Baddesley Clinton is a lovely, romantic-looking manor house with a fantastic Tudor history surrounded by a moat in the Warwickshire countryside.
It also houses an art collection which has an interesting history behind it.
Warwickshire events
Retrospective by Warwickshire artist shows 40 years of beautiful paintings
An artist with a long-established career is holding his retrospective at a lovely Warwickshire gallery.
Michael Felmingham, who was born in Birmingham in 1935, taught for many years at Leicester and then Coventry Colleges of Art, and in 1989 retired from teaching to concentrate on his painting. He works from a studio in Leamington, and the exhibition includes many images of his adopted home town, as well as the countryside, his garden, and as a complete contrast, Venice.
The Gallery Upstairs in High Street, Henley-in-Arden, has shown his work since 1994, when it was run by Reg and Mag Moon, above Reg’s pottery. Their son and daughter now run the gallery – in a very pleasant space which was once their childhood playroom – and Carey Moon and a couple of other potters also work downstairs.
Such is the popularity of Michael Felmingham’s works that a quarter of those in the exhibition were sold either when the brochures were sent out, or on the opening day of the exhibition.
Exhibition in stables gallery launches artist in residence at Ragley Hall
Dawn Harris (left) and Kitty Kovacevic arts tour guide at Ragley in the gallery
It has to be the most impressive Private View I’ve ever sipped a glass of wine at. But then I’ve never been to an art exhibition opening at a stately home before.
I drove through the large Capability Brown-designed parklands to park right in front of the very impressive portico of Ragley Hall. Inside, along with the other guests I enjoyed lovely nibbles, a glass of wine and a wander around some of the rooms of the Hall, which dates from 1680. The massive Great Hall, with baroque plasterwork by James Gibbs dating from 1750, has several other State Rooms leading off it, including one set for dinner for 24, a bedroom used by visiting royalty in the past and sitting rooms with old masters on the walls. From some of the windows the vistas stretch for miles across parkland, woods and a lake.
Matthew finds inspiration in Welsh seaside residency
Far away from the Midlands, Matthew Macaulay who is normally based in Coventry is currently on a residency in Aberystwyth.
Matthew, who is originally from Shetland, gained a BA Hons in Fine Art at Coventry University in 2010. He has worked in the city since, most recently from a fantastic studio at Pluspace Radio, overlooking Broadgate, where he is also the director of the Pluspace Gallery, which is taking a holiday.
Serious start to new year with Coventry and Warwickshire exhibitions
Begging near Covent Garden car park in Leamington by Josh King
For those prone to a bout of post-Christmas depression, the subject matter of several new exhibitions in Coventry and Warwickshire may not seem like the best antidote. However don’t be put off – the standard of work on show might actually cheer you up.
Souren’s exhibition at Gallery 150 is a triumph over suffering
A life that promised riches but was then followed by the horrors of imprisonment lays behind the works of art on show now in Warwickshire.
Souren Mousavi’s exhibition at Gallery150 in Leamington features varied works focusing on the female form, her Persian heritage and the fight for freedom.
More top exhibitions to view in Coventry, Leamington and Stratford
Douglas Gordon & Philippe Parreno Zidane, A 21st-Century Portrait Courtesy Anne Lena Films and Naflastrengir 2006
I must be going soft in my old age, three more exhibitions seen in three days, and I liked all three.
They will be reviewed at a later date in the Coventry Telegraph, but I wanted to give you early notice they’re there and worth seeing.
Coventry and Warwickshire offer the best in big-name art shows
Paula Rego, The Bride’s Secret Diary, Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, Rugby Borough Council © Paula Rego
THIS spring the London art world features a host of big-name exhibitions – but you can avoid the crowds and still see some excellent works in the Coventry and Warwickshire area.
In London, you can be sure to be in a big crowd seeing exhibitions of works by David Hockney, Lucian Freud, Damien Hirst, Yayoi Kusama, and shortly the Bauhaus design exhibition.
But at Compton Verney there’s lesser-known Gainsborough landscapes on show, plus in Into the Light great works by Renoir, Cezanne, Sisley, Monet, Whistler, Pisarro and lots more great artists. And although you pay to get in, there’s also the great permanent collection, with the naïve art on the top floor offering lots of treats.
Rugby Art Gallery and Museum has all the fantastic Rugby Collection on show for the first time, 175 items, including a good selection of women artists – Paula Rego, Bridget Riley, Prunella Clough, Maggi Hambling – and other well-known names such as Leon Kossoff, Bryan Wynter, Graham Sutherland and Lucian Freud. It would be mad to miss it. (see a full review in the Coventry Telegraph on May 4)
Compton Verney Gainsborough exhibition shows artist’s favourite landscapes
AN EXHIBITION of landscapes by an artist known for his portraits has revealed lots more varied work than Gainsborough is normally known for.
Gainsborough painted his 18th century portraits for a living, but apparently once said he was “sick of portraits” and wanted to paint landscapes “in quietness and ease”. The exhibition Gainsborough’s Landscapes: Themes and Variations at Compton Verney art gallery is the first for 50 years devoted to his landscapes, and brings together lots of works from public and private collections.
First nights for Mead, LGP and Brink – you can join the party even if I can’t!
So January comes around and I’m looking forward to looking at paintings with a glass of wine in my hand, writing the odd note. Then what happens – on a weekend with three art show openings two of them coincide with long-arranged plans which mean I can’t get to either of them. Sigh.
But, YOU can still go along to all three and see for yourselves what’s on.
Private View II 