Multi-award-winning wood engraver guides art lovers through space and time at City of London’s Guildhall Art Gallery
Guildhall Art Gallery honours the artistic endeavours of artist and expert wood engraver, providing art enthusiasts with a new outlook on London, its architecture, and geography.
In its upcoming major show, Anne Desmet, RA.
The exhibition “Anne Desmet: Kaleidoscope/London” at the Guildhall Art Gallery of the City of London Corporation features the artist branching out from her previous prints that were centered on London to create a new series of digital collages. These collages are inspired by observing a disjointed view of the world through a toy kaleidoscope.
Desmet’s prints show the development of urban environments from ancient Rome and Pompeii to London, establishing a singular conversation between time and change.
A fascinating collage titled “Fires of London” that was made with 18 razor-clam shells will be among the most notable pieces of art. Its topic is the numerous historic fires that have occurred in London over the past 1,500 years. The piece will be added to the permanent collection of the art gallery.
Curators Anne Desmet and Elizabeth Scott, Head of the Guildhall Art Gallery at the City of London Corporation, are in charge of the exhibition, which takes place from April 12 to September 8. It will be “Pay What You Can” to enter.
Anne Desmet, a wood engraver and printer, stated:
“As a result, they reflect somewhat of a chaotic scattergun of things that were flowing through my mind at that time, such as escape, possible new worlds, and the climate problem. Many of the collages were done in 2022 while I was receiving treatment for breast cancer.
“A kaleidoscope toy I had purchased from Sir John Soane’s Museum a few years ago served as the inspiration for those ideas. It divides any view you’re looking at into remarkable triangulated repetition patterns.
“I started by using a kaleidoscope lens on my images of London to make new pieces for the Guildhall Art Gallery show.
Chair of the City of London Corporation’s Culture, Heritage, and Libraries Committee, Munsur Ali, said:
“Many visitors to Guildhall Art Gallery may be intrigued that wood, that most natural and tactile of materials, provides the focus for its next exhibition, which we expect to be very popular with its followers and admirers, as well as those who discover this beautiful gallery for the first time.
“It will be an absolute joy to see how Anne Desmet’s vivid imagination, life experience, and highly skilled hands have helped create such evocative work, some of it never seen before.”
Anne Desmet: Kaleidoscope/London is an integral part of the City’s arts and cultural offering and forms part of the City of London Corporation’s Destination City programme, which sets out a vision for the Square Mile to become a world-leading leisure destination for UK and international visitors, workers, and residents to enjoy.
The exhibition will be followed by another solo exhibition by a woman artist, ‘Evelyn De Morgan: Pioneering Artist in Victorian London’, which will open in November 2024. The exhibition will celebrate the legacy of pioneering artist Evelyn De Morgan and as well as featuring some of her masterpieces painted and exhibited in Victorian London, it will reveal the results of recent scientific analyses by the Courtauld Institute of Art that shed new light on her materials and working methods.
The City of London Corporation is the fourth largest funder of heritage and cultural activities in the UK and invests over £130m every year. The organisation manages a range of world-class cultural and heritage institutions, including the Barbican Centre, Tower Bridge, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Guildhall Art Gallery, London Metropolitan Archives, and Keats House. It also supports the London Symphony Orchestra and the Museum of London.
