ARTS AND EXHIBITIONS

ARTS & EXHIBITIONS

Image: Broken Carnival by Beth Carter

North, South, East, West, Beaux Arts Bath, 12-13 York Street, Bath BA1 1NG, Until 28 August

Beaux Arts are showing the bronze sculptures of Beth Carter, who is well known for her minotaurs and mythologically inspired shape-shifters. An impressive collection of Beth’s bronzes will share the gallery with paintings celebrating the British landscape. North South East West will include work from around Britain, from Cornwall to Shetland and Norfolk to Pembrokeshire, featuring David Atkins, Andrew Crocker, Gill Rocca, Ruth Brownlee, Philip Braham and David Tress, among others. The exhibition will also feature ceramics by Albert Montserrat.

beauxartsbath.co.uk

Freud, Minton, Ryan: unholy trinity Victoria Art Gallery, Bath BA2 4AT, until 19 September

Unholy Trinity is the first exhibition to focus on the passionate intimacy that existed between Lucian Freud, John Minton and Adrian Ryan – three gifted figurative painters striving and succeeding to build careers in a war-torn Britain when the art world functioned remarkably well.

The exhibition, a collaboration between Victoria Art Gallery and Falmouth Art Gallery, is accompanied by a film by Italian film-maker Isaac Biglioli. victoriagal.org.uk

Image: Mountains behind Toulon by Adrian Ryan

Widcombe Arts Trail, at the Widcombe Social Club, St Matthews Church and the Natural Theatre Company, 28 and 29 August

Artists showing work at the Widcombe Arts Trail are exhibiting at three venues in Widcombe. Exhibitors include artist and illustrator Jessica Palmer, artist David Lawrence, printmaker Polly Gough, Bridget Baker and her handmade wire animals, painter Max Aiken, artist Pat Betts, freehand embroiderer Shuya Cheng, acrylic painter Ruth Davies, mosaicist Lorelei Hunt, and artists Emma Rose and Catherine Beale.

widcombearttrail.com Image by Jessica Palmer

July Fair, Bath Contemporary Artists’ Fair, Green Park Station, 8 August

Bath Contemporary Artists’ Fair is delighted to welcome everyone back to its August fair. The fair is committed to bringing the best of contemporary art from the city and beyond right to the heart of Bath. Following on from the successful and popular fairs last year, the next event is on 8 August, where visitors can browse the brilliant works of local artists and admire fine art, photography, sculpture and textiles, all under the vaulted glass roof of Green Park Station. For updates and exhibiting artists visit the website.

bcaf.co.uk

Image by Carol West

Shooting Stars: Carinthia West, Britain and America in the 1970s, American Museum & Gardens, Bath BA2 7BD, until 31 October

Carinthia West’s intimate photographs of rock and film stars of the 1970s in America – and in particular on the glorious beaches of Malibu in California – present an upbeat and buoyant view of the decade that should remind us of the outstanding music and the great design of this much-maligned period. Carinthia West’s fascinating photographs demonstrate that the 1970s was a decade of bright colours, fun, and self-expression.

americanmuseum.org Image: Mick Jagger at Cedars Sinai Hospital, LA, 1976

Somerset Rural Life Museum, Chilkwell Street, Glastonbury BA6 8DB, until 4 September

As part of a summer of events and activities, for all the family, visitors can enjoy an exhibition of specially commissioned contemporary photography by Bristol-based photographer Peter Hall. The exhibition also features a short documentary film by film maker Reuben Gaines in collaboration with Peter Hall.

The photographs were taken in 2019, months before our world was changed by Covid-19. They provide a vivid record of a much-loved highlight in Somerset’s farming calendar. The Royal Bath and West Show has been at the heart of the West Country’s rural life since the first show was held in 1852. This year the usual show is replaced by the Bath & West Country Festival from 27–29 August.

swheritage.org.uk/somerset-rural-life-museum

The Holburne Museum, Great Pulteney Street, throughout August

Canaletto: Painting Venice

This once-in-a-lifetime exhibition will enable art lovers to enjoy and study up-close 23 beautiful paintings, in a fascinating exhibition that also explores Canaletto’s life and work, alongside themes of 18th-century Venice and the Grand Tour.

Precious and Rare: Islamic Metalwork from the Courtauld

Ten remarkable highlights from The Courtauld’s world-class collection of Islamic metalwork. Dating from the 13th to 16th centuries, these are some of the finest examples from modernday Iraq, Iran, Syria, Egypt and Turkey.

Nicholas Pope: Portraits of a Marriage

The museum presents, for the first time, ten sculptures which depict Nicholas Pope and his wife at different stages of their life together, during more than 40 years of marriage. The exhibition encapsulates Pope’s personal development over five decades and the nature of his relationship with Janet.

Thomas Lawrence Coming of Age

This exhibition, the museum’s first virtual show, gives fresh insight into the first 25 years of one of Britain’s greatest portrait painters.

holburne.org

Metalwork bag from Precious and Rare exhibition

Flights of Fancy: a printmaking exhibition at the RUH, Central Gallery, Royal United Hospitals, Combe Park, Bath BA1 3NG. Until 7 October

An exhibition by six local printmakers, many of whom met while printing at Marshfield Screen Print, a creative printmaking workshop near Bath. All work in the exhibition is available to buy at affordable prices with a commission paid to the RUH.

artatruh.org