The Poetry of Drawing: Pre-Raphaelite Designs, Studies and Watercolours
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
29 January 2011 – 15 May 2011
This major exhibition is the largest survey of Pre-Raphaelite drawings and watercolours ever staged. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group of radical young artists who banded together in London in 1848, revolutionised British art. This exhibition explores the vital role played by drawing and design in their work, as well as their associates and followers.
The Poetry of Drawing includes works by all the leading figures of the movement, including the original Brotherhood, their mentor John Ruskin, Elizabeth Siddal, and the ‘second generation’ of Pre-Raphaelites including Edward Burne-Jones, Frederick Sandys and Simeon Solomon. It also displays work by later artists influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites, such as Aubrey Beardsley.
There will be a rare chance to compare textiles, stained glass and ceramics by designers such as William Morris, William de Morgan and Florence Camm with their original working drawings, and the opportunity to see watercolours and drawings never exhibited before. While drawing is often regarded as being secondary to painting, this exhibition reveals its central importance in both the theory and practice of Pre-Raphaelite art.
Related
Galleries in the British Museum
Portrait of Jane Morris; shoulder length.