New works on show in City Museum and Art Gallery’s ‘Women in Art’

A new selection of paintings can now been seen in Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery’s popular ‘Women in Art’ exhibition.

The exhibition, which will remain on display until 12 April 2014, showcases paintings, prints, ceramics and other works from the city’s permanent art collection. The works either portray or were created by women and cover a time period that spans the Renaissance to the present day.

Some of the more fragile works that were on display in the exhibition have gone back into store to ensure their safekeeping. This has given the Museum’s art curators an opportunity to display a new selection of works in their place.

The new works include an old favourite, a new acquisition plus some works rarely seen on display.

The old favourite is the ‘Venus Concordia’ – a huge painting by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones RA (1833-1898) which he began in 1872 and left unfinished. Burne-Jones was a painter, stained glass artist and designer of ceramic tiles, jewellery, woodcuts, tapestries, mosaics and book illustrations.

He is most closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement – a group of English painters, poets and critics who established themselves in the mid-1800s and whose work is held in significant public collections throughout the world.

The new acquisition is ‘Would You Like This Badge?’ by LOW PROFILE – a collaboration between Plymouth-based artists Rachel Dobbs and Hannah Jones. The work was created to coincide with the city’s hosting of British Art Show 7 in late 2011 and features six limited edition badges with texts about the artists’ experience of living in Plymouth.

The updated version of ‘Women in Art’ also includes some rarely displayed miniatures dating from 1929 to 1939 by Ann Pollard, who was a member of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers. Pollard’s work achieved much acclaim and showcased her love of Oriental designs.

Pollard is also featured in a portrait by Eileen Wyon now included in the exhibition. Wyon was based in Newlyn, Cornwall and a supporter of Cornish art during the war years. The fact that Pollard sat for the portrait suggests the two women were friends. This work is the only portrait of a woman painted by another female in the city’s permanent art collection.

Women in Art is open from 10am to 5.30pm Tuesday to Friday and 10am to 5pm on Saturdays (except 25 December 2013 to 1 January 2014 inclusive). Admission is free.

Information about all of the Museum and Art Gallery’s exhibitions is available on the what’s on pages at www.plymouthmuseum.gov.uk.