WHAT’S ON @
 Guernsey Museums & Galleries
 (Castle Cornet, Fort Grey and Guernsey Museum & Art Gallery)

(Brian White & Rona Cole Galleries)

Romantics in the Channel Islands

The Romantic movement which flourished in Europe in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, has great relevance today. Not only did painters such as Turner, poets like William Blake and Lord Byron and novelists as enduring as Jane Austen help to create the modern world, their legacies influence how we now perceive the arts and the environment.

The Channel Islands rugged coastlines, extreme weather, atmospheric light and lush interiors were perfect ingredients for the early 19th century Romantics. This exhibition, in association with the Jersey Heritage Trust, will bring together for the first time the work of many of the artists such as John Le Capelain in Jersey, Peter Le Lievre in Guernsey and Sarah Louise Kilpack who were inspired by local scenes. It will also explore Romanticism in other art forms and will include the work of one of the Channel Islands most famous exiles, Victor Hugo.

(Brian White Gallery)

Holbein at the Court of Henry VIII

2009 is the 500th anniversary of King Henry VIII's coronation and like several other British museums we are staging events to mark the occasion. As the centrepiece of our 'Tudor Summer' we offer the chance to get up close and personal with members of Henry's court who were, effectively, the movers and shakers of their day. Then, as now, image was everything and Hans Holbein the Younger, who became Henry's Court Painter, depicted them in a fresh and natural way quite unlike anything which had gone before.

The original Holbein drawings are among the greatest treasures in the Royal Collection and are rarely displayed in public. The value of making the images accessible to a wider audience was recognised in the late eighteenth century when a set of large 'folio' engraved copies was commissioned by George III. Subsequently, in the early 19th century, they were engraved again at smaller 'quarto' size and it is a set of modern limited-edition prints taken from surviving original plates which forms the core of this exhibition. They will be supported by examples of the larger 'folio' portrait prints and two large antiquarian prints depicting events from Henry VIII's reign - The Field of the Cloth of Gold and the Embarkation of Henry VIII at Dover on the way to France. Apart from the fact that Henry was once our reigning monarch, there is a direct link to Guernsey within the exhibition - but you will need to visit to discover what it is!

Leaf through a virtual copy of John Chamberlaine's Portraits of Illustrious Personages of the Court of Henry VIII here... This includes depictions of more than eighty Holbein drawings from the Royal Collection.

(Museum Foyer)

Tudor Guernsey

A foyer display looks at the people of the islands and major local events during the reigns of the Tudor monarchs. The foyer showcase features artefacts recovered from the Alderney Elizabethan wreck and kindly loaned by Alderney Museum.

The Lukis Room is transformed into a faux Tudor space, with games and educational activities for families and children.

(Rona Cole Gallery)

Larry Ham I - FIGURE PAINTING

This is the first of two consecutive retrospective exhibitions concentrating on the life’s work of locally-based artist Larry Ham, who died in 2007. ‘Larry Ham I’ looks at the artist’s figure painting, ranging from groups of ‘Cezannesque’ nudes to powerful images of boxers.

(Rona Cole Gallery)

Larry Ham II - LANDSCAPE & STILL LIFE

‘Larry Ham II’ will examine his landscape and still life paintings which portray a world where colour and form rule over irrelevant detail. Paddy Ham, Larry’s widow, has contributed much of the text which accompanies both exhibitions giving a personal and insightful view into the work of this much admired artist.