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  • Thread starter Thread starter Jacqueline Flavell
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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...
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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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I well remember the Art Gallery and Museum from my youth. In the 70’s, when pubs shut at 2 o’clock on a Sunday, with nothing better to do while waiting for the pubs to reopen at 7, I often, with a pal or two, used to go to the art gallery. I always found the place fascinating. I live in Tamworth now, but still visit when in Brum centre. (Which isn’t very often.) Two years ago I had to take my son to the dental hospital and took him for a visit. He was pretty quickly bored, but I refused to leave! It is still a fantastic place.​
The things that stay with me-​
The ships figurehead, the tiger in the natural history section- the tongue! It was like a huge steak! The skeleton of a prehistoric deer (I think!) that appeared to move due to the clever use of lighting. (The cutting edge of technology, then!) The old toys that kids loved before electronic diversions. The Egyptian section, with its hieroglyphics and mummies. And the bones! The wonderful art- real art, where pictures were like photographs. And the coin collection.​
Walking out, there is the wonderful edifice that is the Town Hall, but could equally be a temple from ancient Greece.​
The hall of memory, always reminds me of my dad as he told me between the wars he had slept in there when he divorced his first wife. How sad it has to be locked at night because of vandalism. Am I wrong, or wasn’t there once a caretaker (for want of a better word) permanently on duty?​
Brum has so much history. Much of it remains, as Matthew Boulton’s house, home of the Lunar Society. (sounds like a bunch of cranks, but as I am sure you all know they were a society of learned gentlemen who met to discuss their many ideas.)​
Well, I begin to digress, so I shall end here. With fond memories.​
 
As a lad from the darkest depths of the 'Black Country' a visit to Birmingham Art Gallery (and Science Museum) was like being exposed to an entirely different existence. I used to play truant from school to go there! The hundred or so visits over a five year period changed my life irrevocably. During the summer holidays I almost lived in the building. I knew ALL the paintings; something that has stood me in good stead over the years. Indeed, all sections of the Museum and Gallery were an invaluable aid to my education. Alas, I could not resist 'touching' the paintings....in those days before sophisticated 'alarm systems' and CCTV, all I had to do was wait for the attendant to turn his back for a moment....I've fondled Old Masters; the Pre-Raphaelites and, the odd Jackson Pollock too! My only regret was not being able to get inside the glass display cases in the Egyptology section! I reckon my finger-prints and DNA must be on a billion quids worth of art, at to-days prices! However, I would advise against attempting anything similar these days.....
 
JohnO: Welcome to the Forum. I liked your story very much about being totally fascinated with the Art Gallery and Natural History Galleries. I was the same way and was lucky enough to go to school at age 12 right in Town and later on worked in Paradise Street and then Great Charles Street, so I was always there too. I didn't touch the paintings though although I can see how you would want to. I was more than fascinated by the natural History dioramas (I think they call them) where the stuffed birds were. They always looked so real to me.
The Egyptian mummies were very fascinating as well.

I always visit when I come to Birmingham and had the pleasure of bringing my children there for visits later on.
 
I used to spend so much time at the Art Gallery and Museum over the years. The staircase with its brass bannister and the Southall 'Corporation Street' fresco, and the spacious galleries....I'm very blasee about the Pre-Raphs these days, but my favourites were the Joseph Southalls.

I can remember the old tea room, where we used to drink frothy coffee from transparent plastic cups (usually on wet Saturday afternoons), and was also fond of the shop, where once I saw a packet of post cards addressed to David Lodge.

The dinosaur used to terrify me even when I was well into my twenties, and I couldn't walk through that room with my eyes open. The large stuffed animals frightened me as well, though I don't really have many clear memories of them.

*Never learned how to do accents.
 
I too used to visit the museum coffee bar when it was off the main corridor, not far from the stairs leading to the Natural History collections. In my day it was frequented by beatniks but I must have got the VIP treatment cos my frothy stuff came in a glass cup and saucer. Of course they now have the Edwardian Tea room which is very civilised and even serves meals.

As a kid it was that moth-eaten, stuffed tiger that frightened me. A couple of years ago they hosted a French exhibition of animated dinosaurs, for which they organised a kids sleep over. My daughter took hers but had to bring one of them home early when he got scared to death by the sounds these things made when they moved.
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My last visit was to view the Saxon Hoard but I was at the nearby Water Hall last week to see the Steve McCurry photographic exhibition. That's well worth a visit. If I could take one photo up to the standard of any there I'd die a happy man.
 
Great memories related Maria and Paul. Sadly, I missed seeing the Staffordshire Hoard on my last visit but was able to look at the coloured cards placed where each of the exhibits had been. I had a lovely lunch in the Edwardian Tearoom and it is as popular as ever.I liked the Bookshop very much and they have some excellent items on sale. The school children's group that arrived when I was there had the very same reaction that I had on my first visit decades ago to the statue of Lucifer.:D:D:DThe photography Exhibition sounded great.
There always seems to be some really good exhibitions put on.
 
Thanks Jennyann.

Like you I was a regular visitor in the 50s and 60s. I caught the B87 from Smethwick on Saturdays for a bit of Kultur "down town". Met by Lucifer in his glory :D on the steps, off I'd go to find my favourites - the Pre-Raphaelites, which are still there. Old friends.

I love the exhibitions, like last year's one on Birmingham Images. Brilliant!
Have a look at this....... https://www.bmag.org.uk/ I hope it reminds you of the fun you had in Brum!
Incidentally, my grandad was the site foreman who built the arch at the top of Edmund Street - underneath the clock.
 
Smethwick Striver said:
Thanks Jennyann.

Like you I was a regular visitor in the 50s and 60s. I caught the B87 from Smethwick on Saturdays for a bit of Kultur "down town". Met by Lucifer in his glory :D on the steps, off I'd go to find my favourites - the Pre-Raphaelites, which are still there. Old friends. ....
Click to expand...

The odd reaction to Lucifer https://forum.birminghamhistory.co.uk/showthread.php?t=611&p=320574#post320574 was worth the price of admission itself (I know, free) and the as you say the Pre-Raphaelites and the Pinto Gallery too - many happy memories
 
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