Masterpieces of the 19th Century to wow Tyneside
SOME of the nation’s best-loved art treasures are to go on display in Newcastle later this year thanks to a funding boost.
Pre-Raphaelite paintings will be heading to the Laing Art Gallery and JMW Turner scenes will be loaned to galleries in Northumberland and Carlisle as part of a deal made possible by a £200,000 funding programme.
In a nationwide art scheme, the cash pot is offering financial help to a total of 12 museums, meaning they can afford to borrow what are billed as “nationally significant works of art and objects” from leading institutions.
And, as a treat for North East art lovers, the Laing has struck lucky by securing Pre-Raphaelite and Orientalstyle artworks as well as objects, which it will be exhibiting later in the year.
The paintings, on the theme of women as ornamental objects or in a gilded cage, are to be loaned to Newcastle from the Tate and the Victoria & Albert Museum Turner’s Norham Castle, on the River Tweed, c1822-3, normally resides at the Tate in London in London and the National Museums Liverpool and they will go on show, alongside opposite images by contemporary artists, in an exhibition called The Enchanted Interior running from October 12 until February 23, 2020.
Also as part of the scheme, The Granary Gallery in Berwick will be hosting some of Turner’s landscape masterpieces from the Tate.
This exhibition, Turner: Northern Exposure, will run from May 25 until October 13.
After that, the Turner works also will be making a stop-off in Carlisle, at Tullie House from October 27 until January 5, as well as at Mercer Art Gallery in Harrogate from January 18 to April 19, 2020.
These chosen paintings will explore the Romantic artist’s relationship with the North. The loan scheme is the second year of a three-leg programme to share the nation’s treasure trove of art with the regions, which has a proven knock-on impact on local visitor numbers.
The funding is available through the Weston Loan Programme, run by the Garfield Weston Foundation with Art Fund.
Sophia Mason, trustee of the foundation, said: “We are delighted that this programme is empowering museums across the country and ensuring our national treasures can be seen by audiences in the context of their own region and local heritage.”
Other artworks going on display to other parts of the country will include the National Gallery’s famous George Stubbs horse portrait Whistlejacket, which last summer was exhibited at The Great North Museum: Hancock during the Great Exhibition of the North.
The huge painting is going to Milton Keynes, while Ancient Egyptian mummies are off to Wakefield; the Tate collection’s sheep art will be shown in Wales and more PreRaphaelite art will be loaned to Southampton and Bournemouth .
The grant allocations will range from £1,000 to £25,000 to cover loan costs including the likes of transport, insurance, conservation and
installation.