26 January 2012
Age of Elegance brings the roaring twenties to the Square
Mile
Age of Elegance: 1890 – 1930
Guildhall Art Gallery and Roman Amphitheatre
11 February – 28 May 2012
A major new exhibition, Age of Elegance: 1890 –
1930, opens at Guildhall Art Gallery and Roman
Amphitheatre next month to celebrate paintings from the fin de
siècle to the roaring twenties.
Highlights include John Lavery’s portrait of his socialite wife,
Lady Lavery; The Garden of Eden (1901) by Hugh
Goldwyn Rivière, which depicts a young courting couple walking
through a London park; and Henry Hubert La Thangue’s Mowing
Bracken (1903), a portrait of a young farm worker
collecting crops used as winter bedding for livestock and
thatching.
During the exhibition’s run, a group of artists and designers
working and exhibiting in Greater London will display contemporary
works inspired by the Portrait of Lady Lavery.
Sonia Solicari, Principal Curator at Guildhall Art Gallery and
Roman Amphitheatre, says:
- “All of the paintings in this exhibition have been drawn from
the Gallery’s permanent collection and many of them haven’t been
exhibited for decades so, thanks to the hard work of our team of
conservators, this is an opportunity to showcase some rarely seen
gems. The period from 1890 – 1930 is a transitory one for British
art, which was still emerging from an eclectic legacy of Victorian
styles, so we hope that the works on display will raise all sorts
of questions about Britain’s artistic identity at this
time.”
To coincide with Age of Elegance: 1890 - 1930
and, following the huge success in October last year of the
Gallery’s first Late View, ‘Moonlight Madness’, the Gallery will
hold ‘The Cat’s Pyjamas’ on Friday 24 February from 6pm – 10pm.
This Late View, the second in the series, will offer visitors a
free, jazz-themed evening of music, literature and entertainment
from the 1920s. A pop-up bar offering decadent cocktails will
ensure that the evening goes with a swing.
Age of Elegance: 1890–1930 runs from Saturday
11 February 2012 to Monday 28 May 2012. Admission is free.
Ends
For more information:
Please contact Iliana Taliotis or Ellie Hughes at Colman Getty on
020 7631 2666 or
elliehughes@colmangetty.co.uk
Guildhall Art Gallery and Roman Amphitheatre
:
http://www.guildhall-art-gallery.org.uk/
Opening times : Monday to Saturday 10.00am - 5.00pm; Sunday 12
noon - 4pm; last admissions 30 minutes before the advertised
closing time.
T 020 7332 3700
Email
guildhall.artgallery@cityoflondon.gov.uk
Guildhall Yard, London, EC2V 5AE
About the City of London
Corporation:
The City of London Corporation is a uniquely diverse organisation.
It supports and promotes the City as the world leader in
international finance and business services, and provides local
services and policing for those working in, living in and visiting
the Square Mile. It also provides valued services to London and the
nation, including the Barbican Centre and Guildhall School of Music
& Drama; Guildhall Library and Art Gallery and London
Metropolitan Archive; a range of education provision (including
three City Academies); five Thames bridges (including Tower Bridge
and Millennium Bridge); the Central Criminal Court at Old Bailey;
over 10,000 acres of open spaces (including Hampstead Heath and
Epping Forest), and three wholesale food markets. It is also
London’s Port Health Authority and runs the Animal Reception Centre
at Heathrow. It works in partnership with neighbouring boroughs on
the regeneration of surrounding areas and the City Bridge Trust,
which it oversees, donates more than £15m to charity
annually.