17th June 2010 - Dior by Alexandra Palmer wins the prestigious 2010 Millia Davenport Publication Award
Dior by Alexandra Palmer has won the prestigious 2010 Millia Davenport Publication Award sponsored by the Costume Society of America. The next in this successful series will be Chanel in 2011. Also available in this series is Balenciaga.
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5th March 2010 - Make your own Tracey Emin cat quilt with The Times using V&A Quilting fabric!
Tracey Emin's exclusive applique cat design for the Times newspaper has been applied to a unique Times quilt using the new V&A Quilting Fabric range. To recreate the quilt see all of our 18 designs here.
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21/01/10 Vogue.com announces launch of V&A Limited Edition Fabric
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Quilts 1700 – 2010 to open next March
The V&A will open its first major exhibition of quilts next Spring, exploring 300 years of British quilt making.
‘Quilts 1700 – 2010’ will have more than 65 quilts on display, from a 1690s cot cover, to more recent pieces designed by contemporary artists such as Tracy Emin and Grayson Perry. Also on display will be special commissions by Sue Stockwell, Caren Garfen and Jo Budd.
The exhibition is the first of its kind in the UK, and will feature a number of quilts from different times, designed for different purposes; from the Bishop’s Court Quilt, believed to have been made by a Duke for a visit from King Charles II in 1670, to the 1730s patchwork bed hangings, displayed on bed mounts to enable visitors to view them as they were made to be seen.
The V&A curators have unravelled some of the interesting stories handed down with each spectacular piece. For instance, the 1829 Elisabeth Chapman coverlet, which was made to commemorate Wellington’s victory at Vittoria, was long believed to have been a wedding token. But the curators have discovered that the poem on the coverlet is actually an epitaph connected to a gruesome Georgian tale.
The exhibition will conclude with a Tracy Emin installation called ‘To Meet My Past’, which explores the tradition of using quilts as a vessel for personal memories.
The pieces and installations in the exhibition will be displayed chronologically through a number of themes, including Private Thoughts, Public Debates, and British Eccentricity. The quilts document love, birth, death, marriage, regional/national identity and fashion developments through the ages.
The aim of the exhibition is to encourage a new generation of patchwork and quilt-making artists. To this end the V&A will hold a series of lectures and workshops throughout the exhibition’s run that will give visitors the chance to create their own quilts.
Director of V&A Mark Jones said: “The exhibition has provided a wonderful opportunity to research and restore our own collection. We have discovered some fascinating material which adds a new dimension to our understanding of personal and social histories behind these quilts.”
Quilts1700 – 2010 opens on 20th March 2010, and will run until 4th July. Tickets cost £10, and advanced bookings can be made by calling 0844 209 1770 or visiting the V&A website at http://www.vam.ac.uk/.
HSLP0101AA28
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First phase of V&A’s £120m renovation to be completed next month
The first phase of the V&A’s multi-million pound transformation will be completed next month with the opening of the new £30m Medieval and Renaissance Galleries.
The ten new galleries occupy an entire wing of the museum, and will display remarkable sculptures from Renaissance masters Giambologna and Donatello, amongst others. These galleries represent the largest V&A project since the opening of the British Galleries in 2001.
The first phase of the V&A’s ambitious Future Plan has cost £120m. As part of the plans, around 70 per cent of the Museum’s display space has been renovated in the last nine years. Since the Future Plan got underway with the opening of the British Galleries, there have been 18 other openings at the V&A, with five openings in 2009 alone. As a result, the number of visitors to V&A since 2001 has more than doubled.
As well as updating gallery space, a number of visitors’ facilities have also undergone a dramatic transformation under the Future Plan. The Grand Entrance was remodelled by architect Eva Jiricna, while the John Madjeski Gardens at the heart of the Museum has been redesigned by Kim Wilkie. In 2006 a cafe was opened in the traditional Victorian refreshment rooms with a modern extension added, and a new shop has also opened at the Museum. Earlier this year the Sackler Centre for arts education was unveiled, and is now the most comprehensive museum education facilities in the country.
Director of the V&A Mark Jones said: “Anyone who last visited the V&A before 2001 would find it almost unrecognisable today. The V&A can now claim to be a world-class 21st Century museum with beautiful contemporary displays in a revitalised historic building.”
HSLP0101AA30
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Salvador Dali Foundation unveils recently acquired painting from the 1920s
The Salvador Dali Foundation has presented its newest acquisition, a double-sided work thought to have been painted by a young Dali in the 1920s.
One side of the oil painting is a playful garden scene called “Nymphs and Young Ladies in a Garden Fountain”. Believed to be the first of the two works to be painted, it shows a host of young women, some naked and others in summer hats and dresses, frolicking in a grand water fountain in idyllic garden grounds. The ‘festive’ theme of the painting can be related to similar works created by Dali in 1921.
The opposite side of the painting features a portrait of Dali’s sister, Anna Maria. Named “Figure from Behind”, it depicts the young woman sitting alone, with her back turned to Dali as he paints her. All that is seen of Anna Maria is her deep black hair and the light plaid dress she is wearing. The portrait is dated in 1925 and is one of several Dali works featuring his sister, the first of which are dated two years earlier in 1923.
The painting had been in the hands of a private collector since shortly after “Figure from Behind” was completed in 1925, and aside from the Retrospective during the Year of Dali, had not been seen by public eyes before now.
The Salvador Dali Foundation was founded in December 1983 at the Castle of Pubol in Girona, Spain. It was set up at the express wish of Dali himself, to promote and his work, and the painter presided over the Foundation until his death six years later.
Ref: HSLP0101AA53
Sources:
http://www.salvador-dali.org/fundacio/en_historia.html
http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=34146&int_modo=1
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Museum attendances increased by “staycation” trend
British museums have seen a rise in visitor numbers this year due to the emerging popularity of the “staycation”.
That’s according to a recent study by independent arts charity The Art Fund, which claims that over half of cultural institutions reported an increase in admissions during the summer.
Around a fifth of museums and galleries saw a ten per cent rise in admissions in the period between March and September this year. In addition, 63 per cent of museums offering free entry to its permanent collections said they’d also experienced an increase in visitor numbers this summer.
Over 200 museums took part in the study, including the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The Art Fund director Andrew McDonald said: "It's clear that when times are tough our cultural institutions provide both a great value-for-money experience and a distraction from financial worries."
The increasing popularity of museums has been attributed to the recession that has gripped the UK in 2009. Many British families stayed at home for their holidays this year due to the struggling economy, and the weakness of the British pound saw a larger number of foreign tourists flock to the country for their holidays.
Indeed, a significant number of museums have experienced a rise in financial takings due to the growing number of visitors using the onsite cafes and shops. In recent years there has been a dramatic improvement in the standard of museum retailing, with many museums shops now becoming retail destinations in their own right.
The Victoria and Albert Museum has experienced a 20 per cent increase in onsite sales compared to last year. The shop has proved to be a star attraction to museum visitors, as Roksanda Illinic wrote in the London Fashion Week Official Guide: “It sells postcards, books, and amazing little treats; so many, I don't know where to start. Whenever I am here, I want to buy everything.”
Ref: HSLP0101AA63
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30/10/09 HATS Special Edition - Winner of British Book Design and Production Award
The Special Edition of HATS: AN ANTHOLOGY by Stephen Jones and Oriole Cullen has won in the Limited Edition and Fine Binding category at the British Book Design and Production Awards 2009.
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29/09/09 The Ten Best Umbrellas - The Independent
See this umbrella and more accessories
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11/09/09 V&A wins Best Licensed Brand Property
The Licensing Awards 2009 were presented on 10 September 2009, during a black tie event at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London. The V&A won the most prestigious award of the ceremony for Best Licensed Brand, and in addition won Best Licensed Brand Product - Soft Goods for the V&A Anemone Range of Bed Linen from Bedeck.
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25/08/09 The V&A Shop at Weebirdy.com
".....I must confess that I've been guilty, on more than one occasion, of making a specific gift-buying dash to the V&A Shop, without so much as a peep in at any of the permanent collection galleries (I know, shameful behaviour!). But that's because the V&A, in particular, offers up an expertly-edited line-up of gifts, accessories, books and children's toys - all perfect candidates for being packaged up and sent away to friends and family far away...."
See the full review on Weebirdy.com
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06/08/09 V&A Publishing titles shortlisted for BBDP Awards
V&A Publishing titles; Cold War Modern: Design 1945-1970, edited by David Crowley and Jane Pavitt, short listed in Best Exhibition Catalogue category; Hats: An Anthology Special Edition by Stephen Jones and Oriole Cullen, short listed in Limited Edition/Fine Binding category of the British Book Design and Production Awards 2009.
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20/02/09 The V&A Shop in London Fashion Week Official Guide
"It sells postcards, books, and amazing little treats; so many, I don't know where to start. Whenever I am here, I want to buy everything." Roksanda Illinic, 25 favourite London stores by 25 London Designers
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24/01/09 Best Online Shopping - Saturday Telegraph Magazine
"Just like a wander through the Victoria and Albert Museum, a quick surf on its online store is an utter delight..." David Nicholls
The V&A will open its first major exhibition of quilts next Spring, exploring 300 years of British quilt making.
‘Quilts 1700 – 2010’ will have more than 65 quilts on display, from a 1690s cot cover, to more recent pieces designed by contemporary artists such as Tracy Emin and Grayson Perry. Also on display will be special commissions by Sue Stockwell, Caren Garfen and Jo Budd.
The exhibition is the first of its kind in the UK, and will feature a number of quilts from different times, designed for different purposes; from the Bishop’s Court Quilt, believed to have been made by a Duke for a visit from King Charles II in 1670, to the 1730s patchwork bed hangings, displayed on bed mounts to enable visitors to view them as they were made to be seen.
The V&A curators have unravelled some of the interesting stories handed down with each spectacular piece. For instance, the 1829 Elisabeth Chapman coverlet, which was made to commemorate Wellington’s victory at Vittoria, was long believed to have been a wedding token. But the curators have discovered that the poem on the coverlet is actually an epitaph connected to a gruesome Georgian tale.
The exhibition will conclude with a Tracy Emin installation called ‘To Meet My Past’, which explores the tradition of using quilts as a vessel for personal memories.
The pieces and installations in the exhibition will be displayed chronologically through a number of themes, including Private Thoughts, Public Debates, and British Eccentricity. The quilts document love, birth, death, marriage, regional/national identity and fashion developments through the ages.
The aim of the exhibition is to encourage a new generation of patchwork and quilt-making artists. To this end the V&A will hold a series of lectures and workshops throughout the exhibition’s run that will give visitors the chance to create their own quilts.
Director of V&A Mark Jones said: “The exhibition has provided a wonderful opportunity to research and restore our own collection. We have discovered some fascinating material which adds a new dimension to our understanding of personal and social histories behind these quilts.”
Quilts1700 – 2010 opens on 20th March 2010, and will run until 4th July. Tickets cost £10, and advanced bookings can be made by calling 0844 209 1770 or visiting the V&A website at http://www.vam.ac.uk/.
HSLP0101AA28
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First phase of V&A’s £120m renovation to be completed next month
The first phase of the V&A’s multi-million pound transformation will be completed next month with the opening of the new £30m Medieval and Renaissance Galleries.
The ten new galleries occupy an entire wing of the museum, and will display remarkable sculptures from Renaissance masters Giambologna and Donatello, amongst others. These galleries represent the largest V&A project since the opening of the British Galleries in 2001.
The first phase of the V&A’s ambitious Future Plan has cost £120m. As part of the plans, around 70 per cent of the Museum’s display space has been renovated in the last nine years. Since the Future Plan got underway with the opening of the British Galleries, there have been 18 other openings at the V&A, with five openings in 2009 alone. As a result, the number of visitors to V&A since 2001 has more than doubled.
As well as updating gallery space, a number of visitors’ facilities have also undergone a dramatic transformation under the Future Plan. The Grand Entrance was remodelled by architect Eva Jiricna, while the John Madjeski Gardens at the heart of the Museum has been redesigned by Kim Wilkie. In 2006 a cafe was opened in the traditional Victorian refreshment rooms with a modern extension added, and a new shop has also opened at the Museum. Earlier this year the Sackler Centre for arts education was unveiled, and is now the most comprehensive museum education facilities in the country.
Director of the V&A Mark Jones said: “Anyone who last visited the V&A before 2001 would find it almost unrecognisable today. The V&A can now claim to be a world-class 21st Century museum with beautiful contemporary displays in a revitalised historic building.”
HSLP0101AA30
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Salvador Dali Foundation unveils recently acquired painting from the 1920s
The Salvador Dali Foundation has presented its newest acquisition, a double-sided work thought to have been painted by a young Dali in the 1920s.
One side of the oil painting is a playful garden scene called “Nymphs and Young Ladies in a Garden Fountain”. Believed to be the first of the two works to be painted, it shows a host of young women, some naked and others in summer hats and dresses, frolicking in a grand water fountain in idyllic garden grounds. The ‘festive’ theme of the painting can be related to similar works created by Dali in 1921.
The opposite side of the painting features a portrait of Dali’s sister, Anna Maria. Named “Figure from Behind”, it depicts the young woman sitting alone, with her back turned to Dali as he paints her. All that is seen of Anna Maria is her deep black hair and the light plaid dress she is wearing. The portrait is dated in 1925 and is one of several Dali works featuring his sister, the first of which are dated two years earlier in 1923.
The painting had been in the hands of a private collector since shortly after “Figure from Behind” was completed in 1925, and aside from the Retrospective during the Year of Dali, had not been seen by public eyes before now.
The Salvador Dali Foundation was founded in December 1983 at the Castle of Pubol in Girona, Spain. It was set up at the express wish of Dali himself, to promote and his work, and the painter presided over the Foundation until his death six years later.
Ref: HSLP0101AA53
Sources:
http://www.salvador-dali.org/fundacio/en_historia.html
http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=34146&int_modo=1
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Museum attendances increased by “staycation” trend
British museums have seen a rise in visitor numbers this year due to the emerging popularity of the “staycation”.
That’s according to a recent study by independent arts charity The Art Fund, which claims that over half of cultural institutions reported an increase in admissions during the summer.
Around a fifth of museums and galleries saw a ten per cent rise in admissions in the period between March and September this year. In addition, 63 per cent of museums offering free entry to its permanent collections said they’d also experienced an increase in visitor numbers this summer.
Over 200 museums took part in the study, including the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The Art Fund director Andrew McDonald said: "It's clear that when times are tough our cultural institutions provide both a great value-for-money experience and a distraction from financial worries."
The increasing popularity of museums has been attributed to the recession that has gripped the UK in 2009. Many British families stayed at home for their holidays this year due to the struggling economy, and the weakness of the British pound saw a larger number of foreign tourists flock to the country for their holidays.
Indeed, a significant number of museums have experienced a rise in financial takings due to the growing number of visitors using the onsite cafes and shops. In recent years there has been a dramatic improvement in the standard of museum retailing, with many museums shops now becoming retail destinations in their own right.
The Victoria and Albert Museum has experienced a 20 per cent increase in onsite sales compared to last year. The shop has proved to be a star attraction to museum visitors, as Roksanda Illinic wrote in the London Fashion Week Official Guide: “It sells postcards, books, and amazing little treats; so many, I don't know where to start. Whenever I am here, I want to buy everything.”
Ref: HSLP0101AA63
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
30/10/09 HATS Special Edition - Winner of British Book Design and Production Award
The Special Edition of HATS: AN ANTHOLOGY by Stephen Jones and Oriole Cullen has won in the Limited Edition and Fine Binding category at the British Book Design and Production Awards 2009.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
29/09/09 The Ten Best Umbrellas - The Independent
See this umbrella and more accessories
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11/09/09 V&A wins Best Licensed Brand Property
The Licensing Awards 2009 were presented on 10 September 2009, during a black tie event at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London. The V&A won the most prestigious award of the ceremony for Best Licensed Brand, and in addition won Best Licensed Brand Product - Soft Goods for the V&A Anemone Range of Bed Linen from Bedeck.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
25/08/09 The V&A Shop at Weebirdy.com
".....I must confess that I've been guilty, on more than one occasion, of making a specific gift-buying dash to the V&A Shop, without so much as a peep in at any of the permanent collection galleries (I know, shameful behaviour!). But that's because the V&A, in particular, offers up an expertly-edited line-up of gifts, accessories, books and children's toys - all perfect candidates for being packaged up and sent away to friends and family far away...."
See the full review on Weebirdy.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
06/08/09 V&A Publishing titles shortlisted for BBDP Awards
V&A Publishing titles; Cold War Modern: Design 1945-1970, edited by David Crowley and Jane Pavitt, short listed in Best Exhibition Catalogue category; Hats: An Anthology Special Edition by Stephen Jones and Oriole Cullen, short listed in Limited Edition/Fine Binding category of the British Book Design and Production Awards 2009.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
20/02/09 The V&A Shop in London Fashion Week Official Guide
"It sells postcards, books, and amazing little treats; so many, I don't know where to start. Whenever I am here, I want to buy everything." Roksanda Illinic, 25 favourite London stores by 25 London Designers
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
24/01/09 Best Online Shopping - Saturday Telegraph Magazine
"Just like a wander through the Victoria and Albert Museum, a quick surf on its online store is an utter delight..." David Nicholls
