Current Exhibitions | Abbot Hall Art Gallery

Turner and his Contemporaries: The Hickman Bacon Watercolour Collection

12 January - 14 April 2012

Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal will be exhibiting more than 40 outstanding works from the magnificent collection assembled by Sir Hickman Bacon almost one hundred years ago, one of the most important private holdings of British 18^th and 19^th century watercolours in the world. At the centre of the show will be the towering figure of JMW Turner who, pushed to ever greater heights through his association with his contemporary, Thomas Girtin, transformed the medium and raised the humble watercolour to a technical and aesthetic level previously unimaginable. Book ending the exhibition will be atmospheric and exquisitely modulated works by other exceptional innovators, including John Robert Cozens and John Sell Cotman, many of whom were neglected at the time that the astute Sir Hickman Bacon acquired their watercolours but who are now recognised as true masters of the art. Abbot Hall, which itself possesses a fine collection of Lake District watercolours, is a fitting venue for what promises to be a beautiful and inspiring show.

Supported by - Arts Council England, Christie's

Display - The Great Picture Triptych

16 June 2011 - December 2013

This complex, mysterious and enormous 17th century triptych was acquired by the Lakeland Arts Trust in 1981 with the aim of keeping it in the North West where Lady Anne Clifford, who commissioned this painting, ruled over her estates in the counties of Westmorland and Craven. The complete work remained on display at Appleby Castle until its return to Kendal in 1999. However, due to access difficulties, the triptych has never previously been shown in its entirety at Abbot Hall – until now. The large central section has been reunited with the side panels, allowing visitors the opportunity to experience the full impact of this magnificent and unique masterpiece at Abbot Hall for the first time in the painting’s history.

Click for further information on The Great Picture

Supported by - Arts Council England, Northern Rock Foundation, The John Ellerman Foundation

Display - Edward Wilson: Artist of the Antarctic

12 January - 21 April 2012

Edward Wilson was a physician, naturalist, explorer and artist who accompanied Captain Scott on both his expeditions to Antarctica, and was one of the five men, including Scott, who perished on their return from the South Pole, having been beaten to their goal to be the first to reach the South Pole by the Norwegian Roald Amundsen. 2012 is the 100th anniversary of the expedition and this display of all nine of Abbot Hall’s otherworldly polar watercolours by Edward Wilson, not seen together for 40 years, is a modest but fitting tribute to this remarkable man.

Supported by - Arts Council England

Display - Face to Face: Modern Portraits from Abbot Hall's Permanent Collection

12 January - 26 March 2012

Portraits constitute a significant proportion of Abbot Hall’s seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth-century works, but are rare within the modern collection. This display pulls together some of Abbot Hall’s more striking twentieth and twenty-first century examples, including works by Lucian Freud, Stanley Spencer, David Bomberg, Bernard Meninsky, Kurt Schwitters and Hilde Goldschmidt, and shows how artists have shaped, distorted and transformed the portrait in response to developments in modernist painting and drawing.

Supported by - Arts Council England