CURRENT EXHIBITIONS & DISPLAYS
Current Exhibitions & Displays
Explore the V&A's programme of changing exhibitions and displays. Complementing the Museum's permanent collection, they cover a broad range of subjects from design and fashion to photography and architecture.
Major exhibitions feature multiple rooms of objects and installations while smaller displays are sometimes located in just a single case.
-
Architectural Studies for the V&A
Architectural model, Architectural Studies for the V&A, Jamie Fobert Architects
21 June - 19 September 2010
Rooms 17a - 18a
Free admission
Eight internationally renowned architects present concept designs for a hypothetical redevelopment of the V&A's Boilerhouse Yard. The designs, comprising architectural models and plans respond to a brief to create temporary exhibition space below ground and a courtyard at street level off Exhibition Road.
The participating practices are:Jamie Fobert Architects
Tony Fretton Architects Ltd.
Heneghan Peng Architects
Amanda Levete Architects
Francisco Mangado (Mangado + Asociados)
The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA)
Sutherland Hussey Architects
Snøhetta
-
The Lumley Inventory and Pedigree, and the Roxburghe Club
The Lumley Inventory and Pedigree ©Trustees of the 12th Earl of Scarbrough's Family Settlements
10 August - 19 September 2010
NAL Landing, room 85
Free admission
The Lumley Inventory is a late 16th-century illustrated manuscript, the most important surviving document of Elizabethan visual culture. It was made for John Lumley, first Baron Lumley (about 1533-1609), one of the great Elizabethan collector-patrons. The manuscript is now on loan at the V&A, where it has been researched by a team of experts. This display marks the publication of a facsimile edition, with full scholarly commentaries, edited by Mark Evans, Senior Curator of Paintings, and published by Roxburghe Club, the oldest bibliophile society in the world. A selection of other Roxburghe volumes is also on display.
-
Grace Kelly: Style Icon
Photograph by Erwin Blumenfeld, New York, 1955. Copyright The Estate of Erwin Blumenfeld 2009.
17 April - 26 September 2010
Sponsored by Van Cleef & Arpels
Fashion, room 40
£6, £4 concessions (seniors, students, 12-17 year olds, ES40 holders)
Free to V&A MembersThe spectacular wardrobe of Grace Kelly is on display at the V&A. Tracing the evolution of her style from her days as one of Hollywoods most popular actresses in the 1950s and as Princess Grace of Monaco, the display presents over 50 of Grace Kelly's outfits together with hats, jewellery and the original Hermès Kelly bag. Dresses from her films, including High Society, are on show as well as the gown she wore to accept her Oscar award in 1955. These are accompanied by film clips and posters, photographs and her Oscar statuette. The display also includes the lace ensemble worn by Grace Kelly for her civil marriage ceremony to Prince Rainier in 1956 and 35 haute couture gowns from the 1960s and 70s by her favourite couturiers Dior, Balenciaga, Givenchy, and Yves St Laurent.
-
David Watkins - Artist in Jewellery, a Retrospective View (1972 - 2010)
'Torus 300: Blue Burst', neckpiece, David Watkins, 2006.
23 February - 26 September 2010
Silver galleries, room 68
Free admission
Celebrate the career of David Watkins, leading British artist jeweller and sculptor in metal. This retrospective features 68 pieces of jewellery that show how his early jewellery as miniature sculptures developed to become large scale wearable objects that also exist independently as art objects. The use of different techniques, materials and styles displayed across these pieces shows his versatility as an artist jeweller and heralds Watkins as a contemporary force in international design.
-
My Generation: The Glory Years of British Rock
Jimi Hendrix Photo Harry Goodwin
30 April – 30 August 2010
Theatre and Performance, room 104
Free admissionTop of the Pops was launched by the BBC on New Year's Day in 1964, and went on to become the longest-running TV show in British history. On that night the Rolling Stones were the opening band; the photographer was Harry Goodwin. This display brings together 200 of Harry Goodwin's most striking and memorable photographs, from a shocked Bob Dylan (temporarily blinded by Harry's flash in punishment for grumpiness) to a dramatic shot of Jimi Hendrix playing the guitar with his teeth. These images capture the mood and style of the 60s and 70s, and the impact of its musical stars. They celebrate those who are still actively part of the contemporary music scene and those who are remembered with veneration and affection. As the show's resident photographer from 1964 to 1973, Harry Goodwin's unique collection of photographs remembers them all.
-
The Other Britain Revisited: Photographs from New Society
Chris Steele-Perkins, 'Congregation at the Ransom Pentecostal Church', Battersea 1976. Museum no. E.58-2006, © Chris Steele-Perkins
14 May - 26 September 2010
Photography Gallery, room 38A
Free AdmissionOutstanding documentary photographs from 1962 to 1982, originally published in the pioneering magazine New Society. The display features the work of twenty-three photographers who captured the diversity of life in Britain and pivotal social issues in the late twentieth century. The magazine engaged with young British photojournalists working in the tradition of 'concerned' photography and recognised early the talent of figures such as Brian Griffin, Martin Parr, and Chris Steele-Perkins, who have gone on to achieve wide acclaim.
-
Jain Manuscripts
Rules of conduct for monks, page from an Uttaradhyayanasutra manuscript, Gujarat, India about 1450
14 May 2010 - 31 December 2012
South Asia, room 41
Free admission
Created to accompany the launch of JAINpedia - an ambitious project digitising Jain manuscripts in the UK - this small display shows finely illustrated Jain manuscript pages from the 15th to 19th centuries. Manuscripts were preserved in temple libraries, however the V&A's collection includes examples in a range of styles, some never displayed before.
-
Fashion Fantasies: fashion plates and fashion satire, 1775-1925
Robert Dighton, 'May', from the series 'Allegorical Representations of the Months', watercolour, bodycolour and ink on paper, c. 1785. Museum no. E37 - 1947
21 June 2010 - January 2011
Leighton, room 102
Free admission
This display juxtaposes two genres of print that fantasise fashion on paper: fashion plates and graphic social satire. The fashion plate communicated changes in fashion but also encouraged viewers to engage with a luxurious fantasy. At the same time fashionable dress was subject to imaginative distortions in the hands of graphic satirists interested in exposing social foibles. From the oversize wigs of the 1770s to the short skirts and fur stoles of the 1920s, the display charts the dialogue between fashion plate and fashion satire.
-
V&A Illustration Awards Display 2010
Marion Deuchars illustrated cover for George Orwell’s ‘Burmese Days’
22 June - 19 December 2010
Room 74
Free admission
These awards celebrate the best illustration published over the last year. The competition offers the most substantial financial prizes in this field.
This year's panel of judges includes the comedian and artist Vic Reeves and the editor of GQ magazine, Dylan Jones. Original artwork from the best illustrated book, book cover, magazine and student illustrator of the year are on display, together with a selection of all competition entries. -
Peter Rabbit™: the tale of The Tale
3 July 2010 - 8 January 2011
Rooms 88a and 90
Free admission
Peter Rabbit™: the tale of The Tale draws on the collections of both the V&A and Frederick Warne to trace the story of Peter Rabbit from its beginnings as an illustrated letter in 1893 to its publication by Frederick Warne & Co. in 1902, and beyond. Widely considered to be one of the most popular children's books of all time, The Tale of Peter Rabbit has gone on to sell an astonishing 40 million copies worldwide. For the first time, the complete extant original illustrations from the book is shown in sequence alongside the text of the story.
-
Judaica from the Gilbert Collection
Torah crown, Austria, about 1825. Museum no. Loan:Gilbert 68:1-2008
Until 30 September 2010
Sacred Silver, room 83
Free AdmissionThis small display features ornate Jewish ritual objects from Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert's collection. Arthur Gilbert's family, the Bernsteins, were successful Jewish immigrants, who had moved to London from Poland in the 1890s. Central to Jewish observance is the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The scroll on which the Torah is written is wound on rollers called 'Trees of Life' ('Atzei Hayyim'). It is customary to decorate the rollers with either a crown or a pair of rimmonim. The crown symbolises majesty and the law of Torah. The rimmonim evoke the bells worn on the high priest's robe as described in the Book of Exodus.
-
Elegant Accomplishments: The Art of Noh Performance
Noh mask of waka-onna, Suzuki Nohjin, Japan, 2000. Museum no. FE.127-2000.
7 September 2009 - 16 January 2011
Japan, room 45
Free admissionThis small display from the V&A's collection of superb Nō robes and masks, together with prints illustrating performance, is shown in the Museum's gallery dedicated to the arts of Japan. It complements the tour of Nō performance and associated events being presented across the UK this autumn. The V&A has been collecting Nō masks - worn by performers of this form of Japanese musical drama - since 1876, a time when the fate of Nō hung in the balance. That same year saw the ban on wearing swords by the samurai - who had been the traditional patrons of Nō for centuries. Many Nō families were forced to sell off their family treasures and western museums were then fortunate enough to acquire many fine examples of these crafts.
-
Richard Slee: From Utility to Futility
Richard Slee, Philosophy, 2008. Photo by Zul Mukhida.
5 June 2010 - 3 April 2011
Room 146
Free admissionRichard Slee is a renowned British artist who has built up an international reputation. For this display, he presents new works specifically for the two large wall cases and three free-standing cases in the Ceramics galleries. While Slee's primary medium remains ceramics, he has ventured into other materials, processes, and subject matter. With characteristic irony, these latest works explore such themes as the demise of male DIY, and the shift in the crafts from items of everyday utility to autonomous art objects.
