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From one of the most significant artists of her generation, Claudette Johnson, presenting new work, through stunning botanical illustrations from the V&A and the portrayal of women on coins, to the aromas of Pre-Raphaelite art – the Barber will delight your senses in 2024 Claudette Johnson 22 June – 22 September 2024 Claudette Johnson is … Read more
£10m scheme underway The first phase of a £10 million essential building improvement programme started at the Barber in autumn 2023 with the refurbishment of its exhibition gallery. The refit of the Lady Barber Gallery will include the installation of new walls, floors, glass doors and state-of-the-art lighting. The air-handling system will also be completely … Read more
Masterpieces by Rembrandt van Rijn, Anthony van Dyck and Frans Hals are among the dazzling selection of paintings from Woburn Abbey that take centre stage in the Barber’s lead exhibition this summer. The show features one of the largest and most significant groups of Old Master paintings from the important collection of the Dukes of … Read more
Storytelling is at the heart of the majority of Christian images. For centuries, before many could read, it was through paintings, drawings, print and sculpture that most people learned the story of Christ’s life. Episodes from that story feature in a large proportion of all the art created over the last two millennia: in the … Read more
How to find us The Barber is just three miles from the centre of Birmingham – we encourage our visitors to use public transport, walk, or cycle where possible. PLEASE NOTE: Our galleries are closed for essential building improvements – reopening summer 2024. Cycle There is a cycle rack to the right of the main … Read more
Enjoy a look around the exhibition, and hear guest curator Dr Jamie Edwards, from the University of Exeter, talk about the show’s themes, in this 12-minute video… Credit: Blend Films Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564 – 1637/38) was hugely successful in his lifetime. Born in Brussels, he was the son the renowned painter, Pieter Bruegel … Read more
Money has often been a matter of life and death, since time immemorial. Coins are struck in tribute to great emperors, monarchs and leaders, and their beloved children – recently deceased or even long dead – and have honoured illustrious relatives and ancestors through the portraits they can carry. They have been used in many … Read more
Spanning borders, periods and cultural perspectives, this display of prints and drawings explores the concept of topography: how a place is defined by a description of its significant physical features – be they geographical, natural or man-made. It features images from the Barber collection by artists as diverse as Fra Bartolommeo, Wenceslaus Hollar, Piranesi, JMW … Read more
Albrecht Dürer (1471 – 1528) combined an unparalleled virtuosity as painter and draftsman with an innovative approach to printmaking. He also possessed a shrewd entrepreneurial sense, and an ability to portray subjects and issues that appealed to the general public and the highest-ranking patrons alike – including the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I. These factors … Read more
How can exploring pictures in an art gallery improve management and marketing practice for business leaders of the future? That is the question that has been considered by more than 450 students from Birmingham Business School visiting the Barber’s galleries as part of a groundbreaking initiative aimed at decolonising business and management education. During February … Read more
Reclaiming Narratives: The Portrait A joint project between the Barber Institute of Fine Arts and the College of Medical and Dental Sciences In Spring 2022, a group of MDS students teamed up with award-winning artist photographer Marley Starskey Butler* and the Barber for a three-part portraiture workshop. The aim was to document their college and … Read more
Long before Grumpy Cat, Dolly the Sheep or Red Rum, there was Miss Clara, a female Indian rhinoceros who achieved an unprecedented level of fame during the 18th century. Weighing in at around 5,000 lbs or 2268 kgs, Miss Clara disembarked in Rotterdam in 1741 after being transported from Bengal by an enterprising Dutch sea-captain, … Read more
Visitors this New Year will be greeted by three of the greatest paintings from the collection usually on display at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. The trio of internationally significant masterpieces have been lent by Birmingham Museums Trust for a two-year period to the Barber – where they will hang among our own collection. The … Read more
Politics, Propaganda and the Collapse of the Roman Republic If you thought fake news, personal propaganda – and political strongmen shifting democracies toward dictatorship – were modern phenomena, then this exhibition invites you to think again. The First Dictators explores how coins were used for propaganda purposes during the dying days of the Roman Republic … Read more
Cats and dogs bring out the positive and playful sides of their human companions and the artists who depict them. This display, which explores companion animals within domestic and rural settings, considers what borders are crossed to allow some animals into human lives, activities and domestic spaces – and what meanings are then bestowed upon … Read more
School Visits School teachers – experience our galleries with your students! Our schools offer invites you to take part in guided tours and self-guided visits for Secondary Schools, KS3-5. This offer is currently free. Please Note: All Barber galleries are closed until summer 2024 as we begin the first phase of a building improvement project. … Read more
Degas, De’Anne & Miss La La: A live desktop performance by De’Anne Crooks This event took place on Wednesday 5 May 2021, 6 – 6.45pm Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando (1879) is a drawing by Edgar Degas of Miss La La, an acrobat of mixed European and African parentage. Exoticised at the time … Read more
Caricature, thought to have originated in Italy in the late 16th century, developed out of artists exaggerating their subjects’ physical features for expressive or comical effect. It arrived in England in the 1700s, and by the end of the century, had transformed in its use from mere lampoonery into satire and the comic cartoon. This … Read more
Meet Jane Nicol The project’s inaugural Nurse in Residence is Jane Nicol, Senior Lecturer at the University of Birmingham’s School of Nursing and a registered nurse who has specialised in palliative and end of life care. Jane will be looking at the Barber’s collection through her unique lens and developing ways of using the Barber’s … Read more
Making a Mark Dutch and Flemish Drawings from the Royal Collection ‘Drawing is the father of painting…and the portal to many of the arts’ Karel van Mander, 1604. Exquisite and intriguing 16th- and 17th-century drawings by Dutch and Flemish artists, including Rubens, Rembrandt and Van Dyck, feature in Making a Mark, the Barber’s first physical … Read more
Barber Health asks: how can we can best support recovery? Barber Health is the Barber’s flagship programme, supporting research and programmes connecting our audiences to our collection through arts, health and wellbeing. The original aspirations of Barber Health, to “respond to the pressing issues in our community that were foregrounded by Covid” and to “make … Read more
Drawn to Antiquity Works on Paper from the Lawrence Alma-Tadema Collection Print Bay Display The artist whose work inspired the design for Ridley Scott’s Hollywood blockbuster Gladiator comes under the spotlight in this fascinating display. Drawn to Antiquity features twelve drawings from the Lawrence Alma-Tadema Collection at the University of Birmingham’s Cadbury Research Library (Special … Read more
