Landscape Portrait: Then and Now

Landscape Portrait: Now and Then explores the links between landscape painting and portraiture at Hestercombe since the eighteenth century, juxtaposing this history with contemporary works from the past sixty years. Set to open 17th May 2021, with online previews in April, the show brings works by Andy Warhol, Derek Jarman, Claudette Johnson, Susan Derges, Leon Kossoff, Patrick Caulfield, Gilbert and George and Balraj Khanna to Somerset, and for the first time to Hestercombe. Shown across all seven galleries in Hestercombe House, historic works by local artists including C.W. Bampfylde, the Rev John Eagles and Henry Moon are interspersed with contemporary pieces by twenty artists, several of which are new commissions. The exhibition has been made possible by loans from Courtauld Institute of Art and the Arts Council Collection. The loans are supported by Arts Council England and the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund. Created by the Garfield Weston Foundation and Art Fund, the Weston Loan Programme is the first ever UK-wide funding scheme to enable smaller and local authority museums to borrow works of art and artefacts from national collections. Sophia Weston, Trustee of the Garfield Weston Foundation, said: “This exhibition features works from some truly world-class artists and promises to be a great experience for visitors. The Weston Loan Programme exists to bring important loans to regional organisations, and we are so pleased to be able to support the display of these artworks in Somerset.” Landscape Portrait: Now and Then takes as its starting point the diverse practice of Hestercombe’s former owner, the landscape designer and artist Coplestone Warre Bampfylde. As part of the first national tradition of art in Britain, Bampfylde, like his contemporaries Gainsborough, Hogarth and Reynolds, was an innovator who pushed the boundaries of portrait and landscape art. His output includes paintings, prints, cartoons and bookplates. The displays explore the ways in which themes that preoccupied Bampfylde centuries ago continue to echo in today’s society. A cartoon etched by him in 1775 is shown alongside Andy Holden’s 2016 Laws of Motion in a Cartoon Landscape suggests the world is best now understood as a cartoon. The exhibition portrays the breadth of innovative media employed by artists to convey their subjects and ideas. From the video and films of Gilbert and George and Trish Morrissey, the prints of Andy Warhol, Jo Lathwood and Susie Olczak; photography by Susan Derges, John Coplans and Sarah Lucas, to the textiles of Alek O and Jane Mowat. Representing drawing and painting are Ken Kiff, Patrick Caulfield, Derek Jarman, Claudette Johnson, Balraj Khanna, Leon Kossoff, and Anna Liber Lewis. The show includes two new contemporary ‘Bampfylde’ commissions and the results of two residencies at Hestercombe in partnership with the Ingram Collection