With the Pre-Raphaelite’s return to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, now is the perfect time to take in some of the city’s art, craft and culture.
It has been some years since I have seen the collection of Pre-Raphaelite art at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG), due to, amongst other things, a global pandemic and the gallery’s need for a major refurb. BMAG’s collection is full of well-known gems, and the absence of the gallery from Birmingham’s cultural scene has been sorely felt. As such, when I learned that the Victorian Radicals: From the Pre-Raphaelites to the Arts and Crafts Movement, previously touring in the US, was being shown at Gas Street, I was thrilled.
The exhibition is certainly a triumphant welcome home for Birmingham’s outstanding collection of Pre-Raphaelite art, as well as Pre-Raphaelite craft. Its’ scope is extensive, and the objects displayed range from paintings to jewellery to stained glass windows. For instance, on entering the exhibition you are greeted not by one of the more familiar images of Pre-Raphaelite art, but a selection of De Morgan pottery and a stained-glass window by local artist Florence Jane Camms depicting the wedding feast of Beatrice. The curators, Victoria Osbourne, Martin Eliss and Tim Barringer, with this opening are quick to warrant the inclusion of the exhibition’s arts and craft movement subtitle. The exhibition succeeds in giving space to both art and the craft, the visitor can see skeleton clocks next to paintings of landscapes by David Cox, and bedspreads hanging across from a selection of works by Edward Burne-Jones. From an art historical perspective, the mingling of art with craft is familiar ground and always a welcome sight – I would have been more surprised if the exhibition had not included these objects (of which BMAG has many excellent examples). For a general public with little knowledge about the Pre-Raphaelites, the Victorian Radicals does a good job showing them that art is more than painting, and the interweaving of art alongside craft works as well as it does largely due to the thematic sections of the exhibition.
The exhibition begins with some all-important context, informing us about the changing nature of life and work in Victorian Britain. Industrialisation, urbanisation and inequality are quickly established as major themes that shaped the Pre-Raphaelites in both their art and their ideas, and their preference for artisanal crafts crops up again and again in the panel texts. Later sections (denoted by some very funky coloured walls which I initially had doubts over but found worked well after the initial shock of pink), covered a variety of themes: the artistic inspiration of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, with a particular focus on the medieval; the younger generation of artists taking inspiration from the Pre-Raphaelites; the importance of William Morris and his collaborators, including the role of women as designers and makers; and how the viewer can think of these works through global contexts of migration, class and race. These sections had a good flow, and gave a sense of how the Pre-Raphaelites emerged, matured and went on to influence later generations of artists.
A good flow, informative labels and clear thematic sections are just part of an exhibition, and really, I came to get my eyes on the art. I am happy to say, I was not disappointed. The big hitters, the stunners, the quintessentially Pre-Raphaelite paintings were out in all their minute detail and saturated colour glory. The Victorian Radicals did not pull its punches when selecting the artworks, and if you’ve come just to see BMAG’s best, you’re in for a treat. Fredrick Sandys’ livid and enchanting Medea is as vibrant and fraught as I remember, and nicely paired with Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s unfinished La Donna della Finestra of 1881. It was particularly good to see some drawings included in the exhibition, often relating to the finished works hung in the vicinity. Aside from the exquisite works on paper and canvas, there were some wonderful examples of jewellery and textiles, including two dresses to provide some idea of the kind of fabrics the Pre-Raphaelites were depicting. The inclusion of Ford Maddox Brown’s garishly bright, chocolate box scenes was inevitable, but something I could have done with less of, even if I’m aware that this exhibition was not created solely to please me.
The Victorian Radicals puts a valiant effort into displaying and telling its audience about the Pre-Raphaelites, but with any such show, there are instances where it misses the mark. The scope of the exhibition is vast, and with this vastness there is an implicit turn towards breadth, rather than depth. My larger issue is that there is already a fair bit of mythmaking surrounding the Pre-Raphaelites. They are ‘radicals’, cast in romantic light, and fair enough, through the lens of briar rose tinted glasses, their lives may seem romantic. But I’m much more interested in the messiness of their lives, the various entanglements, arguments, and rivalries add a certain spice to these artists who spend their time painting scenes of idealised courtly love. These points do crop up in labels from time to time, and the women of the movement are not relegated to models, but are correctly considered as artists in their own right. I’d have just liked a bit more of the Pre-Raphaelites being … strange, or to put it more elegantly, complicated. Aside from that, my only other gripe with the show was not the inclusion, but the location of a section that considered looking at Pre-Raphaelite art in a global light, and how modern perceptions can shape our understandings of these works. Toward the back of the show, inevitably by the loos, this portion of the exhibition posed thought provoking questions around some of BMAG’s most well-known works, including Ford Maddox’s The Last of England. While I applaud the inclusion of this section considering how these artworks should be re-displayed when BMAG reopens, it felt slightly tacked on.
Overall, the Victorian Radicals delivers the goods with aplomb. Everything you’d want from a Pre-Raphaelite show is there and the exhibition marks a welcome return of some of BMAG’s finest to Birmingham. The city is also a big player within the exhibition, Birmingham had strong links to the Pre-Raphaelite movement, and this is well expressed within the various wall texts and labels, as well as the art objects displayed. At a time when the arts are facing major cuts here in Birmingham, I’d encourage you to show BMAG some love. Tickets for students are reduced to £6.00, and you certainly get your monies worth with all the goodies they’ve packed into this show. I’ll be heading back the first chance I get.
The Victorian Radicals: From the Pre-Raphaelites to the Arts and Crafts Movement is at BMAG, Gas Street Entrance, until the 31st October 2024.
27th April 2024
Rebecca Smith
PhD History of Art
Golovine 