Barber What's On April-September 2014

i n f o r m at i o n

GROUP VISITS Group visits are welcome, but if you plan to visit with a group, please call to let us know. Guided tours and refreshments can also be arranged in advance for a small charge. Tours of the collection for visually impaired groups are also available. Contact 0121 414 2261 or education@barber.org.uk EDUCATION VISITS Education workshops can be provided for school (supporting KS1-5 and beyond), college or university groups. Contact 0121 414 2261 or education@barber.org.uk FRIENDS OF THE BARBER Let your passion for art and music help support and promote the Barber. A Friend’s subscription entitles you to a range of exciting benefits and events. To find out more to becoming a friend, please visit www.barber.org.uk/support or contact friends@barber.org.uk PATRONS OF THE BARBER Our Patrons support the Barber Institute’s work financially in many areas, while also enjoying exclusive private views, visits and events.

Subscription levels are: Benefactors - £200 per year; Director’s Circle - £500 per year; 1932 Club - £1,000 a year.

If you are interested in becoming a Patron, please contact 0121 414 2946 or marketing@barber.org.uk

Exhibitions

THE BARBER ASSOCIATION A membership society that encourages students interested in art and music to get more involved with the life of the Barber Institute.

Benefits include exclusive gallery events, practical workshops, socials, career and networking event opportunities and much, much more! For more information, visit: http://barber.org.uk/the-barberassociation/.

HIRE THE BARBER INSTITUTE The Barber’s stunning galleries, foyer, concert hall and lecture theatre are all available for hire for receptions, launches and other functions. Hire can include an exclusive private view and introductory talk from a staff member. We offer a wide range of wines, beers, spirits, soft drinks and snacks, and can also arrange buffet catering. For more details visit: www. barber.org.uk/venue-hire or contact our Commercial Sales Officer for enquiries or to make a booking on 0121 414 6985 or events@barber. org.uk.

Events Lectures Workshops www.barber.org.uk CULTURE ON CAMPUS Discover some of the other museums, galleries and collections that the University of Birmingham has to offer...

Winterbourne House & Garden www.winterbourne.org.uk

ADMISSION TO GALLERIES AND ALL EXHIBITIONS IS FREE Opening Hours Monday to Friday: 10am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday: 11am – 5pm (Closed Good Friday 18 April)

Cadbury Research Library www.special-coll.bham.ac.uk

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts University of Birmingham Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TS

The Lapworth Museum of Geology www.lapworth.bham.ac.uk

How to Find us

Research and Cultural Collections www.rcc.bham.ac.uk

The Barber Institute is located in south-west Birmingham, approximately three miles from the city centre, at the East Gate of the University of Birmingham, off Edgbaston Park Road.

By Train University station, a 10-minute walk from the Barber, is served by trains from Birmingham New Street, Lichfield and Longbridge, Cardiff and Worcestershire. Check train times and buy tickets at www.thetrainline.com.

By Bus There are frequent buses from the city centre past the bottom of Edgbaston Park Road (61 and 63 operated by National Express West Midlands).

find out more T: 0121 414 7333 W: www.barber.org.uk E: info@barber.org.uk

facebook.com/barberinstitute

twitter.com/barberinstitute

instagram.com/barberinstitute

The Barber Institute gratefully acknowledges the support of:

By Car North East car park (off Pritchatts Road) is five minutes’ walk away. Charges apply Monday – Friday, 9.30am – 4.30pm.

FREE parking is available on campus around the Barber outside these times. Please check our website for the latest information on car parking.

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For maps and more information about how to travel to the Barber visit: www.about.bham.ac.uk/maps

APRIL – SEPTEMBER 2014

Monet, Manet and Magritte; Renoir, Rubens, Rossetti and Rodin; Degas, Delacroix and Van Dyck — as well as Botticelli, Poussin, Turner, Gainsborough, Gauguin,Van Gogh, Picasso, Hodgkin…

You can see key works by all these – and many more – great artists at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts. There’s also a stunning coin gallery and an exciting programme of exhibitions, concerts, lectures, gallery talks, workshops and family activities.

The Barber was founded in 1932 by Lady Hattie Barber in memory of her husband, Sir William Henry Barber, ‘for the study and encouragement of art and music’. Housed in a listed Art Deco building designed by Robert Atkinson, it was officially opened by Queen Mary in 1939.

Featuring many of the greatest names in Western art, the Barber holds one of the most outstanding and internationally significant collections assembled during the 20th century.

A haven of tranquillity in a bustling metropolis, the Barber Institute is like a mini National Gallery – and is a must-see for anyone visiting Birmingham and the West Midlands.

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APRIL – SEPTEMBER 2014

Two fascinating pictures by Dutch 17th-century masters will bring a taste of the sea to landlocked Birmingham when they go on show here this spring.

The majestic oil painting, An Estuary Landscape with a Distant View of Dordrecht, 1646, (below) by Jan van Goyen, has been lent from a private collection. Thought not to have been on public display for at least 70 years, the picture – depicting a busy scene on the estuary of the River Maas – has been declared ‘pre-eminent’ by the Arts Council.

Joining it will be Attack on Harwich, 1669 (bottom), an unusual and highly detailed black and white ‘pen painting’ by Willem van de Velde the Elder. On loan from Royal Museums Greenwich, it comes in exchange for the Barber’s Turner seascape, The Sun rising through Vapour, lent to the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich for the exhibition Turner and the Sea. The two loans will be displayed from 29 April to 29 October in the Red Gallery alongside the Barber’s own squally seascape by Jan van de Capelle, Boats on Ruffled Water – itself set on the estuary near Dordrecht.

No wonder it enjoys a reputation for being one of the finest small art galleries in Europe!

Our expanding programmes of family activities and Barber Concerts are now covered by separate leaflets.

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cannot manage the stairs at the main advance to make arrangements. Gallery lift and baby-changing facilities are come throughout the building.

As well as around 150 major paintings and some stunning pastels and watercolours, the Barber is also home to more than 1000 drawings and prints, a fine collection of sculpture, decorative art and portrait miniatures. The Barber also has one of the finest collections of Roman, Byzantine and medieval coins in the world.

A TASTE OF THE SEA...

News

Welcome

STOP PRESS...

WW1 CENTENARY EXHIBITION ANNOUNCED The War Art of CRW Nevinson 24 October 2014 – 25 January 2015 The powerful art and contradictory personality of British war artist Richard Nevinson will be explored in a groundbreaking exhibition that is the centerpiece of our AUTUMN programme.

Rebel Visions: The War Art of CRW Nevinson, will open on 24 October 2014 and continue until 25 January 2015.

Famous for his dramatic, often haunting images of the battlefield and its soldiers, Nevinson’s art also acknowledged the sometimes unpalatable effects war had on British society. Always a rebel, he produced work that ranged in variety from official war propaganda to anti-war condemnation – some of which was censored.

With major paintings and key drawings and prints lent by major UK public and private collections, this exhibition will be accompanied by a full programme of related lectures, talks, and other exciting events.

Writing Workshop Saturday 24 May, 1.30 – 4pm See page 9 for details Gallery Talk Tuesday 27 May, 1.15pm See page 14 for details Lunchtime Lecture Wednesday18 June, 1.10pm See page 15 for details Top: © Private Collection.

Above: © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. (detail)

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Visualising the Divine on Byzantine and Early Islamic Coinage Until 30 November Coin Gallery Until 27 April Lady Barber Gallery & throughout main galleries

FAMILY CIRCLES

The freshest and best artistic talent to have emerged from West Midlands university art schools over the past three years is showcased in a dedicated exhibition gallery – and as interventions among the Barber’s collection. It includes some unexpected and thought-provoking works – sculpture, painting, photography, mixed media and installation – tackling every subject from fairytales to the relationships between humans, their environment and medical science.

British Portrait Miniatures of Children and Families

RUBY’S ROOM

Until 26 May Print Bay, Beige Gallery

Photographic Miniature by Bettina von Zwehl

The family – and how its members are depicted on portrait miniatures – is the theme of this display of small British (and one French) masterpieces selected from two important English private collections, currently on long-term loan to the Barber.

Until 26 May Print Bay, Green Gallery Historic portrait miniatures and an unusual 18th-century ‘eye miniature’ inspired this exhibition by von Zwehl, whose artistic response was these intimate photographic studies of her own young daughter, Ruby, husband, David, Ruby’s primary school friends and members of the gallery staff at the Holburne Museum, Bath, (where this display was developed and first shown). Framed or mounted into items of jewellery by Laura Lee, these exquisite and intense little works challenge the conventional relationship between observer and observed.

The exhibition is also on show at the following venues: Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (until 18 May) Wolverhampton Art Gallery (until 10 May) For further details: www.newartmidlands.org

© Wendy Ann Titmus

e x h i b i t i o n s – L a s t c h a n c e to s e e

Faith and Fortune

Lunchtime Lecture Wednesday 2 April, 1.10pm See page 14 for details

Above: Bettina von Zwehl, Ruby (with Diamond), 2012. © Bettina von Zwehl

Supported by:

Complementing the exhibition Ruby’s Room, it includes outstanding portrait miniatures of children, brothers, husbands and wives and larger family groups or dynasties. Among artists represented are father and son Isaac and Peter Oliver, Nicholas Dixon, Bernard Lens, James Scouler, John Smart and William Ross, some of the very greatest masters of the genre working between the 17th and 19th centuries.

Above: William Marshall Craig, Richard Colley (as child, with dog), about 1805. © Private collection

Supported by:

Coins have always provided a stage on which the dramas of religion and politics, statehood and rebellion, marriage and succession, and triumph and desperation are played.

In the first quarter of the seventh century, the East Roman Emperor Herakleios requisitioned silver from the churches of Constantinople to pay his army. The coins bore the petition ‘God help the Romans’.

A generation later the leader of the first Muslim Empire, the Umayyad Caliph Abd Al-Malik, created a gold coinage emblazoned with Islamic verse, which transformed the nature of Muslim coinage for centuries.

This fascinating exhibition explores the origins, meanings and manufacturing processes of coinage in the neighbouring Byzantine and early Muslim empires. The relationship between these two empires was characterised by a constant dialogue of trade, intellectual exchange and military confrontation.

Contextualised by two highly important sacred texts, which illustrate how attitudes to depicting religious subjects differ between Islam and Christianity, the coins show how currency was used by each to assert cultural difference and promote its own concept of the divine.

Exhibition TourS

Sundays 20 April, 18 May, 15 June, 20 July & 21 September, 2.30pm See pages 14, 15 & 16 for details

lunchtime lecture Wednesday 14 May, 1.10pm See page 14 for details

CHINESE LIVES IN BIRMINGHAM 17 May – 8 June Learning Room

FAMILY CIRCLES

The origins and rich culture of Birmingham’s diverse Chinese community is explored British Portrait Miniatures of in this display.

Children and Families Based on material from recorded interviews and documentary Until 26 Mayresearch, it will tell the stories of individuals Beige Gallery asPrint wellBay, as examining the development of the community from the 1950s. With the help of a slideshow, the display will also look at the preservation of the community’s culture through festivals, traditions and Chinese schools.

It will also focus on the experience of settling down and establishing new lives, and the reflections of British-born Chinese people on living with a dual identity.

Project content, including the full interviews, will be uploaded to the blog http://chineselivesinbirmingham. com/blog/.

See our Families First brochure for information on a related half-term workshop.

Launch event

Saturday 17 May, 11am See page 10 for details

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Saturday 19 July, 1.30 – 4pm See page 15 for details

Gallery Talks

Tuesdays 10 & 24 June; 1 July, 1.15pm See page 15 for details

Lunchtime Lecture Wednesday 16 July, 1.10pm See page 15 for details

Michael Rothenstein, Michael Rothenstein, 1981. © National Portrait Gallery, London.

A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT

exhibitions

exhibitions

Writing Workshop

Works on Paper from the Barber’s Collection

Gallery Talk

Tuesday 8 July, 1.15pm See page 15 for details

13 June – 26 October Print Bay, Green Gallery To coincide with this summer’s display of 17th-century seascapes, this selection of works on paper travels upstream to highlight the importance of rivers in everyday life. Featuring prints & drawings by, or after, artists such as Wenceslas Hollar, Turner,

Whistler and Max Klinger, the display explores themes of leisure and entertainment, but also the pervasive impact of rivers on settlement, farming and industry. However, there is more to water than simple functionality, and this display also delves into its symbolic and allegorical nature.

CONVERSATIONS Portrait Prints from the Barber’s Collection

LASTING IMPRESSIONS 20th-century Portrait Prints 6 June – 28 September Lady Barber Gallery From etchings to a plasticine print, Lasting Impressions brings together works that document the renaissance of the portrait print from the early 20th century to the present day.

By the late 1800s, printmaking had undergone such monumental technological changes that its status had sunk to that of mere reproduction. However, in response, traditional techniques were revived by many artists, who produced prints that could stand for themselves as works of art. In the later 20th century, more experimental and unorthodox methods were explored – often with dramatic results.

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This exhibition explores how artists including Eric Gill, Oskar Kokoschka and Richard Hamilton have used different print processes to convey the personalities and circumstances of sitters as colourful as Quentin Crisp, Lucian Freud, Frank Bruno, Robert Plant – and even an entire House of Commons – and also their relationships with the artists portraying them. The prints will be accompanied by a range of printmaking tools and books from the University’s Cadbury Research Library and Research and Cultural Collections, for which some of the artists featured produced illustrations. Co-curated by postgraduate students from the University’s Art History, Film and Visual Studies department, the display is the third in a collaborative series with the National Portrait Gallery, London.

13 June – 5 October Print Bay, Beige Gallery Featuring stunning works by Rembrandt, Goya, Cézanne and Picasso, this display spans four centuries of portrait printmaking. It explores the different compositional approaches, styles and techniques adopted by artists that contribute to an evolving dialogue about the purpose and practice of portraiture.

Organized to complement the exhibition Lasting Impressions, the portraits are arranged in pairs to encourage the comparison of individual artistic responses to the fundamental challenges of creating a likeness through the print medium.

Gallery Talk

Tuesday 17 June, 1.15pm See page 15 for details

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© Eve Jones

£20; £16 concessions and students (for all four sessions). Booking essential: call Ikon Shop on 0121 248 0711. E-bookings can be made via Ikon’s website: www.ikon-gallery.org

BARBER YOUTH Aged 13 – 18 and into art?

Join Barber Youth!

Learn new skills in drawing, painting, printing, sculpture and photography.

Visit museums and art galleries, meet artists and learn about careers in the arts!

Tuesdays, 4.30 – 6.30pm: 8 & 29 April 13 & 27 May 10 & 24 June 8 July £5 per session, booking essential.*

UNDERSTANDING ART PART V: WOMEN & ART Thursday 26 June: Wolverhampton Art Gallery Thursday 3 July: Ikon Thursday 10 July: The New Art Gallery Walsall Thursday 17 July: The Barber Institute of Fine Arts 2 – 3pm Join us for a varied four-part course exploring the complex relationships between women and art. At Wolverhampton Art Gallery, discover how contemporary female photographer Justyna Ptak reveals the beauty in our everyday surroundings. Study pieces by female artists such as Cornelia Parker and Susan Hiller as part of a

Art & Writing MISS CLARA & FRIENDS Saturday 12 April 1.30 – 4pm

SUMMER OF PRINTMAKING With Birmingham Printmakers Explore a world of printmaking this summer with artist-tutors from Birmingham Printmakers. Be inspired by our exhibition Lasting Impressions, and get the chance to study, up-close, stunning prints from the Barber’s own collection.

Each workshop, run over two consecutive Saturdays, will explore a different print process from start to finish – resulting in a completed print to take home by the end of the course. Sign up to one or come to all three!

Many non-human creatures feature in works in the Barber galleries.

What would they tell us if they could talk? Explore the relationships portrayed between animals and humans.

VOYAGES Saturday 24 May 1.30 – 4pm Be inspired by the seascapes in our galleries and explore personal maps and journeys and write about the sea in its many forms…

SCREENPRINT Saturday 21 & 28 June 11pm – 4pm Tutor: Karoline Rerrie LINO PRINT Saturday 19 & 26 July 11 – 4pm Tutors: Jacqui Dodds & Christine Bradshaw DRYPOINT Saturday 20 & 27 September 11 – 4pm Tutor: Paul Bartlett £70; £60 concessions; £50 students for each 2-day workshop.

Booking essential*.

FACE TO FACE Saturday 19 July 1.30 – 4pm In response to our Lasting Impressions exhibition, this workshop looks at how we describe people and create characters.

Explore these ideas and have the opportunity to write a dialogue by pairing two disparate portraits.

These workshops, led by Barber Writer in Residence Jacqui Rowe, are suitable for writers of prose or poetry, at all levels of experience.

Suitable for all levels of ability- all materials provided.

Top: © Karoline Rerrie

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Workshops

workshops

retrospective look at Ikon, and art, in the 1980s. At the New Art Gallery Walsall, return to contemporary photography with Noémie Goudal‘s work, inspired by isolated places. To conclude the course, explore the complex roles of women as models, muses and makers in art history as illustrated in the Barber collection.

MARBLE, BRONZE, WOOD, STEEL Saturday 28 June 1.30 – 4pm Embark on a treasure hunt for the hidden and unexpected artworks around the University of Birmingham campus! Be inspired in your writing by this diverse and eclectic range of sculpture, both inside and out, including works in the Barber Institute and the Campus Collection of Fine and Decorative Art. Please bring suitable footwear for walking, and protection against bad weather.

£6; £4 concessions & students per workshop.

Limited spaces available.

Booking essential.* *Booking Contact 0121 414 2261 or education@barber.org.uk.

Further information on all our events and workshops can be found at www.barber.org.uk.

Concessions apply to over 60s, Friends of the Barber, University of Birmingham staff and the unemployed.

Top: Michael Sandle RA Woman for Heidelberg,1987. (detail). On loan to the University from the artist.

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Thursday 15 May 5 – 9pm The Barber Institute, Ikon, RBSA, Eastside Projects, mac Birmingham...

Galleries Night returns this summer, providing gallery-lovers with another brilliant evening out! Enjoy the delights of the exhibitions and collections at six of Birmingham’s top galleries, with the free Art Bus between venues and guided tours available at selected venues.

FREE, hop-on, hop-off. Timetables will be available at participating galleries, tourist information centres and public libraries, and in downloadable form from the Barber website, from mid April.

CHINESE LIVES LAUNCH EVENT Saturday 17 May 11am – 12.30pm Join us to celebrate the opening of the Chinese Lives in Birmingham exhibition.

Following opening speeches at 11am, younger visitors (and parents too) can take part in Guan Yin’s treasure hunt around the Barber galleries. Free refreshments will be served throughout the morning.

FREE – no booking required.

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Discover more than 100 years of architecture, right here on the University of Birmingham’s Edgbaston campus.

From redbrick Chancellor’s Court, to Arts & Crafts University House, to the glass and concrete of 1969’s Muirhead Tower, this 90-minute guided walking tour will reveal the eclectic and the experimental collection of architecture on campus… loved or loathed. The tour will also look to the future, discussing current developments that will add a new chapter to the architectural story of the University.

The circular tour will start and finish at the Grade II listed Art Deco Barber Institute of Fine Arts, where refreshments and toilets are available.

This event is part of Birmingham Architecture Festival 2014.

FREE, but booking essential* (limited spaces available)

*Booking Contact 0121 414 2261 or education@barber.org.uk.

Further information on all our events and workshops can be found at www.barber.org.uk.

Concessions apply to over 60s, Friends of the Barber, University of Birmingham staff and the unemployed.

Music on the Grand Tour with Peter Medhurst GRSM ARCM Thursday 3 July 5.45pm: Late Gallery viewing/ refreshments 7 – 8.15pm: Lecture-Recital The Grand Tour was de rigeur in the 18th century for well-to-do young gentlemen, who flocked to Europe’s cultural centres in search of adventure and to improve their minds. In this illustrated lecture – complete with musical additions – Peter Medhurst takes a look at 18th-century Italian music-making – the composers, the performers, the forms and styles – and determines exactly what drew the musical British travellers south, time and time again.

COMMUNITY DAY

CONROY MADDOX AND BIRMINGHAM SURREALISM

Sunday 7 September 11am – 4pm

Birmingham Surrealist Laboratory Saturday 5 July 2 – 4pm

Come along to the Barber Institute on the University’s Community Day for a day of arty fun. Storytellers Annamation return to tell mooninspired tales in the galleries, to celebrate the Chinese Moon Festival.

Meander around the galleries and discover the many mysterious moons in our paintings, then design and build your own rocket to the moon!

Explore the fittingly unlikely topic of Birmingham Surrealism at this roundtable event on Surrealist artist and thinker Conroy Maddox (1912-2005).

The Birmingham Surrealist Laboratory is inspired by the life and work of Maddox, who lived in the city from the 1930s to the1950s. The round-table discussion will feature some of Maddox’s associates and contributions from scholars in the field and the event forms part of the Birmingham Surrealist Laboratory project, which is funded by the Communities and Culture Network+. The project has explored Birmingham Surrealism with residents in Balsall Heath, where Maddox held court as champion of Surrealism.

Pop over to the Great Hall to make a man-on-the-moon badge to take home! For timings, check www.barber.org.uk in late August.

FREE, drop-in.

For further details, visit: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/lcahm/ departments/french/research/surrealist-laboratory.aspx FREE, but booking essential.*

BARBER BOOK CLUB Tuesdays once a month 2 – 3pm

For more information about this lecture, visit our website at www.barber.org.uk £10. Refreshments will be provided.

Open to all.

Booking essential: nadfas.org.uk, in person from the Barber reception desk, or by contacting 0121 414 2261 (credit/debit card)

Conroy Maddox, La Salpêtrière, 1976. By kind permission of Lee Saunders and Silvano Levy.

GALLERIES NIGHT

Walking Tour Saturday 24 May 2 – 3.30pm

NADFAS AT NIGHT

Why not join our monthly book club for a stimulating and informal discussion of books that link to the Barber’s magnificent collection?

8 April: Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro 13 May: Keeping the World Away by Margaret Forster 10 June: Grace Notes by Bernard MacLaverty 8 July: Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh 9 September: Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver Refreshments provided. £2 per session, booking essential.*

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Special Events

SPECIAL EVENTS

‘REDBRICK, BRUTALIST AND BEYOND…’

(8 – 20 June) The Barber hosts a number of performances in this year’s Summer Festival of Music, including the Summer Festival Opera, The Marriage of Figaro (13 – 15 June).

For full details of concerts and performances in the Barber Concert Hall, please go to www.barber.org.uk/concerts

STEVEN HOUGH piano Wednesday 7 May 7.30pm

Described as ‘A virtuoso who begins where others leave off ’ (Washington Post), internationally acclaimed pianist Stephen Hough needs little by way of introduction.

With some fifty-plus recordings to his name, numerous performances at the BBC Proms and every major international festival, concerti with many of the world’s finest orchestras and through his work both as a composer and writer, Stephen’s output is both prolific and highly regarded. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2014 New Year’s Honours List and performs for the second time in the Barber Evening Concert series.

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Lunchtime Lectures

Second and fourth Sundays of the month, 2.30pm Find out about our collections and exhibitions in these hour-long tours.

Meet in the foyer.

FREE

Wednesdays once a month,1.10pm Our popular, public, illustrated 50-minute lectures, which take place in the Barber Lecture Theatre, complement our collection, exhibitions and art historical themes, given by experts in the field.

FREE

Coin Gallery Tours Third Sunday of the month, 2.30pm Tours of the current exhibition Faith & Fortune.

FREE

TUESDAY TOURS & TALKS Tuesdays, 1.15pm These weekly tours and talks focus on exhibitions and displays, as well as including introductory and themed mini-tours of the collection.

Gallery talks last 20 minutes and taster tours 30 minutes.

FREE

BARBER EVENING CONCERT

‘The most perfect piano playing conceivable’ (The Guardian)

Sunday Gallery Tours

Schoenberg Six Little Pieces, Op. 19 Strauss Träumerei Wagner Albumblatt Bruckner Erinnerungen Brahms Seven Fantasias, Op. 116 Stephen Hough Piano Sonata No. 2 (notturno luminoso) Schumann Carnaval Barber Concert Hall Tickets: £15; £12 concessions; £10 Barber Friends; £5 students.

To book, contact the Barber Box Office on 0121 414 7333 or purchase from the reception desk.

BARBER LUNCHTIME CONCERTS

For blind and partially sighted visitors 1-hour tours and half-day sessions with our friendly and knowledgeable Gallery Guides can be arranged for groups on request, free of charge.

Hand-held magnifiers, as recommended by the RNIB, are available from reception. To discuss your visit please contact the Learning and Access team on 0121 414 2261 or email education@barber.org.uk

Signed Gallery tours

Every Friday in May at 1.10pm The Barber presents some of the UK leading young classical musicians in a free, 50-minute recital. The summer series includes performances by Barber favourite Kenneth Hamilton, who gives two lively piano lecture recitals, recent RNCM graduates, the Zelkova Quartet, and we also have a special performance on Friday 20 June as Birmingham University Singers prepare for their International Eisteddfod debut.

Audio-descriptive gallery tours

BARBER BOOK CLUB Tuesdays, once a month 2 – 3pm Why not join our monthly book club for stimulating and informal discussion of books that link to the Barber’s magnificent collection?

7 January: The Untouchable by John Banville

11 February: The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West 11 March: What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt

For deaf visitors Gallery tours with our experienced Gallery Guides and qualified BSL interpreters can also be arranged on request. Charges apply.

For more information, please contact the Learning and Access team on 0121 414 2261 or email education@barber.org.uk

8 April: Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro Refreshments provided. £2 per session, booking essential*

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SUMMER FESTIVAL OF MUSIC

Wednesday 2, 1.10pm Lunchtime Lecture Ruby’s Room and Other Works in Miniature Bettina von Zwehl, artist Tuesday 8, 1.15pm Taster Tour Water, Water Everywhere!

Jen Costigan, Gallery Guide 2 – 3pm Barber BOOK CLUB*/** Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro 4.30 – 6.30pm Barber Youth*/** Workshop for young people aged 13 – 18 years Saturday 12, 1.30 – 4pm Writing Workshop*/** Miss Clara and Friends With Writer in Residence Jacqui Rowe Sunday 13, 2.30pm Gallery Tour Tuesday 15, 1.15pm TASTER TOUR Crucifixions Pam Turton, Gallery Guide Sunday 20, 2.30pm faith & fortune TOUR

Tuesday 29, 1.15pm Taster Tour What Are You Looking At? The Sitter’s Gaze Jill Ambler, Gallery Guide 4.30 – 6.30pm Barber Youth*/** Workshop for young people aged 13 –18 years

* Booking essential. For more information or to book a place contact 0121 414 2261 or education@barber.org.uk ** Charges apply.

MAY Tuesday 6, 1.15pm Taster Tour Introduction to the Collection Jill Ambler, Gallery Guide WEDNESDAY 7, 7.30PM EVENING CONCERT Steven Hough (piano) For booking details see page 12 Sunday 11, 2.30pm Gallery Tour Tuesday 13, 1.15pm Taster Tour Folk Tales and Romantic Stories in Works on Paper Tamsin Cross, Learning & Access Intern 2 – 3pm Book Club*/** Keeping the World Away

by Margaret Forster 4.30 – 6.30pm Barber Youth*/** Workshop for young people aged 13 –18 years

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Wednesday 14, 1.10pm Lunchtime Lecture From Sacred Image to Sacred Word: The Genesis of Early Islamic Coinage Dr Luke Treadwell, Oriental Institute Thursday 15, 5 – 9pm Special Event Galleries Night Saturday 17, 11am Special Event Chinese Lives Launch and Treasure Hunt Sunday 18, 2.30pm Faith & Fortune Tour Tuesday 20, 1.15pm Gallery Talk Lady Barber’s Textiles Sarah Beattie, Collections Assistant Saturday 24, 1.30 – 4pm Writing Workshop*/** Voyages With Writer in Residence Jacqui Rowe 2 – 3.30pm Special Event* ‘Redbrick, Brutalist and Beyond…’

Walking tour Sunday 25, 2.30pm Gallery Tour Tuesday 27, 1.15pm Gallery Talk Introduction to the Dutch 17thcentury Marine Paintings on Loan Robert Wenley, Deputy Director 4.30 – 6.30pm Barber Youth*/** Workshop for young people aged 13 – 18 years * Booking essential. For more information or to book a place contact 0121 414 2261 or education@barber.org.uk ** Charges apply.

JUNE Tuesday 3, 1.15pm Taster Tour The Symbolism of Flowers and Fruit Alex Jolly, Learning & Access Assistant Sunday 8, 2.30pm Gallery Tour Tuesday 10, 1.15pm Gallery Talk Lasting Impressions: An introduction to the exhibition Robert Wenley, Deputy Director 2 – 3pm Book Club*/** Grace Notes by Bernard MacLaverty 4.30 – 6.30pm Barber Youth*/** Workshop for young people aged 13 – 18 years Sunday 15, 2.30pm Faith & Fortune Tour Tuesday 17, 1.15pm Gallery Talk Conversations: An introduction to the display Charlotte Walker, Collections and Exhibitions Intern Wednesday 18, 1.10pm Lunchtime Lecture Silver Seas in a Golden Age: 17thcentury Dutch Marine Painting Robert Wenley, Deputy Director Saturday 21, 11am – 4pm Adult Workshop*/** Summer of Printmaking: Screenprint With Birmingham Printmakers Sunday 22, 2.30pm Gallery Tour * Booking essential. For more information or to book a place contact 0121 414 2261 or education@barber.org.uk ** Charges apply.

Tuesday 24, 1.15pm Gallery Talk Hidden Histories: A spy, a spinner and other sitters’ stories Michael Escolme and Erin Shakespeare, MA Students and Co-curators of Lasting Impressions 4.30 – 6.30pm Barber Youth*/** Workshop for young people aged 13 – 18 years Thursday 26, 2 – 3pm Adult Workshop*/** Understanding Art Part V At Wolverhampton Art Gallery Saturday 28, 11am – 4pm ADULT Workshop*/** Summer of Printmaking: Screenprint With Birmingham Printmakers 1.30 – 4pm Writing Workshop*/** Marble, Bronze, Wood, Steel With Writer in Residence Jacqui Rowe JULY

Tuesday 8, 1.15pm Gallery Talk A River Runs Through It: An introduction to the display Sarah Beattie, Collections Assistant 2 – 3pm Book Club*/** Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh 4.30 – 6.30pm Barber Youth*/** Workshop for young people aged 13 – 18 years Thursday 10, 2 – 3pm ADULT Workshop*/** Understanding Art Part V At the New Art Gallery Walsall

Tuesday 15, 1.15pm Taster Tour Rembrandt’s Works on Paper Alex Jolly, Learning and Access Assistant

Saturday 26, 11am – 4pm ADULT Workshop*/** Summer of Printmaking: Lino print With Birmingham Printmakers

Saturday 20, 11am – 4pm Adult Workshop*/** Summer of Printmaking: Drypoint With Birmingham Printmakers

Sunday 27, 2.30pm Gallery Tour

Sunday 21, 2.30pm Faith & Fortune Tour

Tuesday 29, 1.15pm Taster Tour Romance... and Runaways: Couples in the Collection Jen Ridding, Learning and Access Officer

Tuesday 23, 1.15pm Taster Tour Sable to Hoghair: Oil Painting Techniques John Southall, Gallery Guide

AUGUST (NO EVENTS)

WEDNESDAY 16, 1.10PM LUNCHTIME LECTURE Lasting Impressions: An Exploration of Printmaking in 20th-century Portraiture Gemma Wright, Education and Programme Manager, Leicester Print Workshop

Thursday 3, 2 – 3pm ADULT Workshop*/** Understanding Art Part V At Ikon

Thursday 17, 2 – 3pm ADULT Workshop*/** Understanding Art Part V At the Barber Institute of Fine Arts

5.45 – 8.15pm Special Event*/** NADFAS at Night

Saturday 19, 11am – 4pm ADULT Workshop*/** Summer of Printmaking: Lino print With Birmingham Printmakers

SEPTEMBER Tuesday 2, 1.15pm Taster Tour Trees in Art Jennifer Young, Gallery Guide Sunday 7, 11am – 4pm Special Event Community Day

1.30 – 4pm Writing Workshop*/** Face to Face With Writer in Residence Jacqui Rowe Sunday 20, 2.30pm Faith & Fortune Tour

Tuesday 16, 1.15pm Taster Tour Biblical Women of Consequence Pam Turton, Gallery Guide

* Booking essential. For more information or to book a place contact 0121 414 2261 or education@barber.org.uk ** Charges apply.

Sunday 13, 2.30pm Gallery Tour

Tuesday 1, 1.15pm Gallery Talk Creating Lasting Impressions: A Guide to Printmaking Techniques Annette Eldridge and Anne Russell, MA students and Co-curators of Lasting Impressions

Saturday 5, 2 – 4pm Special Event* Conray Maddox and Birmingham Surrealism

Tuesday 22, 1.15pm Taster Tour Two Nuns and a Prior Jennifer Young, Gallery Guide

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Tuesday 9, 1.15pm Taster Tour Masters of the Sistine Chapel Barbara Fogarty, Gallery Guide 2 – 3pm Barber Book Club*/** Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver Sunday 14, 2.30pm GALLERY TOUR

Wednesday 24, 1.10pm Lunchtime Lecture Portrait Prints from the National Portrait Gallery Collection Rosie Broadley, Associate Curator, National Portrait Gallery, London Saturday 27, 11am – 4pm Adult Workshop*/** Summer of Printmaking: Drypoint With Birmingham Printmakers Sunday 28, 2.30pm GALLERY Tour Tuesday 30, 1.15pm Taster Tour Introductory Tour of the Barber Barbara Fogarty, Gallery Guide

OPENING HOURS Monday to Friday 10am – 5pm; Saturday & Sunday 11am – 5pm (Closed Good Friday 18 April)

ADMISSION TO GALLERIES & ALL EXHIBITIONS IS FREE ACCESS Facilities for disabled visitors include designated parking, level access, wheelchair, lift and WC. Call in advance to make your visit easier.

Baby changing facilities are available and the Barber is a breastfeedingfriendly venue throughout.

SHOP Our shop sells a wide variety of items – from pocket-money souvenirs for children to high-quality designer leather goods. We also offer a range of collection - and exhibition-related books, postcards, greetings cards and gifts suitable for all pockets.

REFRESHMENTS Hot and cold drinks, sandwiches, cakes and confectionery, including a fantastic range of Fairtrade items, are available.

WINTERBOURNE HOUSE AND GARDEN Why not make a day of it and visit nearby Winterbourne House and Garden? This delightful, lovingly restored Edwardian family home, with a remarkable Arts & Crafts-style botanic garden, also has a terrace café serving hot and cold meals and snacks.

NB: Entrance charges apply.

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i n f o r m at i o n

Tuesday 1, 1.15pm Taster Tour Self Portraits on Paper Pam Turton, Gallery Guide

Sunday 27, 2.30pm Gallery Tour

E v e n t D i a ry

E v e n t D i a ry

APRIL