Press Release

Press Release Unique collaboration with RSC to mark 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death Shakespeare in Art: Tempests, Tyrants and Tragedy 19 March ‐ 19 June 2016 Compton Verney, Warwickshire Already hailed as one of 2016’s must‐see exhibitions, Shakespeare in Art: Tempests, Tyrants and Tragedy is a landmark collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company commemorating the 400th anniversary of the bard’s death. A master of dramatising human emotions in their myriad forms, Shakespeare’s plays have in turn inspired countless artists. Shakespeare in Art: Tempests, Tyrants and Tragedy will focus on those pivotal Shakespeare plays which have motivated artists across the ages – from Sargent, Fuseli, Rossetti, Blake, Watts and Romney to Karl Weschke, Kate Tempest and Tom Hunter – exploring the enduring appeal of the Elizabethan playwright. This exhibition offers an exceptional opportunity for both art and theatre lovers to reimagine Shakespeare’s works through a unique series of multi‐media, multi‐sensory encounters; including painting, photography, projection, sound and light. Using specially commissioned audio drawing on excerpts from Shakespeare's plays, leading RSC actors will bring to life scenes from some of the major paintings. Uniquely for an art gallery, the exhibition will be designed by the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Director of Design, Stephen Brimson Lewis. Over seventy works – including paintings, drawings, engravings, woodcuts and photos – have been sourced from across the UK for this remarkable show, taking place just nine miles away from Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford‐upon‐Avon. Works will travel to Compton Verney from Bolton, Birmingham, Edinburgh and York, plus Tate and the V&A in London and the show will also include a number of key works from the RSCS’s own, rarely publicly displayed art collection. A further eleven works will come from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. There will also be a brand new, specially commissioned artwork from one of British art’s brightest talents ‐ award‐winning and internationally acclaimed photographer, Tom Hunter. He will be reimagining Ophelia’s death in Hamlet, utilising the ‘Capability’ Brown lake at Compton Verney. Another highlight will be David Farrell’s ‘behind the scenes’ photographs from Sir Peter Hall’s 1968 film of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, starring Judi Dench, Diana Rigg, Helen Mirren, Ian Holm and Ian Richardson, which was shot entirely on location at Compton Verney. Many of these have never been publically exhibited before. Shakespeare in Art: Tempests, Tyrants and Tragedy will be arranged over eight ‘acts.’ The first focuses on The Tempest, featuring works such as Prospero, a fragment from 'Prospero, Miranda and Caliban' a 1789 work by Henry Fuseli (York Museums Trust), George Romney’s Ferdinand Leaping from the Ship, fragment from The Tempest (1790, Bolton Library & Museum Services), David Scott’s 1837 Ariel and Caliban (National Galleries of Scotland) and Prospero, a 2009 drawing by acclaimed Shakespearean actor Antony Sher of himself performing the role ‐ a self‐portrait as an artist and actor offering a unique contemporary perspective on one of Shakespeare’s most well‐known characters. Tide marks on the walls, ships planks underfoot and the sound of crashing waves will also help to bring the play to life for visitors. Act 2 explores the emotional states of mind and ultimate deaths (both of which take place off‐stage) of Shakespeare’s ill‐fated female characters Ophelia (Hamlet) and Lady Macbeth. Undoubted highlights of this room are John Singer Sargent’s imposing portrait Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth (1889, Tate) and Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s delicate ink and wash study The Death of Lady Macbeth (Ashmolean Museum). There will also be Bryan Organ’s Ophelia after Millais (1973, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust) and a 2015 installation from Davy and Kristin McGuire called Ophelia’s Ghost, which features a holographic projection onto water. Act 3 celebrates the pioneering work of Edward Gordon Craig (1872‐1966), the designer, director and writer who was a key figure in the development of modern theatre. One of his most acclaimed designs was for a 1912 production of Hamlet at the Moscow Art Theatre, then under legendary director Constantin Stanislavsky and we are able to explore his design in the exhibition through a series of woodcuts from the V&A, which have never been publically displayed before. Act 4 will be Tom Hunter’s new Ophelia commission – and his work is also featured in Act 5. Hunter has previously produced a series of photographs set in Hackney, East London based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream and inspired by the painter Henry Fuseli, and in this act we will see Tom’s exploration of human nature and alternative states of being featuring samba dancers, Pearly Kings and Queens, a thrash metal band and pole dancers. Act 6 explores King Lear through works by Scottish painter John Runciman (King Lear in the Storm, 1767, National Galleries of Scotland) and and Henry Fuseli (Edgar Feigning Madness Approaches King Lear Supported by Kent and the Fool on the Heath, 1772, Birmingham Museums Trust). Both artists examine the turbulent psychology of Lear’s character, Runciman’s dark and brooding interpretation of Lear lost on the stormy heath provides an emotive visual representation of Lear’s inner turmoil while Fuseli’s stripped back composition focuses on the intense interaction between Lear and Edgar. Responding to the ‘unknown power’ which Shakespeare creates in his portrayal of the Witches in Macbeth, Act 7 considers how 18th century artists – surrounded as they were by Gothic literature ‐ became fascinated by the challenge of visualising the supernatural. Henry Fuseli’s approach was to move away from more literal depictions of scenes and instead concentrate on the emotional intensity of words to create stripped back compositions often using extreme chiaroscuro, which we see in works such as Macbeth, Banquo and the Witches (from William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’, Act 1, sc.iii) from the National Trust: Petworth House and Park and Macbeth’, Act I, Scene 3, the Weird Sisters (pictured above) from the Royal Shakespeare Company Collection. And finally, Act 8 is an examination of Henry VIII – in particular the dream / vision of Queen Katherine of Aragon. Fuseli was the first artist (in 1785) to portray this subject in works such The Vision of Catherine of Aragon (Lytham St Annes Art Collection), and that later inspired William Blake to depict the same scene ‐ Queen Katharine’s Dream (Fitzwilliam Museum). The exhibition will close with a sneak preview of the cutting edge technology the RSC is employing in its production of The Tempest (opens November 2016) by giving visitors a first look at the 3D avatar of Ariel it is creating with the team who were also responsible for Gollum in The Lord of the Rings films. Dr Steven Parissien, Director of Compton Verney says “We are delighted to be working in partnership with the RSC and to be able to contribute something new and original to the Shakespeare anniversary celebrations of 2016.” Geraldine Collinge, RSC Director of Events and Exhibitions said “We are looking forward to sharing this wonderful exhibition with our many members and visitors. It has been a fantastic experience to work with the team at Compton Verney and bring our skills together. The exhibition promises to be an exciting and unique contribution to this important Shakespeare anniversary.” For more information about Shakespeare in Art: Tempests, Tyrants and Tragedy and other exhibitions at Compton Verney follow @ComptonVerney on Twitter, like the Compton Verney Facebook page or visit www.comptonverney.org.uk NOTES FOR EDITORS IMAGE ‐ ‘Macbeth’, Act I, Scene 3, the Weird Sisters, Henry Fuseli, 1783 © Royal Shakespeare Company Collection, Stratford‐upon‐Avon. Boydell’s Vision: The Shakespeare Gallery in the 18th Century ‐ Created in conjunction with Shakespeare in Art: Tempests, Tyrants and Tragedy, this pendant exhibition at Compton Verney traces the history of John Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery which opened in 1789 on London’s Pall Mall. Using Shakespeare as a vehicle for the development of a national form of history painting, the print publisher John Boydell commissioned prominent painters, sculptors and printmakers of the day, including George Romney, Henry Fuseli and James Northcote, to produce works depicting scenes from all of Shakespeare’s plays. The Shakespeare Gallery was Britain’s first ever thematic public exhibition and distinguished itself from the recently‐formed Royal Academy of Arts in its commitment to a modern and patriotic mode of painting that embodied the sensibilities of Shakespeare and his compatriots, past and present. Compton Verney is an award winning, national art gallery in Warwickshire, based in a Grade I‐listed Georgian mansion and set in 120 acres of Grade II‐listed Lancelot 'Capability' Brown parkland. With six permanent collections (Naples, Northern European Art 1450‐1650, British Portraits, Chinese, British Folk Art & The Marx‐Lambert Collection) and a schedule of thought‐provoking changing exhibitions, it is an accredited museum, a registered charity, and the Chinese collection is nationally designated. FOR MORE INFORMATION, INTERVIEWS AND IMAGES Tracy Jones, Brera PR & Marketing – tracy@brera‐london.com / 01702 216658 / 07887 514984 .

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