A new North East exhibition is bringing together tiny masterpieces from some of Britain’s most celebrated artists.
Miniature Worlds: Little Landscapes from Thomas Bewick to Beatrix Potter will go on display at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle, exploring the charm and craftsmanship of small-scale landscapes spanning three centuries of British art.
The show will run from October 18 to February 28 and will feature more than 130 works in a variety of formats.
Marcus Curtius by John Martin (1827)(Image: Supplied)
Julie Milne, chief curator of art galleries at North East Museums, said: “This new exhibition specifically explores ‘little’ landscapes in paintings, drawings, prints, book illustration and sculpture.
“The ‘miniature worlds’ shown in these landscapes will delight visitors with a variety of compelling settings, whether it be Thomas Bewick’s local Northeast landscapes, JMW Turner’s Italian countryside, or Beatrix Potter’s iconic illustrations.
“I am pleased that this exhibition brings together works from the Laing and Hatton Galleries together with loans from Tate, V&A, the British Museum, National Galleries of Scotland, and regional galleries.
“We hope that visitors will enjoy the exhibition and marvel at the skill of the artists in creating such intricate miniature landscapes.”
Alice and the Fawn Proof Illustration to Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by the Dalziel Brothers after Sir John Tenniel (1872). © Victoria and Albert Museum, London. jpg(Image: George Eksts)
The exhibition will highlight the vignette illustration, a small, borderless image often used in books, and will open with works by Newcastle artist and wood engraver Thomas Bewick.
Bewick reinvented the vignette format with his tiny tailpieces—made to sit in the small spaces below the text within a book—capturing local landscapes and lively characters.
Seven watercolours by JMW Turner will be on display, marking the 250th anniversary of his birth.
Other highlights include a dramatic drawing by John Martin and nine watercolours by Beatrix Potter.
Joanna Whittle, Forest Shrine, With Saints, With Mountains, oil on postcard(Image: Joanna Whittle)
Of the over 130 works on display, 90 are on loan from other UK collections.
A section of the exhibition, Poetic Landscapes, will focus on the Romantic era, bringing together tiny wood engravings by William Blake and his followers, a rare ‘paper peepshow’ manufactured around 1829, and vignette-format watercolours by Turner.
This part of the show will explore how artists used small-scale works to reach broader audiences through book illustration and landscape prints.
The exhibition will also delve into Victorian and Edwardian children’s literature, featuring three of John Tenniel’s illustrations for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Seven watercolours by Beatrix Potter will be shown, including one from The Tale of Peter Rabbit and five from The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies.
Visitors will also be able to view Potter’s original illustrated manuscript for The Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse and a related watercolour.
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Prints by artists who revived Bewick’s engraving technique will be featured, including works by Clare Leighton, Agnes Miller Parker, Gwendolen Raverat, Eric Ravilious, and Gertrude Hermes.
Contemporary pieces by Aaron Angell, Paul Coldwell, Vicken Parsons, and Joanna Whittle will also be included, spanning experimental prints, paintings, sculpture, and ceramics.
The exhibition is supported by loans from the Tate, Victoria and Albert Museum, British Museum, Ashmolean Museum, National Galleries of Scotland, Newcastle University, Newcastle City Libraries, and the Natural History Society of Northumbria.
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