Courtauld Institute

Have you ever wanted to see how a legendary gallery like the Courtauld conserves centuries-old artefacts? Now, you can. Longthorpe Tower’s fourteenth-century medieval wall paintings were once described by English archaeologist E Clive Rouse as the ‘most important domestic mural paintings of the medieval period in England’ due to their rare mixture of secular and religious themes. Now there’s a chance to see the conservation of ye olde masterpiece in action at the Courtauld's upcoming display, which will provide invaluable insight into the role of the Courtauld's Conservation Department in safeguarding one of the UK’s most remarkable medieval wall paintings. 

When the Royal Academy was founded in 1768, its members included two women, yet there would not be another female academician until Dame Laura Knight was elected in 1936. Despite this institutional exclusion, women artists in Britain continued to train, practice and exhibit during this period, particularly in the field of landscape watercolours. The Courtauld Gallery’s upcoming exhibition seeks to bring to light some of these women artists. Focussing on 1760-1860, the showcase will take you through the work of 10 artists over 100 years of landscape drawings and watercolours including some of the first ever depictions of the ethereal Lake District. 

There’s something irresistably fascinating about seeing into artist’s studios – messy materials, stacks of canvases, and a peek behind the curtain into the work spaces for some of the world’s best creative minds. To coincide with the Courtauld’s major Barbara Hepworth exhibition, the gallery is running a companion show of photographs taken by Paul Laib offering a look inside Hepworth’s London studio that she shared with Ben Nicholson in the 1930s. 

As one of Britain’s most celebrated sculptors of the 20th century, Barbara Hepworth made stunning modern creations inspired by the nature and lanscapes of Cornwall, where she lived. Her abstract shapes often featured smooth ovals, holes, undulating surfaces and strings. This summer the Courtauld will stage an exhibition interested in one aspect of Hepworth’s practice: her obsession with colour, which often came up in her work in unexpected ways.  Featuring 20 of her most significant sculptures, alongside 30 drawings, Hepworth in Colour will unite for the first time her early innovative sculptures with colour of the 1940s with major examples of her work with colour from the 1950s and 1960s.