Thousands see top North East art at high profile exhibitions

Two high profile exhibitions by a Tyneside gallery in the last year, attracted more than 90,000 visitors.

A total of 40,153 saw the Turner: Art, Industry & Nostalgia exhibition at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle, while 50,000 saw the region's Museum in Residence display at 10 Downing Street in London. Both the Number 10 Museum in Residence display and the Turner exhibition exposed a wider audience to the artistic and cultural heritage of the North East, said the gallery.

The Museum in Residence display showcased the talent of artists associated with and from the North East to world leaders and industry bosses, as well as high-profile guests, philanthropists, front-line workers, and charitable and civic leaders who have attended events in the offices of the Prime Minister.

The artworks were displayed for a year as part of the Government Art Collection’s Number 10 Museum in Residence programme. For the past 20 years, the Government Art Collection has instigated an annual partnership with a museum or gallery across the UK to display artworks from their collection.

The nine chosen works from the Laing Art Gallery are representative of the city and the wider North East. Five of the paintings depicted Newcastle’s cityscape, while the others reflected the diverse art scene of the region.

All of the works are either by influential artists from the area, who had taught and studied at its leading art schools, or who had been inspired by its landmarks and landscapes. A significant painting on display was the large oil painting by Edward Dickey, depicting the Tyne Bridge mid-construction, hung in pride of place over a mantelpiece.

The Turner: Art, Industry & Nostalgia exhibition was centred on a work that the British public voted as their favourite painting - The Fighting Temeraire (1839), on loan from the National Gallery. The loan formed part of National Treasures, a programme that shared the gallery’s most popular paintings with partners across the UK as part of its bicentenary celebrations.

An additional 25 works by Turner were also on display alongside works from artists such as John Constable (1776-1837), James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), L.S. Lowry (1887-1976), Tacita Dean (b.1965), and photographers John Kippin (b.1950) and Chris Killip (1946-2020). Turner: Art, Industry & Nostalgia explored the connection between the mage of The Fighting Temeraire and the history of Tyneside, highlighting the North East’s history and industrial heritage as seen through art.

Turner depicted a number of North East views during his lifetime and the exhibition included several examples, including Holy Island, Northumberland (about 1829, V&A), Newcastle-on-Tyne (1818, Tate), Dunstanburgh Castle (1798, Laing Art Gallery), Warkworth Castle, Northumberland (1799, V&A), Brinkburn Priory, Northumberland (1801, Laing Art Gallery), and Tynemouth, Northumberland (1829, Tate).

The exhibition also explored connections between the Thames and the Tyne during the industrial revolution. While Turner may not have based the steam tug in The Fighting Temeraire on a specific vessel, the two steam tugboats that towed the Temeraire in reality – the Samson and the London – were both built at Gateshead.

The exhibition included a piece of oak from the Temeraire itself. This theme extended through to the end of the exhibition with John Kippin’s video piece ARC (2010), which documents the Tyneside-built warship the Ark Royal leaving the River Tyne for the last time. This video piece was displayed alongside 19 other works that explored the continuing story of the industrial landscape in art.

Julie Milne, chief curator of Art Galleries at Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, said: "We are so proud to have shared stories of the North East’s heritage with a wide range of audiences within and beyond the geographic boundaries of our region, highlighting the North East as a special place with a unique history and vibrant culture at its heart.”