Artists in the Theatre: Expressionism, Dada, Purism on Stage

Touring exhibition from the Hatton Gallery, University of Newcastle
Fri 10 Nov – Sat 6 Dec 1986

This major exhibition includes full-scale reconstructions of sets and free standing life size costume figures for some of the most inventive theatrical designs of the century: Oskar Kokoschka’s, ‘Sphinx and Strawman (1907), and Murdered, Hope of Women (1909), Wassily Kandinsky’s ‘Yellow Sound’ (1912), Jean Cocteau’s ‘The Bride and Groom of the Eiffel Tower (1921) and Fernand Leger’s ‘The Creation of the World’ (1923). It is accompanied by videos and sound tracks.

The Danish Show: Paintings

Touring exhibition from Cartwright Hall, Bradford, supported by the Arts Council of Great Britain.
Fri 3 Oct – Sat 1 Nov 1986

Lene Adler Petersen, Arne Haugen Sorensen, Berit Jensen, Frans Kannik, Anders Kirkegaard, Bjorn Norgaard, Nina Sten, Svend Wiig Hansen

This exhibition brings a group of artists well-known in their own country to the UK for the first time. The common thread among the eight artists in the exhibition is a strongly figurative approach to representations of the human form and landscape.

A work bought by a private collector from this exhibition, Frans Kannik, Opus VI, 1985, has been donated to the University of Warwick Art Collection.

This touring exhibition was organised by Bradford Art Galleries and Museums and Yorkshire Contemporary Art Group with assistance from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, The Arts Council of Great Britain, Danish Minsitry of Culture, Royal Danish Embassy London, Visiting Arts, DFDS Seaways, Carlsberg Brewery

David Drew; Basket Maker

 

Touring exhibition from the Crafts Council
Fri 3 Oct – Sat 1 Nov 1986

David Drew uses traditional basket making techniques and Somerset willow which he grows as part of a long term conservation project. 200 baskets will be on show alongside photographs by West Country based photographer Chris Chapman that show the processes of planting, growing, husbanding, harvesting and weaving these rare willows.

Tierra y Libertad

Touring exhibition from the Museum of Modern Art Oxford
Sat 31 May – Sat 28 Jun 1986

This exhibition is curated from the photographs of the Casasola Archive in Mexico City. It vividly documents the social and political upheaval in Mexico from 1900-30. Zapata and Pancho Villa feature prominently but this is also a record of the ordinary men, women and children who lived (and died) through this era.

Rain sun snow hail mist calm: Photoworks by Andy Goldsworthy

 

Opening exhibition of the new Mead Gallery
Sat 3 May – Tue 27 May 1986

Andy Goldsworthy works directly with the material of nature. He makes work in the landscape, using leaves, petals, thorns, ice, whatever he can find in the location and places them on the earth or in water. He makes photographs of the works before they decay or are dispersed by the elements.

This exhibition was organised by the Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture and the Northern Centre for Contemporary Art in Sunderland. It features images of works made in Yorkshire, Cumbria, Abersoch and in Haarlemmerhout in Holland between 1979 and 1984.

To mark the opening of the new Mead Gallery, Andy Goldsworthy was in residence on campus from Monday 5 May to Saturday 10 May 1986. He made a number of works and two were photographed. These photographs are now in the University of Warwick Art Collection.

An entry in his notebook about making these works reads: “Bulrush debris – blown to one side of the lake – made an opening – laid stalks around its edge. Grey, overcast, damp.”

Leger's 'Le Pas d'Acier'

 

Organised by the Crane Kalman Gallery
Sat 3 May – Sat 28 Jun 1986

In 1948, Serge Lifar created a production of Prokofiev’s ballet ‘Le Pas D’Acier’ (The Steel Step or The Leap of Steel) as a homage to Diaghilev, the great Russian impresario and founder of the Ballet Russes. This exhibition features the stage designs and sculptures by Fernand Leger that were commissioned for this ballet. This exhibition is a unique opportunity to see this work in the UK.

Surprises in Store: Fifty Years of British Art

 

Curated and organised by Mead Gallery
Sat 3 May – Sat 28 Jun 1986

The opening exhibition in the new Arts Centre Gallery is the remarkable collection of modern British Art collected by Rugby Borough Council since 1946 which is now on loan to the University of Warwick.

Beginning with a donation of the War Artists Commission, the collection has grown to embrace an impressive array of works by prominent British artists including Barbara Hepworth, LS Lowry, Paul Nash, Bridget Riley, Ruskin Spear, Stanley Spencer and Graham Sutherland, as well as a host of works by less well known artists.