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
Gainsborough’s House in Suffolk, the museum and birthplace of painter Thomas Gainsborough, has appointed five new trustees. Joining are Sally Bevan, Director and Lawyer at The Legal Side Limited; former TV producer and director, Nicola Gooch; James Hardie, Chief Executive of the Scottish Ensemble; Jo Warr, Head of Development at Norfolk Museums Service, and Lee Rodwell, Director of Development and Alumni Relations at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Openings and closures
Van Gogh House has announced it will end programming at its sister-site, independent non-profit art gallery San Mei Gallery. It said after facing significant funding challenges last year it will focus resources on preserving and promoting Van Gogh House in Brixton. Despite raising £16,240 through a community campaign, the organisation could not sustain both spaces and will now concentrate on their mission at the historic site where Van Gogh once lived.
Exhibitions
Two major exhibitions at Sheffield’s Millennium Gallery celebrate the work of Sheffield-born artist John Hoyland, featuring rarely-seen ceramic sculptures alongside works by contemporary artists Caroline Achaintre, Phyllida Barlow, and Hew Locke in ‘These Mad Hybrids’, plus ten key abstract paintings and archival materials in ‘Strange Presence’. The exhibitions run from 18 January 2025 – 18 May 2025.
The King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace presents ‘The Edwardians: Age of Elegance’, featuring over 300 items including fashion, jewellery, paintings, photographs, books, sculpture and ceramics, with nearly half on display for the first time. The exhibition explores the lives of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, and King George V and Queen Mary, showcasing works by Carl Fabergé, Frederic Leighton, Edward Burne-Jones, John Singer Sargent and others. The exhibition runs from 11 April 2025 – 23 November 2025.
The Hayward Gallery in London presents the first UK solo exhibition at a public art gallery by Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara, featuring four decades of his work including recent paintings, drawings, sculptures and iconic portraits with richly layered colours. Key works include ‘Ships in Girl’ (1992), ‘From the Bomb Shelter’ (2017), and ‘Midnight Tears’ (2023), exploring themes of isolation, resistance and humanity through Nara’s distinctive style of child-like figures and animals. The exhibition runs from 10 June – 31 August 2025.
Bristol’s SS Great Britain’s Dockyard Museum has a new permanent display from community researcher Jacqueline Braithwaite, exploring the Renkioi Hospital, a Crimean War field hospital designed by Brunel. The artwork features screenprints of archival material, including portraits of Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole, and Frances Duberly, displayed on a canvas stretched between poles to mimic military stretchers. The exhibition opened on 15 January 2025 and is a permanent installation.
Graham Crowley presents ‘I Paint Shadows’ at Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, exploring light and shadow through paintings of gardens and workplaces, including his 2023 John Moores Painting Prize-winning work ‘Light Industry’. The exhibition marks Crowley’s return to the gallery nearly five decades after first entering the Prize in 1976 and features new works that examine what he terms ‘sites of creativity’ through varied brushwork and tonal techniques. The exhibition runs from 14 March – 13 July 2025.
The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh presents the final staging of ‘Monkeys: Our Primate Family’, featuring over 50 species of primates including gorillas, mouse lemurs, apes, and lorises displayed through atmospheric lighting and naturalistic exhibits with taxidermy specimens. The exhibition showcases rare behaviours and conservation efforts, with highlights including a swinging gibbon, a termite-fishing chimpanzee, and endangered species such as the Sumatran orangutan and black-and-white ruffed lemur. The exhibition runs from 28 June 2025 – 30 November 2025.
Tate Britain presents ‘Ed Atkins: A Survey’, a comprehensive exhibition exploring the artist’s digital video works, computer-generated animations, and multimedia pieces including drawings, paintings, and embroideries. The exhibition showcases Atkins’ exploration of technology, intimacy, and human experience through works like ‘Death Mask II’, ‘Cur’, and a new feature-length film created in collaboration with poet Steven Zultanski. The exhibition will run from 02 April 2025 – 25 August 2025.
The annual banner exhibition at Manchester’s People’s History Museum explores democratic and social movements through historic and contemporary banners, featuring pieces highlighting key social justice themes including disability rights, LGBTQIA+ solidarity, trade union history, and peace movements. The exhibition displays 25 banners, with the largest over three metres tall and the oldest dating to 1900. The exhibition will run until 29 December 2025.
At Handel Hendrix House in London, a rare portrait of the castrato Senesino will headline an exhibition commemorating Handel’s opera ‘Rodelinda’, featuring a 1725 John Vandenbank portrait depicting the singer in character. The exhibition will showcase early opera librettos, portraits of cast members, and 18th-century opera-going cultural objects, running from 13 February 2025 – 6 July 2025.
Funding
The Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum in Bournemouth has been awarded a £30,000 Curatorial Research Grant by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. This funding will support the development of an exhibition in 2027 to explore the 19th century revival in tempera painting.
Two major charitable foundations have pledged a combined £1 million towards the restoration of Devizes Assize Court as the new home for Wiltshire Museum. The Rothschild Foundation and The Julia Rausing Trust each committed £500,000 late last year to support the transformation of the Grade II* listed building.