daviesac The Barber Collective re-interpret the collection through interdisciplinary art, music and performance practice. Collaborating with artists, designers and musicians, the group of 16 – 21 year olds discuss, re-imagine and create. Enjoy this exhibition of work by the first cohort. Check out their Instagram to see what they’ve been up to.
The Barber’s art works as you’ve never heard them before… As part of their Sounding Images module, University of Birmingham music students have created new electroacoustic pieces inspired by works in the Barber collection. Listen to four paintings in the gallery, including the Henri Matisse loan ‘Landscape in Corsica’, on this audio tour, and experience … Read more
Prints by John Sloan John Sloan was a contemporary of George Bellows, and his work – like that of his fellow Ashcanners – provides fascinating historical insights into Manhattan life in a period of rapid social change. These rare prints, a gift to the Barber from Delaware Art Museum prompted by our 2016 exhibition Bellows … Read more
George Bellows With its radical urban subject matter and its lyrical palate of wintry hues, Men of the Docks, 1912, became the first painting by George Bellows acquired for a UK public collection when it was purchased by the National Gallery in 2013. Just a year later, his Nude, Miss Bentham was purchased for our … Read more
When the Royal Academy of Arts was founded in 1768, it elected Sir Joshua Reynolds – then England’s most prominent painter – as its first President. As part of a programme of events around the UK to mark 250 years of the Royal Academy, we celebrate Reynolds as artist and collector. The display brings together the four … Read more
Immensely appealing works by the four artists known collectively as the ‘Scottish Colourists’ – SJ Peploe, JD Fergusson, FCB Cadell and Leslie Hunter – are shown together for the first time in the West Midlands in this exhibition of works lent by the important Fleming Collection. Painted in the early 20th century, their cityscapes, still … Read more
The language of colour across four centuries of printmaking is explored in this display that complements the Barber’s main spring exhibition, ‘The Rhythm of Light’. Featuring at least six different types of printmaking and numerous colouring techniques by artists as diverse as Gillray, Turner, Max Ernst and Edward Lear, It also explores the possible functions, … Read more
German Graphic Art 1910 – 1923 Käthe Kollwitz (1867 – 1945) lived through a tumultuous period in Germany’s history, from the birth of its empire to the fall of the Third Reich, and unflinchingly depicted the devastating effects of starvation, war and inequality. Drawing and experimenting with print techniques enabled her and her contemporaries to … Read more
History subjects from the Bible and classical mythology, in Dutch prints and drawings, feature in this display to complement Pride and Persecution. Focusing on some rarely shown prints and drawings by Rembrandt and his pupils, it also includes etchings by Dutch masters after paintings by Adam Elsheimer, whose work was an important influence on Rembrandt. … Read more
Jan Steen’s Old Testament Scenes Jan Steen is one of the most engaging and brilliant artists of the 17th-century Dutch Golden Age. Best known for humourous, gently moralising scenes of everyday life, he also produced some 70 remarkable paintings narrating scenes from the Bible and classical mythology and history. This innovative exhibition puts into context … Read more
A selection of the Barber’s most iconic paintings – as you’ve never heard them before! Inspired by works in the gallery, University music students have created new electroacoustic pieces as part of the Sounding Images module. Their selection includes works by Claude, Dahl, Magritte and Auerbach – so take an audio tour of the gallery … Read more
Francisco de Goya worked in a politically turbulent period of Spanish history, notoriously articulating his fears and observations through his masterful treatment of light and shadow in his prints. This display of examples from the Barber’s collection places five of Goya’s enigmatic works among those by other Spanish artists, such as Picasso and Miró, who … Read more
Matthew Pagett Imagine a net so wide it catches not just people and places but also their thoughts, feelings and histories. Imagine that net cast over campus… Our artist-in-residence, Matthew Pagett, was asked to respond to our recent exhibition about early-20th-century New York artist George Bellows – and in particular the illustrations Bellows made as … Read more
19th-Century Portrait Photography The dawn of photography in the mid-19th century made portraiture accessible to a much wider public. This exhibition explores early photographic studio portraiture, including the popular carte-de-visite format. The exhibition discusses how photographic techniques, backdrops, props, costumes and poses enabled public figures – ranging from Oscar Wilde through Ellen Terry to Queen … Read more
David Talbot Rice and the Rediscovery of Byzantium From the 1920s through to the 1950s, renowned archaeologist and art historian David Talbot Rice conducted some of the first examinations of the ruins of the Byzantine Empire. Exhibited here for the first time, photos, drawing and field notes from these studies mark his contribution to bringing … Read more
Gold, Silver and Bronze in Byzantium Discover Byzantium – the once-great empire whose glittering capital was the city of Constantinople (today’s Istanbul )- through this intriguing exploration of its coinage and economy. Constantinople’s majesty astounded visitors from across the medieval world. However, the Byzantine empire was eclipsed in popular imagination by its earlier Roman incarnation … Read more
Hannah Honeywill The intricately ornamented and gilded historic picture frames that surround so many of the paintings in the Barber’s galleries are the starting point for this new sculpture by Hannah Honeywill. An emerging London-based artist and recipient of prestigious Wellcome Trust Arts Award funding, Honeywill combines the exploration of the function and form of … Read more
Paintings have always been copied by other artists and reproduced by printmakers for study or commercial gain. Although, if unauthorised, artists usually condemned the sale of such facsimiles as fraudulent, they have often encouraged printmakers to replicate their work – thereby raising the profile of the original. This display explores the reasons for the popularity … Read more
Photographs by Attilio Fiumarella A painting by the great Italian Baroque artist Caravaggio, depicting the seven corporal acts of mercy of traditional Catholicism, is the inspiration for this outstanding series of 14 dramatic images. Like his predecessor, Birmingham-based photographer Fiumarella uses real people as his models – in this case, the homeless and prostitutes from … Read more
Idealised nudes from mythological and religious scenes contrast with uncompromising, and occasionally grotesque, studies of the human form. Complementing the major exhibition Bellows and the Body, this display includes stylistically diverse works from a broad time period, with drawings and prints by artists such as Tiepolo, William Orpen, and a recently acquired nude study by Augustus John.
Vast, desolate and dramatic landscapes are shown alongside vistas of inhabited, peaceful countryside in this display of works on paper by British artists from 1780 to 1880. It showcases three stunning watercolours by Birmingham-born artist David Cox, recently donated to the gallery, as well as superb watercolours, drawings and prints by Gainsborough, Turner and Constable, among others. Th e display explores the … Read more
The Real, the Ideal and the Nude In February 2015 the Barber announced an important new acquisition – Nude, Miss Bentham (1906), an early masterpiece by one of the most significant American painters of the early 20th century. This compelling nude study is only the second painting by George Bellows (1882 – 1925) in a … Read more