The Last of England by Ford Madox Brown - Victorian Radicals at the Gas Hall, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

Victorian Radicals opened up at the Gas Hall in the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery in February 2024, and is open until October 2024.

This was a late April 2024 visit on a rainy day, booked the £11 ticket before I headed to the museum.

Most of the museum is still closed for repairs, but the Gas Hall re-opened earlier in 2024.

Three generations of British artists, designers and makers revolutionised the visual arts in the second half of the nineteenth century. The Pre-Raphaelites, William Morris and his circle and the men and women of the Arts and Crafts movement transformed art and design.

Selected from the city of Birmingham's outstanding collection, Victorian Radicals presents vibrant paintings and exquisite drawings alongside jewellery, glass, textiles and metalwork to explore their radical vision for art and society.

Fresh from an award-winning tour of the US, Victorian Radicals is the first comprehensive showing of the city’s Pre-Raphaelite and Arts and Crafts collections in Birmingham for over five years. Discover the story of the Pre-Raphaelites themselves and their influence on artists and makers well into the twentieth century – especially in Birmingham itself. Paintings made by artists including Kate Bunce, Joseph Southall and Arthur Gaskin combined the poetry and intensity of the Pre-Raphaelites’ work with a distinctive identity all their own.

Open Wednesday - Sunday, 10am - 5pm. In the Gas Hall at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.

Pre-book to guarantee entry. Alternatively you can buy tickets on arrival (subject to availability).

This exhibition is organised by Birmingham Museums Trust and the American Federation of Arts. Supported by the Friends of Birmingham Museums.

The Last of England, 1852-55 Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893)

Oil on wood panel

Purchased, 1891 (1891P24)

Brown's painting was inspired by the departure to Australia of his friend, the Pre-Raphaelite sculptor Thomas Woolner, and by his own thoughts about a possible new life in India. Brown and his future wife Emma Hill modelled for the central couple. The artist encourages the viewer to empathise with their hopes and fears in the face of an uncertain future.

Around 230,000 migrants left Britain and Ireland for Australia in the 1850s. The British government encouraged and subsidised emigration n to colonised countries, both to boost the settler population and number of workers, and as a solution to poverty and unemployment at home. The migrants included thousands who had been displaced following the Irish Famine and the Highland Clearances C in Scotland. Yet the establishment of these displaced people in new colonial settlements would itself contribute to the displacement of indigenous peoples from their own homes and lands.

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Taken in: UK / England / Brum (show map)

Taken on: April 27, 2024

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Gas Hall

Chamberlain Square

west midlands

england

united kingdom

great britain

birmingham museum & art gallery

BM & AG

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birmingham museum and art gallery

birmingham museums

birmingham city council

Birmingham Museums Trust

Victorian Radicals

From the Pre-Raphaelites to the Arts and Crafts Movement

sign

The Last of England

Ford Madox Brown « less

Sets appears in: • Victorian Radicals From the Pre-Raphaelites to the Arts and Crafts Movement • Exhibits in BM & AG (permenant and temporary) more » • Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery « less

Groups appears in: • Labels, Signs & Notices

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