Drawing attention:
emerging artists in dialogue
A British Museum Touring Exhibition
York Art Gallery
27 October 2023 – 28 January 2024
Wolverhampton Art Gallery
10 February 2024 – 6 May 2024
Hartlepool Art Gallery
18 May 2024 – 24 August 2024
what you have gained along the way, 2017
Make up on facial wipe
© 2023 The Trustees of the British Museum
Reproduced by permission of the artist
Head of Christ crowned with thorns, c.1508–15
Woodcut on paper
© 2023 The Trustees of the British Museum
Between October 2023 and August 2024, a British Museum Touring Exhibition Drawing attention: emerging artists in dialogue can be seen in York, Wolverhampton and Hartlepool. It presents some of the most compelling up-and-coming names in the field of contemporary drawing, displayed alongside highlights of the British Museum’s collection.
These new acquisitions include some of the youngest artists to be collected by the British Museum, presented alongside works by celebrated artists from Mary Delany, Andy Warhol and Barbara Hepworth to Edouard Manet.
Exhibited emerging artists: Emii Alrai (b. 1993); Catherine Anyango Grünewald (b. 1982); Josephine Baker (b. 1990); Miriam de Búrca (b. 1972); Somaya Critchlow (b. 1993); Jake Grewal (b. 1994); David Haines (b. 1969); Rosie Hastings & Hannah Quinlan (b. 1991); Mary Herbert (b. 1988); Jessie Makinson (b. 1985); Jade Montserrat (b.1981); Ro Robertson (b. 1984); Sin Wai Kin (b. 1991); Charmaine Watkiss (b. 1964).
In this surprising and thought-provoking selection, emerging artists are taking the medium of drawing in new directions. A wide range of techniques and practices are represented, including drawings using make-up on face wipes by Sin Wai Kin, to a drawing made with chalk collected from the White Cliffs of Dover by Josephine Baker.
Artists show how drawing, often considered a quiet or private medium, can be used to challenge social norms, explore identity, or protest injustice.
This tour has evolved from an exhibition at the British Museum. Each of the partner galleries in York, Wolverhampton and Hartlepool will use this exhibition to highlight their collections, while making meaningful connections with the British Museum’s collection of both historical and contemporary drawing.
The touring exhibition might not be what visitors expect of the British Museum. While the Museum has actively collected contemporary drawings since the 1970s, it is now, for the first time also focusing on emerging artists.
This exhibition highlights new acquisitions by some of the freshest and most compelling new voices in the field, exploring questions of identity, memory and materiality, and using innovative materials and processes.
The works are ‘paired’ alongside prints and drawings dating as far back as the early 1500s, demonstrating their continuities with historical traditions of draughtsmanship.
Sin Wai Kin (born 1991), what you have gained along the way, make up on facial wipe, 2017, is exhibited alongside the work by Hans Burgkmair the Elder (1473–1531), Head of Christ crowned with thorns, woodcut on paper, c. 1508–15.
Double Consciousness: Be Aware of One’s Intentions, 2021
Pencil, water-soluble graphite, watercolour and ink
© 2023 The Trustees of the British Museum
Reproduced by permission of the artist
Mary Delany (1700–1788)
Passiflora Laurifolia (Gynandria Pentandria),1777
Collage of coloured papers, with bodycolour
and watercolour, on black ink background
© 2023 The Trustees of the British Museum
Charmaine Watkiss (born 1964), Double Consciousness: Be Aware of One’s Intentions, pencil, water-soluble graphite, watercolour and ink, 2021, is exhibited alongside the work by Mary Delany (1700–1788), Passiflora Laurifolia (Gynandria Pentandria), collage of coloured papers, with bodycolour and watercolour, on black ink background, 1777.
Man Reading Messages (Pawel), 2020
Graphite on paper
© 2023 The Trustees of the British Museum
Reproduced by permission of the artist
Boy with a feathered velvet hat looking downwards and
reading a letter, c.1660–75
Mezzotint on paper
© 2023 The Trustees of the Museum
David Haines (born 1969), Man Reading Messages (Pawel), graphite on paper, 2020, is exhibited alongside the work by Wallerant Vaillant (1623–1677), Boy with a feathered velvet hat looking downwards and reading a letter, mezzotint on paper, c. 1660–75.
Funny Girls, 2019
Graphite on paper
© 2023 The Trustees of the British Museum
Reproduced by permission of the artists
The Eritrean sibyl, after Michelangelo's fresco
on the Sistine ceiling, early 1570s,
Engraving on paper
© 2023 The Trustees of the British Museum
Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings (both born 1991), Funny Girls, graphite on paper, 2019 is exhibited alongside the work by Giorgio Ghisi (1520–1582), The Eritrean sibyl, after Michelangelo’s fresco on the Sistine ceiling, engraving on paper, early 1570s.
Isabel Seligman, Monument Trust Curator of Modern and Contemporary Drawing said:
“This touring exhibition enables us to amplify some of the freshest and most compelling new voices in British contemporary art, helping us to tell stories not currently represented in the Museum collections. It addresses questions of identity and what it means to make a drawing today.”
Mark Jones, Interim Director of the British Museum, said:
“The British Museum’s prints and drawings collection is one of the best in the world. But it is vitally important for future generations that it continues to develop, so we are grateful to Art Fund’s New Collecting Award for allowing us to strengthenour holdings with exciting new British artists.”
BRITISH MUSEUM
YORK ART GALLERY
Exhibition Square, York YO1 7EW
WOLVERHAMPTON ART GALLERY
Lichfield Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1DU
HARTPOOL ART GALLERY
Church Street, Hartlepool TS24 7EQ
