Matisse and Rembrandt
Lady Lever snares two masters of art for duo of Wirral exhibitions
The Lady Lever Art Gallery has today announced that it will be opening an exhibition by one of the 20th century’s most influential artists, Henri Matisse (1869-1954).
Matisse: Drawing with Scissors will open in October 2019 and will feature 35 posthumous prints of the famous cut-outs that the artist produced in the last four years of his life, when confined to his bed, including many of his iconic images, such as The Snail and the Blue Nudes.
The exhibition will follow directly on from Rembrandt in Print (1 June to 15 September 2019), an exhibition of around 50 outstanding prints from the Ashmolean Museum, which have never been displayed together.
Sandra Penketh, Director of Art Galleries, National Museums Liverpool, said:
“These are two very different artists but what they have in common is their great renown and enormous influence. We’re very excited to be bringing two world-famous artists to our visitors, back-to-back, during the Wirral Borough of Culture Year.
“We are proud to announce today that Matisse: Drawing with Scissors is coming to Wirral for the first time in over ten years. The exhibition will include many of the artist’s iconic images, such as The Snail and the Blue Nudes.
“We will also be the first gallery to display Rembrandt in Print, in the year which also marks 350 years since Rembrandt’s death”.
Rembrandt in Print
(1 June to 15 September 2019)
Rembrandt in Print is an exhibition of around 50 outstanding prints from the Ashmolean Museum, displayed together for the first time to mark 350 years since Rembrandt’s death.
This exhibition will present Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (1606-1669) as an unrivalled storyteller through a selection of printworks dating from 1630 to the late 1650s. Widely hailed as the greatest painter of the Dutch Golden Age, he was also one of the most innovative and experimental printmakers of the 17th century, and the works displayed at the Lady Lever will cover a varied selection of subjects, including intense self-portraits, atmospheric landscapes, intimate family portraits, biblical stories and confronting nude studies.
The exhibition is organised by the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, which holds a world class collection of over 200 Rembrandt prints. www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/rembrandt
Matisse: Drawing with Scissors
(25 October 2019 to March 2020)
Matisse: Drawing with Scissors is a Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition from Southbank Centre. The French painter, sculptor and designer, Henri Matisse (1869-1954) was one of the 20th century’s most influential artists. His vibrant works are celebrated for their extraordinary richness and luminosity of colour and his spectacular paper cut-outs were his final triumph.
The exhibition will feature 35 posthumous prints of the famous cut-outs that the artist produced in the last four years of his life, when confined to his bed. It includes many of his iconic images, such as The Snail and the Blue Nudes. www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/matisse
Image credit Rembrandt, The Shell ©Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Notes to Editors
About the Lady Lever Art Gallery
The Lady Lever Art Gallery houses one of the UK’s greatest collections of fine and decorative art.
An extensive programme of restoration and improvement has been completed at the South End of the Gallery. The £2.8m project enabled 500 square metres of gallery space to be transformed.
The galleries have been returned to their original architectural design and more than 1,500 objects have been redisplayed, including the best collection of Wedgwood jasperware in the world, one of the finest collections of Chinese porcelain in Europe and outstanding 18th century paintings, furniture and sculpture.
The scheme was funded through donations, corporate sponsorship and major grants. This includes generous grants from the following donors: The Heritage Lottery Fund, Lord Leverhulme Charitable Trust, DCMS/Wolfson Museums & Galleries Improvement Fund, Garfield Weston Foundation, Headley Trust, J Paul Getty Jr Charitable Trust, Granada Foundation, The Henry Moore Foundation, Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement, 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust and Charles Hayward Foundation.
For more information on the project, visit www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/leverplans
About the Heritage Lottery Fund
Thanks to National Lottery players, we invest money to help people across the UK explore, enjoy and protect the heritage they care about - from the archaeology under our feet to the historic parks and buildings we love, from precious memories and collections to rare wildlife. www.hlf.org.uk @heritagelottery
About National Museums Liverpool
National Museums Liverpool comprises eight venues, including some of the most visited museums in England outside of London. Our collections are among the most important and varied in Europe and contain everything from Impressionist paintings and rare beetles to a lifejacket from the Titanic. We attracted more than 4m visitors in 2018. Our venues are the Museum of Liverpool, World Museum, the Walker Art Gallery, Merseyside Maritime Museum, International Slavery Museum, Seized! (UK Border Force National Museum), Sudley House and the Lady Lever Art Gallery. National Museums Liverpool is regulated by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Museums and galleries regulated by DCMS are exempt charities under Schedule 3 of the Charities Act 2011. Registered Office: World Museum, William Brown Street, Liverpool L3 8EN. www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk
About Ashmolean
The Ashmolean is the University of Oxford’s museum of art and archaeology, founded in 1683. The world famous collections range from Egyptian mummies to contemporary art, telling human stories across cultures and across time. The museum’s collections are extraordinarily diverse, representing most of the world’s great civilisations, with objects dating from 500,000 BC to the present day. Among many riches we have the world’s greatest collection of Raphael drawings, the most important collection of Egyptian pre-Dynastic sculpture and ceramics outside Cairo, the only great Minoan collection in Britain, outstanding Anglo-Saxon treasures, and the foremost collection of modern Chinese painting in the western world.
Visit: www.ashmolean.org/press | Tw: @AshmoleanMuseum
About Hayward Gallery Touring
Hayward Gallery Touring organises contemporary art exhibitions that tour to galleries, museums and other publicly funded venues throughout Britain. In collaboration with artists, independent curators, writers and partner institutions, Hayward Gallery Touring develops imaginative exhibitions that are seen by up to half a million people in over 45 cities and towns each year.
About Southbank Centre
Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre, occupying a 17 acre site that sits in the midst of London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Southbank Centre is home to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery as well as The National Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. For further information please visit www.southbankcentre.co.uk
Tour continues:
For more information about upcoming venues for this exhibition please check:
www.southbankcentre.co.uk/visual-arts/hayward-touring/current
Public enquiries about Hayward Touring exhibitions: 020 7921 0837