Spring Sensations
Dress from the Art Gallery & Museum Collections

24 January – 28 March 2004

Clothes with floral decoration made from sumptuous silks or 20th-century synthetics, and a challenge for spring cleaning form the basis of this exhibition. Selected from the Art Gallery & Museum’s dress collection, fashions from the 18th century to the 1960s are represented.

The exhibition is displayed to show the changes in fashion, design, and fabric. As well as finding out the latest trend for a particular time visitors will be able to discover how easy or difficult it was to clean and store these clothes, and why until fairly recently clothes were packed away on a seasonal basis.

Some of the finest examples from the Art Gallery & Museum’s collection will be on show. A late 18th-century open gown made of cream silk with woven floral sprays is typical of the beautiful fabrics which were being made in France and England at this time. By contrast visitors can see a mass produced 1960s dress made from a mixture of terylene and cotton and printed in a stylised floral pattern.

Exhibitions Officer, Sophie Wilson says, ‘We are delighted to be getting some of the costume from the collection out again for this exhibition. As well as seeing the costume on show, there will be a handling section in the exhibition for trying on hats and children can try on costume too. There are some fabulous accessories in the exhibition in addition to the main garments including an appliquéd bag of the 1830s and a pair of bright green brocaded shoes from the 1920s.’

Scenes in Passing
Watercolours from the Art Gallery & Museum collections

17 January – 28 March 2004

Some of the most distinguished watercolour artists from Britain’s Golden Age of Watercolour, about 1780-1840 are represented in this exhibition which gives an insight into the working methods of watercolour artists.

The spark for this exhibition was ignited when a significant bequest of 14 watercolours came to the Art Gallery & Museum in 2003. This came from the late Stephen Pyke, a London solicitor who retired to Blockley in the 1960s and ‘fell in love with Gloucestershire’. Mr Pyke probably first considered giving the pictures to Cheltenham in about 1987, when George Breeze, then the Head of Art Gallery & Museum Service and Jon Benington, then Assistant Keeper of Fine Art and Exhibitions Officer went to see his collection.

The Stephen Pyke bequest includes work by the best watercolour artists of this period, notably John Constable, David Cox, John Cotman and Thomas Girtin.

Dating from the late 18th to the early 19th centuries these watercolours form the core of the exhibition which is supplemented by other great works from the Art Gallery & Museum’s rich collection of drawings, prints and watercolours. For example, Cooks Folly by JMW Turner, Eventide by John Varley and A Devis’s View of Cheltenham.

Exhibitions Officer Sophie Wilson says ‘ The Stephen Pyke bequest is a wonderful addition to the Art Gallery & Museum’s rich collection of works on paper. There are some beautiful watercolours in the exhibition which demonstrate the various working methods of these artists. Thomas Rowlandson uses the medium to create intricate detailed work, Constable’s approach is far more painterly and immediate in its approach as are the examples by John Cotman and Francis Towne.’

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