September – December 2013
Exhibitions Events Lectures Workshops ADMISSION TO GALLERIES AND ALL EXHIBITIONS IS FREE
find out more T: 0121 414 7333 W: www.barber.org.uk E: info@barber.org.uk
Opening Hours Monday to Friday: 10am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday: 11am – 5pm (Closed 24 – 26 December, 1 January)
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The Barber Institute of Fine Arts University of Birmingham Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TS
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How to Find us 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.
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By Train Local trains operated by London Midland run from Birmingham New Street to University station, a 10-minute walk from the Barber. Check train times and buy tickets at www.londonmidland.com.
The Barber Institute gratefully acknowledges the support of:
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). By Car South Car Park (off Edgbaston Park 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. For maps and more information about how to travel to the Barber visit: www.about.bham.ac.uk/maps
www.barber.org.uk
Monet and Magritte; Renoir, Rubens, Rossetti and Rodin; Degas, Delacroix and Van Dyck — not to mention 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 Grade II* 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.
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A haven of tranquillity in a bustling metropolis, the Barber Institute is a must for anyone visiting Birmingham and the West Midlands. 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. Look out for these:
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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.
SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER 2013
Cover image: The Yellow Chair (detail), 2013. Oil on canvas © John Monks.
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MANET’S MADAMOISELLE MAKES A WELCOME IMPRESSION A painting proclaimed as ‘one of the most important paintings of the 19th century’ by Professor Christopher Brown, Director of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, is to go on display at the Barber this autumn. édouard Manet’s Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus, painted in 1868, was acquired by the Ashmolean in August last year after a campaign to raise nearly £8 million. The landmark oil painting had been purchased by a foreign buyer in 2011 for more than £28 million, and was due to leave the country until Culture Minister, Ed Vaizey, placed a temporary export bar on the work, judged to be of outstanding cultural importance.
©Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Welcome
Offered to the Ashmolean for 27% of its market value by the Government’s reviewing committee, the picture is touring public museums and galleries nationwide this year under the terms of the acquisition agreement. Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus was originally owned by the artist John Singer Sargent, and is the first version of Le Balcon, 1868-9, now in the Musée d’Orsay, Paris – one of the key images of the Impressionist movement. Inspired by the sight of people on a balcony during a family summer vacation in Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1868, and drawing on Goya’s Majas on a Balcony, Manet’s subject is Fanny Claus, a concert violinist
and closest friend of Manet’s wife, Suzanne Leerhoff. The painting will hang in the Blue Gallery from 9 September to 21 October – next to Manet’s Portrait of Carolus Duran, returning this September following its loan to the National Gallery, London, for the exhibition Birth of a Collection: Masterpieces from the Barber Institute of Fine Arts.
Lunchtime Lecture
Wednesday 16 October, 1.10pm. See Page 16 for details
Gallery Talk
Tuesday 17 September, 1.15pm. See Page 16 for details
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SONIC VISIONS
New Electroacoustic Music Inspired by Art 13 September – 10 November 2013 Lady Barber Gallery Three of the Barber Institute’s bestloved paintings – as you’ve never heard them before!
FUNCTION 4 Portraiture
6 September – 24 November 2013 Throughout main galleries Highly original and arresting angles on the theme of portraiture feature in this display of work by emerging photographic talent from Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, Birmingham City University. In the fourth of an annual selective award collaboration, students were challenged to produce their own responses to the theme that has been central to the Barber’s 80th anniversary year, and to portraits from the collection and recent exhibitions. The resulting images – incredibly varied and wide-ranging – are displayed interspersed around the Barber’s main galleries, creating new dialogues with the historical works among which they hang.
Gallery Talk
Tuesday 1 October, 1.15pm. See Page 16 for details
In this exciting sound installation, a collaboration with the University’s Department of Music, three postgraduate composers were commissioned to create new, short, electroacoustic pieces, inspired by works in the Barber collection. They chose three very different pictures – Daubigny’s brooding 18th-century A Seascape, Renoir’s charming Impressionist work Young Woman Seated, c. 1876, and Magritte’s surrealist conundrum The Flavour of Tears, 1948. Sonic Visions offers the opportunity to re-experience
these pictures, accompanied by the very different sound worlds that they have inspired, performed in 8-channel surround sound. All three composers – Constantinos Kontos (Greece), Julien Guillamat (France) and Chris Tarren (UK) – are regular performers with BEAST (Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre), the performance wing of the University’s Electroacoustic Music Studios. BEAST’s aim is to bring a dramatic and immersive sonic experience to its audience: space, movement and the evocation of place are key aspects of its approach, all of which figure in these exciting new works.
Gallery Talk
Tuesday 15 October, 1.15pm. See Page 16 for details
Lunchtime Lecture
Wednesday 23 October, 1.10pm. See Page 17 for details
Workshop for Adults
Saturday 2 & Sunday 3 November, 10.30am – 5pm. See Page 17 for details
Above: Steven Legere, Blossom, 2013. Right: Mark Wright, Margaret, 2013.
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MILLET TO MANET French Prints of the Late 19th Century 20 September 2013 – 12 January 2014 Print Bay, Beige Gallery
Gallery Talk
Tuesday 22 October, 1.15pm. See Page 17 for details
John Monks
The 19th century was a period of immense social and artistic foment in France and throughout Europe, and this display, themed to coincide with the exciting loan to the gallery of Manet’s masterpiece Portrait of Madamoiselle Claus, explores the contrasts and conflicts of the period. Using a selection of the Barber’s own of prints by artists including Millet and Daubigny, Manet and Cézanne, it explores oppositions such as the rural versus the urban, and the historical and traditional versus modernity, with a range of landscapes, genre scenes and historical subjects, as well as portraits of individuals who played a pivotal rôle in French society at the time.
The Process of Painting
15 November 2013 – 26 January 2014 Lady Barber Gallery One of the most important painters working in Britain today, London-based John Monks is as much influenced by historical art and the interiors of galleries and historic buildings as he is by the work of contemporary artists. This set of captivating paintings – large canvases that include a triptych specially created for this exhibition – features interiors and everyday objects, depicted in such a way that they challenge the viewer to look anew at the familiar and the commonplace. Through a range of painterly processes – pouring the paint, glazing the surface in layers and scraping with a palette knife – Monks weaves and layers surfaces to imbue his subjects with a builtin history, implying atmosphere, life and change in seemingly inanimate and immutable objects and scenes.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Early Acquisitions of Prints for the Barber Collection 27 September 2013 – 19 January 2014 Print Bay, Green Gallery
Workshop for Adults
Thursdays 7, 14, 21 & 28 November, 2 – 3pm. See Pages 17 & 18 for details
Gallery Talk
Tuesday 26 November, 1.15pm. See Page 18 for details
The Barber Institute’s collection of works on paper is famed for its exemplary quality, due in no small part to the acquisitions of its first Director, Professor Thomas Bodkin. This display focuses on the prints purchased for the collection in 1939, the year the Barber Institute opened, and provides a sequel to the summer display First Thoughts, which explored the very first drawings acquired for the Barber Institute in 1936. Featuring a broad historical range of works by – or after – Dürer, Piranesi, Rembrandt, Claude, Turner, Goya, Whistler and other masters, it includes historical and figure subjects, portraits, architectural studies and landscapes. The display will also look at the different media and techniques of printing as well as delighting in the range of genres.
Above: The Bed, 2013. Oil on canvas © John Monks.
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LAst chance to see
CITYSCAPES
Panoramic Views on European Coins and Medals Until 6 October 2013 Coin Gallery
Faith and Fortune
Visualising the Divine on Byzantine and Early Islamic Coinage 8 November 2013 – 30 November 2014 Coin Gallery 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 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. These coins show how currency was used by each to assert cultural difference and promote its own concept of the divine.
Lunchtime Lecture Wednesday 13 November, 1.10pm. See Page 17 for details
EXHIBITION TOURS
Sundays 17 November & 15 December, 2.30pm. See Pages 17 & 18 for details
London, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Barcelona, Venice and Budapest: this absorbing exhibition explores the landscapes of all these European cities and more. Celebrating the built and cultural heritage of early modern urban centres through the most circulated art medium – coins and medals – it focuses on the 16th to the 18th century, when many of the great cities of Europe applied the artistic tradition of the city view to their currency, reflecting urban pride and civic power. Above: Gold medal of London, 1633, (detail) by Nicholas Briot. Coins and Medals, the British Museum, London.
Workshops
BARBER YOUTH
MATERIALS AND SONIC VISIONS: CREATING METHODS OF SCULPTURE MUSIC INSPIRED BY ART!
Aged 13-18 and into art? Join Barber Youth!
Saturdays 7, 14, 21, 28 September 11am – 4pm
Learn new skills in drawing, painting, printing, sculpture and animation. Visit museums and art galleries, meet artists and learn about careers in the arts!
Try out a range of new materials and sculptors’ methods in this four-week course led by Paul Brown of the RBSA. Learn how to create a portrait relief in clay, make a plaster mount and cast your work in cement fondue. In a later session, model a figure from life using an armature and plaster of Paris. Suitable for all levels of ability - all materials provided.
Tuesdays, 4.30 – 6.30pm: 3 & 17 September 1 & 15 October 12 & 26 November 10 December Half-term session: 29 October, 11am – 2pm Trip to Wolverhampton Art Gallery to see the Ron Mueck exhibition. £5 per session, booking essential.*
£150; £125 concessions; £100 students. 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.
Saturday 2 & Sunday 3 November (2-day course) 10.30am – 5pm Working with the composercurators of Sonic Visions, be guided in creating music with the inspiration of one of three masterpieces in the Barber’s collection. Through the development of sound materials, you will produce unique pieces using the world-class facilities in the Bramall Music Building. Learn the arts of sound recording, editing, transformation, assembly and performance. No experience necessary. Refreshments provided. Light lunches can be purchased at the Barber Institute. For more information, please e-mail education@barber.org.uk. £25; £12.50 students. Booking essential (limited places available).*
Exhibition Tour
Sunday 15 September, 2.30pm. See Page 16 for details
Short Film Night Tuesday 1 October, 6pm. See Page 16 for details
EVENING LECTURE
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Thursday 3 October, 5 - 6pm. See Page 16 for details
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SPECIAL EVENTS
WRITING WORKSHOPS With Barber Writer In Residence Jacqui Rowe Workshops are open to writers of poetry, prose and drama at all levels of experience. Participants will be invited to submit work produced at workshops to be read at Write Night.
WRITING THE SENSES UNDERSTANDING ART PART III: MAKING PLACES AND SPACES – INTERIORS AND EXTERIORS IN ART Thursday 7 November: Ikon Thursday 14 November: Wolverhampton Art Gallery Thursday 21 November: The New Art Gallery, Walsall Thursday 28 November: Barber Institute 2 – 3pm From the landscapes of Claude, through the representations of the female interior in Georgian, Victorian and early 20th-century works, to colourful depictions by contemporary artists John Monks, Ged Quinn and Hurvin Anderson, this course will enable you to discover the importance of setting the scene within a painting. £20; £16 concessions & students (for all four sessions). Booking essential. Please book in person at the New Art Gallery Walsall or by phone on 01922 654400. E-bookings can be made via Ikon’s website/shop: www.ikon-gallery.org.
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CHINESE MOON FESTIVAL URBAN FLICKS Thursday 19 September 6.30 – 9pm Celebrate at the Barber, with exciting performances from the popular Jasmine Moon Ensemble, who will bring authentic sounds of the Middle Kingdom alive using traditional musical instruments and dance. Embark on a filmic adventure through China with an eclectic programme of short films and make Year of the Snake sculptures. Then, sample delicious, authentic moon cakes and plum wine and take part in a themed gallery tour. Plenty to do for all the family! £5; £3 children. Booking essential.*
Saturday 28 September 1.30 – 4.30pm Experience Sonic Visions in the Lady Barber Gallery – in which visual works are interpreted as music – and experiment with mixing the senses in prose and poetry.
WHOSE VOICES? ** Friday 25 October 1.30 – 4.30pm Discover the black figures in paintings in the Red Gallery and write stories in prose or poetry from their point of view. Part of University of Birmingham Black History Month.
TELLING TALES** Saturday 26 October 1.30 – 4.30pm Discover some of the stories behind the pictures and objects in the galleries. Retell them or invent some of your own, in prose or poetry. Each workshop £6; £4 concessions & students. Limited spaces available. Booking essential.* **As part of the ‘Book to the Future’ festival, 6 FREE places for these workshops will be available for
*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.
City-themed short films and animations Tuesday 1 October 6 – 8.15pm KINO 10 will be exploring the urban environment through a selection of fascinating short films. Meandering from Birmingham to Aleppo, Stockholm and beyond, these films include experimental animation, humorous documentary and live-action narrative. Highlights include Ruben Östlund’s amusing reconstruction of a robbery gone wrong in Incident by a Bank, and the 1947 film The Development of the English Town, which takes us on a journey through the motivations of town-building Romans at Silchester to the modern designers of 1950s new towns. £5; £3 students. Booking essential.*
The loves of the artists IN CONVERSATION WITH JONATHAN JONES Wednesday 9 October, 5.30pm
The great artists of the 15th and 16th centuries were not just visionaries, but lovers, points out Jonathan Jones, art critic and writer for The Guardian. Jonathan’s latest book, The Loves of the Artists is an epic history of the Renaissance artists, seen through the lens of something that perhaps occupied their thoughts and influenced their art the most…sex. In conversation with the Barber’s Andrew Davies, Jonathan will discuss how the story of the Renaissance is the story of a sexual revolution, and that in order to understand the era, we have to understand the sex lives of the men and women who defined it. 5.30pm – Gallery viewing/free glass of wine/soft drink 6 – 7pm In conversation 7 – 7.20pm – Book signing £7; £4 concessions & students. Booking essential. Tickets are available in advance by post (cheques made payable to ‘University of Birmingham’). Please include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Alternatively, buy your ticket at the Barber reception.
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NADFAS AT NIGHT
ARTHUR AND GEORGE
Thursday 24 October 7 - 8.15pm: Lecture & Discussion (6pm: Late gallery view/drinks) WHO SAYS?: Can We Trust the Experts on Good and Bad in Art? Artworld controversies and the minefields facing experts over questions of quality come under the spotlight in this special evening event organized with NADFAS – the National Association of Decorative and Fine Art Societies. David Phillips focuses on the mysterious Polish Rider in New York’s Frick Collection – part of a decades-long project to settle just which paintings Rembrandt did. Right now, world Leonardo authority Martin Kemp is convinced he has discovered a new work by the master – but other specialists disagree. David reviews a number of controversies before talking to the Barber’s curatorial team about some of the collection’s own attribution riddles. £10; FREE for students. Price includes glass of wine/soft drink. Open to all. Booking essential. Tickets are available in advance by post (cheques made payable to ‘University of Birmingham’). Please include a stamped, selfaddressed envelope. Tickets also available online from nadfas.com.
Thursday 17 October 6 – 7pm (Wine served from 5.30pm) Celebrated playwright David Edgar talks about his stage adaptation of Julian Barnes’s novel Arthur and George. Part of University of Birmingham Black History Month. FREE, but booking essential. Please book via e-mail: special-collections@bham.ac.uk.
ART HISTORIAN LESLIE PRIMO ON HIS FAVOURITES Tuesday 22 October 6 – 7pm (Wine served from 5.30pm) Acclaimed National Gallery lecturer and Renaissance specialist, Leslie Primo, talks about his favourite paintings from the Barber’s collection, placing them within the context of national collections. For further information on Leslie please visit his website: www.primoartdiscoverytours.co.uk FREE, but booking essential.*
THE DRAWING FACTORY 2013!
ART & BIOGRAPHY BOOK SALE
Thursday 24 October 11am – 3pm The award-winning Drawing Factory is back! Ruth Radcliffe, Tom Jones and other artist ‘workers’ don their boiler suits and return, with their foreman, to the production line. This year the factory is erected in its new location: The Barber Institute! Purchase an original artwork for just £1 or commission a drawing for just £2! Pop along to have a go yourself, with all drawing materials provided. FREE, drop-in!
Friday 25 October, 12 noon – 5pm & Saturday 26 October, 10.30am – 4pm Barber Institute Foyer On the hunt for a bargain art book? Then head to this book sale organised by the Friends of the Barber Institute. Contributions of good-quality art books also welcome – please donate at the Barber reception desk. Please note, Friday’s sale will be closed 1 – 2pm during the lunchtime concert. FREE, drop-in.
FROM CRASH TO RECOVERY: THE UK FINE ART MARKET c.1929 - 1960 *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.
Study Day Thursday 31 October 10.30am – 5.30pm The fine art market – from the economic crash of 1929 to its period of recovery following World War II and beyond, into the 1950s and ‘60s – is the focus of this fascinating day of lectures and discussion. Discussion will cover: art dealers and their relationships with galleries; the effect of foreign buyers; national and regional collections acquired during this period; country house collections; and university collections. FREE, but booking essential.* Supported by
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LIGHT UP DIGITAL Monday 4 November 6 – 8.15pm KINO 10 curates a very special evening of short films for Diwali, celebrating Indian culture and the theme of ‘light’. Spanning all genres, this programme will feature some rare and seldom seen films, cult classics and a mixed array of animation, documentary, narrative, music video and experimental works. £5; £3 children. Booking essential.*
BARBER BOOK CLUB Every second Tuesday of the month, 2 – 3pm Why not join our monthly book club for a stimulating and informal discussion of books that link to the Barber’s magnificent collection. 10 September: The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks 8 October: The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde 12 November: Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood 10 December: The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant Refreshments provided. £2 per session, booking essential.*
CALLING STUDENT WRITERS! Barber’s Be Inspired: Student Writing Competition 1st prize – £50 2nd prize – £30 Done some writing before or fancy having a go? We invite students from any discipline, at any University, to respond to an aspect of the Barber in poetry (no more than 40 lines), prose or dramatic writing (no more than 500 words). Please email submissions to Alex Jolly at a.jolly@bham.ac.uk. Closing date for submissions: 29 October. 1st and 2nd prize winners will be invited to perform their poems or prose at Write Night
WRITE NIGHT Tuesday 12 November 6 – 8.30pm Barber Writer-in-Residence Jacqui Rowe hosts this evening that celebrates recent writing inspired by the Barber’s collections, with readings by former Birmingham poet Laureate Roz Goddard, and awardwinning poet and lecturer Luke Kennard. With poetry and prose produced on recent workshops with Jacqui, Write Night will also highlight the winner of our student writing competition. £5; £4 concessions & students. Booking essential.*
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music
CHRISTMAS CRAFT FAIR AND FAMILY DAY Saturday 23 November 11am – 4pm The Barber’s ever-popular Christmas Fair returns. Join us for to a fun-filled day of Christmas shopping, and browse our artists’ stalls selling unique, hand-crafted gifts. There’ll also be live storytelling in the galleries (12.30 & 2pm), drop-in Crafty Christmas Cracker making for kids and Christmas carols from The Bourneville Graduates (1 – 2pm). FREE, drop-in.
GALLERIES NIGHT Wednesday 11 December 5 – 9pm The Barber Institute, Ikon, RBSA, Eastside Projects and mac birmingham...
Galleries Night returns this festive season, providing gallery-lovers with another brilliant evening out! Enjoy the delights of the collections and exhibitions at five of Birmingham’s top galleries, with the free Art Bus between venues, a glass of wine and mince pie, and guided tours available at each. FREE Timetables will be available at participating galleries, tourist information centres and public libraries, and in downloadable form from the Barber website, from early November.
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Regular events Sunday Gallery Tours, Second and fourth Sundays of the month, 2.30pm; FREE Find out about our collections and exhibitions in this hour-long tour. Meet in the foyer. Coin Gallery Tours, Third Sunday of the Month, 2.30pm FREE Tours of the current exhibitions Cityscapes or Faith & Fortune. Tuesday Tours and Talks, Tuesdays, 1.15pm; FREE These weekly tours focus on exhibitions and displays, as well as introductory and themed mini-tours of the collection. Gallery talks last 20 minutes and taster tours 30 minutes. Lunchtime Lectures, Wednesdays 1.10pm, Barber Lecture Theatre; FREE Our popular, public, illustrated 50-minute lectures complement our collection, exhibitions and art historical themes, given by experts in the field. Audio-descriptive tours for blind and partially sighted visitors Free, one-hour tours and halfday sessions with our friendly, knowledgeable and well-trained Gallery Guides can be arranged for groups on request. Hand-held, RNIB-recommended magnifiers are available from reception. Signed tours for deaf visitors with our experienced Gallery Guides and qualified BSL interpreters can be arranged on request. Charges apply. For more information please contact the team on 0121 414 2261 or education@barber.org.uk
This season’s Lecture highlights 6 November: The words ‘vandalism’ and ‘terrorist’ were first coined during the French Revolution. Yet, in this lecture, Richard Clay argues that so-called ‘vandals’ actually made sophisticated use of art as a means of protest and, in the process, helped to drive the development of the Louvre as a museum. The lecture complements an exhibition at Tate Britain this autumn for which Richard has been a consultant. 27 November & 4 December: Raphael, Michelangelo, Bernini... a remarkable, newly catalogued cache of architectural drawings produced by this circle of leading Renaissance architects and others are the focus of this pair of lectures, which complement a forthcoming book based on new research by David Hemsoll.
For individual titles, subjects and dates of regular events, consult the Events Calendar on pages 16 - 18
The Barber has a reputation for presenting international chamber music and recitals of the highest standard. Our evening concert series includes some of the world’s finest classical musicians, while the lunchtime series is a platform for some of the UK’s emerging artists and ensembles, featuring varied programmes of works spanning six centuries.
THE SIXTEEN ‘An Immortal Legacy’ Wednesday 16 October 7.30pm Harry Christophers director World-renowned choir The Sixteen performs one of its most popular concert programmes, celebrating the lasting legacy of 16th-century composers and their influence on 20th- and 21st-century composers. The concert features madrigals by Tallis, Byrd and Gibbons, and works by Britten, Tippett and MacMillan. Birmingham University Singers will also feature in a performance of Chilcott’s arrangement of Tallis’s Canon.
Barber Evening Concert Admission: £15; £12 concessions; £8 Friends; £5 students. To book, contact the Barber Box Office on 0121 414 7333.
TINE THING HELSETH trumpet KATHRYN STOTT piano Wednesday 6 November 7.30pm Celebrated trumpet player Tine Thing Helseth is joined by pianist Kathryn Stott for a recital featuring 20th-century trumpet classics by Bull, Enescu and Hindemith, song transcriptions by Sibelius, de Falla and Weill and a new commission for the duo by Graham Fitkin Helical Strake.
SIMÓN BOLÍVAR STRING QUARTET Wednesday 4 December 7.30pm Alejandro Carreño violin Boris Suaréz violin Ismel Campos viola Aimon Mata cello The string principals of the vibrant Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela perform Romantic works by Mendelssohn and Brahms alongside Argentinean folk musicinspired Quartet No. 1 by Ginastera.
BARBER LUNCHTIME CONCERTS Fridays at 1.10pm 4 October – 13 December Every Friday the Barber presents some of the UK’s leading young classical musicians in a 50-minute, free recital. The autumn series includes performances by two Ferrier Award-winning singers, Kitty Whately (mezzo) and Njabulo Madlala (baritone), and recitals by the Florin Ensemble(string trio) and Bartosz Woroch (violin). For full details of the series please go to: www.barber.org.uk/category/concerts/
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events diary September Tuesday 3, 4.30 – 6.30pm Barber Youth*/** Workshop for young people aged 13 – 18yrs Saturday 7, 11am – 4pm Workshop for Adults*/** Materials and Methods of Sculpture With sculptor Paul Brown, RBSA Sunday 8, 2.30pm Gallery Tour Tuesday 10, 1.15pm Taster Tour Introduction to the Barber’s Prints and Drawings Alex Jolly, Learning & Access Assistant 2 – 3pm Barber Book Club*/** The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks Friday 13, 12.30pm Gallery Talk The Flavour of Tears by René Magritte Naomi Rees, Marketing Assistant Saturday 14, 11am – 4pm Workshop for Adults*/** Materials and Methods of Sculpture With sculptor Paul Brown, RBSA Sunday 15, 2.30pm Cityscapes Tour Tuesday 17, 1.15pm Gallery Talk Manet to Manet: Carolus-Duran meets Mlle Claus Robert Wenley, Deputy Director 4.30 – 6.30pm Barber Youth*/** Workshop for young people aged 13 – 18yrs
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events diary Wednesday 18, 1.10pm Lunchtime Lecture Art Treasures from Glasgow Robert Wenley, Deputy Director
4.30 – 6.30pm Barber Youth*/** Workshop for young people aged 13– 18yrs
Thursday 19, 6.30 – 9pm Special Event*/** Chinese Moon Festival
6 – 8.15pm Special Event*/** Urban Flicks
Saturday 21, 11am – 4pm Workshop for Adults*/** Materials and Methods of Sculpture With sculptor Paul Brown, RBSA
THURSDAY 3, 5 – 6PM EVENING LECTURE* Venice of the Greeks: The History of Hellenism in the City of Saint Mark Chryssa Maltezou, Professor Emeritus at the University of Athens
Sunday 22, 2.30pm Gallery Tour Tuesday 24, 1.15pm Taster Tour Landscape Drawings and Watercolours in the Collection Pam Turton, Gallery Guide Saturday 28, 11am – 4pm Workshop for Adults*/** Materials and Methods of Sculpture With sculptor Paul Brown, RBSA 1.30 – 4.30pm Writing Workshop*/** Writing the Senses October Tuesday 1, 1.15pm Gallery Talk Function 4: An Introduction to the Exhibition Rob Gibb, Senior Lecturer in Photography, Birmingham Institute of Art and Design
Tuesday 8, 1.15pm Taster Tour Getting On: Depictions of old age Pam Turton, Gallery Guide 2 – 3pm Barber Book Club*/** The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde Wednesday 9, 5.30pm Special event*/** The Loves of the Artists With Jonathan Jones Sunday 13, 2.30pm Gallery Tour Tuesday 15, 1.15pm Gallery Talk Sonic Visions: An Introduction to the Exhibition Professor Jonty Harrison, Professor of Composition and Electroacoustic Music, University of Birmingham 4.30 – 6.30pm Barber Youth*/** Workshop for young people aged 13 – 18yrs
* Booking essential. For more information or to book a place contact 0121 414 2261 or education@barber.org.uk ** Charges apply.
Wednesday 16, 1.10pm Lunchtime Lecture édouard Manet: Portrait of Mlle Claus Colin Harrison: Senior Curator of European Art, Ashmolean Museum
7.30pm Barber Evening Concert*/** The Sixteen: An Immortal Legacy Thursday 17, 6 – 7pm Special Event* Arthur and George With David Edgar (wine from 5.30pm)
Sunday 27, 2.30pm Gallery Tour Tuesday 29, 11am – 2pm Barber Youth*/** Workshop for young people aged 13 – 18yrs Trip to Wolverhampton Art Gallery
Tuesday 22, 1.15pm Gallery Talks Millet to Manet: An Introduction to the Exhibition Sophie Morris, PhD student
1.15pm Gallery Talk African and Asian sculpture at the Barber (Part of Black History Month) Jen Ridding, Learning and Access Officer
6pm Special Event* Art Historian Leslie Primo on his Favourites (wine from 5.30pm)
THURSDAY 31, 10.30AM – 5.30PM SPECIAL EVENT* From Crash to Recovery: Study Day
Wednesday 23, 1.10pm Lunchtime Lecture A Brief History of BEAST Professor Jonty Harrison, Professor of Composition and Electroacoustic Music, University of Birmingham Thursday 24, 11am – 3pm Special Event The Drawing Factory 2013! 6 – 8.30pm Special Event*/** NADFAS at Night Friday 25, 12 – 5pm SPECIAL EVENT Art & Biography Book Sale 1.30 – 4.30pm Writing Workshop*/** Whose Voices? Saturday 26, 10.30 – 4pm SPECIAL EVENT Art & Biography Book Sale 1.30 – 4.30pm Writing Workshop*/** Telling Tales
November Saturday 2, 10.30am – 5pm Workshop for Adults*/** Sonic Visions Sunday 3, 10.30am – 5pm Workshop for Adults*/** Sonic Visons Monday 4, 6 – 8.15pm Special Event*/** Light Up Digital Tuesday 5, 1.15pm Taster Tour Saints: Dead or Alive Jennifer Young, Gallery Guide Wednesday 6, 1.10pm Lunchtime Lecture Iconoclasm: The destruction of religious imagery in the Protestant Reformation Dr Richard Clay, Senior Lecturer in the History of Art, Co-Director of do.collaboration, University of Birmingham
7.30pm Barber Evening Concert*/** Tine Thing Helseth (trumpet) & Kathryn Stott (piano) Thursday 7, 2 – 3pm Workshop for Adults*/** Understanding Art Part III At Ikon Sunday 10, 2.30pm Gallery Tour Tuesday 12, 1.15pm Gallery Talk Allegorical Tomb of the 1st Duke of Devonshire: My poetic response Jacqui Rowe, Writer-in-Residence 2 – 3pm Barber Book Club*/** Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood 4.30 – 6.30pm Barber Youth*/** Workshop for young people aged 13 – 18yrs 6 – 8.30pm Special Event*/** Write Night Wednesday 13, 1.10pm Lunchtime Lecture The Emperor’s Gold: Coins as Markers of Faith and Power Dr Rebecca Darley, Lead Curator, Faith and Fortune Thursday 14, 2 – 3pm Workshop for Adults*/** Understanding Art Part III At Wolverhampton Art Gallery Sunday 17, 2.30pm Faith & FORTUNE Tour
* Booking essential. For more information or to book a place contact 0121 414 2261 or education@barber.org.uk ** Charges apply.
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events diary Tuesday 19, 1.15pm Taster Tour Private Moments: Caught unawares Marian Edwards, Gallery Guide Thursday 21, 2 – 3pm Workshop for Adults*/** Understanding Art Part III At the New Art Gallery, Walsall SATURDAY 23, 11AM-4PM Special Event Christmas Craft Fair and Family Day Sunday 24, 2.30pm Gallery Tour Tuesday 26, 1.15pm Gallery Talk The Process of Painting: An Introduction to the Exhibition John Monks, artist 4.30 – 6.30pm Barber Youth*/** Workshop for young people aged 13 – 18yrs Wednesday 27, 1.10pm Special Lunchtime Lecture Collecting Architectural Drawings in the 17th Century David Hemsoll, Senior Lecturer in History of Art, University of Birmingham Thursday 28, 2 – 3pm Workshop for Adults*/** Understanding Art Part III At the Barber Institute * Booking essential. For more information or to book a place contact 0121 414 2261 or education@barber.org.uk ** Charges apply. For information on concerts and family events, pick up our Families First or Music brochures from the gallery, or download from www. barber.org.uk
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information december Tuesday 3, 1.15pm Taster Tour 19th-Century Representations of Female Sexuality: Rossetti, Gauguin, Whistler & Renoir Kadian Pow, Community Engagement Assistant Wednesday 4,1.10pm Special Lunchtime Lecture Cataloguing Architectural Drawings in the 21st Century David Hemsoll, Senior Lecturer in History of Art, University of Birmingham 7.30pm Barber Evening Concert*/** Simón Bolívar String Quartet Sunday 8, 2.30pm Gallery Tour Tuesday 10, 1.15pm Taster Tour clothes Maketh the Man – and Woman Jen Costigan, Gallery Guide 2 – 3pm Barber Book Club*/** The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant 4.30 – 6.30pm Barber Youth*/** Workshop for young people aged 13 – 18yrs Wednesday 11, 5 – 9pm Special Event Galleries Night Sunday 15, 2.30pm Faith & FORTUNE Tour
OPENING HOURS Monday to Friday 10am – 5pm; Saturday & Sunday 11am – 5pm (Closed 24 – 26 December, 1 January)
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 highquality 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. Please note: Entrance charges apply.
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. Please pick up a ‘Let’s Be Friends’ leaflet in the foyer 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
launches and other functions. The 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 nibbles, and can also arrange buffet catering. For more details visit: www.barber.org.uk/ venue-hire or contact our Events Officer for enquiries or to make a booking on 0121 414 6985 or events@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 Cadbury Research Library www.special-coll.bham.ac.uk The Lapworth Museum of Geology www.lapworth.bham.ac.uk Research and Cultural Collections www.rcc.bham.ac.uk
HIRE THE BARBER INSTITUTE The Barber’s stunning galleries, foyer, concert hall and lecture theatre are all available for hire for receptions,
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