DOI issue:
No. 34 (January, 1896)
DOI article:Studio-talk
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17295#0260
a stage in the elementary room, which was for the
occasion hung with posters of various dates. The
whole affair was an undoubted success, and was
ROYAL ACADEMY GOLD MEDAL GROUP
" D.EDALUS AND ICARUS." BY F. D. WOOD
certainly a very auspicious inauguration of what, it
is hoped, will be a very popular series of similar
functions.
We have much pleasure in giving an illustration
of the group by Mr. Francis Derwent Wood of
Dczdalus and Icarus, which gained the Royal
Academy Gold Medal at the recent competition.
BIRMINGHAM.—Down here we have
just been celebrating a kind of ten
years' "Jubilee" in connection with
the Corporation Art Gallery, which
has now been open to the public in
the present building for that period of time. A
detailed account of the work done, which has been
published in the local papers, has set all the towns-
folk talking of the educational value of such insti-
tutions in all thriving commercial cities. The
success of the movement in Birmingham has been
even greater than its founders expected. In ten
years nearly eight millions of people have entered
the building, giving a daily average of over
2000, which far exceeds the record of any
gallery outside London, and is greater than the
attendance at the British Museum or the National
Gallery. The total Sunday attendance for the
decade equals 826,634, which gives an average
Sunday attendance of 1583 during the three hours
in the afternoon in which the collections are open
to the public. This attendance in three hours
must surely convince the opponents of Sunday
opening that the opportunity of inspecting art
treasures on a Sunday afternoon is valued by large
numbers in the Midland metropolis. During the
ten years forty different catalogues have been
issued, of which 176,000 copies have been sold,
including no fewer than 130,421 penny catalogues,
generally illustrated, and some 5000 photographs
of pictures and objects of art. The permanent
collection of pictures has been enriched by 171
works, in addition to the 167 with which the
Gallery opened, their value now being about
^70,000. There have also been added nearly
3000 art-objects to the 3000 already there in 1885,
the greater part of them being gifts. Some 570
owners of pictures and other artistic objects, from
Her Majesty the Queen downwards, have been
most generous in lending their treasures, which
have been insured for over ^"800,000. Not the
least pleasing circumstance to be recorded is that
during the ten years the Gallery has been opened
to the public (it is free every day of the week),
there has not been one single case of disorderly
conduct, and not a single object has been damaged
in the slightest degree.
It is not often that we of the Midlands have
opportunities of studying works by the old English
masters, so that when such a chance does come in
our way we seize upon it eagerly. The few picture-
buyers in Birmingham and the district are mostly
content with modern art; but this month those
who are interested in the big men of the past have
only to step into the Art Gallery, where there are
on loan two magnificent Gainsboroughs, some won-
derful water-colour drawings by J. M. W. Turner, a
very fine De Wint, and some other examples of the
old English landscape school. The two portraits
by Gainsborough are fine examples of his always
brilliant work, representing Mr. John Taylor, of
243
occasion hung with posters of various dates. The
whole affair was an undoubted success, and was
ROYAL ACADEMY GOLD MEDAL GROUP
" D.EDALUS AND ICARUS." BY F. D. WOOD
certainly a very auspicious inauguration of what, it
is hoped, will be a very popular series of similar
functions.
We have much pleasure in giving an illustration
of the group by Mr. Francis Derwent Wood of
Dczdalus and Icarus, which gained the Royal
Academy Gold Medal at the recent competition.
BIRMINGHAM.—Down here we have
just been celebrating a kind of ten
years' "Jubilee" in connection with
the Corporation Art Gallery, which
has now been open to the public in
the present building for that period of time. A
detailed account of the work done, which has been
published in the local papers, has set all the towns-
folk talking of the educational value of such insti-
tutions in all thriving commercial cities. The
success of the movement in Birmingham has been
even greater than its founders expected. In ten
years nearly eight millions of people have entered
the building, giving a daily average of over
2000, which far exceeds the record of any
gallery outside London, and is greater than the
attendance at the British Museum or the National
Gallery. The total Sunday attendance for the
decade equals 826,634, which gives an average
Sunday attendance of 1583 during the three hours
in the afternoon in which the collections are open
to the public. This attendance in three hours
must surely convince the opponents of Sunday
opening that the opportunity of inspecting art
treasures on a Sunday afternoon is valued by large
numbers in the Midland metropolis. During the
ten years forty different catalogues have been
issued, of which 176,000 copies have been sold,
including no fewer than 130,421 penny catalogues,
generally illustrated, and some 5000 photographs
of pictures and objects of art. The permanent
collection of pictures has been enriched by 171
works, in addition to the 167 with which the
Gallery opened, their value now being about
^70,000. There have also been added nearly
3000 art-objects to the 3000 already there in 1885,
the greater part of them being gifts. Some 570
owners of pictures and other artistic objects, from
Her Majesty the Queen downwards, have been
most generous in lending their treasures, which
have been insured for over ^"800,000. Not the
least pleasing circumstance to be recorded is that
during the ten years the Gallery has been opened
to the public (it is free every day of the week),
there has not been one single case of disorderly
conduct, and not a single object has been damaged
in the slightest degree.
It is not often that we of the Midlands have
opportunities of studying works by the old English
masters, so that when such a chance does come in
our way we seize upon it eagerly. The few picture-
buyers in Birmingham and the district are mostly
content with modern art; but this month those
who are interested in the big men of the past have
only to step into the Art Gallery, where there are
on loan two magnificent Gainsboroughs, some won-
derful water-colour drawings by J. M. W. Turner, a
very fine De Wint, and some other examples of the
old English landscape school. The two portraits
by Gainsborough are fine examples of his always
brilliant work, representing Mr. John Taylor, of
243