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V&A Press Releases
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This section is provided for journalists to access the latest press releases from the V&A as well as an archive of past releases. Further information can be obtained by contacting our Press Office at press.office@vam.ac.uk.
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Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill
A new V&A exhibition will examine Horace Walpole’s extraordinary collection and
evoke the magnificent interiors of his house Strawberry Hill, Britain’s finest
example of Georgian Gothic Revival architecture. Following extensive restoration
by the Strawberry Hill Trust the house is set to reopen in 2010. -
Quilts 1700-2010 Press Release
The V&A will present its first major exhibition of quilts next spring. Exploring 300 years of British quilt making, the exhibition will show more than 65 quilts from a cot cover made in the 1690s to recent examples by leading contemporary artists including Tracey Emin and Grayson Perry as well as special commissions by Sue Stockwell, Caren Garfen and Jo Budd.
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The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Galleries Press Release
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Galleries will open at the V&A on 30 June with highlights from the Gilbert Collection, one of the most important collections ever given to Britain. The new galleries reflect Sir Arthur Gilbert's passion for craftsmanship of the highest quality and a fascination with collecting works related to important historical figures including Frederick the Great, Catherine the Great and Napoleon.
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Galleries Press Release press release
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Maharaja: The Splendour of India’s Royal Courts
The V&A's autumn exhibition, Maharaja: The Splendour of India's Royal Courts, will be the first to comprehensively explore the world of the maharajas and their extraordinarily rich culture. It will bring together over 250 magnificent objects, many on loan to the UK for the first time from India's royal collections. The exhibition will include three thrones, a silver gilt howdah, gem-encrusted weapons, court paintings, photographs, a Rolls Royce, Indian turban jewels and jewellery commissioned from Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels in the 20th century.Maharaja: The Splendour of India’s Royal Courts press release
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V&A puts details of one million objects on website
The V&A has announced that visitors to its website can now find online over
one million records detailing objects in its collections ranging from well known
treasures such as Tippoo’s Tiger to less familiar paintings and ceramics. People
using Search the Collections, at collections.vam.ac.uk, will find images of more
than 100,000 objects with more images and details to follow as they become
available.V&A puts details of one million objects on website press release
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Medieval & Renaissance Galleries
The V&A’s new £31.75million Medieval & Renaissance Galleries open on 2 December 2009. The ten new galleries, occupying an entire wing of the Museum house one of the world’s most remarkable collections of treasures from the period, including the Becket Casket, Gothic altarpieces and the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. There is also an outstanding collection of Renaissance sculpture by Italian masters such as Donatello and Giambologna.
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The Jameel Prize
The Jameel Prize
The V&A today announces a new £25,000 international art prize for contemporary artists and designers inspired by Islamic traditions of craft and design.
The Jameel Prize aims to raise awareness of the thriving interaction between contemporary practice and the rich artistic heritage of Islam, and to contribute to a broader debate about Islamic culture. The Prize will be awarded every two years.
Over 100 nominations for the first Jameel Prize were received, and nine artists and designers have been short-listed by a panel of judges. The first winner of the Prize will be announced at an awards ceremony at the V&A on 7 July 2009. Work by the winner and by the other eight short-listed artists and designers will be exhibited in a new temporary display gallery at the V&A from 8 July until 13 September 2009.
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Buddhist Sculpture
The V&A will open The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Gallery in April, the first gallery for Buddhist sculpture in the UK. The new day-lit gallery will display highlights from the V&A's world class collection of Buddhist sculpture ranging from monumental Chinese temple sculptures to tiny portable gilded Buddhas. On display for the first time will be an early surviving image of the meditating Buddha (c.300 AD) from North West India and a 17th-century gilded figure of the saviouress Tara from Nepal.
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Medieval and Renaissance Galleries
The V&A's new Medieval and Renaissance Galleries will open in November 2009, housing one of the world's most remarkable collections of treasures from the period, including the Becket Casket, Gothic altarpieces and the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. There will also be an outstanding collection of Renaissance sculpture by Italian masters such as Donatello and Giambologna
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Ceramics Galleries
For the first time in a century the V&A is redisplaying its ceramics collection, the greatest and most comprehensive in the world. Extensive new galleries will tell the story of world ceramics with 3000 objects on display from the earliest Chinese pottery to contemporary ceramic art.
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Theatre and Performance Galleries
The V&A's Theatre and Performance Galleries will open in March 2009 exploring all performance types from theatre and ballet to pantomime and rock music. More than 250 objects from the V&A's collections will be on display including a first folio of Shakespeare's plays compiled in 1623, costumes and sets from award winning productions, a guitar Pete Townshend smashed during a 1970s performance with The Who and the original 1957 poster for Look Back in Anger at the Royal Court. Specially commissioned films of playwrights, directors and actors will include interviews with Michael Frayn and Sir Peter Hall.
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Futureplan: V&A Completes Phase One
The V&A will complete the first phase of its £120 million transformation a year from now when it opens its £30 million new Medieval and Renaissance Galleries in November 2009. The ten new galleries, occupying an entire wing of the museum, will display some of the V&A's most remarkable treasures such as the Becket casket and sculptures by Renaissance masters Giambologna and Donatello. They are the largest project since the opening of the British Galleries in 2001 and will mark nine years of rapid modernisation under the museum's ambitious Future Plan.
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New Sackler Centre for arts education opens at the V&A
The V&A's new Sackler Centre for arts education gives visitors the opportunity to learn from and work with some of the UK's most talented designers and teachers, develop their own skills and to participate in workshops, talks and debates, festivals, conferences and courses.
The Sackler Centre will be the museum's centre for creative practice and one of the most innovative museum education facilities in the UK. It will have a digital studio, an auditorium and design and practical art studios.
Designed by architects Softroom, the Centre will more than double the education space at the V&A across two floors of the Henry Cole Wing on Exhibition Road. The Centre will have its own entrance enabling it to open outside normal museum hours and function as a separate arts centre and venue for events.
New Sackler Centre for arts education opens at the V&A press release