WANAFOTO: British Museum

Showing posts with label British Museum. Show all posts

15/11/25

Hawaiʻi: a Kingdom Crossing Oceans Exhibition @ British Museum, London - A dazzling celebration of the rich artistry of Hawaiian makers

Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans

British Museum, London

15 January – 25 May 2026

A bold new exhibition at the British Museum examines the compelling history of Hawaiʻi and its long-standing ties with the United Kingdom. Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans is a dazzling celebration of the rich artistry of Hawaiian makers, past present and future, the global journeys of Hawaiian royals and leaders, and the enduring resonance of their story in today's world.

kapa (barkcloth)

Kapa (barkcloth) is made from the inner bark (bast) of the paper mulberry and other plant fibres. As a medium, kapa is a connector between the land, the people and the gods. Different forms of kapa had many uses, from everyday life to ritual practice, including as chiefly garments, spatial dividers, blankets and wrappings for bones.

The exhibition commemorates 200 years since a series of events including the visit of Hawaiian King Liholiho (Kamehameha II) and Queen Kamāmalu to London with a royal delegation to seek alliance and protection from the Crown. This journey to the capital included a visit to the British Museum – the first record of Native Hawaiian aliʻi (chiefs and royals) at the Museum. Building from this moment, which marked a turning point in the shared history of the kingdoms of Hawaiʻi and the United Kingdom, the exhibition tells a compelling story of movement, allyship and cultural exchange.

Portrait of Kamehameha II and Portrait of Kamāmalu, 1824

Hand-coloured lithographs by John Hayter

These portraits realised by British court artist John Hayter represent Hawaiian King Liholiho and Queen Kamāmalu. They were made in London while the king, the queen, and a Hawaiian royal delegation accompanying them awaited an audience with George IV.

Settled around AD 1000 by skilled Polynesian seafarers navigating by the stars and following the flight of migratory birds, the Hawaiian archipelago is often remembered in the UK as the place where Captain James Cook lost his life during a voyage of exploration in the islands in 1778–79. Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans acknowledges this moment while focusing on movements, stories and voyages initiated from Hawaiʻi itself. Shaped together with Native Hawaiian knowledge-bearers, the exhibition introduces audiences to a remarkable and seldom-seen collection of early Hawaiian treasures combined with striking contemporary works, tracing the journeys that brought these works to London and reflecting on their continued meaning for the people of Hawaiʻi today.

ʻUmeke kiʻi (bowl with figure)

This bowl likely represents a chiefly person in a serving position. Their high status is indicated by their headdress and loincloth.

The exhibition features around 150 extraordinary objects and artworks including many never seen in the UK. Among the highlights is a magnificent ʻahu ʻula (feathered cloak) sent in 1810 by the first king of unified Hawaiʻi, Kamehameha I, to King George III, the largest known example of its kind. Lent by His Majesty The King from the Royal Collection, the cloak will be on display for the first time in over 100 years, alongside the Hawaiian king's original letter requesting support and protection from the British Crown.

Kiʻi (image) of the god Kū

This kiʻi (image) represents Kū, a Hawaiian god whose realm includes warfare and governance. This god figure probably originates from a religious site on the island of Hawaiʻi, the largest of the Hawaiian archipelago. It may have been brought to England about 200 years ago by Hawaiian king Liholiho (Kamehameha II), who came to London to seek alliance and protection from the British Crown. He stands here wearing a loincloth, which was made for him and fitted by Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners.

Opening the space and greeting the visitors on the stairs of the Great Court is a powerful, nine-foot kiʻi (image) of the god Kū, the god of warfare and governance, dressed with a contemporary loincloth and standing atop a pole rediscovered inside a historical plinth ahead of the exhibition. A finely carved drum accompanied by an ancient chant recounting early Polynesian migrations to Hawaiʻi pulls the visitors into the gallery. Inside, a stunning bowl with figure, recently returned from loan to Hawaiʻi's Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, embodies the continued movements of people and objects between the Pacific and the United Kingdom, while the Anglo-Franco proclamation of 1843, on loan from The National Archives, highlights the UK and France's formal recognition of Hawaiʻi's independence and emphasises diplomatic bonds between these nations.

The making of Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans is grounded in a renewed curatorial approach developed with Native Hawaiian knowledge-bearers. A co-stewarded process, the creation of the exhibition involved community partners in a holistic manner, from the shaping of the narrative to the design of the gallery, the meticulous conservation of ancestral treasures and the inclusion of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language) throughout the space.

Kapulani Landgraf

ʻAuʻa, Portrait of Haunani-Kay Trask

Photographic print

ʻWe are not American’, declared Native Hawaiian political leader and scholar Haunani-Kay Trask (1949–2021). She was speaking on the hundredth anniversary of the 1893 coup that overthrew the Hawaiian Kingdom. Trask is depicted here by the artist Kapulani Landgraf as part of a series of 108 photographic portraits of Kānaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiians). As well as Trask’s famous declaration, Landgraf has added ‘He hawaiʻi au mau a mau’ (‘I am Hawaiian forever and ever’), a continuing affirmation of Hawaiian identity.

Building from years of collaborations through the Benioff Oceania Programme (2020-2024), the show highlights a commitment to transforming and humanising museum practice – a dimension that is made palpable through a trail of content that 'breaks the fourth wall' to offer visitors a glimpse into this collective process. As objects, people and voices gather in the space, the gallery becomes a meeting ground, bringing agency and purpose into view and showing how the stories on display were shaped – stories as relevant today as they were two centuries ago.

Dr Alice Christophe, Curator and Head of Oceania at the British Museum said: 'This co-stewarded exhibition is a tribute to Native Hawaiian makers, past and present. At its core, it tells the story of the deep and layered relationship between Hawaiʻi and the United Kingdom, reflecting on care, sovereignty and the complexity of allyship. We hope this show will spark conversations and uplift people in the archipelago and beyond.'

Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the British Museum commented: 'Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans embodies the Museum's commitment to working with communities to tell shared histories in new ways. This extraordinary exhibition not only reveals the beauty and significance of Hawaiian culture, but also highlights the journeys of people, objects and stories across time and oceans, showing how these connections continue to resonate and inspire today.'

BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON

The Joseph Hotung Great Court Gallery

www.britishmuseum.org

09/11/25

Nordic noir @ British Museum, London - Works on paper from Edvard Munch to Mamma Andersson

Nordic noir: Works on paper from Edvard Munch to Mamma Andersson

British Museum, London

9 October 2025 – 22 March 2026

Mamma Andersson

The Fallow Deer, 2016

Handprinted colour woodcut on rice paper

Reproduced by permission of the artist

Fatima Moallim

Källa, 2021

Marker pen, oil crayon and graphite

Reproduced by permission of the artist

Olafur Eliasson

Don't look to the horizon, 2024

Watercolour and glacial ice

Courtesy of the artist and i8 Gallery, Reykjavik

The British Museum presents around 150 works from 100 different artists in an exhibition celebrating graphic works on paper from the Nordic region.

Nordic noir: works on paper from Edvard Munch to Mamma Andersson is the culmination of a five-year programme dedicated to building the Museum's collection of post-war Nordic artwork.

Jennifer Ramkalawon, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Nordic Graphic Art said: 'This project was a five-year voyage of discovery. These countries have so much creativity to offer with contemporary artists exploring themes of nature, the environment, identity and heritage. The artists in the show are well-known in their home countries, but this exhibition aims to showcase the incredible array of talent from the Nordic lands to a wider UK and international audience – many of them are on display for the first time.'

John Savio

Suopan (Lasso), c.1928-1934

Woodcut

Henrik Finne

Fiskere, 1942

Colour woodcut

Reproduced by permission of the artist's estate

Showcasing one of the best collections of Nordic art outside the region, the exhibition aims to provide a welcome and stimulating insight into the distinctive art originating there.

Although Scandinavia is sometimes viewed by outsiders as a homogenous entity, the exhibition highlights individual characteristics and complexities within the various Nordic countries, as well as exploring universal and overarching themes. It also questions the definition of Nordic art and what it means to be a Nordic artist through work by artists who have immigrated to and emigrated from the region.

Edvard Munch

The Old Fisherman, 1897

Woodcut on Japan paper

One of the most well-known artists to emerge from Scandinavia is expressionist Edvard Munch. Two of Munch's woodcut prints are featured at the beginning of the exhibition. Following a chronological narrative, it explores how the graphic arts flourished and evolved after his death in 1944. Prints and drawings from 1945 to the present day highlight how the region's artists continue to develop Munch's creative legacy of emotional intensity and artistic inventiveness.

Lea Ignatius

Soutaja, 1981

Colour etching

Reproduced by permission of the artist's estate

Per Kirkeby

Untitled, 2016

Monotype in green, yellow and black ink

Reproduced by permission of the artist's estate

Vanessa Baird

My Mother, 2019

Watercolour

Reproduced by permission of the artist

Key themes throughout the exhibition are nature and the vital urgency to preserve the environment of the fjords, mountains and forests unique to the region. The artworks on display also delve into the worlds of Norse myth, inner struggles with mental health, post-war angst and the threat of the Cold War, feminism and the rights of the Indigenous Sámi people.

Yuichiro Sato

In the Air III, 2019

Graphite, mineral pigment, acrylic paint

Reproduced by permission of the artist

John Kørner

Understanding the Impact of Architecture 12, 2020

Colour lithograph

Reproduced by permission of the artist

Vibeke Slyngstad

Shuafat II, 2023

Watercolour

Reproduced by permission of the artist

The landmark collecting project, supported by a substantial grant from charitable organisation AKO Foundation, resulted in the acquisition by the British Museum of almost 400 works by artists from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. It has added to the many Nordic prints purchased by the Museum in the 1990s.

As well as Edvard Munch and Mamma Andersson, featured artists include Olafur Eliasson, John Savio, Vanessa Baird, Yuichiro Sato, Fatima Moallim, John Kørner and many more.

Xerxes Mazda, Director of Collections said: 'It has been almost 30 years since the British Museum devoted a show to Nordic graphic art. Thanks to the generosity of AKO Foundation, we have been able to build one of the best collections of Nordic art outside the region, investing in and exploring how artists such as Mamma Andersson have developed the legacy of an artist like Edvard Munch. Nordic noir and the collecting strategy behind it showcases the British Museum's commitment to acquiring works for the nation, preserving the work of both up-and-coming and established artists for future generations.'

To coincide with the exhibition, a beautifully illustrated catalogue, Nordic noir: works on paper from Edvard Munch to Mamma Andersson, written by Jennifer Ramkalawon, was published by the British Museum Press in October 2025. Paperback, £35, ISBN 9780714136509

BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON

www.britishmuseum.org

25/10/23

Drawing attention: emerging artists in dialogue @ York Art Gallery, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Hartlepool Art Gallery - British Museum Touring Exhibition

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

Sin Wai Kin (born 1991)

what you have gained along the way, 2017

Make up on facial wipe

Reproduced by permission of the artist

Hans Burgkmair the Elder (1473–1531)

Head of Christ crowned with thorns, c.1508–15

Woodcut on paper

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.

Charmaine Watkiss (born 1964)

Double Consciousness: Be Aware of One’s Intentions, 2021

Pencil, water-soluble graphite, watercolour and ink

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

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.

David Haines (born 1969)

Man Reading Messages (Pawel), 2020

Graphite on paper

Reproduced by permission of the artist

Wallerant Vaillant (1623–1677)

Boy with a feathered velvet hat looking downwards and

reading a letter, c.1660–75

Mezzotint on paper

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.

Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings (both born 1991)

Funny Girls, 2019

Graphite on paper

Reproduced by permission of the artists

Giorgio Ghisi (1520–1582),

The Eritrean sibyl, after Michelangelo's fresco

on the Sistine ceiling, early 1570s,

Engraving on paper

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

www.britishmuseum.org

YORK ART GALLERY

Exhibition Square, York YO1 7EW

www.yorkartgallery.org.uk

WOLVERHAMPTON ART GALLERY

Lichfield Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1DU

www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk

HARTPOOL ART GALLERY

Church Street, Hartlepool TS24 7EQ

www.culturehartlepool.com

14/04/19

Edvard Munch @ British Museum, London - Love and Angst

Edvard Munch: love and angst
British Museum, London
11 April – 21 July 2019

The British Museum presents a major new exhibition on the work of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863-1944). Edvard Munch: love and angst focuses on Edvard Munch’s remarkable and experimental prints – an art form which made his name and at which he excelled throughout his life – and examines his unparalleled ability to depict raw human emotion. It is the largest exhibition of Edvard Munch’s prints in the UK for 45 years.

The exhibition is a collaboration with Norway’s Munch Museum, and includes nearly 50 prints from their collection, one of the biggest loans of prints the Oslo-based Museum has given internationally. Displayed alongside important Munch works from the British Museum collection and other loans from the UK and Europe, the 83 artworks on show will together demonstrate the artist’s skill and creativity in expressing the feelings and experiences of the human condition – from love and desire, to jealousy, loneliness, anxiety and grief.

A major highlight of the exhibition is Edvard Munch’s The Scream which is one of the most iconic images in art history. The British Museum displays a rare lithograph in black and white which Edvard Munch created following a painted version and two drawings of the image. It was this black and white print which was disseminated widely during his lifetime and made him famous. Few copies survive and this is the first time any version of The Scream are on show in the UK for a decade.

Other highlights of the exhibition include the eerie but remarkable Vampire II which is generally considered to be one of his most elaborate and technically accomplished prints; the controversial Madonna, an erotic image which features an explicit depiction of swimming sperm and a foetus and provoked outrage at the time; and Head by Head which is a stunning print representing the complex relationship between human beings. All three of these prints are displayed alongside their original matrix (the physical objects which Edvard Munch used to transfer ink onto paper) which have never been seen in the UK before. Matrices are usually lost, but Edvard Munch was determined to keep control of his. It is rare to be able to show these alongside the prints of such a famous artist.

The exhibition is also show how Edvard Munch’s artistic vision was shaped by the radical ideas expressed in art, literature, science and theatre in Europe during his lifetime. His most innovative period of printmaking, between the 1890s and the end of the First World War, coincided with a great period of societal change in Europe which Munch experienced through constant travel across the continent on the vast rail network. The exhibition pays particular attention to three European cities that had major influence on him and his printmaking – Kristiania (Oslo), Paris and Berlin. A small selection of Edvard Munch’s personal postcards and maps are used to give a flavour of Edvard Munch’s journeys.

Edvard Munch is regarded as one the greatest artists of the early 20th century, and was a pioneer of modern art. Born near Kristiania (today’s Oslo) in 1863, his childhood was plagued by family death and illness. His later life saw him lead a bohemian lifestyle and was marked by frequent tumultuous love affairs. Two key sections of the exhibition demonstrate his passion, but also his fear, of women. He was deeply influenced by contemporary ideas, thinkers and artists including Max Klinger, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud and Henrik Ibsen and his work would go on to influence many other artists both during his lifetime and after his death in Oslo in 1944. A number of works by other artists are displayed here to highlight these links.

BRITISH MUSEUM
Great Russell St, Bloomsbury, London WC1B 3DG
www.britishmuseum.org