Art gallery to recreate exhibition from 1907

An art gallery is set to recreate an exhibition from 117 years ago when it features work from a pioneering female artist later this year.

Thirty paintings, drawings and sketches from Evelyn De Morgan will go on display at Wolverhampton Art Gallery in October.

The Pre-Raphaelite artist had her work featured at the venue in 1907.

It was viewed as a ground-breaking event at the time as it was “incredibly rare” for a gallery to dedicate a show to a solo female artist, Wolverhampton Art Gallery said.

The forthcoming exhibition has been curated to closely resemble the original, the venue added.

It will feature oil paintings, a plaster cast sculpture, sketches, drawings and newly-painted artworks that recreate three of her original paintings which were lost in a 1991 fire.

De Morgan was one of the few women in the Pre-Raphaelite "brotherhood" in an era when being a professional artist was considered by many to be unladylike.

Local artist Paul Francis-Walker recreated the missing works and said it was a “great honour” to have been asked to make copies of De Morgan’s work.

“Evelyn was a great believer in life after death and that through a medium we could converse with those that had passed on,” he said.

“In some small way, I hope that my artwork will enable the onlooker to see those lost works once again.”

Jean McMeakin, chair of the De Morgan Trustee Board, said she was delighted to bring the exhibition to Wolverhampton.

“The exhibition not only illuminates her talent, her inspirations and her influences but in so doing, her inner thoughts, social and ethical values are also revealed,” she said.

Painted Dreams: The Art of Evelyn De Morgan will be held at Wolverhampton Art Gallery from 19 October to 9 March.

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