British Council Collection: Thresholds

Characters drawn from myth and legend, brooding allegories of everyday life, strange, fantastical visions of the animal and natural world: these are the subjects selected by artist Paula Rego for her display of works chosen from the British Council Collection.

Focusing on drawings, prints and photographs, Thresholds brings together 50 works that span the 20th century. Linked by a strong narrative element and a focus on representations of women, they include the intimate, domestic dramas depicted by RB Kitaj, Victor Willing and Cecil Beaton, amongst others.

Also on display are portraits by Frank Auerbach, Augustus John, Gwen John and Chris Ofili, while David Hockney’s etchings bring to life the Brothers Grimm’s fairytales. Organic forms and otherworldly creatures feature in the works of Prunella Clough, Chris Orr and Graham Sutherland.

This display marks the British Council’s 75th anniversary which took place in 2009. It is one of five displays presented over one year and selected by guest curators. The final display in spring results from an international competition for curators.

Thresholds is curated by the artist Paula Rego and is the fourth in a series of British Council Collection exhibitions at the newly restored Whitechapel Gallery in East London.

British Council Collection: Thresholds
(British Council, London)
Kurator: Paula Rego

Künstler: Michael Andrews, Frank Auerbach, Robert Sargent Austin, Cecil Beaton, Tony Bevan, Edmund Blampied, Gerald Leslie Brockhurst, Edward Burra, Patrick Caulfield, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Prunella Clough, Charles Conder, John Copley, John Craxton, Lucian Freud, Harold Gilman, Charles Ginner, Colin Hayes, David Hockney, Leonard Huskinson, Augustus John, Gwen John, Ronald B. Kitaj, Leon Kossoff, Percy Wyndham Lewis, Jock McFadyen, Paul Nash, William Nicholson, Chris Ofili, William Orpen, Chris Orr, Raymond Ray-Jones, Albert Richards, Walter Richard Sickert, Stanley Spencer, Graham Sutherland, Gerald Wilde, Victor Willing, Madame Yevonde