FEB – MAY 2020 WHAT'S ON VISITOR INFORMATION Everything you need to know about visiting the Ashmolean. OPENING TIMES ACCESSIBILITY Daily, 10am–5pm There is level access throughout the Museum Open until 8pm on the last Friday of every month. except for the lower-ground floor of the Cast Gallery and the Western Art Print Room. These are regrettably only accessible by stairs due BOOKING to the layout of the historic building. There are Event information is correct at time of printing, ramps into the building and lifts to all other floors. but may be subject to change. We encourage all Wheelchairs are available on request. We can visitors to check ashmolean.org for the most arrange free touch tours and audio description up-to-date information. tours for blind and partially sighted visitors and those who need an accompanied visit. For more In person information, call 01865 278015. Buy tickets to our exhibitions, talks, events and activities at the Museum Information Desk, in advance or on the day during Museum opening SOCIAL hours. Discover more inspiration, news and exclusive images on our social channels. Online ashmolean.org/tickets /AshmoleanMuseum Secure 24-hour online booking. AshmoleanMuseum Booking fee per transaction: £1 @AshmoleanMuseum Telephone & Email Beaumont Street 01865 278112 Oxford OX1 2PH Mon–Sun, 11am–3pm Telephone: 01865 278 000 Please leave a voicemail, or email www.ashmolean.org [email protected] We aim to respond within 24 hours. Booking fee per transaction: £2 Booking fees There is no booking fee when tickets are purchased in person from the Information Desk. Booking fees correct at the time of printing. Cover Image: Rembrandt, 1629. Self Portrait. Alte Pinakothek, Munich. Designed by Emily Jarrett Please consider the environment and reuse, recycle or return your What's On to us when you are finished using it. The Ashmolean is the University of Oxford’s museum of art and archaeology. As Britain's first public museum, we're home to half a million years of human history and creativity, from ancient Egyptian mummies to modern art, and much more. CONTENTS SPECIAL EXHIBITION 4 FREE EXHIBITIONS & DISPLAYS 6 TALKS 8 FAMILY FUN 12 TOURS 13 FESTIVALS & LATES 14 GALLERY ACTIVITIES 16 STUDY DAYS & CONFERENCES 17 COURSES & WORKSHOPS 18 MUSIC 19 @janenorthcote YOUR ARTWORK HERE! Send your best artwork or photographs featuring the Ashmolean, and we might publish them in our next What's On! Send your submissions to [email protected] Supported by: Edward Speelman Ltd Friends of the Ashmolean The Patrons of the Ashmolean With additional support from The Circle of Young Rembrandt. 4 SPECIAL EXHIBITION BOOK NOW www.ashmolean.org/tickets SPECIAL EXHIBITION YOUNG REMBRANDT 27 FEB–7 JUN 2020 This major exhibition will be the first in the UK to explore the early years of the career of the most famous of all Dutch artists, Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669). Beginning with his earliest known paintings, prints and drawings, made in his native Leiden in the mid–1620s, and ending at the moment he rockets to stardom in Amsterdam in the mid-1630s, this exhibition will chart an astonishing transformation. On display will be the largest collection of works devoted to the young Rembrandt to date, with over 30 paintings by Rembrandt, 10 by his most important contemporaries, and a further 90 drawings and prints from international and private collections. It will also feature the newly discovered Let the Little Children Come to Me (1627–1628), on display for the first time in the UK. MEMBERS TICKETS WEEKEND WEEKDAY GO FREE MEMBERS FREE FREE EXHIBITION FULL PRICE £14.50 £13.50 EVENTS ★ CONCESSIONS £13.50 £12.50 Exhibition Tours HALF-PRICE £7.25 £6.75 Tue & Thu, 3.30–4.15pm FREE with the price of exhibition ticket. No booking required. UNDER-12s FREE FREE Late Opening Hours FREE for Ashmolean Members, University of Oxford students and Fri 28 Feb until 8pm Fri 27 Mar until 8pm under-12s. Concessions are available for senior citizens, job seekers, Fri 24 Apr until 10pm and University staff and alumni. 50% discount for under-25s, children Fri 29 May until 8pm aged 12–17, students, and Art Fund members. For more exhibition events BOOK: ashmolean.org/youngrembrandt see ★ on pages 8, 10, 14, 17 & 18. ◀ Rembrandt, 1630. Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem. FREE family trail available. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. SPECIAL EXHIBITION 5 FREE EXHIBITIONS & DISPLAYS Temporary displays from our vast collection, free loan exhibitions and highlights from recent research. Cai Guo-Qiang: Gunpowder Art Until 19 Apr 2020 Gallery 11 Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang (b. 1957) is best- known for his gunpowder explosion events staged in public spaces worldwide. This exhibition focuses on the artist’s smaller-scale works, exploring the presence of Chinese culture in his art through the mediums of painting, drawing, and gunpowder on canvas, paper and silk. Learn about the significance of the materials Cai Guo- Qiang chooses to work with, as well as the ways he adapts them to explore his own central themes of creation, destruction and chance. Supported by the Denys Firth Family Foundation. ◀ Detail of Poppy Hallucination No. 1, 2015 © Cai Studio. Private Collection. Scene through Wood: A Century of Wood Engraving From 28 Mar 2020 Celebrating the art of wood engraving over the last 100 years, this exhibition curated by Anne Desmet RA, will display the most outstanding wood engravings in the Ashmolean, complemented by loans from private collections. Marking the centenary of the Society of Wood Engravers, the exhibition charts the history and global spread of this widely loved art form. ◀ Edwina Ellis, 1996. Detail of Waterloo. Mediterranean Threads: 18th- and 19th-Century Greek Embroideries 4 Apr–20 Sep 2020 Gallery 29 Through a selection of highlights from our collection, explore the visual richness and technical sophistication of 18th- and 19th- century Greek embroideries, as well as their debt to the many artistic traditions that flourished around the Mediterranean. ◀ Embroidered cushion cover. Crete, 19th century, linen embroidered with polychrome silk. 6 EXHIBITIONS & DISPLAYS Art in China 1949–1979 2 May–11 Oct 2020 Gallery 11 Explore art produced in China during the thirty-year period that followed the founding of the People’s Republic of China, with works ranging from painting in traditional styles to the propaganda art produced in response to Mao Zedong’s political campaigns. ◀ Zhang Chaoyang, 1970. Heroes Are All Around. © The artist Philip Guston: Locating the Image Until 8 Mar 2020 Gallery 8 Discover the work of internationally acclaimed American artist Philip Guston (1913–1980) in the first solo exhibition of his work in Oxford since 1989. The exhibition highlights the importance of working on paper for Guston’s artistic practice, and explores the inspiration he drew from historical art and literature. Supported by Hauser & Wirth and the Patrons of the Ashmolean. ◀ Philip Guston, Window, 1969–1970 © The Estate of Philip Guston. De Ying Foundation. From Istanbul to Oxford: The Origins of Coffee-Drinking in England Until 15 Mar 2020 Gallery 29 The first coffee house in England opened in Oxford in 1650, but the story of coffee began many years earlier in the Ottoman Empire. Discover how coffee made its way to England through an exploration of both Ottoman coffee-related objects and English adaptations, illustrating the fascinating and complex relationship between the two powers at the time. ◀ Coffee tokens, 17th century, and advertisement, 1660. A Nice Cup of Tea? Until 22 Mar 2020 Gallery 40 Learn about the untold stories and hidden narratives of empire, trade and transatlantic slavery through this contemporary art installation inspired by the Ashmolean’s European Ceramics collection. Co-curated by artists Enam Gbewonyo and Lois Muddiman, community partners and Ashmolean staff, and supported by the Arts Society Oxford. ◀ Detail of A Nice Cup of Tea? display. Photo by Ian Wallman, 2019. EXHIBITIONS & DISPLAYS 7 TALKS Join us for one of our talks on art and archaeology delivered by experts in their field. FEATURE TALK Rembrandt: A Conversation between Simon Schama and Gary Schwartz ★ Thu 5 Mar, 2–3pm, Taylorian Lecture Theatre TICKETS: £12/£11/£10 Full, Concession, Members. Booking essential. Award-winning author and broadcaster Sir Simon Schama will join revisionist Rembrandt specialist Gary Schwartz in a fascinating conversation about the artist, debating the Young Rembrandt exhibition and exploring new insights since the publication of Rembrandt’s Eyes in 1999, Schama's unconventional biography of the Dutch master. ▶ Rembrandt, 1626. Historical Scene. The Scythians: Nomad Warriors of the Steppe WEEKDAY TALKS With Barry Cunliffe, Emeritus Professor of European Archaeology, University of Oxford TICKETS: £8/£7/£6 Full, Concession, Members. Wed 18 Mar, 1–2pm, Lecture Theatre Booking essential. The Scythians were warlike nomadic horsemen who roamed the steppe of Asia in the first The Life and Work of Józef Czapski (1896–1993) millennium BC. Using archaeological finds from With Eric Karpeles, Author burials and texts, Barry Cunliffe reconstructs the Tue 25 Feb, 1–2pm, Lecture Theatre lives of the Scythians, exploring their beliefs, A disciple of Bonnard and Cézanne, Józef Czapski burial practices, love of fighting and their flexible was a Polish painter, author, and critic notable for attitude to gender. his singular pursuit of the world around him. He was witness to much of the upheaval of the 20th Evelyn De Morgan and Edward Burne-Jones: century. Gain an insight into his approach and his Friends or Foes? struggles to be true to himself. With Sarah Hardy, De Morgan Curator Fri 27 Mar, 1–2pm, Lecture Theatre Young Rembrandt: Curator's Talk ★ Both worked on the outskirts of Pre-Raphaelitism With An Van Camp, curator of Northern European and aestheticism, tackling ambitious subjects of Art, Ashmolean Museum love, spirituality, and time, to create beautiful Fri 13 Mar, 1–2pm, Lecture Theatre artworks.