Reclaiming Narratives: Voices from the College of Medicine and Health 16 November 2024 – 26 January 2025 Print-bay display. Free entry. Who controls the narratives around medicine’s history? And do the portraits on the walls of our medical school really represent those who work and learn there? In 2021 and 2022, the Barber teamed up … Read more
Peace and Noise: The Sounds of the Landscape 16 November 2024 – 26 January 2025 Print bay display. Free entry. Landscapes – as you’ve never heard them before… Sound, as much as sight, informs and shapes the world we inhabit. It can move us, scare us and tell us about the environment or person that … Read more
While physical, three-dimensional frames are commonly used to define the edges of paintings, the relationship between framing and prints is less clear. Using works the Barber’s extensive collection, this display looks at the 17th- and 18th-century fashion for frames and borders to be depicted within the printed image. This happened in diverse and creative ways, … Read more
A new Director has been appointed for the Barber Institute – Dr Jennifer Powell, alumna of the University’s Department of History of Art, Curating and Visual Studies. Jennifer, currently Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Royal Academy of Arts, London and Associate Professor at the University of Cambridge, will take up her duties as … Read more
Behold the man! Other ways of seeing Van Dyck’s painting Celeste Garduño Carbajal ‘We cannot change the past, but we can change how we look at the past’ – Trisse Gejl, Steven Sampson (2020) Behold the man! Other ways of seeing Van Dyck’s painting is a research project resulting from a 4-month internship undertaken by … Read more
Barber Evening Concert Series 2025/26 It is a significant year as we celebrated 80 years of Barber Concerts in November 2025. Join us for the last of our 7 concerts this season: Wednesday 27 May: Solomon’s Knot The concert series continues in the Elgar Concert Hall, Bramall Music Building while the University installs a new … Read more
Tributes paid for the Barber’s former Director Professor Richard Verdi, 1941 – 2022 Former colleagues, students and friends have paid tribute to Richard Verdi OBE, Barber Professor of Fine Art and Director of the Barber Institute from 1990 to 2007. Richard passed peacefully at his home in Selly Park, Birmingham, early on 25 December at the … Read more
The world-class collection here at the Barber Institute began with drawings. Professor Thomas Bodkin (1887 – 1961), the Barber Institute’s first director, made his inaugural purchases for the Henry Barber Trust in 1936 by choosing outstanding Old Master sheets sourced from London dealers and auction houses. Prints followed in 1939. Since then, this aspect of … Read more
This display explores the subject of landscape in etchings and engravings made in the Netherlands during the first half of the 17th century. These are all drawn from the Barber Institute’s collection. In the late 16th and early 17th century Netherlandish landscape settings were generally used primarily as the background for mythological or allegorical subjects. … Read more
Inspired by Birmingham 2022 Festival’s theme of Nature, programmed around the Commonwealth Games, this display explores our enduring fascination with trees. As some of the most prominent, appealing and even essential features of a landscape, trees have a distinctive presence in works by a great variety of artists. Artists have studied trees to develop their … Read more
An arts centre ahead of its time ‘… the wish that we might build, equip and endow, and present to the University, such building or buildings, as would create a neuclus [sic] for an Art Museum or Gallery, and so form an Art Centre for the University’ – Lady Barber, October 1932 ‘Portrait of Lady … Read more
Redefining Perception in the 20th Century International artists of the 20th century constructed new perceptions of the world during a time of intense and turbulent change – from huge technological and scientific advancements, to political revolutions and two world wars. These seismic shifts, coinciding with the rise in popularity of photography, called into question the … Read more
The Barber’s first physical exhibition since reopening the museum in May is proving a hit with visitors and critics – thanks to the ten postgraduate students who curated the show entirely during lockdown. The Daily Telegraph’s chief art critic, Alastair Sooke, gave Making a Mark – which explores the crucial role of drawing in the … Read more
George Bellows Nude, Miss Bentham New York, 1906 Oil on canvas 181 x 89.5 cm Bellows painted this striking nude when he was studying at the New York School of Art. It demonstrates his confident ability to apply paint directly and quickly as well his admiration for earlier European realist artists, such as Manet and … Read more
Marguerite Gérard The Reader Paris, about 1817 oil on canvas 32 x 24 cm unframed; 42 x 33.5 cm framed In the privacy of her tastefully uncluttered home, a young woman intently reads a book. Her delicately ringleted head cranes towards the pages, slightly disturbing her otherwise impeccably upright figure, which sports a fashionable late-18th-century … Read more
Giovanni Bologna (Giambologna) Hercules Wielding his Club Model: Florence, Italy, early 1580s; Cast: probably France or Italy, mid-17th century (unknown foundry) Bronze 41.3 cm Giambologna trained in the Southern Netherlands before moving to Florence to work for the Medici, where he became the leading sculptor in Italy. He made many models for small bronze sculptures, … Read more
Series two Enjoy an in-depth insight into the Barber’s stunning collection through this programme of mini art podcasts. Discussions include past and present displays, small groups of related works, an aspect of the member of staff’s own research, or single masterpieces and recent acquisitions. Episode 16: Cosimo Rosselli: the Nativity in Italian Renaissance Painting, with … Read more
Unknown Italian Maker and British Goldsmith Paul Storr Bloodstone bowl and setting The mounts, London, 1824/5 and the hardstone, perhaps Milan, about 1600 Heliotrope (bloodstone), jasper, and silver gilt 57.658 x 50.292 x 32.512 cm The bloodstone, a type of gemstone also known as a heliotrope, was probably fashioned into a bowl around 1600, perhaps … Read more
About The Barber Institute is home to Europe’s finest art deco concert hall, and boasts a chamber music and recital series dating back to 1945. The internationally acclaimed Barber Evening Concerts are presented alongside regular free Friday lunchtime concerts. We also present the Barber Opera and a variety of family and learning concerts. We work with … Read more
Exhibition Resources Sights of Wonder is an online exhibition of photographs by Francis Bedford (1815-1894) taken during a royal tour to the Eastern Mediterranean in 1862. Curated by Art History and Curating MA students at the University of Birmingham in collaboration with Royal Collection Trust and the Barber Institute, the exhibition launched on 12 June … Read more
Hidden Histories Uncovering the hidden and overlooked histories or our collection with University of Birmingham students. In 2018 we partnered with Dr Asha Rodgers, University of Birmingham (UoB) lecturer in Contemporary Postcolonial Literature, and artist and writer Dzifa Benson to deliver a two-part event collaborating with students. Students participated in a workshop which explored artworks … Read more
Objects can provide us with a window into the past. They can tell us stories about individuals, groups, societies and the world. Asking questions about objects can help us to build a picture of the past and consider how that past affects our present and future. Reclaiming the Teapot was a collaborative project between the … Read more
March – June 2019 This project brought together artist Jane Thakoordin, Ikon Youth Programme (IYP) and the Barber Collective to explore an exhibition at Ikon Gallery alongside an object in the Barber’s collection. The project drew points for consideration and inspiration from Hew Locke’s Armada (2019) which was displayed in his 2019 exhibition at Ikon … Read more
The Marriage Feast at Cana by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo Since March 2020, colleagues in the Learning & Engagement and Curatorial teams have been re-looking at The Marriage Feast at Cana, from about 1672, by the Spanish artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. This ongoing collaborative project aims to address the representation, the possible identities and lived experiences, … Read more
University of Birmingham Collections The Barber’s collection is also viewable online as part of the University’s Online Collections. We are currently in the process of adding our entire collection to the website, so please bear with us.
Sights of Wonder: Photographs from the 1862 Royal Tour Pyramids, temples, sphinxes and shrines: breathtaking images of these ancient and often iconic landmarks, captured by pioneering photographer Francis Bedford, provided new insights for Victorians into the historic and biblical sites of the eastern Mediterranean. Generously lent by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, these remarkable photographs … Read more
Series one Enjoy an in-depth insight into the Barber’s stunning collection through this programme of mini podcasts. Discussions include past and present displays, small groups of related works, an aspect of the member of staff’s own research, or single masterpieces and recent acquisitions. Episode 11: ‘Reclining Nymph’: Androgynous Figures in Renaissance Art, with Kirsty Clarke, … Read more
Barber Home – make a camera obscura Did you know you can turn a whole room into a camera obscura? Explore our online exhibition Sights of Wonder by learning more about the Victorian photography of Francis Bedford. Bedford was the first photographer to ever accompany a royal tour. He photographed temples, pyramids, and people along … Read more
Barber Home – family Join artist Benny Semp and become a St Ives sculptor using our downloadable activity pack, inspired by our exhibition Cornwall as Crucible. Learn about the materials and techniques used by artists Barbara Hepworth and Naum Gabo and turn your household scrap materials into amazing Cornish-inspired sculptures! This family activity pack links … Read more
Barber Home – make a zine We’re thinking about families… and families come in all shapes and sizes! Inspired by Adriaen van Ostade’s drawing The Child and The Doll, join artist Sarah Taylor Silverwood to make a zine and reflect on time spent with your family, whoever and wherever they may be. Anyone can make a … Read more