A return visit to Birmingham's City Art Gallery (BMAG). I first called in April 2011 when there were gallery refurbishments underway...there still are! As last time the signage to the gallery was poor and when we finally arrived we were immediately evacuated due to a fire alarm.
It was worth the hassle. The gallery has significant holdings of PreRaphaelite works including two large scale works by Burne Jones. The Last Judgement is a three panel cartoon for a stained glass window, The Star of Bethlehem an enormous work on paper commissioned for the museum itself.
Symbolism, beauty, and wonderful imagery. Just one question - why do all the characters look so glum?
Also in the gallery is one of Stanley Spencer's Resurrection paintings. Sheer joy and not a long face in sight.
And in this centenary year of the Great War two works by Christopher Nevinson caught my eye. He like Spencer was a medical orderly during the 1914-18 conflict but the work of the two men couldn't be more different. Nevinson is appalled, shocked, overwhelmed by the inhumanity of this technological war while Spencer celebrates the ordinary and looks to a more hopeful future.
What makes the difference?
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