Public Programmes
Online Learning: EXHIBITIONS ARCHIVE
Listed below are details and resources from previous exhibitions at The Courtauld Gallery.
Beyond Bloomsbury: Designs of the Omega Workshops 1913-19
Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence: The Courtauld Wedding Chests
Paths to Fame: Turner Watercolours from The Courtauld
The Courtauld Cézannes
Renoir at the Theatre: Looking at La loge
Frank Auerbach: London Building Sites 1952-62
16 October 2009 - 17 January 2010
This was the first exhibition to bring together the seminal group of paintings of London building sites by Frank Auerbach (born 1931). These extraordinary paintings are among the most important contributions to post-war painting in Britain.
Accompanying the exhbition were the full resources we offer to teachers, lecturers and educators including Teachers Packs, online videos, podcasts, free gallery leafelts, gallery talks and gallery music events.
The exhibition reunited the complete series of building site paintings together with rarely seen oil sketches and a number of recently rediscovered sketchbook drawings. The works are among the most important contributions to post-war painting in Britain, produced at a time when Auerbach emerged alongside Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud as part of a powerful new generation of British painters. More about the exhibition
A special event series accompanied this exhibition. More about the exhibition events
Watch three movies about the exhibition
Listen to five podcasts of Frank Auerbach talking about his early work
To download a copy of the Auerbach Teachers' Resource pack click below
FRANK AUERBACH: LONDON BUILDING SITES 1952-62 TEACHERS RESOURCE
Beyond Bloomsbury: Designs of the Omega Workshops 1913-19
18 June – 20 September 2009
Established in 1913 by the painter and influential art critic Roger Fry, the Omega Workshops were an experimental design collective, whose members included Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and other artists of the Bloomsbury Group.
Well ahead of their time, the Omega Workshops brought the experimental language of avant-garde art to domestic design in Edwardian Britain. They were a laboratory of design ideas, creating a range of objects for the home, from rugs and linens to ceramics, furniture and clothing – all boldly coloured with dynamic abstract patterns. No artist was allowed to sign their work, and everything produced by the Workshops bore only the Greek letter Ω (Omega).
The exhibition united The Courtauld’s uniquely important collection of Omega working drawings with the finest examples of the Workshops’ printed fabrics, Cubist-inspired rugs and splendidly painted textiles, as well as ceramics and furniture to explore the Omega Workshops’ radical approach to modern design. Find out more
A special event series accompanied this exhibition. Events included a teachers preview, free gallery talks, a free gallery music event and curators talks.
More about the exhibition events
A special series of podcasts accompany this exhibition. During the 1960's Winifred Gill wrote letters to Duncan Grant reminiscing about the Omega Workshops and how living through World War I affected everything they undertook. Hear Winifred Gill's niece Dr Bennett read excerpts from these letters. Listen here.
To download the teachers pack for the exhibition please click below
Beyond Bloomsbury: Designs of the Omega Workshops 1913-19 Teachers' Resource
Love and MARRIAGE IN RENAISSANCE FLORENCE: THE COURTAULD Wedding Chests
12 February – 17 May 2009
A marriage in 15th century Florence was not primarily about love or religion. Instead it was a dynastic alliance between powerful families.
To celebrate these marriages, pairs of great chests, lavishly decorated with precious metals and elaborate paintings, were commissioned. These items – now generally called cassoni – were often the most expensive of a whole suite of decorative objects commissioned to celebrate marriage alliances between powerful families. They were displayed in Florentine palaces and used to store precious items such as clothes and textiles.
The painted panels set into the wedding chests tell fascinating tales from ancient Greece, Rome and Palestine, as well as from Florentine literature and more recent history. These beautifully told stories were intended to entertain as well as to instruct husband and wife, their servants, children and visitors.
Further information about the exhibition
Watch three movies about the exhibition
Listen to five podcasts telling some of the stories depicted on the painted chests
To download a free teachers' resource please click below
The Courtauld Wedding Chests Teachers' Resource
To download 10 things you may want to know about cassoni please click below
10 Things you may want to know about cassoni
PATHS TO FAME: TURNER WATERCOLOURS FROM THE COURTAULD
30 October 2008 - 26 January 2009
This exhibition is the first full display of The Courtauld Gallery’s outstanding collection of watercolours by J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851). The works span the artist’s career from important early landscapes made when he was a teenager, to the highly finished watercolours and his celebrated expressive late works.
The works form The Courtauld Gallery are supplemented by closely related loans from Tate and private collections, enabling viewers to see the development of some compositions from early sketches and exploratory ‘colour beginnings’ to finished watercolours and published prints.
Six movies introducing the exhibition
Further information about the exhibition
To download The Artists Techniques leaflet please click below
The Artists Techniques
The Courtauld CÉzannes
26 June - 5 October 2008
The Courtauld Gallery holds the most important group of works by Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) in Britain. This exhibition presents the entire collection for the first time with major paintings such as the iconic Montagne Sainte-Victoire (1887) and Card Players (1892-5) shown alongside rarely seen drawings and watercolours.
Five movies introducing the exhibition
Further information about the exhibition
Renoir at the Theatre: Looking at La loge
21 February – 25 May 2008
Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s La Loge (The Theatre Box), 1874, is a masterpiece of Impressionist painting and one of the most famous works in the Courtauld Gallery’s collection. The exhibition unites this exceptional picture with other paintings and images of elegant Parisians on display in their loges.
Three movies introducing the exhibition
Further information about the exhibition
La Loge in detail
Further LEARNING
The four paintings and art and architecture
You can also visit the Four Paintings website and learn more about four significant and incredible paintings in the Courtauld Collection.
www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/fourpaintings
Four Paintings has been designed as an interactive learning tool. Students and teachers alike are invited to explore the paintings through interactive text, images and video clips.
If you encounter difficulties using Four Paintings please contact Joff Whitten
t: 0207 848 2705 e: joff.whitten@courtauld.ac.uk
The Courtauld Gallery's collections and Four Paintings are searchable via the Art and Architecture website:
www.artandarchitecture.org.uk
Art and Architecture includes the complete collection of over 7000 recently digitised drawings, the collection of paintings and a selection of prints, as well as photographic material from the Conway Library. Art and Architecture was made possible with the support of the New Opportunities Fund.