Exhibitions at the V&A – Autumn 2009
Architecture, Pottery, Book Design, Illustration & Fantasy Furniture
Sep 18, 2009
A visit to London's V&A Museum is sure to provide an interesting day out. The museum is currently offering a wide variety of fascinating exhibitions and displays including the following:
Ceramics Galleries
The Ceramics Galleries offer a permanent exhibition of the V&A's outstanding ceramic collection. Items on display range from Chinese Ewers to pots by Pablo Picasso, a site-specific installation by Edmund de Waal, and a partial reconstruction of leading ceramist Dame Lucie Rie's studio.
The exhibition also has a fully-equipped workshop where visitors can make, decorate and fire their own pottery.
One gallery will be devoted to temporary exhibitions, the first of which is entitled Objects of Luxury: French Porcelain of the Eighteenth Century. Ceramics Galleries at V&A Exhibition Overview and Victoria & Albert Museum Ceramics Galleries explore the galleries in greater detail.
The temporary show will be on view until March 2010. The remainder of the exhibition is a permanent fixture. Admission to the Ceramics Galleries is free.
Telling Tales
This show features unique pieces by artists such as Tord Boontje, Kelly McCallum, Dunne & Raby, Miriam van der Lubbe, Niels van Eijk, Maarten Baas and others. Furniture, lighting and ceramics are inspired by fantasy and fairy tales as shown by Jeroen Verhoeven's Cinderella Table (2008.) All the installations share common themes such as make-believe and a concern with mortality. Exhibition closes 18th October 2009, admission fee applies.
Faber and Faber: Eighty Years of Book Cover Design, 1929-2009
This installation can be found on the National Art Library Landing. It celebrates the 80th anniversary of the publishing house Faber and Faber and showcases their work in book design. The display is just a taster of a more comprehensive exhibition due to open in the Twentieth Century Gallery in April 2010. The present display will be on view until 11th October 2009. Admission is free.
Europe and the English Baroque
The display looks at how European buildings influenced British architecture between 1660 and 1715. The show features drawings by leading architects such as Christopher Wren and John Vanbrugh. The display will be on show until 9th November 2009. Admission is free.
V&A Illustration Awards 2009
The V&A Illustration Awards are an annual event. The Awards recognize high standards of creativity in the book industry. The event is open to students and established artists and the display showcases many of the entries and winners.
In 2009 Tom Burns, received the prize for Best Illustrated Book for the Folio Society edition of The New York Trilogy, by Paul Auster. Burns was also named as overall winner of the competition. The display will be on view until 15th November 2009. Admission is free.
A Higher Ambition: Owen Jones (1809-74)
This is the first ever display devoted to the work of the architect Owen Jones and his contribution to Victorian architecture, design and colour theory. The display, which marks the bicentenary of his birth, features early studies of Islamic decoration at the Alhambra Palace and his designs for the 1851 Great Exhibition building. The Grammar of Ornament, an important design sourcebook, is also on display. The installation will be on view until 22nd November 2009. Admission is free.
Gardens Neatly Razed: The Art of the Flopsy Bunnies
This exhibition commemorates the centenary of The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies written by Beatrix Potter in 1909. The show explores some of the artistic devices used by Potter. On display are her sketches for the story together with drawings of her uncle's garden at Gwaynynog, Denbighshire, from where her inspiration came. The display will be on view until 17th December 2009. Admission is free.
Further details of all exhibitions, installations and displays can be obtained from the V&A Museum.
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