Past Exhibitions

2009

Obsession: Contemporary Art from the Lodeveans Collection

22 September - 28 November 2009

Artworks selected from the Lodeveans Collection of contemporary art, set up by Stuart and John Evans, show the diversity of artistic talent and imagination emerging on a global scale. The collecting interests of the London-based father and son team were showcased in this exhibition of thought-provoking and often challenging new work.

• Educational materials related to this exhibition
• Media resources: Dig Yorkshire review, press release

A Malham Family of Painters: Constance Pearson, Philippa and Katharine Holmes

30 June - 5 September 2009

This exhibition traced the careers of three generations of women artists from the same family who made the Yorkshire Dales their subject. The work of Constance Pearson, her daughter Philippa, and granddaughter Katharine Holmes was complemented by a display of works by Dales artists in the University Art Collection.

Supported by the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society

• Educational materials related to this exhibition
• Media resources: Dig Yorkshire review, press release, University Reporter

The Object of Photography

7 April - 19 June 2009

Ignaz Cassar, Hondartza Fraga, Joe Mawson and Andrew Warstat were invited to explore the medium of photography itself as their subject. The artists responded to and critiqued photography and theories of photography in a variety of media, using traditional and digital photographic formats, collage, drawing, installation and animation. Playful and subtle treatments of the photographic process showed that there is more to the medium than meets the eye.

Supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England

• Educational materials related to this exhibition, including video interview with Joe Mawson and Layla Bloom as well as 'Speaking to the artists' audio interviews
• Media resources: Leeds Guide preview, Reporter Article, Yorkshire Evening Post article and Editorial Comment, Selby Times article, a-n Interface Review, Flickr discussion

Nothing Extra: New Work by Trevor Bell

13 January - 27 March 2009

Trevor Bell, former Gregory Fellow in Painting at the University of Leeds (1960-63), returned to Leeds with fresh new works, showing the development of his technique. Bell first experimented with shaped canvases in Leeds as a Gregory Fellow; these continue to play an important role in his oeuvre. The exhibition marked the launch of a new book on Bell's life and work by Chris Stephens, published by Sansom & Co., edited and with a biography by Elizabeth Knowles.

• Educational materials related to this exhibition
• Media resources: press release, Yorkshire Post review and article, digyorkshire review, University Reporter article, Gallery Blog article

2008

Creativity Never Rests: The Ronnie Duncan Collection Part II

23 September - 28 November 2008

Following the success of ‘The Ronnie Duncan Collection Part I: how it all began’ (Winter 2007), this exhibition focussed on Ronnie Duncan's recent acquisitions, including works by Ian Hamilton Finlay, Oleg Kudryashov and Rachel Whiteread. A complementary display of works from the University of Leeds Special Collections relating to Ian Hamilton Finlay was shown in the Education Room.

An illustrated catalogue featuring both parts was supported by the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society and the Leeds Art Collections Fund

Whitechapel at War: Isaac Rosenberg and his circle

16 June - 25 July 2008

Touring from the Ben Uri Gallery, London, this was the first exhibition in 15 years to explore the work of WW1 poet-painter Isaac Rosenberg (1890-1918), in the context of his Whitechapel peers. The exhibition coincided with the publication of a new biography of Rosenberg by Dr. Jean Moorcroft.

• University press release: Rosenberg returns to Leeds University.
• Reporter article: Feed on “wild honey” of Rosenberg‘s lost youth.

Aspects of British Printmaking c.1860-1980

6 March - 6 June 2008

The first exhibition in the new 'Special Exhibition Room' showed prints from the University art collection. The display explored the development of printmaking in Britain from the Etching Revival through to Pop and Op art screenprints.

2005

Lydia Bauman: Alone in the Landscape - Landscapes of England

22 October - 4 November 2005

Lydia Bauman has produced a new body of work that comprises of large mixed media panels together with smaller studies as well as mixed media works on paper. These examine the landscape in areas as diverse as Lincolnshire, Northumberland, Yorkshire and the Midlands incorporating the individual qualities of landscape around large urban conurbations within these areas.

Lydia Bauman, now based in Lincoln, is an internationally recognised artist, and also an art historian and freelance lecturer. For more information please see Lydia Bauman's website.

2004

Kawamura Bumpo: Artist of Two Worlds

13 October - 10 December 2004

This exhibition is the first anywhere to be devoted to the Kyoto artist Kawamura Bumpo (d. 1821). In his lifetime Bumpo was well regarded as a painter and in demand as a designer of illustrated books. Today he is best known for his books, while his accomplished paintings are virtually forgotten. This exhibition seeks to redress this imbalance by introducing a range of Bumpo's paintings and reassessing his book illustrations in the context provided by those paintings. The exhibition includes loans from the British Museum as well as private collections in the UK, Europe and Japan.

Bumpo depicted subjects favoured by Chinese ‘literati’ painters, and contemporary Japanese scenes. The Chinese subjects encompass idealised landscapes, birds-and-flowers, and scholars engaged in the pleasures of poetry, calligraphy, painting and wine. The Japanese scenes include sympathetic accounts of the everyday lives of ordinary people, and landscapes that capture the beauty and tranquillity of the old imperial capital of Kyoto where the artist lived and worked.

Bumpo's art is characterised by free and vigorous brushwork, bold compositions and a pervasive sense of good humour.

An illustrated book accompanies the exhibition. Written by Ellis Tinios, who has curated the exhibition, it is published by the University Gallery Leeds with generous financial support from The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation and The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation. Please see the Gallery's Publications page for more details.

2003

Rhythms of Life: An exhibition of works by Dorothy Bradford

3 September - 31 October 2003

Dorothy Bradford was official artist to the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition in 1975. As the new Piano Competition began, it was with great pleasure that we brought together a small selection of her work relating to her great interest in music and its performance. Trained in Liverpool, London and Leeds, Dorothy Bradford worked with artists such as Maurice de Sausmarez in Leeds; she lectured extensively in Yorkshire and Lancashire and has interpreted music performances in the UK as well as abroad. Her work is represented in collections internationally.

Her life and work is the subject of a recent study by Mary Sara. Copies of her publication, Rhythms of Life - Dorothy Bradford, are available for sale and can be purchased in the School of Music or ordered by contacting Jillian Johnson (Concert Organiser) or the Gallery. For more details please see the Gallery's publications page.

This exhibition was a collaboration between The School of Music, The University Gallery, and The Friends of University Art and Music. We are grateful to Dorothy Bradford and Mary Sara for their enthusiasm and commitment.

The Tortoise and the Hare: An Exhibition of the works by William Roberts and Jacob Kramer

30 April - 20 June 2003

A Ben Uri Gallery touring exhibition.

A joint exhibition of Kramer and Roberts might at first seem an unusual juxtaposition.
Kramer, the Ukrainian-born Jewish artist, who, as an 8 year old, settled in Leeds in 1900. He was in London studying at the Slade School of Art during the academic year 1913-1914. After this he travelled to and fro between Leeds and London until the 1930s, when he settled in Leeds. His early work included The Day of Atonement 1919 - his undoubted masterpiece and a significant contribution to the canon of early English modernism. Kramer turned his back on London and the wider art scene, although he continued as an active painter and important figure in the cultural life of Leeds. He is well represented in the collections of the University of Leeds and Leeds City Art Gallery.

Roberts, son of a carpenter, was born in Hackney Fields in 1895 and lived for some time in the East End. An LCC scholarship took him to the Slade from 1910 to 1913. A founder member of the Vorticists and an official War artist, Roberts went on to become one of the most quirky and original British artists of the 20th century recording Londoners at work and at play throughout his long and artistically prolific life.

The two artists were linked not just by their time at the Slade but through Sarah, Jacob's sister and early model, who subsequently married William. Portraits of her by the two artists from the young girl fashionably dressed as an Augustus John-style gypsy in Leeds to the tender portrayals of her in later life in London form one of the continuing threads of this exhibition, which compares and contrasts the styles and preoccupations of the two artists. Despite being subject to many of the same prevailing artistic and social trends and influences whilst in London, they went very different ways thereafter.

The exhibition was created by the Ben Uri Gallery, London, in conjunction with the William Roberts Society. Although encompassing Roberts as well as Kramer, this exhibition is the second in the Ben Uri series The Whitechapel Boys, which examined the lives and paintings of those young Jewish artists, who studied and worked together in the period just prior to World War One.

A study day: The Tortoise and the Hare. Modern British Painting in London and Leeds, was held on 1 June 2003. For further information please contact Josine Opmeer, Josine Opmeer at the Centre for Cultural Analysis, Theory and History.

Africa and Beyond: Highlights from the University of Leeds' Anthropology

12 February - 16 April 2003

The anthropology collection of the University of Leeds has been on loan to Leeds Museums and Galleries since 1964. This exhibition, which featured some of the highlights of the collection, marked its first return to the University since the origination of the loan.
The collection was brought together by Dr. Fernando Henriques in 1949-53 as an 'Anthropological Museum' in the Department of Social Studies. Most of the surviving 470 items were donated by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum and over 30 were unregistered duplicates presented by the British Museum.

Over half of the collection comes from Africa, and this exhibition presented a selection of African masks, sculpture, ivories, bronzes, domestic items such as headrests, musical instruments and jewellery. Other items originate from the Pacific, Asia and the Americas, and exhibits included a large wooden chest carved with totemic animal designs from North West Coast Canada, a sacred Tibetan thangka painting, and a Cook island ceremonial adze.

Items in the collection have been widely used by Leeds Museums and Galleries since 1964, but this was the first time that the collection had been set in its original context as a teaching resource. Its acquisition by the University, use as a teaching collection and its potential for exploring our relationships with other cultures were all considered.

The exhibition was jointly organised with Leeds Museums and Galleries. The support of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society as well as Yorkshire Museums, Libraries & Archives Council is gratefully acknowledged. The exhibition was co-curated by Antonia Lovelace and Deborah Snow.

A series of special events was run including lunchtime concerts, a seminar in conjunction with the Centre for Heritage Research, story-telling for groups from the University nursery and art workshops for local schools.

An illustrated catalogue with an essay by Antonia Lovelace accompanied the exhibition. For more details please see the Gallery's publications page. A summary catalogue of all the items in the collection is also be available on the University of Leeds Museum Collections, anthropology collection web page.

2002

Making Sense of the City: Films and Photographs of Artists in New York by Dorothy Levitt Beskind

13 November 2002 - 31 January 2003

To photograph and film artists in their studios, their homes and at the installation and opening of their exhibitions provided Dorothy Beskind with the means by which to make sense of the production of art within the cultural space in which it took place. The University Gallery Leeds presented an exhibition of the images of those encounters that includes such artists as Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse, Robert Raushenberg and Willem de Kooning.

Dorothy Beskind studied painting at the Arts Students League in New York. In the 1960s, as a mother of young children living in the suburbs, she felt the need to reconnect with the contemporary art in the city and began to do so by making photographs of the exhibitions she visited. Upon seeing her photographs the Martha Jackson Gallery invited Dorothy Beskind to make a film of an artist for the opening of his exhibition. Since that time Dorothy Beskind has amassed a vast archive of films and countless photographs of internationally renowned artists, as well as developed her own feminist photographic practice.

This exhibition was presented on the occasion of two major events centred on the work of the sculptor Eva Hesse in the UK. First, the major retrospective Eva Hesse that was held at Tate Modern, 11 November 2002 - 30 January 2003, the last venue of the touring exhibition from San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Museum Wiesbaden. Second, Encountering Eva Hesse, a major international conference held on 12th- 15th November 2002 organised by the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) and the Centre for Cultural Analysis, Theory and History at the University of Leeds. The conference was on two sites, at the University of Leeds (12 - 13 November 2002) and Tate Modern (14 - 15 November), and its programme of speakers included: Phyllida Barlow, Vanessa Corby, Briony Fer, Doug Johns, Joanna Greenhill, Griselda Pollock, Naomi Spector, Elisabeth Sussman, William Smith Wilson.

For information about the conference please contact Josine Opmeer at the Centre for Cultural Analysis, Theory and History.

An illustrated publication, entitled Making Sense of the City - Films and Photographs of Artists in New York by Dorothy Levitt Beskind accompanied the exhibition. It includes an essay about the work of Dorothy Levitt Beskind by the art historian Joanne Crawford and an essay by Vanessa Corby, painter and co-curator of the exhibition. For more details please see the Gallery's publications page.

Drawn Together: A Celebration of drawing and its Uses

25 September - 1 November 2002

This exhibition linked with the national event The Big Draw and looked at the various typologies, characteristics and uses of drawing both today and in history. It presented examples from both the University of Leeds Art Collection and departmental collections including Biology, Near Eastern Archaeology, Pathology, Scientific Instruments, Chemistry, Textiles and The Museum of the History of Education. Visitors saw varied examples of the different uses of drawing, including interpretations of primitive rock carvings, artists', preparatory, architectural and children's drawings and a selection of botanical, archaeological and medical illustration. This was the first time that such a wide range of the University's Collections were brought together and made accessible to the public. It also provided an opportunity for everyone to have a go at drawing, as a variety of drawing materials and equipment was made available throughout the exhibition period.

A programme of events and workshops for school groups and the general public was run during the Big Draw week in October.

The University Gallery received a Drawing Inspiration Award from The Campaign for Drawing (the organisers of the Big Draw) for the exhibition and accompanying events.

Both Saturday workshops were run by the artist Dan Robinson and were part-funded by Leeds College of Art and Design and Leeds City Council.

Visitors of all ages and abilities were invited to drop in and contribute to an on-going communal drawing using a variety of materials (the completed drawing was exhibited in the Parkinson Court). Visitors could then move on to the special events at Leeds Metropolitan University Gallery and Leeds City Art Gallery as part of Three Galleries Go For a Walk.

For more details about the national event The Big Draw, please see the Drawing Power web-site or telephone: 020 8351 1719.

Two Weavers: Two Ways

17 April 2002 - 21 June 2002

Sue Lawty and Meira Stockl.

Narrative objects

16 January 2002 - 22 March 2002

Drawings and paintings by Stehen Chaplin.

2001

Heart & Matter

17 October - 14 December 2001

The illustrations to Graham Greene and Raymond Chandler by Geoff Grandfield.

A Legacy in Weaving

16 May - 29 June 2001

This exhibition shows the work of over thirty weavers who have all received awards from the Theo Moorman Charitable Trust in the first ten years of its existence, and celebrates its remarkable achievement.

Lily Markiewicz: Places to Remember

14 March - 27 April 2001

Markiewicz explores ideas of cultural displacement and belonging, using photographic images, video and recorded sound, often digitally manipulated, to evoke a sense of ambiguity or opposing emotional forces.

A Singular Vision: Drawings and Paintings by Bernard Meninsky

24 January - 2 March 2001

A touring exhibition organised by the University of Liverpool in conjunction with the Contemporary Art Society, which brings together forty-five drawings, watercolours and oil paintings from the early family studies through to the late pastoral landscape and figure scenes of the 1940s.

2000

Impressions of Leeds: an exhibition drawn from the collections of the Thoresby Society

22 November 2000 - 12 January 2001

This exhibition traces some of the developments in Leeds and its buildings from early times to the twentieth century through prints, drawings, paintings, and photographs, together with documentary material relating to Ralph Thoresby and the work of the Society.

Valentine Dobrée (1894-1974)

4 October - 10 November 2000

Paintings and collages, manuscripts and photographs, both from the University of Leeds Collections and from private sources, brought together to give an account of the life and work of the painter, writer and poet, Valentine Dobrée.

'Frustums and Fillers' (un omaggio a Giorgio Morandi) John Mitchell: recent work

17 May - 30 June 2000

John Mitchell is a former Gregory Fellow in Painting at the University of Leeds, holding the post from 1978-80.

Quentin Bell: a man of many arts

22 March - 5 May 2000

The first major touring show to be organised by the Charleston Trust, this exhibition forms part of the Bloomsbury celebrations taking place in London in the autumn of 1999. The exhibition provides a rounded view of the visual work of the British artist Quentin Bell, who died in 1996.

Ken Hay: retrospective

2 February - 10 March 2000

Ken Hay is Head of the Department of Fine Art at the University of Leeds.

1999

Lydia Bauman: highways and byways

1 December 1999 - 21 January 2000

Paintings that explore the abstract possibilities of landscape. This exhibition is a collaboration between The University Gallery Leeds and Falmouth Art Gallery, Cornwall.

On the margins of the City: recreation on the periphery of Edo

6 October - 19 November 1999

An exhibition that explores life on the edge of the city in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Japan, through the medium of contemporary woodblock prints and illustrated books.

Sutton Taylor and Michael Sheppard

12 May - 25 June 1999

An exhibition organised in association with the Hart Gallery, Nottingham and London, of exquisite, sumptuously glazed ceramics by Sutton Taylor, with paintings by Michael Sheppard

Telling the Tides: a writer's life

17 March - 30 April 1999

A touring exhibition of mss., letters, artwork and memorabilia, illustrating the processes of writers' work and the network of friendships and collaborations they create, drawn from the archive of the writer and poet Kevin Crossley-Holland.

Katharine Holmes

27 January - 5 March 1999

Based in Yorkshire, Katharine Holmes work focuses on the landscape of the Dales, particularly Malham and Gordale Scar. This exhibition features her most recent paintings and drawings.

1998

Methodist Church Art Collection

18 November - 15 January 1999

The collection of the Methodist Church featuring works by 20th century artists, including Georges Rouault and Eric Gill, on themes from the Christian story.

Colette Deblé

7 October - 6 November 1998

Based in Paris, Colette Deblé is currently working on a drawing project which examines representations of women in art history. She plans 2001 drawings in all: this exhibition features around 60 of them.

Jean Macalpine

3 June - 3 July 1998

Photographs

Women at Work, Men in Labour

20 April - 23 May 1998

Work and Image in the French Revolution

Alan Davie

21 January - 27 March 1998

Drawings 1939-1996 (A University of Brighton Gallery Touring Exhibition)

1997

Embroideries from Zimbabwe: the Kusona Kwenadzimai Group and
New Acquisitions - Gifts from Eric Taylor and Marie Walker Last

26 November 1997 - 9 January 1998

Judith Cain

1 October - 14 November 1997

Paintings from the last ten years

Night Skies

7 September - 11 September 1997

Astronomy photographs taken at the Anglo-Australian Observatory, by David Malin. A British Council exhibition, on view to coincide with the British Association's Annual Festival of Science to be held at the University of Leeds 7-12 September