Lectures: The autumn part of the programme is now complete.  Roger Scruton will give the Schubart Lecture on Thursday 30 September, Al Johnson from Tate Modern will talk about Gauguin on Tuesday 19 October, and Jane Pritchard from the V&A will do so on Diaghilev on 23 November.   Then to start the New Year there will be a lecture on Canaletto by Jackie Ansell on Thursday 6 January.  See Full Events List for more details.

Important update: the booking form for the Schubart Lecture enclosed with the August Bulletin is incorrect:  the event is free to members,  so do not enclose a cheque when you book.  Please still send in the booking form so that we can check the number of members who wish to attend.   The incomplete postcode on the form  should read: BS49 5DJ.

Excursions: The linked excursions to the autumn lectures will be  to Tate Modern for Gauguin on Thursday 21 October; and to the V&A for Diaghilev on  Saturday 27 November.  There are several other tempting excursions listed on the Full Events List, including a not-to-be missed Residential excursion to Berlin in June next year.

Local visit: We will be visiting the Bristol Record Office on the Cumberland Basin on Wednesday 15 September – you will find this more interesting than you may think!  More details on the Full List of Events page.

Installation: Peripheral Stories by Hala Elkoussy: the artist has compiled these stories from popular Cairo magazines and newspapers into a kind of video collage. 75 actors perform chapters from the lives of modern Egyptians, to give a flavour of life in the modern metropolis.  Hala studied in London and lives in Cairo and Amsterdam.  The installation can be seen in the Assyrian Gallery.

Presented by The Art Fund under Art Fund International, 2009.

Exhibitions in the Museum:

From 18 September – 28 November the Flight exhibition will celebrate the Aviation Industry and its impact on the West. The exhibition coincides with the 100th anniversary of the first public demonstration of the Bristol Boxkite  on the Downs (14 November 1910)  and the anniversary of the death of Sir George White (22 November 1916), founder of the Bristol Aircraft Company in 1910.  The way this exhibition is displayed will be excitingly different — and well worth seeing.

From 3 September – 31 October the next installation as part of the Plinth project is called The Possibilities of Winged Flight.  The artist is Andrew Southall, and the piece continues his ongoing sculptural practice with its anachronistic investigation into the stuff of dreams and fantasy.  The installation is part of the ongoing collaboration with CONTAINER (See News).

And don’t forget to see the What’s New? exhibition in the Watercolour Gallery which is still going strong.

Christmas Card: On sale soon in the Museum Shop will be box sets of Christmas Cards which members of The Friends committee have helped choose from a range of Japanese prints from the Far Eastern Art & Culture Collection.

Looking ahead:  ‘Bristol Public Sculpture’ a major new work by Douglas Merritt and Francis Greenacre is soon to be published with the support of The Friends.  This is the definitive catalogue of all street sculpture in Bristol covering 800 years, illustrated with 4oo photographs.  Further details about the launch of the book in the Autumn to follow in due course.

Re-hang of the Modern Gallery: this will take place in late November when recent items The Friends have helped purchase will be displayed as part of the re-hang including Concrete Form II by Ziml (see the Aquisitions page).  Also on display will be several works which for years languished in the Store awaiting conservation.   Whilst normally The Friends help with purchases of new (to the Gallery) works, in September 2009 it was decided to fund the conservation of 5 works from the Store so that at last they could be seen again.  That work is nearing completion and the pieces will be on show as part of the re-hang.  Members should look out for an invitation from the Museum to attend a preview of the re-hang.

Picture of the month: the September selection was made by yours truly.  It’s Bonnington’s  ‘The Normandy Coast’ in the British Art Gallery on the top floor.  It was a tough call between that and its neighbour,  Danby’s ‘Sunset at sea after the storm’.  Reason? — you’ll have to read the plinth below the painting…..

Tony Kitt website manager

31 August 2010