Liverpool artwork of the day – Tuesday May 8 2007. ‘St. Michael’s Mount by JMW Turner at University of Liverpool Gallery’
Not your last chance to see this and other hidden gems by Turner, Augustus John, Bisson etc. but your last chance to see them in the old gallery at 3 Abercromby Square before it closes permanently on July 31 2007.
The ‘Closing Exhibition’ is just a small collection of artworks and museum pieces from the University collection. I especially like the group of paintings by Roderick Bisson.
The last ever show in the University of Liverpool Art Gallery at 3 Abercromby Square opens on 4 May. This draws to a close thirty years of exhibitions in the venue. The facility closes to allow staff to set up the Victoria Gallery and Museum in the redeveloped Victoria Building on campus, which will open in July 2008.
The University of Liverpool Art Gallery opened at 3 Abercromby Square in 1977, and was expanded in 1980. It has been a unique venue for the display of elements of the University’s extensive permanent collections of fine and decorative art. It has also hosted many varied temporary exhibitions, with a particular focus on Liverpool and the region. Difficulties of physical access, lack of space, environmental control and inflexible display spaces have led to the development of a new museum and gallery in the Victoria Building.
The displays in the final show include items from the fine art collections and a taste of the museum objects which will form the new displays in the Victoria Gallery and Museum in 2008. Objects of note include a Peruvian Chancay funeral offering figure supported in a bowl stand (c.1250-1400) and a gavanometer (a device for measuring electric current) possibly used by the leading early 20th century physicist Professor Oliver Lodge.
Visitors can also search for items from the museum collections which have been ‘hidden’ in the main gallery displays, and write a label for their favourite object.
Further details of the Victoria Gallery and Museum Project, including photographs of the construction phase to date can be found at www.liv.ac.uk/artgall/vgm