Midlands Art Papers 2 (2018/19)
Midlands Art Papers is a collaborative online journal, working between the University of Birmingham and 13 partner institutions to research and explore the world class works of art and design in public collections across the Midlands.
On exhibit: Curating Madame Vuillard
Francesca Berry articleIn October 2018 the Barber Institute of Fine Arts opened a loan exhibition, ‘Maman: Vuillard and Madame Vuillard’, featuring the art of the French post-Impressionist Édouard Vuillard (1868–1940). Curator Francesca Berry explains the feminist ideas motivating the exhibition.
In conversation: perspectives on art interpretation
B Scholes and S Hatchwell article
On exhibit: The Space Between Gender (RBSA)
Cai Lyons articleHow can sculpture perform a feminist occupation of space? Cai Lyons explores the role of gender binaries in Yazmin Boyle’s 2018 RBSA exhibition.
Object in focus: Trevor Denning, RBSA Gallery, New Street
Faith Whitehouse articleFaith Whitehouse explores the tension between ‘modern’ and traditional painting at the RBSA in the 1950s.
In depth: intertwining histories - Donald Rodney and David Hockney
Greg Salter articleHow did artists respond to the racial politics of 1980s Britain? Greg Salter explores the provocative intertwining of histories of racism, colonialism and sexuality in Donald Rodney’s 1989 drawing.
Object in focus: Jacob Epstein, TS Eliot (1952)
Matthew Geary articleMatthew Geary explores an unlikely friendship between sculptor Jacob Epstein and poet T.S. Eliot, and the sculpture in The New Art Gallery Walsall from which this relationship developed.
Object in focus: Auguste Rodin, The Age of Bronze (c.1877)
Helen Cobby articleRodin’s famous sculpture The Age of Bronze is displayed at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in an unusual way. Curator Helen Cobby reveals the history of its reception, acquisition and display.
Object in focus: Andrew Tift, Three Black Country Steel Workers (1992)
Mimi Buchanan articleHow can a painting document de-industrialisation and its social consequences? Mimi Buchanan examines Andrew Tift’s study of Black Country steelworkers.
Object in focus: Alfred Wallis, A Brig Close To Shore (c.1928)
Rebecca Savage articleRebecca Savage argues that we need to understand the ‘childlike’ paintings produced by the fisherman-turned-artist Alfred Wallis in relation to wider developments in modern British art.
Object in focus: John Collier, Godiva (1998)
Kate Nichols articleKate Nichols explores debates around the Victorian nude – past and present – and sets out new information about Collier’s iconic Godiva painting.
Percy Shakespeare, Tropical Bird House, Dudley Zoo (c.1939)
Object in focus
Sam Shaw articleWhat can we learn about human-animal relationships from art works? Sam Shaw discusses 1930s paintings of people and animals in zoos.