Thursday 02 February 2012
Brighton & Hove Successfully Bids To Bring Turner Watercolour To The City
A Turner painting of Brighton will go on public display for the first time in more than a century after beingbought by the city's Royal Pavilion and Museums.
The watercolour, believed to have been painted in 1824/5, has been in private hands and unseen by the public for more than 100 years.
The painting depicts Brighton from the sea, with the newly constructed chain pier on the right of the picture and the Royal Pavilion at the centre.
Jenny Lund, Curator of Fine Art at the Royal Pavilion and Museums, said:
"The watercolour The Chain Pier, Brighton will be a tremendous asset for the Royal Pavilion & Museums and its fine art collection.
“It will highlight the international importance of the collection as it will strengthen our current holdings of artworks relating to the cultural history of the Pavilion and the historical development of Brighton & Hove."
Its whereabouts were unknown for so long, and we did not want it to disappear into obscurity again."
It will go on show at the Royal Pavilion soon after it arrives in the city and will be the star attraction of a new exhibition at the historic royal palace next year.
The Royal Pavilion & Museums service successfully bid (at a cost of £225,000) for the watercolour, The Chain Pier at Brighton, at an auction at Christie's in New York.
Stuart McLeod, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for the South East, added:
"We are delighted to have been able to help the Royal Pavilion Museum purchase this exceptional painting by Turner.
“Thought lost for so many years it will now be returned to the people of Brighton where it will provide a fascinating insight into the town's early 18th century history."
The Chain Pier, Brighton measures 15.2 by 22.9cms and is pencil, pen, black ink and watercolour.
It represents a significant and important period in British and Brighton’s history and reveals a great deal about the social, economic and cultural conditions of Britain in the 1800s.
The composition emphasises what was new in Brighton and wonderfully captures the bustle and excitement of the town.
Turner has placed the Royal Pavilion in the centre of the picture, emphasising the contribution made by George IV to the establishment of Brighton as a pleasure resort.
The right hand side of the image is devoted to the recently built Chain Pier, a bold statement of technology and engineering and the country’s first pleasure pier.
Besides this modern wonder, Turner depicts traditional Brighton fishing boats, juxtaposing the old and the new.
Once the painting is brought back to Brighton, it will be placed on display in the Royal Pavilion for a short period.
Following this, in 2013, the watercolour will be the centrepiece in a new temporary exhibition at the Royal Pavilion.
The exhibition will explore the town’s development in the early 19th century and the important relationship played by the Pavilion in Brighton’s development.
It will also explore the changing relationship Brighton has had with the sea: from its humble beginnings as a fishing town to its fashionable status under George IV as a seaside resort and latterly as a tourist attraction.
by: Mike Cobley
|
|
A life-sized metal silhouette of an early steam locomotive is to be installed on a redundant railway bridge in Brighton.
The Grade 2 listed bridge crosses New England Road between Preston Circus and Seven ...
more >>
|
Foundation Degree Fine Art students from City College Brighton and Hove have been digging deep into their creative imaginations for Paxton, the Brighton-based company which employs over 160 staff.
Paxton provided the students with a brief to produce artwork to be shown in their Brighton premises.
Following site visits and presentations from the company, nine students<...
more >>
|
One of the most successful stage shows of recent times, Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, is set to visit Brighton for two nights and take another technological leap forward.
Internationally acclaimed actor Liam Neeson will be seen in 3D holography as the story's narrator and leading a ...
more >>
|
A historic steam locomotive that was built in Brighton more than 130 years ago will be returning to its actual birthplace next month in celebration of the Brighton Modelworld Exhibition.
It will be the first time in more than 50 years that members of the public have been able to see The London Brighton & South Coast Railway’s Terrier class locomotive number 682 which was bui...
more >>
|
Almost 900 school children from across Brighton and Hove are set to get up close and personal with some of the amazing marine wildlife that can be found around the UK coast.
Youngsters from three city schools will be attending sessions of the Marine Conservation Society’s (MCS)
more >>
|
When Aneurin 'Nye' Wright's 'Things to Do in a Retirement Home Trailer Park When You're 29 and Unemployed' dropped through my letterbox it sounded like a bomb had gone off. Delving into the graphic memoir's incendiary contents only confirmed that what I now had in my possession was one of the reasons Kindle and their ilk won't put paid to the printed word.
The combination of time-consuming (the author took some eight years to bring the idea from inspired idea to page), masterfully drawn and touchingly c...
more >>
|
Brighton and Hove’s Royal Pavilion and Museums have been selected to be a partner of Arts Council England, owing to their excellent work, particularly relating to broadening engagement with young people, and resilience.
Museums which will benefit include the Royal Pavilion, Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, Hove Museum & Art Gallery, The Booth Museum of Natural History, P...
more >>
|
Who's that lady (who's that lady)/Beautiful lady (who's that lady)/Lovely lady (who's that lady)/Real fine lady (who's that lady) – well as sure as Tamla Motown ruled the airwaves back in the sixties, the lady in question in the Isley Brother’s classic can only be Martha Reeves.
Having been raised the Alabama the church way, Reeves hit teendom and became a fan of R&B and doo-wop music.
more >>
|
Grotty Camden. Grotty Thursday morning. Graham Coxon sidles out of the cafe, lights up a cigarette and surveys the bit of London that - by default, he insists - has become his 'patch' for the best part of 20 years. "I don't like places," he says. An awkward smile lets you in on the fact that he knows that what he has said sounds a little absurd. "I tried Kent for a year, while my house was being done up, but it wasn't any better. So, there it is."
Back in the café, Graham huddles around his coffee and runs a hand through his tousled hair. Guitarists are supposed to be show-offs by nature. If he were so inc...
more >>
|
The Maccabees are three albums into their career (no mean feat for a modern day indie-rock band), and their latest release, Given To The Wild, has garnered a plethora of music industry critical acclaim.
But expectations – their own and the outside world’s – made completion of Given To The Wild an intensive period of creativity that at one point seemed beyond ...
more >>
|
|
|