Opulence & Anxiety: Landscape Paintings from the Royal Academy of Arts
Curated by Tim Barringer, Paul Mellon Professor, Yale University
24 March - 10 June
Opulence & Anxiety features the work of over forty landscape painters, bringing together celebrated masterpieces and rarely seen works from the late 1700s to the present day.
Britain's industrial and commercial progress in the years leading up to 1800 generated the wealth and global power that gave rise to an age of opulence. With the fall of the British Empire, and, later, with the effects of the First and Second World War, Britain entered an era of extreme anxiety. These conflicting themes are explored in this exhibition.
Opulence & Anxiety will include work by: John Constable and JMW Turner; early artists of empire William Hodges and Thomas Daniell; Victorian naturalists Thomas Creswick and Benjamin Williams Leader; Edwardian painters Alfred East and George Clausen; and observers of inter-war Britain including Richard Eurich, LS Lowry, John Nash and Sir Stanley Spencer. The exhibition concludes with recent work by Donald Hamilton Fraser, David Hockney, Barbara Rae and Sir Kyfin Williams.
Click here to find out more about the Royal Academy of Arts collection.
Banner Image: Near Wareham, Dorset, 1923 by Bertram Priestman (1868 – 1951) Oil on Canvas © Royal Academy of Arts, London 2002, photographer: J. Hammond.
Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of this image. The publisher apologises for any copyright holders who have not been credited.
First Image: Seascape Study: Boat and Stormy Sky,c.1824 – 1828 by John Constable, R.A. (1776 – 1837). Oil on paper laid on board
Second Image: The Fallen Tree, 1951 by John Nash, R.A (1893 – 1977). Oil on Canvas
Third Image: Station Approach, 1962 by L.S. Lowry, R.A. (1887 – 1976). Oil on panel
All © Royal Academy of Arts, London