Julia Margaret Cameron

This Week in London – Hampton Court’s bunny hunt returns; vintage prints at the National Portrait Gallery; and, ‘Sounds of Blossom’ at Kew…

by exploringlondon
Gardens at Hampton Court Palace. PICTURE: edwin.11 (licensed under CC BY 2.0)

• The Lindt Gold Bunny hunt returns to Hampton Court Palace this Saturday with families once again invited to search the gardens for those elusive Gold Bunny statues. Each statue offers a chance to match the names of influential characters from Hampton Court Palace’s history to the distinctive red ribbons and a small Lindt bunny chocolate awaits those who succeed in finding the bunnies. Visitors will also have the chance to encounter a selection of the characters roaming the palace over the Easter period. The Gold Bunny hunt is included in general admission. Until 14th March. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/whats-on/easter-lindt-gold-bunny-hunt/.

• Rare vintage prints by two of art history’s most influential photographers – Francesca Woodman (1958-1981) and Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) – go on show at the National Portrait Gallery today. Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In showcases more than 160 rare vintage prints including 97 by Woodman and 71 by Cameron as well as artist’s books by Woodman which have never been exhibited before in the UK. Key works include Cameron’s self-declared “first success” – a portrait of Annie Wilhemina Philpot taken in 1864, Woodman’s Self-portrait at thirteen, taken during a summer holiday in Italy in 1972, images from Woodman’s Angel series and Cameron’s ethereal portraits of actor Ellen Terry taken in 1864. Also featured are Woodman’s Caryatid pieces and Cameron’s portraits of her niece and favorite model Julia Jackson, Alice Liddell as the goddess Pomona, a portrait of John Frederick William Herschel called The Astronomer (1867), and those of her frequent muses, May Prinsep and Mary Ann Hillier. Runs until 16th June. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.npg.org.uk.

• A new collaboration with the Royal College of Music blends music with spring blooms at Kew Gardens. Sounds of Blossom: Awaken your senses, the first ever spring festival to be held at the gardens, features six bespoke commissions that celebrate Kew’s unique landscape in the spring emerging from locations such as Cherry Walk, Asano Avenue and the Japanese Landscape. And on weekends during the festival, visitors can enjoy live musical performances from the Royal College of Music as they showcase a varied repertoire from classical favourites to jazz melodies. Included in general admission. Runs until 14th April. For more, see www.kew.org/kew-gardens/whats-on/sounds-of-blossom.

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Around London – New picture gallery at V&A; remembering the 5th of November; War Horse – the exhibition; and, celebrating Private Eye…

by exploringlondon

• The Victoria and Albert Museum has opened a new permanent gallery displaying highlights from its internationally renowned collection of photographs in what amounts to a chronicle of the medium stretching from its invention in 1839 to the 1960s. The gallery, which opened in late October, initially features works such key figures as Henri Cartier Bresson, Man Ray, Alfred Stieglitz, Diane Arbus and Irving Penn. Among highlights are the oldest photograph in the V&A’s collection – a daguerrotype of Parliament Street taken from Trafalgar Square in 1839, a Robert Howlett portrait of Isambard Kingdom Brunel standing in front of the Great Eastern, and an early botanical photography taken without a camera in 1854. The display also includes two “in focus” sections, looking at the lives of two photographers – initially British photographer Julia Margaret and the influential Henri Cartier-Bresson – in depth. The V&A was the first museum to start collecting photographs when it did so in 1856. Entry is free. For more, see www.vam.ac.uk.

• Remember, remember, the 5th of November! This weekend is Bonfire Night (aka Guy Fawkes Night) and across London communities will be gathering around bonfires to gasp at fireworks displays. We don’t have the capacity to collect all the details of where they’re taking place but thankfully the people at View London do. Follow this link to see its listing of where fireworks displays are taking place. To see our previous entry looking at the origins of the night, follow this link. For more on the Gunpowder Plot, see our previous entry here.

• On Now – War Hose: Fact & Fiction. A book, a long running stage performance and a soon to be released film, War Horse is now also the subject of a major exhibition at the National Army Museum. War Hose: Fact & Fiction is a family-friendly exhibition which tells the real-life story of horses in war and includes archive material from the animal charity The Brooke, which was founded after Dorothy Brooke rescued some former war horses being sold into a life of hard labour in Cairo (Brooke, who rescued some 5,000 horses, went on to found the Old War Horse Memorial Hospital in Cairo in 1934). The exhibition also features content from Michael Morpurgo, author of the novel War Horse, as well as the National Theatre’s production and the upcoming Spielberg-directed movie. Entry is free. Runs until August 2012. For more, see www.nam.ac.uk.

On Now: Private Eye: The First 50 Years. A celebration of the irreverent Private Eye magazine which, since it was founded in October 1961, has distinguished itself through a combination of satire and hard-hitting journalism. The exhibition features more than 120 of the magazine’s funniest cartoons and a display of the magazine’s distinctive covers with one of from each year chosen by editor Ian Hislop. It also shows how surprisingly low-tech the magazine’s production remains despite great changes in technology, and there’s a recreation of the editor’s Soho office. Admission is free. Runs until 8th January. For more, see www.vam.ac.uk.