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Jacqueline Flavell

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wHY ARE THRE NO POSTS IN THIS AREA...The Art Gallery was a haven to me...I loved it !!:rolleyes:
 
Well there is 6000+ Threads to date we are getting to it, try the search engine at the top of the page I'm sure its been mentioned before.
 
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I can only endorse what Postie and Alf have said you only need tell us your experiences of the Art Gallery I'm sure others will then follow with theirs?
 
Art Love

This Gallery is the most beautiful gallery anywhere.I went A LOT as a romantic teenager carried away by the beauty of the Pre-Raphaelite collection. It was a haven of peace, I suupose I was always hoping to meet some romantic young male...maybe I though he would step out of one of the paintings !!! but apart from that the atmosphere calmed my soul.;)
 
I spent many days as a lad wandering around the galleries, looking at the paintings. To a naive youngster as I was then, I giggled at the many paintings of nude and semi clad ladies their charms on display. No page three girls back then. Nowadays I appreciate some of the sculptures & paintings housed in the Art Gallery I often accompany parties of our service users to the Art Gallery. Its a fantastic place. I must say though that some of the works of art.... praps white canvas's with a diagonal black line leave me cold and unmoved, in my opinion it really isnt art and it surely isnt created with talent. Ive watched and heard people praising the artists who create such peices and it leaves me wondering if I have a problem? But each to his or her own, and the important thing is that art of all kinds has such a venue open to ordinary people.
 
Romantic Rod

I couldnt agree more.The saying goes that Art is a reflection of the Civilisation that produced it...which is a little worrying for us !!! Only my opinion of course.I'm glad I wasnt the only Teenager wandering around in a cloud...oh well it was the late sixties.:)
 
Hi Jacqueline:
My association with the Birmingham Art Gallery and Natural History Museum goes back decades and it has always been a place that is high on my list to visit whenever I return to Birmingham.
I first went there with my Junior School as a field trip in the early l950's and then went with my parents subsequently. The first trip was really a whip round but I have to admit I was hooked. I attended school in town when I was l2 years old for two years and so I had an opportunity to visit the
Gallery and Natural History Museum many times both with the school and with school friends on our lunch hours. Like Rod, the paintings of nudes and gigantic statue of Lucifer in the Atrium were our first exposure to the human form uncovered :) and, of course, much tittering went on.

Later on when I worked for Alcan Aluminium on Great Charles Street I found that the Art Gallery and Natural History Museum was a convenient place to take a short cut to Victoria Square and also a place to hang out during the winter when the weather was cold and rainy. I also used to cross over and visit the BAGM when I worked in Queen's College Chambers on Paradise Street. By this time they had a small cafe there and then later on the Victoria Tea Rooms were a place I head for. The lunch fare accompanied by the soft tinkling of the piano is something I have great memories of.

I had my favourite galleries and in the late l950's things didn't change as much as they do these days at the BAGM. I knew the doormen by sight and they always said hello to me, in fact, when I visited Birmingham in l985, one of them remembered me!
He was about to retire and we had a good laugh about how many times he saw me cutting through all those years ago. I always liked looking at the Costume Gallery which contained some of the Mayor and Mayoress's clothes and many other dresses worn over the decades by Birmingham's prominent people.

I enjoyed the Roman mosaics that were laid out on the floor and also the Eygptian Mummy's in the Egyptian gallery plus all the other interesting exhibits there. I liked the Natural History Museum with the various species of birds which are captured for all time in the diorama cases which were depicted so well. I also like the Birmingham silver collections that were on display at the time. My children liked the AtoZ of Birmingham exhibit and they both visited the BAGM when they came to live and work in Birmingham
when they were grown up.

Later on, on subsequent visits to Birmingham from my home in Vancouver, Canada, I would visit in those difficult days when you were searched on entry due the fear of bombs being planted in the Museum and Art Gallery,
bringing my husband, who had by this time become accustomed to the bag and personal searches as they had taken place a lot in London.

I was so happy to bring both my children to the BAGM when they were old enough to appreciate it and when my Mother was very seriously ill in the then General Hospital I would escape in the BAGM after visiting her at the General because I had always felt happy in there. The last time I visited it was with some of the ex-students of Fentham Girls School following our reunion in Sutton in April 2004. We were all of the same mind regarding our first experiences of visiting this magnificent place and I remember we all said what a special place it was and how much we appreciated being able to revisit it at absolutely no cost.

Whilst some of the exhibits we remember are no longer on view, many of them are in storage on the premises and hopefully are rotated. I was told this when I enquired as to where some of my ever favourite pieces where located. The one thing that will never change is the magnificent
"FORWARD" stained glass window going down the stairs from the Galleries.
I will always have a good look at that and remember how young I was when I first saw it.
 
Jacqueline wrote:
... I suupose I was always hoping to meet some romantic young male...
I read somewhere that art galleries are a very popular place for single people to meet potential partners. :rolleyes:

I too spent, and still do, a lot of time at the BM&AG. I once took some Irish visitors there who'd just finished a cultural tour of Europe and they were astounded by the amount and quality of the fine art - as good as any anywhere. They were also amazed by there being not entrance fee.

Of course, after a stroll through the galleries, the ideal way to finish off a visit is a cuppa in the Edwardian Tea Room.
 
See what happens when you put your feelings into words. I bet there will soon be hundreds of posts in this section. Well done Jacqueline ! ;)
 
I loved the place, thanks for the photos Oisin, by the way did the visitors tip you or wasn't you wearing your uniform:go:
 
Thank you for your kind words Postied and the photos were lovely Oisin.Also reading Jennyanns post was really interesting.I've lived in London for nearly thirty years now and there are Galleries everywhere but nowhere has the same magical feel for me.I must admit it was the Pre Raphaelite Collection that drew me...perhaps I was searching for Rossetti !! Never found him though...oh well.Brum still rules for me !!
Also sorry I know this is not the right place but how DO you put in pictures ?

Anyone have a favourite Painting and are they all still there ?
 
Hi Jacqueline.
Just seen your query about the Art Gallery. You probably didn't find a piece which I wrote about a year ago, which is about the history of the Council House (and Art Gallery), because it is rather hidden on the main site. To find it key in https://www.birminghamhistory.co.uk/trams_buses.htm, and then click on the 'Council House' link.
After I wrote that piece I went round the Art Gallery again - the first time for 50 years, when I did some building work there - and was most impressed with the Industrial Hall, which in my day was masked with suspended ceilings and screens to make it terribly bland. Now it's been opened up again and now it's quite a corker!
Peter
 
A few years ago my cousins wife who is a teacher was taking a party of children round the art gallery when she was suprized to see a couple of paintings by Randolph Caldecott. He was a famous Victorian artist and childrens illustrator. My mothers family of Caldecott from Chester are distantly related. She told her husband when she got home and the next weekend he went with her to see the paintings. He was thrilled but also dismayed they had spelt Caldecott with one T. He then told someone in the gallery who he was and that Radolph's surname had two T's he said they were so pleased to meet him and arranged for him to view the other Caldecott paintings in their collection...........he was thrilled!
 
I popped in when I was staying in town in May, I just wandered around at random enjoying a few quiet moments.

I love your Randolph's paintings Wendy. I shall look for them next time I am there.:)
 
Di, I don't think Randoph's pictures are on display all the time they change things around. His work was mainly childrens nursery rhyme books. I love them as I find them quite comical. Randolph died just before his 30th birthday on a trip to America he never had good health.
I anyone is interested there is a website https://www.randolphcaldecott.org.uk/index.htm
 
Hello Peter

Thanks for the link.I read it,it was really detailed and so interesting.I didnt realise that those ceilings had been covered but I must admit I did have tunnel vision when it came to the Gallery...my only focus was the Fine Art.Also I tried really hard to 'listen to a Tram' on your link but I couldnt make it work.
My favourite painitng is 'Boer War 1900' not sure if it is still on display...must pay a visit soon.

Why did they knock down the Library ? :(
 
Interesting web site, I see that Randolph's work was often published by Warne who also published Beatrix Potter's books.

So sad Wendy that he died at such a young age.
 
To my eternal shame as a 'born and bred' Brummie I have only ever been in the Art Gallery and Museum a couple of times, the last time being many, many years ago. Despite the fact that I used to deliver the milk to the Water Department via the baesment of the Council House and the milk/cream etc. to the Museum Tea Rooms on a Saturday[via the Council House Extension], this from the late Sixties to the early Eighties. I also lived within 300 yards of the Main Entrance for more than 10 years too, so I think maybe I should make use of this amazing facility that we have here in our wonderful City. 'Liverpool City of Culture'..........Nah! They got it wrong..........again!!

Bill.
 
Lovely post Bill, couldn't agree more. :)

Make sure you go into the exhibits on the ground floor. It is a Birmingham how we were then type of expo, lots of tools and household articles some of which I can recall from home.

Almost forgot, the Edwardian Tea Room is well worth a look.
 
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