Press releases 2006
A list of older press releases, retained for reference for journalists
The V&A Museum of Childhood
The V&A Museum of Childhood has reopened to the public following a year's closure and the completion of an extensive transformation of its 130-year-old home. The Museum raised £4.7m for the project, with £3.5m coming from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Author Jacqueline Wilson - the Children's Laureate - officially opened the Museum on Saturday 9 December.
Download The V&A Museum of Childhood press release
James 'Athenian' Stuart
The work of James 'Athenian' Stuart, the influential 18th-century Neo-Classical architect best known for his interiors of Spencer House, London, will be on display at the V&A this spring.
Download James 'Athenian' Stuart press release
Uncomfortable Truths
Two hundred years after the bill outlawing the British slave trade was passed by Parliament, the V&A is marking the event with an exhibition of work by eleven contemporary artists from Europe, Africa and America. Their work draws directly on the legacies of imperialism and slave trading, prompting the viewer to consider the impact of slavery historically and in today's world.
Download Uncomfortable Truths press release
New York Fashion Now
This spring the V&A will display the work of the latest generation of New York fashion designers. New York Fashion Now will bring together designs by 20 of the most talented and innovative designers from the numerous independent fashion labels launched between 1999 and 2004. The display will include work by Duckie Brown, Cloak, Derek Lam, Mary Ping, Zac Posen, Proenza Schouler and Behnaz Sarafpour.
Download New York Fashion Now press release
Kylie
The changing image of Kylie Minogue, one of the most popular contemporary style icons, will be the focus of a new exhibition at the V&A. Featuring performance costumes, accessories, album covers, photographs, music and video, the exhibition will look at how Kylie, as a performer, has used her wardrobe to create an image that is known worldwide.
Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design
The V&A's major spring exhibition, Surreal Things, will be the first to explore the influence of Surrealism on the world of design - theatre, interiors, fashion, film, architecture, and advertising. Alongside paintings by Magritte, Ernst and Dalí will be some of the most extraordinary objects of the 20th century.
Download Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design press release
Fashion in Motion: Christian Lacroix
The V&A will present highlights of Christian Lacroix's Autumn/Winter 2006-7 collections in three special catwalk shows on 31 October to mark Paris Calling - the UK-wide celebration of contemporary French culture.
Download Fashion in Motion: Christian Lacroix press release
Beyond the Maker's Mark: Paul de Lamerie
Beyond the Maker's Mark: Paul de Lamerie Silver in the Cahn Collection is a new display at the V&A celebrating the extraordinary work of Paul de Lamerie (1688-1751), London's leading 18th-century silversmith. The display will include around 50 pieces of de Lamerie silver from the Cahn Collection, currently on loan to the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Tennessee, who have organized this touring display.
Download Beyond The Maker's Mark: Paul de Lamerie press release
At home in Renaissance Italy
The riches of the Renaissance interior, and its central role in the flowering of Italian art and culture, will be the subject of a V&A exhibition this autumn. Masterpieces by Donatello, Carpaccio, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Lotto, Titian and Veronese, and exquisite treasures once in the Medici collections, will show how works of art were originally conceived for affluent Renaissance homes.
Download At Home in Renaissance Italy press release
Twilight: Photography in the Magic Hour
This autumn, the V&A will exhibit around 50 works by international contemporary artists who have explored the visual and psychological effects of twilight. Twilight: Photography in the Magic Hour will include work by established photographers Robert Adams, Gregory Crewdson, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Bill Henson and Boris Mikhailov as well as emerging talents, Chrystel Lebas and Liang Yue and a specially commissioned film installation by Ori Gersht.
Download Twilight: Photography in the Magic Hour Press Release press release
Spectacular new Sculpture Galleries at the V&A
The first phase of the redisplay of the V&A’s outstanding sculpture collection will be completed this March. The new Dorothy and Michael Hintze Galleries will display some of the Museum’s finest sculpture dating from 1600 to 1900 made by British sculptors or acquired by British patrons.
Download Spectacular New Sculpture Galleries at the V&A press release
Leonardo Da Vinci: Experience, Experiment and Design
Leonardo da Vinci: Experience, Experiment and Design explores for the first time the most fundamental aspect of Leonardo’s work – how he thought on paper. The pages of Leonardo’s notebooks, teeming with multitudinous ideas, are often taken for granted, but they are unparalleled in the graphic work of any other thinker from any age.
Download Leonardo Da Vinci: Experience, Experiment and Design press release
V&A to open Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art
The V&A will open the new Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art on Thursday 20 July 2006. The highlight will be the Ardabil carpet, the world’s oldest dated carpet, and one of the largest, most beautiful and historically important in the world.
Download V&A to open Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art press release
Che Guevara: Revolutionary Icon
The famous portrait of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, Guerrillero Heroico, photographed by Alberto Korda on 5 March 1960, is one of the most reproduced images in the history of photography. Che Guevara: Revolutionary and Icon will focus on the history of this single image during the past 45 years, bringing together photography, posters, films, fine art, clothing and artefacts from more than 30 countries.
Download Che Guevara: Revolutionary Icon press release
Sixties Fashion: 'Swinging London' fashion on display at the V&A
40 years after Time Magazine's famous 1966 'Swinging London' cover, the V&A explores the Swinging Sixties. Sixties Fashion will feature designs by Mary Quant, Ossie Clark, Pierre Cardin and Paco Rabanne among others. The display will explore the role of fashion in fixing the idea of London as the ‘swinging’ city in the popular imagination from the mid 1950s.
Download Sixties Fashion: 'Swinging London' fashion on display at the V&A press release
Sixties Graphics
This summer the V&A will celebrate the 1960s with a display of graphic material including posters, magazines, photographs, album covers and other printed ephemera such as badges from 1965-1972. Sixties Graphics will focus on the huge explosion of talent in London in the mid-sixties, the era of Swinging London.
Download Sixties Graphics press release
Auerbach and Freud at the V&A: New Paintings
For four weeks this Spring the V&A will present a unique opportunity to view eight new paintings by Frank Auerbach and Lucian Freud in a display juxtaposed with masterpieces by John Constable and JMW Turner in the Museum’s Paintings Gallery.
Download Auerbach and Freud at the V&A: New Paintings press release
Anna Piaggi Fashion-ology
Anna Piaggi has had a prolific career as a journalist, stylist and editor. She was born and lives in Milan where she has worked in publications since the late 1950s and is renowned for her work for Italian Vogue. Often described as the most eccentric dresser in Italy, as well as one of the most photographed, she has been a muse to designers and photographers spanning three decades.
Become a V&A Member
V&A Members enjoy a wealth of benefits, including free entry to exhibitions, previews, exciting events and the V&A Members’ Room. In addition, you will be supporting the vital work of the V&A.
Buy or Renew Membership Online
Event - Hollywood Costume
Sat 20 October 2012–Sun 27 January 2013
EXHIBITION: Hollywood Costume is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see over 100 of the most iconic costumes in the history of film-making.
Book online
