ART IN NEWPORT

New Book - History of Newport's University

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The ART IN NEWPORT archive was a key source for a recently published history of the University of Wales, Newport.

Peter Brown's lavishly illustrated and entertaining No more worlds to Conquer: The Story of Newport’s University (2009) rises above the usual dry as dust institutional history, to connect with the social drama and radical history of Newport.

The author draws extensively upon the ART IN NEWPORT series of projects exploring art and society in C19 & C20th Newport: James Flewitt Mullock and the Victorian Achievement, Documenting the Twentieth Century, Documenting the City.

Public Art in Newport

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Update | A new section on Public Art in Newport has been added to the ART IN NEWPORT archive:

Public Art in Newport | Newport has been celebrated for its public art in recent years. Far from the dreary dramatis personnae of Victorian dignitaries and captains of industry that one might expect from a British industrial city, the city of Newport stands out for its challenging series of modern public sculpture commissions of recent decades.

Newport's recent public art engages a popular sense of history, celebrating the city and port's proud industrial and maritime heritage and the vital democratic legacy of Chartism. Newport's public sculptural landmarks belong to the wider social drama of the city's post-industrial economic regeneration.

Read more: Public Art in Newport

The new ART IN NEWPORT archive

2010-02-10T11:50:00.010Z

Announcing the new ART IN NEWPORT archive.

With Google Sites replacing Google's previous websites tool (Google Page Creator), I have taken the opportunity to build this central archive.

ART IN NEWPORT

A series of exhibitions exploring the permanent collections of the Newport Museum and Art Gallery | Projects | News

[1] Place
[2] City
[3] Collecting
[4] Nude

Produced by John Wilson, Guest Curator in collaboration with Roger Cucksey, former Keeper of Art, Newport Museum and Art Gallery.

Cartoon published in the South Wales Argus, May 2007; reproduced here with permission.

THE ART OF THE NUDE | Gallery

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A viewer for the ART OF THE NUDE photo set on flickr

THE NEWPORT NUDE | Video clip

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The controversy surrounding the so-called "Newport Nude" painting by Sir Gerald Festus Kelly was featured on the BBC Radio Wales news programme "Good Evening Wales" on 22 July 2008:

THE ART OF THE NUDE: ARTISTS EXPLORE THE HUMAN FORM | An exhibition of drawings, prints, painting and sculpture | Guest Curators John Wilson & Roger Cucksey | Newport Museum and Art Gallery, 19 July - 20 September 2008.

"The Newport Nude" painting was featured in the UK daily press on 22 July 2008: see news archive

John Wilson

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The Explorations Series | Art in Newport

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The Explorations Series

Exploring the Newport Museum and Art Gallery collections - themes

The Explorations series explores the permanent collections of the Newport Museum and Art Gallery, through a series of temporary art exhibitions in the public gallery plus an ongoing online archive. | Read more here

The Explorations series provides a frame to explore the permanent collections of the Newport Museum and Art Gallery, and address particular themes across the diverse range of artists, genre and art historical periods.

Each project showcases rarely seen works belonging to the permanent collections of the Newport Museum and Art Gallery, and provides an opportunity for enjoyment, reflection and further conversation.

Each project in the Explorations series has been produced by John Wilson as Guest Curator, in collaboration with Roger Cucksey, Keeper of Art, Newport Museum and Art Gallery.

the poetics of PLACE

the art of COLLECTING

the art of the NUDE

NEWS ARCHIVE

Art collections - online

The Explorations Series:

was conceived as a demonstration project for the migration of a traditional art exhibition online;

hence exploring the traditional public educational mission of the museum and art gallery in the new Internet environment

- to promote access to the collections and their interpretation. | Read more here

Selected press coverage

Local press interest and arts reviews focussed on the new online dimension ; extending public access and adding value to the collections and their interpretation

The ART OF THE NUDE exhibition and the Sir Gerald Festus Kelly "Newport Nude" controversy proved newsworthy with features in the UK daily press followed by global exposure on the Web.| See news archive THE ART OF THE NUDE

22 - 23 July 2008: "Banned brazen nude"

Daily Mirror | Daily Mail | Daily Telegraph

BBC News | EveningStandard | TheTimes

South Wales Argus, 3 Oct 2007 | Art review to consider digital plan [ print version ] | Call to put city's art wealth on show [ online version ]

"Newport has a wealth of art treasures (...) But with space at a premium, just five per cent of the gems are on public display.| Now public watchdogs are to look at how to increase public access to the collection, which could include virtual viewing. | Cllr Davies suggested the authority's culture and recreation scrutiny forum should examine the issue.| Earlier this year, we reported how Newport's Keeper of Art Roger Cucksey and guest curator John Wilson launched the gallery's first ever on-line exhibition, Documenting the City [ see here ].| A varied programme of temporary exhibitions is presented by the Art Gallery (...). Officers point out in the report that the art "is an important visitor attraction which can make a significant contribution to tourism, thus aiding the economic regeneration of the city"

South Wales Argus, 31 May 2007 | Gilt behind the scenes | By Mike Buckingham

"Painstakingly, scouring not only Newport Museum and Art Gallery's own collection but also council offices, committee rooms and annexes, Roger Cucksey and friend and colleague John Wilson have amassed an actual and virtual art collection telling Newport's story from its rustic beginnings, through its flowering as an industrial Hercules in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to the re-invention of itself as a city for the 21st century | : News archive

southwalesargus.co.uk | Internet opens up art hoard | By Jenny Brentnall | 10:25am Saturday 28th April 2007

"The way the public accesses the collection could be about to change forever, if an exciting new venture by Mr Cucksey and guest curator John Wilson is allowed to develop. | They are launching the gallery's first ever online version of an exhibition, "Documenting the City" on May 11 (...) Long-term, this now opens up the possibility of creating an online catalogue of the collection, allowing a wider public than ever before to access this tremendous local resource, not least schools, art students and young people".

John Wilson, 31 July 2008 | Art in Newport | The Exporations Series
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Responses to THE ART OF THE NUDE

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News | THE ART OF THE NUDE | John Wilson, Guest Curator (24 July 2008)

THE ART OF THE NUDE | ARTISTS EXPLORE THE HUMAN FORM
An exhibition of drawings, prints, painting and sculpture
Guest Curators John Wilson & Roger Cucksey
Newport Museum and Art Gallery
19 July - 20 Sept 2008

THE ART OF THE NUDE
Guest Curators John Wilson & Roger Cucksey

Responses to THE ART OF THE NUDE | From spectacle to the history of art

News archive: THE ART OF THE NUDE

Whilst THE ART OF THE NUDE exhibition resulted in immediate press sensationalism, there are encouraging signs that it has achieved its curatorial aims as a starting point for further engagement with the history of art and art education:

Immediately following its opening to the public, THE ART OF THE NUDE exhibition resulted in sensationalist headlines in the national daily press on 22 July 2008. A BBC Radio Wales news interview later that day with Guest Curators John Wilson and Roger Cucksey probed behind the sensationalist headlines courted by the daily press to focus upon the factual history of Sir Gerald Festus Kelly's controversial "Newport Nude" painting.
The ART OF THE NUDE exhibition had entered the media-sphere, and the 48 hour window of press interest saw further news enquiries flood into the Newport Museum and Art Gallery from as far afield as Mexico and the BBC World Service in Brazil.
A first art review appeared in Metro Magazine on 23 July. "Nudes have generated their fair share of controversy over the years. The bronze version of Rodin's The Kiss, presented here, was once considered unsuitable for general display in America. Newport's gallery itself came under fire in 1947 when the purchase and public display of Sir Gerald Festus Kelly's Nude Study was described as 'an affront' by the Bishop Of Caerleon. The subsequent press coverage resulted in hordes of people flocking to see the work", concludes the Metro review, "It's unlikely this exhibition will attract similar criticism, though the high calibre of work on display should certainly draw the crowds".

There has been a steady flow of public visitors to the exhibition at Newport Museum and Art Gallery, including a number of artists. Some artists have even visited the gallery with their sketchbooks to make studies from some of the pieces of sculpture on display.

Whilst the spectacle of press sensationalism certainly won't do any harm in terms of drawing potential viewers to the gallery, it has been encouraging to see how the curatorial aim and invitation to the viewer for this exhibition as a starting point for enquiry into the history of art has been enthusiastically responded to.

I have received a number of enquiries through users of the photo gallery on flickr, and I gather that THE ART OF THE NUDE is now featured as part of an art history course at a University in Washington (USA).

The exhibition THE ART OF THE NUDE is archived in the photo gallery on flickr, where viewers may leave their own comments on the works exhibited.

John Wilson, Guest Curator (24 July 2008)

NEWS ( to 24 July 2008)

artdaily.org | Artists Explore the Human Form in Art of the Nude Exhibit at Newport Museum & Art Gallery | Added 24 July 2008 | NEWPORT- An exhibition of drawings, prints, painting and sculpture guest curated by John Wilson and Roger Cucksey and running until September 20 opened at the Newport Museum and Art Gallery in South Wales. The Art of the Nude THE ART OF THE NUDE frames the artistic genre of the nude and provides a fascinating thread through the history of art. The study of the nude formed the basis of the post-Renaissance academic tradition of "Western Art", whilst the departures of modernism and the avant garde likewise saw a persistence of the nude as a vital genre for the artist's exploration. Whither the nude in today's world of CGI and the Internet? | (...) The show reflects upon: the central place of the nude in the history of art, the nude as a highly productive genre for the artist's exploration and the sometimes controversial role of the nude as a mediator of aesthetic taste and cultural mores across the generations. | (...) The Art of the Nude is the third project in the Explorations series, which provides a frame to explore the diverse range of artists, genre and art historical periods represented in the Newport Museum and Art Gallery collections.

artknowledgenews.com | Artists Explore the Human Form in Art of the Nude Exhibit at Newport Museum & Art Gallery | Added 24 July 2008

metrolife.co.uk | Bodies beautiful at The Art Of The Nude | by DAVID TRIGG - Wednesday, July 23, 2008 | This exhibition, curated by John Wilson and Roger Cucksey, presents some of the very best nudes from Newport Art Gallery's collection. | (...) Cardiff-based artist Harry Holland has several paintings on show. His delicate, soft-focus technique lends itself very well to the human form. Holland depicts an enigmatic and mysterious scene in his painting Diana And Actaeon, a contemporary interpretation of the ancient Greek myth. There are also some wonderful life drawings included, such as Elizabeth Rathmell's carefully observed Reclining Female Nude, and the sketches by Gaudier-Brzeska are especially pleasing. | (...) Nudes have generated their fair share of controversy over the years. The bronze version of Rodin's The Kiss, presented here, was once considered unsuitable for general display in America. Newport's gallery itself came under fire in 1947 when the purchase and public display of Sir Gerald Festus Kelly's Nude Study was described as 'an affront' by the Bishop Of Caerleon. The subsequent press coverage resulted in hordes of people flocking to see the work. | It's unlikely this exhibition will attract similar criticism, though the high calibre of work on display should certainly draw the crowds.

current.com | 'Brazen' nude painting back on show after 60-year ban | Accessed 23 July 2008
newstin.co.uk | Banned nude still scandalises | Accessed 23 July 2008
Artinfo, NY | Once-Banned "Brazen" Nude Upsets for New Reasons | Published 23 July 2008
bannedstuff.net | banned nude painting still controversial | Accessed 23 July 2008

The Times | Banned nude still scandalises | July 23, 2008 | The portrait was bought by a public gallery in 1947 and more than 20,000 people queued to see it. However, council chiefs in Newport, South Wales, decided that the painting was scandalising their town and ordered that it be taken down. | The picture, which became known as the “Newport Nude”, has been locked in a vault ever since. | Now, as part of an exhibition in Newport called The Art of the Nude, the portrait is still a talking point. | Elizabeth Ayres, 38, a local resident, said: “She’s a bit of a Fag Ash Lil, but I can’t imagine why the painting would be banned.”

BBC Radio Wales | News programme 16h00 - 18h30 | 22 July 2008 | A radio news interview with Guest Curators John Wilson and Roger Cucksey, probing behind the sensationalist headlines courted by the daily press: to focus upon the factual history of Kelly's controversial Nude Study (- for it was never actually banned by Newport Town COuncil in 1947); the current exhibition THE ART OF THE NUDE featuring 90 works that explore the genre of the nude; and the surprising quality of the permanent collections at Newport Museum and Art Gallery with works in this exhibition by prominent artists such as Rodin, Augustus John, Henry Gaudier-Brzeska, William Goscombe John, Angelica Kaufman, William Blake, Peter Blake and Harry Holland.

22 July 2008: "Banned brazen nude" - sensationalist headlines appeared in the Daily Mirror | Daily Mail | Daily Telegraph | BBC News | London Evening Standard

BBC News |Banned 'brazen' nude back on show | Page last updated at 11:45 GMT, Tuesday, 22 July 2008 12:45 UK | (...) Mark Soady, minor canon at St Woolas Cathedral in Newport said he had no issue with the painting appearing in the art gallery. | "I think at the time people were much more sensitive about these things," he added. | "1947 is 60 years ago. Now we are much more understanding of these things. There are many more important issues in the world to get concerned and worried about." | One visitor Elizabeth Ayres, 38, an office worker, said: "She's a bit of a Fag Ash Lil but I can't imagine why the painting would be banned."Maybe it's because of the way she is staring - women in those days weren't allowed to be that brassy."

The Evening Standard | On display after 60 years: The 'brazen' nude painting which scandalised a town | Last updated at 11:18am on 22.07.08 | The nude - titled D.D after the initials of the model - was painted by Sir Gerald Kelly who painted the Royal family of the day and later became president of the Royal Academy. | It was bought by Newport's Museum and Art Gallery for £250 after it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1947. | But the painting has proved to be a good investment for Newport - its current value is thought to be around £30,000.| Visitors to the gallery were today unflustered by the brazen nude - but were more offended because she is smoking. | Office worker Elizabeth Ayres, 38, of Newport, said: 'She's a bit of a Fag Ash Lil but I can't imagine why the painting would be banned. | Maybe it's because of the way she is staring - women in those days weren't allowed to be that brassy.'

Daily Mail | On display after 60 years: The 'brazen' nude painting banned for scandalising a town | By Daily Mail Reporter | Last updated at 10:18 AM on 22nd July 2008 | An oil painting of a nude woman went back on show today - more than 60 years after it was banned for being 'too brazen'.| The portrait of a naked woman smoking was bought by a public gallery in 1947 which proudly displayed it for all to see. | More than 20,000 people queued up to see it - until it caused an row with church elders. | Brazen: The painting by Sir Gerald Kelly of a nude woman smoking has gone back on show - more than 60 years after it was banned | Embarrassed council chiefs in Newport, South Wales, decided the painting was scandalising their town and ordered it to be taken down.| The picture which became known as the 'Newport Nude' has been locked up in a vault gathering dust - until now. |It has gone back on show at an exhibition in Newport called The Art of the Nude where it is still the talking point among 90 other pictures and sculptures. | But now more people are complaining about the fact that she is smoking in public rather than her nudity.

Daily Telegraph | "Brazen" nude shown in public for first time in 61 years | By Stephen Adams, Arts Correspondent | Last Updated: 1:54PM BST 22 Jul 2008 | The 'Newport Nude', as it became known, has just been returned to the public gaze in a exhibition of around 90 paintings called The Art of the Nude. | (...) Today's viewers have shown few qualms about the nude being displayed - other than the fact that the model pictured is smoking.

Daily Mirror | 'Too rude' nude is exposed 60yrs on | By Richard Smith 22/07/2008 | Defiantly naked and smoking a cigarette, she sees the light of day for the first time since she was covered up in a public scandal 61 years ago. | This painting of a mystery nude was put on display again yesterday by the council that paid £250 for it in 1947. | More than 20,000 people queued to see it then. But the erotic image was too rude for church leaders, who persuaded the council to put it away. |The Daily Mirror reported on December 31 1947: "A bishop objects to nude bought by town."

South Wales Argus, 15 July 2008 | Newport nude can go on view again | "A saucy nude who scandalised Newport in the 1940s is once again being exposed to the public gaze. | Clothed and unclothed and ranging from the strictly representational through to the abstract the exhibition shows off one of the finest art collections in Wales and which is Newport's hidden treasure. (...) | In a move to make more of its collection accessible Newport's art gallery has over the last year been putting its pictures online. The nudes can be seen on this website and the series of which it is part on here".

In 1947 the Daily Mirror covered the story "A bishop objects to "Nude" bought by town" - see further details and a case study of the Festus Kelly Newport Nude controversy here

DAILY MIRROR | "Too rude" nude is exposed 60 years on | 22 July 2008

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Above | DAILY MIRROR, "Too rude" nude is exposed 60 years on

Sir Gerald Festus Kelly's "Newport Nude" hit the national headlines in the Daily Mirror once again today, Tuesday 22 July 2008.

See below for the controversy surrounding Festus Kelly's feisty nude when it was exhibited at Newport Museum and Art Gallery in 1947, with a petition for its removal and a headline in the DAILY MIRROR, A Bishop Objects to "Nude" Bought by Town (31 Dec 1947)

Click on images to view ( opens in flickr).

THE ART OF THE NUDE: ARTISTS EXPLORE THE HUMAN FORM | Guest Curators John Wilson & Roger Cucksey | Newport Museum and Art Gallery | 19 July - 20 September 2008

An exhibition exploring the genre of the nude in the permanent collections of the Newport Museum and Art Gallery.

THE ART OF THE NUDE | Video clip of the exhibition opening

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THE ART OF THE NUDE: ARTISTS EXPLORE THE HUMAN FORM | John Wilson & Roger Cucksey, Guest Curators | Newport Museum and Art Gallery, 18 July - 20 Sept 2008

> View | video clip to record the exhibition opening by painter Harry Holland on 18 July

> Listen

Harry Holland | "It's a great pleasure for me to open the exhibition THE ART OF THE NUDE.

"Football fields of flesh have been painted of the nude.

I could speak about the theme of the nude in relation to the beauty of the human form.

I could speak of the nude and the erotic. The nude and the divine.

What I would say is that the practical aspect of painting the nude is a real challenge - dealing with the model is a real challenge. For the model is always complaining - it's either too cold in the studio, or it's too hot; the model is either upset about a boyfriend, or else on a high". [Paraphrase from memory. JW]

* "Art can never exist without naked beauty displayed" - William Blake

* "The body always expresses the spirit whose envelope it is. And for him who can see, the nude offers the richest meaning" - Auguste Rodin

* "I was trained as a painter. I'm very familiar with the nude body, masculine and feminine. I do, I suppose have a soapbox position, and I want to be certain that the human body is in the center of the frame." - Peter Greenaway, Film- maker

THE ART OF THE NUDE | Exhibition opening 18 July 2008

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The exhibition THE ART OF THE NUDE will be opened by painter Harry Holland on Friday 18 July 2008

* Contact Newport Museum and Art Gallery for attendance details
* View ART OF THE NUDE: Exhibition leaflet (pdf)

THE ART OF THE NUDE: ARTISTS EXPLORE THE HUMAN FORM | Guest Curators John Wilson & Roger Cucksey | Newport Museum and Art Gallery | 19 July - 20 September 2008

An exhibition exploring the genre of the nude in the permanent collections of the Newport Museum and Art Gallery.

> View | THE ART OF THE NUDE - exhibition selection process

> Listen

* "Art can never exist without naked beauty displayed" - William Blake

* "The body always expresses the spirit whose envelope it is. And for him who can see, the nude offers the richest meaning" - Auguste Rodin

* "I was trained as a painter. I'm very familiar with the nude body, masculine and feminine. I do, I suppose have a soapbox position, and I want to be certain that the human body is in the center of the frame." - Peter Greenaway, Film- maker

THE ART OF THE NUDE

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THE ART OF THE NUDE: ARTISTS EXPLORE THE HUMAN FORM | Guest Curators John Wilson & Roger Cucksey | Newport Museum and Art Gallery | July - September 2008

An exhibition exploring the genre of the nude in the permanent collections of the Newport Museum and Art Gallery.

"Art can never exist without naked beauty displayed" - William Blake

"The body always expresses the spirit whose envelope it is. And for him who can see, the nude offers the richest meaning" - Auguste Rodin

"I was trained as a painter. I'm very familiar with the nude body, masculine and feminine. I do, I suppose have a soapbox position, and I want to be certain that the human body is in the center of the frame. Its physicality is important and is always very, very strongly positive because I think that that physicality would begin to lose perspective over all the other senses" - Peter Greenaway, Film-maker

Resources

Video clip [1]: The selection process for the exhibition [ Posted 1 April 2008]

CHARTIST NEWPORT

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Announcing:

CHARTIST NEWPORT

website | blog | flickr

A Newport Museum and Art Gallery project to document the heritage of Chartism and public art in Newport and South Wales. | Produced by Roger Cucksey, Keeper of Art, Newport Museum and Art Gallery & John Wilson, Guest Curator.

Commencing with documentation of the the Newport Chartist Mural, we move on to explore the wider context of public art in Newport in which the popular celebration of Chartism is to the fore, and then further afield to look at the wider landscape of Chartism and its commemorative landmarks in Monmouthshire and South Wales as a whole, and finally a consideration of the historical interpretation of Chartism. | Read more: Project outline

The project was seeded with funding support from Modus and Public Art Wales in order to commence the Newport Chartist Mural Documentation exercise.

We are seeking new project partners to continue to build our online resources.

mural | public art | landmarks | history | resources

John Wilson, Guest Curator, Chartist Newport | 13 Oct 2007

CHARTIST LANDMARKS

We commence our online resources with an exercise in Mapping Chartist Newport:

Some selected Chartist landmarks - highlighting the geography of Chartism in Newport, the industrial valleys and iron-districts of Monmouthsire and the "Hills", plus some wider South Wales connections. [Work in progress]

[1] A geography of Chartism: From Westgate Square to the Chartist Caves
( v_0.1 | 10 Oct 2007)

Visualization:

* chartistprism
* flickr map
* postcard
* desktop
* tags

[2] The signs on the street: Chartist prism

Defamiliarizing the landmark

* chartistprism

Walking the street - we tend to pass by everyday familiar landmarks; despite their size they dissolve from our very sight. Public statues and other forms of public art are no exception - the noble becomes a traffic island, we do not enquire into his past deeds.

Chartism - the signs on the street of a memorialized past - in public statues, memorials, plaques and other forms of public art. The signs on the street. Fragmented signs and space; or, heroic narrative and place of Chartism? Sites of memory and forgetting, sedition and freedom, power and struggle.

.

NEWS | Art: Review to consider digital plan

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Caption | SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME? Guest curator John Wilson and Keeper of art Roger Cucksey, look at Newport Museum and Art Gallery's first on-line exhibition, Documenting the City, in April this year

Art: Review to consider digital plan | South Wales Argus, 3 Oct 2007

Excerpt:

Newport has a wealth of art treasures, including work by LS Lowry, Sir Stanley Spencer, Dame Laura Knight and Hans Feibusch.

But with space at a premium, just five per cent of the gems are on public display.

Now public watchdogs are to look at how to increase public access to the collection, which could include virtual viewing.

Cllr Davies suggested the authority's culture and recreation scrutiny forum should examine the issue. (...)

Earlier this year, we reported how Newport's Keeper of Art, Roger Cucksey, and Guest curator, John Wilson, launched the gallery's first ever on-line exhibition, Documenting the City .

Mr Cucksey told the Argus he hoped the council would be able to offer the financial support to continue online archiving.

This in-depth review is likely to consider whether parts of the collection could be digitised and made available on-line.

A final report is not expected to go to cabinet member Councillor Ron Jones until next April. (...)

Read the full text here | Argus online version here

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ART IN NEWPORT | Projects archive

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Work is in progress for the Art in Newport projects archive here, to record projects produced by John Wilson as Guest Curator for the Newport Museum and Art Gallery.

LIST OF PROJECTS

EXPLORATIONS

THE EXPLORATIONS SERIES

Exploring the Newport Museum and Art Gallery collections - themes

[2] The Art of Collecting (2007)
[1] The Poetics of Place: Industrial South Wales (2004-07)

ART AND SOCIETY IN NEWPORT

THE ART AND SOCIETY IN NEWPORT SERIES

Exploring art and society in Newport - surveys

[3] Documenting the City: Art and Society in Newport (2007)
[2] Documenting the Twentieth Century (2000)
[1] James Flewitt Mullock and the Victorian Achievement (1993)

ART IN NEWPORT | Video archive

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Announcing the art_newport video archive:

THE ART OF COLLECTING | Video of Exhibition Opening

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THE ART OF COLLECTING | An exhibition of paintings from the permanent collections of the Newport Museum and Art Gallery | Curated by Roger Cucksey and John Wilson | July 2007

> View | Listen > THE ART OF COLLECTING exhibition opening

The exhibition THE ART OF COLLECTING opened on 20 July 2007 - the same evening as the opening of a travelling exhibition at Newport Museum and Art Gallery - and will be on display for several months.

"A museum is like a living organism: it requires continual and tender care; it must grow, or it will perish" | Sir William Flower, Essays on Museums (London, 1898)

"The Art Fund’s research exposes a real crisis (...) diverting museums from the central task of building their collections. | Lack of advocacy and support for collecting in both central and local government means there is a danger that the collecting habit is being lost, along with the skills and expertise necessary for it." | The Art Fund | The Collecting Challenge 2006

THE ART OF COLLECTING provides a public airing of works by some of the better known artists in the Newport Museum and Art Gallery's collection.

Over a hundred years in the making, Newport has quietly built up a public art collection of which it can be proud. The exhibition highlights the way in which the Newport Museum and Art Gallery's permanent collections have been formed through a fortuitous mix of private benefactions, public educational principles and curatorial nurturing over the decades.

The exhibition features a diverse range of mostly twentieth century works by notable British and Welsh artists including Sir Frank Brangwyn R.A., Christopher Wood, Alexander Stanhope Forbes R.A., Terrick Williams R.A., Sir William Russell Flint R.A., Dorothea Sharp, Merlyn Evans, Sir Alfred Munnings R.A., Patricia Preece, Edward Wadsworth A.R.A., Ceri Richards, Sir Kyffin Williams R.A., Sir Stanley Spencer R.A., John Elwyn, L.S. Lowry, Jeffrey Steele, and William Scott R.A..

Further | The Art of Collecting website.

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THE ART OF COLLECTING | Exhibition from 20 July 2007

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THE ART OF COLLECTING | An exhibition of paintings from the permanent collections of the Newport Museum and Art Gallery | Roger Cucksey, Keeper of Art and John Wilson, Guest Curator | July 2007

The exhibition is open from 20th July 2007.

“A museum is like a living organism: it requires continual and tender care; it must grow, or it will perish.” William Henry Flower (1831-1899).

See introduction to the exhibition on the Art of Collecting website
For further information contact: Newport Museum & Art Gallery

THE ART OF COLLECTING | Curatorial reflection

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Curatorial relfection by John Wilson, in preparation for the exhibition THE ART OF COLLECTING:

THE ART OF COLLECTING An exhibition of paintings from the permanent collections of the Newport Museum and Art Gallery | Roger Cucksey, Keeper of Art, Newport Museum and Art Gallery and John Wilson, Guest Curator | July 2007

Newport's art collections - in painting, drawing, print and sculpture - have benefitted from their fair share of good fortune, sheer luck, and judicious collecting judgment over a hundred years and more of collecting. And whilst the art market is notoriously turbulent and hard to play, the Newport Museum and Art Gallery has quietly built up a collection of which it can be proud.

The exhibition The Art of Collecting affords us an opportunity for enjoyment, reflection and further conversation:

we may indulge in a public airing of works by some the the better known artists in the Newport Museum and Art Gallery's collection.

and reflect upon over one hundred years of collecting, highlighting the unique historical value of a public art collection.

which leads us on to current concerns for the future of collecting in a changing world of art.

Whilst all collectors secretly dream of acquiring the best available artists to boost or round-off their collections, any art collection is really an unending quest for perfection. Collecting is an art in itself. And public art collections have been subject to changing fortunes and patterns of taste over the decades.

When we travel abroad we naturally wish to learn more of the history and the culture of the place we visit, and museums and art galleries are an obvious attraction for us. Maybe we need to adopt more of this tourist attitude at home, to begin to view our own habitat afresh and perhaps come to a new valuing of our own location and identity.

In the Connoisseurship or Modern Art collecting stakes -- no one would claim that Newport has ever really been up there. But where it has won out is in building a unique archive of works of historical interest, related to Newport, its region, and indeed the wider Wales context. Perhaps in the final assessment, we may one day appreciate Newport's collection of local topographical works as a unique archive; or else its collection of art works connected to the Newport College of Art as a likewise unique archive for a provincial British art college.

Further | Project web-page The Art of Collecting

THE ART OF COLLECTING | An exhibition of paintings from the permanent collections of the Newport Museum and Art Gallery | Roger Cucksey, Keeper of Art, Newport Museum and Art Gallery and John Wilson, Guest Curator | July 2007

DOCUMENTING THE CITY | Closing curatorial reflections

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Some closing curatorial reflections by John Wilson on the exhibition DOCUMENTING THE CITY:

"As virtual museum's develop, the role of actual museums will shift; they will increasingly be seen as places for going back to the originals" (William J. Mitchell, City of Bits, 1995)

DOCUMENTING THE CITY: ART AND SOCIETY IN NEWPORT |

John Wilson, Guest Curator | Newport Museum and Art Gallery, 2007

Documenting the City: Art and Society in Newport | A project to celebrate Newport's coming of age as a City, showcasing art works from the permanent collection of the Newport Museum and Art Gallery.

Documenting the City has now entered its last week as a temporary exhibition at the Newport Museum and Art Gallery. We now look forward to further work in building our online resources:

Online gallery and archive | art_newport on flickr

Project web-pages | Documenting the City

DOCUMENTING THE CITY | VIDEO OF EXHIBITION OPENING

View the video of the Documenting the City exhibition opening below, or here in Google Video

"What we're re seeing here is a declaration of our self confidence as a new city and our pride in the robust, gritty history of how its come to be what it is now" ~ Paul Flynn, MP, Opening Speech.

EXHIBITION

We have been overwhelmed with the positive public response during the two months of the exhibition hanging. The Gallery Talks showed that there was a strong appetite for this theme.

Local people took pleasure in new perspectives upon their everyday environment and pride in Newport's coming of age as a City following the bestowing of city status in 2002. Whilst visitors from further afield expressed surprise at such a wealth of imagery drawn from the Newport Museum and Art Gallery's own collections.

One visitor suggested that the whole exhibition be re-hung in the Celtic Manor Resort for the 2010 Ryder Cup.

ONLINE

"As virtual museum's develop, the role of actual museums will shift; they will increasingly be seen as places for going back to the originals" (William J. Mitchell, City of Bits, 1995)

Our online resources have been commented upon positively by visitors and the press, with wide acceptance of migrating art works to the Internet as an obvious move to make. And so the public art gallery collection enters the Web2.0 world. Moreover people have discovered the website from as far afield as Australia, and our online resources have led to a number of professional enquiries.

The enthusiasm of visitors to the gallery for the Documenting the City exhibition - a large-scale exhibition of 120 works filling the gallery - confirmed the sense that an online archive works well as a first point of enquiry whilst the art work itself nevertheless remains a primary source for engagement, bringing to mind the words of William J. Mitchell ( City of Bits, 1995): "As virtual museum's develop, the role of actual museums will shift; they will increasingly be seen as places for going back to the originals." We were also pleased that the Gallery Talks led to new art works coming to light and being acquired by the gallery.

Our online resources even raised a chuckle, as the pen of a local cartoonist mused upon the contrast of the traditional art gallery and the virtual gallery on the PC at home:

RECEPTION

"What we're re seeing here is a declaration of our self confidence as a new city and our pride in the robust, gritty history of how its come to be what it is now" | Paul Flynn, MP, Opening Speech ~ View video of the Documenting the City exhibition opening.

"Painstakingly, scouring not only Newport Museum and Art Gallery's own collection but also council offices, committee rooms and annexes, Roger Cucksey and friend and colleague John Wilson have amassed an actual and virtual art collection telling Newport's story from its rustic beginnings, through its flowering as an industrial Hercules in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to the re-invention of itself as a city for the 21st century". | South Wales Argus, 31 May 2007

The exhibition also celebrates the city's desire to carry itself steadily forward into the future. This unique collection will not only be museum-bound as people can access and admire the anthology from their very own homes - an online gallery and archive has been set up to further enhance Newport's reputation as an extremely forward moving and thought provoking metropolis. | Buzz Magazine, June 2007

Whilst one press report (x) mischievously dubbed the exhibition a coup for Newport's collections over neighbouring Cardiff, the exhibition has begged the question of whether a similar art historical job could be done for other centres such as Cardiff or Swansea.

"The exhibition offers a historical tour de force" enthused Metro Magazine. "An online gallery and archive has been set up to further enhance Newport's reputation as an extremely forward moving and thought provoking metropolis", said Buzz Magazine. | See the News archive here.

In the final assessment, Documenting the City has succedded in kickstarting debate upon the future shape of the art world in Newport as the city engages its current phase of regeneration and transformation. We have also opened a more enlivened dialogue with the Newport College of Art, and hope to collaborate together on future projects documenting the city of Newport through the changes ahead.

PROSPECTS

As a postscript to the above we may note recent debate upon the issue of a National Centre for Contemporary Art in Wales, with Newport touted as a keen contender: see POSTSCRIPT | May - June 2007 | Newport - Towards a new National Centre for Contemporary Art in Wales?