Posts by venue: Laing Art Gallery

Divine Bodies exhibition at the Laing Art Gallery – getting ready

In the Divine Bodies exhibition, Pippa and Steve get the screen ready to project Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Pietà, which features the artist herself and renowned actor Robert Downey Jr.  This is one of the contemporary artworks on show with old master paintings… Read more

Your Ideas for Our Museum

Just before Christmas, some Laing staff were out and about, meeting members of the public. We were persuading people to sample some Christmas treats – mince pies and chocolate biscuits. We did have an ulterior motive – we were hoping… Read more

Take a look behind the scenes as a new exhibition goes up

Ana, the museum service’s picture conservator, is making the last cleaning touches to a painting for the new exhibition of pictures from the Laing’s collection. She’s using moistened cotton wool wound around a special cleaning stick – a painstaking job. The… Read more

‘Pre-Raphaelite truth to nature’ – a watercolour by John Frederick Lewis

Surrounded by tell-tale feathers, this little cat raises a paw, ready to strike again. Its prey is actually a peacock-feather fan, which a young woman is dangling teasingly above its head. Both the cat and its owner feature in an… Read more

Pilgrim Street and the Newe House

The other day I was stood at the bus stop in Pilgrim Street, in front of the old Odeon, when the Number 1 bus to Slatyford suddenly transformed into a hay wain pulled by four oxen and two horses… Well,… Read more