Press Release For immediate use 3 June 2009
Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover 15 May – 5 July 2009 The New Art Gallery Walsall
A new exhibition at The New Art Gallery Walsall looks at the people behind the portraits Male and female. Old and young. Dead or still alive. What sort of lives did they lead? What did they go on to do? Were they famous or infamous? Creative or unfulfilled? Lonely or gregarious? Happy or sad? This new exhibition of portraits at The New Art Gallery Walsall gives visitors an opportunity to find out more about the people in the pictures and offers an insight into the motivations of the artist, often revealing the relationship and dialogue the artist and sitter had together. This selection of portraits is taken from Walsall’s art collections and includes both contemporary and historic works by artists including Edgar Degas, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Jacob Epstein, Andrew Tift and Lucian Freud. Jo Digger Collections Curator says "There are some amazing characters portrayed in the Collections at Walsall with such incredible stories about their lives. There are circus artistes, Russian refugees and a number of women who were fabulous artists in their own right but were overshadowed by their more famous male partners. We thought people would like to know more about the people in the pictures and less about the artists who created the pictures”. In giving the viewer information about the person in the picture we are offering an opportunity for greater understanding of the art work by revealing a little of the
knowledge and the feelings the artist had of and for the sitter when they created the work. Many of the artists had an intimate knowledge of their sitter; they are often friends, lovers or family. Very few of the people portrayed here were unknown to the artist before they started the work and most of them were created by the artist from a personal artistic motivation not as a commercial transaction. Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover enables us to be more aware of the many associations, links and tensions between the extraordinary people portrayed in the artworks in this exhibition and on permanent display and the artists who created them. A catalogue Portraits in the Garman Ryan Collection accompanies this exhibition and is available from the Gallery Shop on the ground floor priced £4.95. To find out more about the portraits in this exhibition visit the Art Library on the mezzanine level of the gallery. Admission to the gallery is free. Ends Notes to Editors Photocall: 11am Tuesday 9 June 2009. When Kathleen Epstein selected the 367 art works which she decided to give to Walsall and call ‘The Garman Ryan Collection’, she selected an inordinately large number of portraits. She also decided upon a thematic approach to the display of the collection. Of the eleven themes she chose there were two specifically on portraiture, ‘Portraits of Adults’ and ‘Portraits of Children’. The collection on display at The New Art Gallery Walsall continues to maintain the original thematic display in galleries designed specifically for the collection. Many of the people in the portraits have a personnel relationship with Kathleen and they lend a sense of memorial to the collection, since by the time Kathleen
was finalising the creation of the collection in the 1960’s, both her husband Jacob Epstein and two of their three children had died. However the eclectic nature of the diverse artworks on display ensures that this familial approach does not take over. The extraordinary diversity of the people portrayed, the famous and the completely unknown, creates both intimacy and internationalism. They range from the delicate portrait of Sisley’s young son, Pierre and the unknown Clasina Maria Hoornik by Van Gogh to Epstein’s bronzes of some of the most famous writers of the time; T.S. Elliot and Indian celebrity Rabindranath Tagore. Interviews and further information For interview opportunities with Collections Curator, Jo Digger, images and further information please contact Hollie Latham, Marketing and Development Manager on 01922 654402 or email lathamh@walsall.gov.uk The New Art Gallery Walsall is run and maintained by Walsall Council and also receives significant financial support from Arts Council England. The gallery is open Monday to Saturday 10am to 5pm, Sunday 11am to 4pm. Admission is free. For more information visit the gallery website thenewartgallerywalsall.org.uk
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