Art to Australia: Poetry of Drawing Exhibition on Tour

BIRMINGHAM, England, May 5, 2011 - Art lovers in the UK have only one week left to see the magnificent
Pre-Raphaelite exhibition The Poetry of Drawing at Birmingham Museum and Art
Gallery before it tours to The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney,
Australia.

The celebrated exhibition, which is the most comprehensive survey of
Pre-Raphaelite drawings and watercolours ever staged, is on display in
Birmingham until 15 May.

It will then travel to Australia and open at the Art Gallery of New South
Wales in Sydney from 17 June - 4 September 2011, itself the home of an
important collection of 19th century art including significant Pre-Raphaelite
and High Victorian paintings.

Amongst the works travelling to Australia will be five preparatory
drawings by Ford Madox Brown for Chaucer at the Court of Edward III. These
will be displayed alongside the enormous finished painting, which is nearly
four metres high and rarely travels, for the first time.

The exhibition brings together works from Birmingham's world-class
collections of Pre-Raphaelite and later nineteenth-century art, some of them
rarely seen, alongside key loans from public and private lenders.

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood were a group of radical young artists led
by Rossetti, Millais and Holman Hunt, who banded together in the mid 19th
century and revolutionised British art. They challenged the art of their day
and helped shape later movements such as Aestheticism, Symbolism and Art
Nouveau.

The exhibition explores the role of drawing and design in the work of the
Pre-Raphaelites, their associates and followers. The show also includes work
by artists influenced by the Brotherhood and a rare opportunity to compare
textiles, stained glass and ceramics by designers, including William Morris
and William de Morgan alongside their original working drawings.

Amongst the works on display for the first time is Rossetti's brooding
Mnemosyne (1876, private collection), a large-scale pastel depicting Jane
Morris, the artist's favourite model during the last years of his life. The
work remained in Rossetti's studio until his death and has never previously
been exhibited.

While drawing is often regarded as being secondary to painting, this
exhibition will explore how for the Pre-Raphaelites it was central to the
activity of making art.

Tickets for The Poetry of Drawing are GBP6 adults, GBP5 senior citizens
and students, GBP2 income support/unwaged and children 5-16, GBP12 family (up
to 2 adults, 2 children); under 5s admitted free. For booking further
information please visit www.bmag.org.uk or call +44(0)121-303-1966.

The exhibition is accompanied by book, 'Pre-Raphaelite Drawings' by Colin
Cruise, published by Thames & Hudson.

Exhibition has been organised by Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery. The
exhibition and accompanying book are supported by:

The City of Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery Development Trust

The Limoges Trust

The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

The William A. Cadbury Charitable Trust

Notes to editors:

1) Image credit for Rossetti's Study of Jane Morris for
'Mnemosyne' is:

    Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)
    Study of Jane Morris for 'Mnemosyne', 1876
    Pastel on paper
    (c) Private collection c/o Christie's Images Ltd., 2010

NB This acknowledgement must be printed in full whenever image is
reproduced.

2) The exhibition is accompanied by a book, 'Pre-Raphaelite
Drawings' by Colin Cruise, published by Thames & Hudson on 26 January
2010 (GBP29.95 hardback).

For more information and review copies, please contact: Kate Burvill, kateburvill at gmail.com, M: +44(0)7947-754-717.Media Contact: Jason Lewis: jason_lewis at birmingham.gov.uk , tel: +44(0)121-303-4266