The weekly feature rounds up the latest updates in museum appointments, openings, funding and new exhibitions from across the UK.
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Appointments
The Cartoon Museum has appointed Beth Bryan as its new director, effective November 10th, bringing extensive experience in strategic planning, audience development and funding from senior positions at the Barbican Centre, Hogarth’s House and The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Bryan will lead the museum as it approaches its 20th anniversary in 2026, building on its mission to showcase the cultural significance of British cartoon heritage.
The PM has reappointed James Lambert as Trustee to the National Gallery board for a four-year term beginning December 23, 2025. Lambert, a real estate investor and Deputy Chairman of The Bicester Collection, currently serves as Business Trustee at the National Gallery and was awarded an OBE in 2020 for services to social mobility in education.
The National Galleries of Scotland has announced a new Chair of the Board. Catherine Muirden will serve in the role for four years, beginning 1 November 2025.
New National Galleries of Scotland chair to lead opening of Edinburgh’s The Art Works
Openings & closures
The Science and Industry Museum in Manchester will reopen its Power Hall: The Andrew Law Gallery on October 17, following a six-year closure for urgent repairs and renovations. The Grade II-listed building, originally constructed in 1855 as a railway station shipping shed, houses one of the UK’s largest collections of historic working engines as part of the museum’s ongoing multi-million-pound regeneration project.
Exhibitions
Roger Fry
Charleston | Firle
Opening: 15 November 2025 – Closing: 15 March 2026
Charleston in Firle presents a major exhibition showcasing Roger Fry as a painter, the first to focus solely on his artistic work rather than his role as critic and curator. The exhibition features Fry’s vibrant portraits, landscapes, and interiors, including never-before-seen artworks from private collections such as an early Still Life (1919) and The Ravine (1932-33). Works on display highlight Fry’s innovative use of colour and composition and his concept of ‘formalism’, with the exhibition taking place across the Wolfson, South, and Spotlight galleries.
Landscape: Stanley Spencer in Suffolk
Gainsborough’s House | Sudbury
Opening: 15 November 2025 – Closing: 22 March 2026
The most ambitious exhibition dedicated to Stanley Spencer in a decade features over 20 works from the Stanley Spencer Gallery alongside major loans from Tate, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Leeds Museums and Galleries, and private collections. The exhibition explores Spencer’s four-decade association with Suffolk, particularly Wangford and Southwold, through three sections covering his painting holiday with wife Hilda Carline, his return for solace after marital difficulties, and his visionary imaginative paintings including works intended for his unrealised ‘Church House’ scheme. Key works on display include ‘Southwold’ (1937), ‘Nude portrait of Patricia Preece’ (1935), ‘Sarah Tubb and the Heavenly Visitors’ (1933), and personal items including Hilda Carline’s wedding suit.
New Horizons: Growing Sheffield’s Art Collection
Millennium Gallery | Sheffield
Opening: 18 October 2025 – Closing: 25 January 2026
The exhibition presents highlights of paintings, works on paper, sculpture and video art that have joined Sheffield’s art collection over the last ten years. Works on display include pieces by Sean Scully, Lubna Chowdhary, Lucian Freud, Dan Holdsworth, Grayson Perry, Bridget Riley, Marlene Smith, Mathew Weir, and Mark Wallinger. Key pieces include Chowdhary’s ‘Certain Times LII’ (2021), Freud’s ‘Portrait Head’ (2001), John Hoyland’s ‘Coffee Bar, Sheffield’ (1955), and Perry’s three-metre-wide tapestry ‘Comfort Blanket’ (2014).
Miniature Worlds: Little Landscapes from Thomas Bewick to Beatrix Potter
Laing Art Gallery | Newcastle
Opening: 18 October 2025 – Closing: 28 February 2026
The exhibition explores the intricate beauty of small-scale landscapes across three centuries of British art, with a particular focus on vignette format illustrations. Highlights include seven highly detailed watercolours by JMW Turner, a dramatic and diminutive drawing by John Martin, and nine intricate watercolours by Beatrix Potter. The exhibition includes over 130 objects, 90 of which are loans from other UK collections including works from Thomas Bewick, William Blake, John Tenniel’s illustrations for ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’, and contemporary artists including Aaron Angell, Paul Coldwell, Vicken Parsons, and Joanna Whittle.
Zandra Rhodes: A Life in Print
The Holburne | Bath
Opening: 24 January 2026 – Closing: 10 May 2026
The exhibition showcases Dame Zandra Rhodes’ vibrant screen-printed garments from the 1960s, 70s and 80s, displayed as complete ensembles on vintage Adel Rootstein mannequins in Bath’s historic Ballroom. Garments are arranged into ‘hero print’ sections including Buttonflower printed ensembles from 1971, Lilies prints, and Button and Bows designs. Featured pieces include a yellow Buttonflower coat dress worn by Joanna Lumley in ‘Absolutely Fabulous’, a green Field of Lilies ensemble worn by Bianca Jagger, and a white beaded Button and Bows dress worn by Princess Diana.
James Joyce: Enigmas And Puzzles
The Museum of English Rural Life | Reading
Opening: 7 October 2024 – Closing: 9 February 2026
This exhibition from the University of Reading’s Special Collections shares never-before-seen personal papers of beloved author James Joyce from the Solange and Stephen James Joyce Collection. The exhibition explores Joyce’s large social network of friends and artists, his family life as a loving father, and the inspirations for his work. Visitors can learn about the practical adjustments Joyce made to work despite his ill health, and view a selection of rare editions of books from Stephen Joyce’s library, including Tullio Pericoli’s ‘James Joyce’ (2004) in ink and watercolour on paper.
Earth Action North Devon: Explorers Create!
Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon | Barnstaple
Opening: 11 October 2025 – Closing: 22 November 2025
The Community Gallery exhibition features creations from students of Earth Action North Devon’s Ocean Explorer Academy education programme. Since 2022, the programme has taken local young people to sites like Croyde beach, Lee Bay, Chapel Wood and Woolacombe Down. Students have produced upcycled items from tent waste including a model sailboat, an artists’ canvas, a dog coat, lanterns, bags and a kite, alongside their photographs and sketchbooks.
Funding
The Courtauld has received the largest gift in its history, it has announced this morning.A gift of £30m comes from the Reuben Foundation, a UK-based charitable organisation established in 2002 by the Reuben family to support causes in healthcare and education worldwide. It has previously supported projects including an Ai Weiwei Exhibition at the Design Museum.
Museums Galleries Scotland has awarded £862,488 to 17 museum organisations across Scotland through the Repair and Adaptation Fund. The fund was introduced earlier this year to address the need for capital funding in the sector and was made possible by a significant increase in capital investment from the Scottish Government.
17 Scottish museums receive new capital through Repair and Adaptation Fund
