Smultron mellan blåbär: Pre-Raphaelites Art and Poetry Exhibit

Hello friends, last week I went to see a truly excellent exhibit on the Pre-Raphaelites at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle. It focused on how the Pre-Raphaelite artists responded to poetry through the visual arts. One initial collaborative endeavour of the Brotherhood was a periodical called The Germ (later Art and Poetry: Being thoughts towards Nature), which combined poetry and visual art. Throughout their careers, these artists and those in their circle were engaged with contemporary poetry and were especially 'drawn to poems that retold old stories for modern audiences' as the exhibit explained. D. G. Rossetti made poems and visual art (drawings and paintings—I prefer his drawings) interpreting the same ideas: double works of art. He sometimes put text directly into his visual art. William Morris read poetry aloud in his workshop so that words accompanied the craft. He was a prolific poet and ran his own private press (the Kelmscott Press). Famously, he collaborated with Edward Burne-Jones to illustrate Chaucer. There were many books included in this exhibit! I was most excited to see the original manuscript of Christina Rossetti's Sing-Song with her provisional drawings (later illustrated by Arthur Hughes) and Walter Crane's original illustration for Spenser's Faerie Queene. I love the presentation of artwork through the form of a book (as illustrations) because it makes it so much more accessible for everyone to enjoy, not just those who are able to visit museums or can afford to purchase works of art. The exhibit also included photography by Julia Margaret Cameron—so good!

Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle

The Germ, 1850

Walter Crane, At last when they were passed out of sight

Prospectus for Spenser's Faerie Queene

Kelmscott Chaucer

Love Leading the Pilgrim through the Briars,
designed by William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones,
embroidered by Margaret Bell and Florence Johnson

La Margarete wallpaper design, Walter Crane

Illuminated version of Sonnets from the Portuguese,
Phoebe Anna Traquair

Christina Rossetti's Sing-Song, original manuscript

Sing-Song with illustrations by Arthur Hughes

Goblin Market and other poems

Isabella and the Pot of Basil, William Holman Hunt

"The Palace of Art" illustration by D.G. Rossetti,
from Poems by Alfred Tennyson
The original was destroyed in the printing process

Julia Margaret Cameron, Sappho
(image from V&A)

While in Newcastle, I also visited Whitley Bay on the coast. It was a not-too-chilly, cloudy day to view the waves and see the grey seals at St Mary's Island Nature Reserve. In the town, there's a great used bookshop as well as a yarn shop—and of course I raided the local charity shops for vintage knitting patterns!