countryside, complete with sights, sounds and even smells!

www.hop-skip-jump.com

10). Jane Austens House Museum, Chawton, Hampshire - The novelist Jane Austen is known worldwide for her popular novels describing the society of preindustrial England. She spent the last eight years of her life here at Chawton in the 17th century house which is now preserved in her memory.

www.jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk

11). Nottingham Contemporary - Housed in a brand new landmark building, Nottingham Contemporary opens it doors this November to offer a diverse programme of exhibitions and other art projects.

www.nottinghamcontemporary.org

12). Angel of the North, Gateshead, Tyne And Wear - This 20 metre high sculpture by Antony Gormley is one of the most viewed pieces of public art in the world.

www.angelofthenorth.org.uk

Top 12 England Tourist Attractions for Arts and Culture in England is a post from: Anglotopia.net

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh is to re-open in December after a £17.6-million refurbishment.

The gallery, which has been closed for two years, now has 60% more public and exhibition space, a larger café and shop, a new glass lift, a purpose-built education suite and a learning and resource centre. It will also feature more photography as part of its permanent collection of over 3,000 paintings and 25,000 works on paper. Most of them are portraits of Scots, though not necessarily made by Scots. For 30 years, the gallery has also commissioned portraits of living Scots by contemporary artists.

As well as displaying the portraits chronologically in key phases of Scotland’s history – Reformation, Enlightenment, Empire, Modernity and Contemporary – there will also be a programme of displays and activities that explore the richness of Scottish history and culture.

The Gallery first opened in 1889 in a neo-gothic building of red sandstone that features an elaborate scheme of decorative sculptures on the outside. It will be open daily from 1 December, admission free.

Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1 Queen Street, Edinburgh EH2 1JD Tel: +44 131 624 6200
Website: www.nationalgalleries.org
Facebook: National Galleries of Scotland 
Twitter: @NatGalleriesSco 
YouTube: nationalgalleries 
Flickr: National Galleries of Scotland Commons’ photostream

Caledoniatopia: Scottish National Gallery to Re-open after £17.6 Million Refurbishment is a post from: Anglotopia.net

The house, near the River Thames in Chiswick, will be free to visit in honour of the way Hogarth made his art available to the public through large print runs which could be viewed for free in shop windows.

Hogarth is best known for his pictures of everyday life in Georgian London. These include A Harlot’s Progress, A Rake’s Progress and Marriage-à-la-Mode. His work was so successful that pirated copies were produced by other engravers and Hogarth campaigned successfully for the first copyright legislation in 1735 to protect the work of artists. His 1751 print Gin Lane has come to represent the worst aspects of slum life in 18th-century London.

A selection of the artist’s many prints and engraving plates will be on display in the house, which will be furnished with replicas of some of the furniture featured in Hogarth’s prints. Some of his personal items have been traced from other collections and will be returned to the house for the first time in 200 years. Children will be able to dress up in a specially made costume copied from clothes in his self-portraits

Researchers have studied the full history of the house and visitors will be able to learn about its different residents. It was built around 1715 and Hogarth lived there from 1749 until his death in 1764. He painted in a studio in the walled garden, and used the house as a quiet retreat from his London townhouse in what is now Leicester Square. From 8 November Hogarth’s House will be open Tue–Sun noon–5pm, admission free.

Hogarth’s House, Hogarth Lane, Great West Road, London W4 2QN
Tel: +44 20 8994 6757
Website: www.hounslow.info/arts/hogarthshouse/

Hogarth’s house reopens in November is a post from: Anglotopia.net

More than 100 galleries will take part in the 2012 London Art Fair. In the Main Fair, galleries from across the UK and overseas will exhibit the work of more than 1,000 artists covering the period from the early 20th century to the present day.

The Art Projects area of the fair showcases the work of new and emerging artists, with solo shows, curated group displays and large-scale installations. New galleries to Art Projects in 2012 are Beers.Lambert Contemporary Art, Edel Assanti, Hoxton Art Gallery, Limoncello Editions, Michael Klein, Tenderpixel and Whatiftheworld.

Photo50, a showcase for contemporary photography, will feature 50 works in an exhibition curated by Sue Steward, and there will be a Photography Focus Day on 18 January, with discussions and tours dedicated to contemporary photography. The fair also includes a programme of talks and critical debates, plus daily tours of the Main Fair and Art Projects.

The London Art Fair runs from 18 to 22 January in Islington’s Business Design Centre, admission £11 in advance, £16 on the door, £10 concessions. Preview evening £25 in advance, £30 on the door. Six-day tickets (which include the preview evening) £30 in advance, £35 on the door. Children under 12 accompanied by an adult, free.

London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, London N1 0QH
Website: www.londonartfair.co.uk
Facebook: London Art Fair
Twitter: @LondonArtFair

The Biggest Show of Modern Art That You Can Buy in London is a post from: Anglotopia.net

Tom Hunter is best known for his photographic reworkings of old-master paintings and for being the first artist to have a photography show at the National Gallery in London. For the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) he has produced a series of photographs inspired by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the paintings of the Romantic artist Henry Fuseli. The pictures focus on real lives and communities in Hackney, east London, where Hunter lives and works.

He says: ‘I’ve imagined that explosive mix of real people, cultures and ages in a real life location, and put them all together to create a world full of unbelievable reality. I hope to take Shakespeare out of the theatre and into the lives of the people around us.’

Another London-based artist, George Chakravarthi, is producing a photographic installation of 13 of Shakespeare’s tragic characters, who all meet their ends through suicide. Brutus, Cassius, Eros, Goneril, Mark Antony, Othello, Timon, Lady Macbeth, Portia, Ophelia, Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet are portrayed as a series of self-portraits in light boxes. Chakravarthi says: ‘The portraits are multilayered and imbued with texture, created to present my vision of each image and character, revealing the beauty and anguish found across Shakespeare’s tragedies.’

The RSC’s 50th Birthday Season continues throughout 2011 and features new productions of Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The theatre was reopened by the Queen in April after a £112.8-million, four-year refurbishment: the Swan Theatre was rebuilt and the main theatre given a new 1,000-seat auditorium. There are also two new dedicated exhibition spaces – the PACCAR Room, where Tom Hunter’s photographs will be displayed, and the Swan Room, where George Chakravarthi’s Thirteen is showing. The exhibitions are open daily from 11 November to 29 April, 9am–10pm (10am-10pm Sun), admission free.

Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Waterside, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, CV37 6BB
Tel: +44 844 800 1110
Website: www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions
Facebook: Royal Shakespeare Company
Twitter: TheRSC
YouTube: theRSC
Flickr: Royal Shakespeare Company

Artists interpret Shakespeare in Stratford is a post from: Anglotopia.net

Lewis Carroll’s novels were first published 150 years ago and still fascinate children and adults around the world. The Rev Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Carroll’s real name) first told his stories to the young children of Henry Liddell, the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford. Ten-year-old Alice Liddell begged him to write them down and in 1864 he presented her with a handwritten manuscript entitled Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. In 1865 the story was published as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Carroll’s original manuscript is the starting point for this exhibition, which will offer visitors a rare opportunity to see the author’s own drawings and photographs, alongside Victorian Alice memorabilia and John Tenniel’s preliminary drawings for the first edition of the Wonderland novel.

Surrealist artists from the 1930s onwards have been drawn towards the fantastical world of Wonderland where natural laws were suspended. Wonderland has inspired conceptual artists and pop and psychedelic art. Plans for exhibits include works by Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Peter Blake and Yayoi Kusama. Alice in Wonderland will also showcase a selection of contemporary art with works by Anna Gaskell, Annelies Štrba and Torsten Lauschmann.

Tate Liverpool is open daily 10am–6pm, admission free. Alice in Wonderland will be on show from 4 November to 29 January, admission £8 (£6 concessions).

Tate Liverpool, Albert Dock, Liverpool L3 4BB
Tel: +44 151 702 7400.
Website: www.tate.org.uk/liverpool
Facebook: Tate
Twitter: Tate
Flickr: Tate Gallery’s photostream
You Tube: Tate channel

Through the Looking Glass into Liverpool – Alice in Wonderland is a post from: Anglotopia.net

The winner of the UK’s prestigious Turner Prize for visual arts will be announced on 5 December, and the work of the four finalists will be on display at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead from 21 October.

The Turner Prize was established in 1984 and is awarded to a British artist under 50 for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the 12 months before April 2011. It is intended to promote public discussion of new developments in contemporary British art. The winner receives £25,000 and each of the four runners-up £5,000.

The artists on this year’s shortlist are Karla Black, Martin Boyce, Hilary Lloyd and George Shaw. Black and Boyce both come from Scotland. Karla Black was nominated for her solo show at Galerie Capitain Petzel, Berlin, and for contributions to various group exhibitions, Martin Boyce for his solo exhibition at Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich.

Hilary Lloyd comes from Halifax in Yorkshire. She lives in London and was nominated for a solo show at Raven Row, London. George Shaw was born in Coventry in the English Midlands and was nominated for his solo exhibition at the Baltic, Gateshead.

The Baltic is a major international centre for contemporary art situated on the south bank of the River Tyne in Gateshead, north-east England. It is open daily 10am–6pm, admission free. The Turner Prize finalists will be on show from 21 October to 8 January.

Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead Quays, South Shore Road, Gateshead NE8 3BA
Tel: +44 191 478 1810
Website: www.balticmill.com
Facebook: balticmill

A Brief Guide to Britain’s Top Art Prize – The Turner is a post from: Anglotopia.net

Got a spare $3 Million lying around? A painting by Winston Churchill and gifted to Franklin Roosevelt during the war is now for sale.

Here’s a few snippets about the painting:

• Winston Churchill painted and gave this work to President Franklin Roosevelt
• The Tower of Katoubia Mosque is the only painting Churchill attempted during the war
• It commemorates the pair’s trip to Marrakech following the 1943 Casablanca Conference
• This historically significant work bears a remarkable and complete provenance
• Signed “WSC” (lower right); Oil on canvas

Churchill Painting Gifted to Franklin Roosevelt Up for Sale in the USA is a post from: Anglotopia.net