Here’s the November 2015 edition
of the regular monthly reminder list of the exhibitions
at London museums & galleries closing soon.
If you have been meaning to get to any of the following shows and haven’t done so yet, be quick (very quick, in some cases) because they will be closing in the next few weeks. I always do my best to tweet reminders about London exhibitions as they near the end of their run, so follow The London Art File Twitter if you would like to get forewarnings of exhibition closing dates.
Animal Tales at The British Library
closing Sunday 1st November
This is the best small exhibition I’ve seen all year and exactly what every small exhibition should aim to be. The curators have made outstanding use of the Entrance Hall Gallery at The British Library to display a beautifully selected group of books, letters and illustrations from the Library’s own collection to demonstrate the hugely important part animals have played in literature for both children and adults. This is an exhibition that is so much more than the usual suspects of literature’s famous animal characters, although Peter Rabbit, Black Beauty and Aslan are all there too. Make a point of looking for Darren Waterson’s beautiful illustrations, one of the highlights. And if you need any more encouragement, it’s free too.
www.bl.uk
Life on Foot: Camper at The Design Museum
closing Sunday 1st November
Spanish footwear brand, Camper, is celebrating its 40 year anniversary this year with an exhibition at the Design Museum, the very first to be devoted to the company. The exhibition opens up Camper’s extensive archives publicly for the first time and explores the design and manufacturing process of the company’s famous products from their design studios in Mallorca to their high-tech mass production facilities in the Far East. On show are, of course, a huge number of Camper’s shoes including an amazing array of their bestselling and most famous shoe, the iconic Pelotas.
designmuseum.org
Soldiers and Suffragettes: The Photography of Christina Broom
at Museum of London Docklands
closing Sunday 1st November
Christina Broom is regarded as the UK’s first female press photographer. This beautifully curated exhibition of her work at the Museum of London Docklands divides Broom’s oeuvre into three main sections – her photographs of the Women’s Suffrage movement, her military work and her scenes of London life. She made over 40,000 photographs in her third-six year long career. Astonishingly, this is the first major exhibition of the life and work of Christina Broom, a pioneer of early photography and a groundbreaker for female photographers. Hopefully this excellent show will go some way to ensure her name and her work will be more widely known. Free admission.
www.museumoflondon.org.uk/docklands/
Art in Dialogue: Duccio | Caro at The National Gallery
closing Sunday 8th November
Art in Dialogue: Duccio | Caro, a free display at The National Gallery, is a creative interaction of two works of art made almost 700 years apart: The Annunciation by the Sienese painter Duccio (active 1278–1319) and Duccio Variations No. 3, one of seven sculptures that the British sculptor Sir Anthony Caro (1924–2013) made in response to Duccio’s painting. This is the first time that this painting and sculpture have been seen together.
www.nationalgallery.org.uk
Pierre-Paul Prud’hon: Napoleon’s Draughtsman
at Dulwich Picture Gallery
closing Sunday 15th November
In the year of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, Dulwich Picture Gallery has mounted Prud’hon: Napoleon’s Draughtsman, the first UK exhibition devoted to Pierre-Paul Prud’hon (1758-1823). This lovely selection of 13 works on paper looks at Prud’hon as court artist to Napoleon and Joséphine Bonaparte and as one of France’s most renowned draughtsmen. There are some stunning works on display including Prud’hon’s famous life studies in white and black chalk.
www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk
A Dickens Whodunit: Solving The Mystery of Edwin Drood
at The Charles Dickens Museum
closing Sunday 22nd November
This exhibition at The Charles Dickens Museum in Bloomsbury investigates the legacy of Dickens’s final and unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. With the sudden death of the author in 1870, the narrative was cut short and as a result, Dickens’s unsolved tale of mystery has captured the imagination of generations of literary enthusiasts ever since. Edwin Drood has disappeared, but is he dead or alive, and who is behind the crime? The exhibition explores the theories out there and attempts to offer some solutions to the 100+ year old mystery.
dickensmuseum.com
The London Art File 