Dan Hillier’s ‘Mother’ (Copyright Dan Hillier)
When: 25th October 2013, 6pm – 10pm
Where: Guildhall Art Gallery, Guildhall Yard (off Gresham Street), London EC2V 5AE
£: Tickets cost £10 in advance and £12 on the door (includes entry to the exhibition).
What is it?
Go Gothic this Halloween with a special late-evening Victorian knees-up at the Guildhall Art Gallery on 25th October. The event is running as part of the Victoriana: The Art of Revival season of events. Dress the part and enjoy the chance to see this new exhibition after hours.
Victoriana Art Ambassadors will be on hand throughout the evening to answer any questions as you enjoy a mind-bending exploration of this enthralling exhibition. Venture into the Guildhall’s atmospheric medieval crypts – the largest and oldest in London – for an evening of dancing and cabaret.
Miss Pokeno’s Trophy Chair (Photo: Tim Walker)
A pop-up bar will be available and acts performing during the night include Victorian strongman Sir Leopold Aleksander aka The Mighty Moustache, and the Singing Victorians. The Don’t Go Into The Cellar! theatre company will be reworking some of the 19th century’s greatest ghost and horror stories and Art Macabre will be bringing their infamous death drawing salon to the event.
From the macabre to the quaint, the sensational to the surreal, Victoriana: The Art of Revival is the first exhibition in the UK to offer a major retrospective of Victorian revivalism in all its guises.
The exhibition features graphic design, film, photography, ceramics, taxidermy, furniture, textiles and fine art. This fascinating multi-media, multi-sensory show at the Guildhall Art Gallery, provided by the City of London Corporation, explores the work of contemporary artists who have been inspired by the 19th century. Victoriana: The Art of Revival offers an intriguing perspective into the on-going cultural legacy of our Victorian forebears.
A lithograph by Paula Rego (Copyright the artist)
The Guildhall Art Gallery, has built a reputation for its outstanding collection of Victorian paintings and this new exhibition offers an original dimension to the gallery’s exhibition programme by bringing together 28 major contemporary artists, including Yinka Shonibare, Grayson Perry, Paula Rego, Dan Hillier, Paul St. George, Rob Ryan, Kitty Valentine and Jake and Dinos Chapman, who encapsulate the essence and diversity of Victorian Revivalism.
The exhibition itself runs until 8th December, so if you can’t make the special late-night event then there is still plenty of opportunity to see this curious exhibition.
Located in the heart of the City, next to the medieval Guildhall, the Art Gallery houses and displays paintings and sculptures collected by the City of London Corporation. Steeped in history, the Gallery also houses the remains of London’s Roman Amphitheatre, which was discovered in 1988 and is open to the public.
More info: www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/victoriana and www.facebook.com/GuildhallArtGallery