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2021 Exhibition Highlights at The Lightbox
6th April 2021
The Lightbox gallery and museum in Woking, Surrey, has a full and varied exhibition programme to look forward to in 2021. From celebrating the centenary of polymath Michael Ayrton to Old Masters drawings from the prestigious Chatsworth Collection or exploring the historical roots of Bridget Riley’s art and her working methods; there is something for all artistic tastes at The Lightbox in 2021.
Entrance to the exhibitions listed is with a £7.50 Day Pass, and Lightbox Members and under 21s visit for free. The Art Fund Prize gallery and The Ingram Sculpture Gallery are free for all visitors. A comprehensive programme of associated events to accompany exhibitions including talks, tours and creative workshops for families, children and adults can be found at thelightbox.org.uk. Please see below for a preview of what is to come at The Lightbox in 2021:
Celebrating Michael Ayrton: A Centenary Exhibition, 29 May – 8 August 2021 – This exhibition will celebrate the centenary of artist and polymath Michael Ayrton (1921-75), a painter, sculptor and draughtsman whose remarkable and wide-ranging talents make him a key, but underexplored, figure in post-war British art. Ayrton was a hugely skilled painter whose work epitomises the mid-twentieth century world of English music and literature, whose landscapes proclaim the beauties of the English countryside, and who was obsessed with the Greek myths of Icarus and Daedalus, the Minotaur, and Demeter and Kore. The exhibition will highlight how Ayrton used drawing and sculpture to bring greater conviction to his vision and will include major paintings as well as examples of his stage designs and book illustrations.
Guest curated by writer, curator and critic Andrew Lambirth, the exhibition is mounted in collaboration with The Ingram Collection, and drawn from public and private collections, from the Artist’s Estate and from the chief art seller in Ayrton’s work, Keith Chapman in Scarborough.
Lines of Beauty: Master Drawings from Chatsworth, 21 August – 5 December 2021 – Over 60 works of Old Master Drawings from the Devonshire Collections will feature as part of an exhibition partnership between Chatsworth, Museums Sheffield and The Lightbox. Featuring works by da Vinci, Poussin, Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyck and more, the exhibition is the largest display of drawings from the collection in over twenty years. Amassed by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Dukes of Devonshire, the Chatsworth collection of Old Master Drawings comprises around 1,800 works by some of the most important artists of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Visitors to this exhibition will be able to view the selection of delicate drawings, which represents some of the highlights of The Devonshire Collections for the first time and exclusively, en masse.
Bridget Riley: Pleasures of Sight, 18 December 2021– 22 March 2022 – To mark Bridget Riley’s 90th birthday The Lightbox presents Bridget Riley: Pleasures of Sight, an exhibition of work by one of the most important and influential British artists of the past century. Inspired by the visual sensations of the natural world, Bridget Riley has explored colour, structure and perception throughout a career spanning seven decades and is renowned for her black and white so called ‘Op Art’ works created in the 1960s. This retrospective map the fascinating evolution of Riley’s working life and the relationship between her paintings and prints.
Victoria Place Art Project: Open House, 22 May – 20 June 2021 – An exhibition of works by Woking-based amateur and professional artists who contributed to the Victoria Place Art Project: Open call during lockdown 2020. Until presently the exhibition has been hosted on The Lightbox website but explore in person a wide selection of works from the competition including the winners: Emmeline Stanley, Mana Komatsu, Annie Lewry, William Butler, Layona Bungay, Francoise Davies, Barbara Nati, Dawn Conn, Charlie Tolley and John Sherringham. Also featured will be those selected for display in the Hilton Hotel: Elaine Balmer, Nick Wotton and Sarah Evans. In partnership with Victoria Square Woking Ltd and #WeAreWoking, the project created an opportunity for the people of Woking to contribute towards the Victoria Place development, connecting the site with the town and its people.
The Ingram Collection: NightShaking, 10 July – 19 September 2021 – NightShaking is a creative collaboration using The Ingram Collection and contributions from contemporary artists Dr Chantal Powell and Dean Melbourne who work in the field of mythology, alchemy and depth psychology. Objects made by Chantal and Dean will sit alongside works from The Ingram Collection as the artists explore the Dark Night of the Soul and the Night Sea Journey narrative. The exhibition presents symbols and imagery that help us navigate these chaotic and disorientating experiences on a journey that is necessary to achieve transformation. The recurring motif of the Night Sea Journey is commonly found in stories, both old and new, and explored in modern psychological practices. Visitors to the exhibition may have been on this journey, where creation, discovery and renewal emerge only after the darkness.
The Ingram Collection: Drawn, 25 September 2021 – 9 January 2022 – Drawing is the most universal form of mark-making, and The Ingram Collection contains a rich catalogue of examples in pencil, crayon, pastel, ink and charcoal which make use of the medium. From sculpture studies, to figurative sketches, and finished works, the exhibition will spotlight the depth and quality of The Ingram Collection, and the strengths of Modern British and Contemporary drawing. Featuring David Bomberg, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Henry Moore, alongside Ingram Contemporary Talent artists including Emma Vidal, Justar Misdemeanor and Marigold Plunkett.
Hubert Arthur Finney: Out of the Shadows, 15 January 2022- 3 April 2022 – The first of its kind in over fifty years, this retrospective exhibition presents previously unrecorded works from Hubert Arthur Finney’s studio alongside the first-ever publication on the artist (1905-1991), based on his recently discovered autobiography. Amongst Finney’s most original and modern compositions are his interior and exterior views illuminated by artificial light – city streets and domestic interiors – which form a counterpoint to his more traditional gentle Berkshire and Surrey landscapes, painted preferably at dawn and dusk. Featuring key loan works from Liss Llewellyn.
