TATE BRITAIN REOPENS ROMANTICS AFTER RE-HANG

THIS WEEK TATE BRITAIN'S CLORE GALLERIES HAVE REOPENED TO THE PUBLIC FOLLOWING A MAJOR RE-HANG. ROMANTICS, PART OF THE BP BRITISH ART DISPLAYS, FEATURES OVER 170 KEY PAINTINGS, PRINTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS SPREAD OVER NINE THEMATIC ROOMS EXPLORING THE ORIGINS, INSPIRATIONS AND LEGACIES OF BRITISH ROMANTIC ART. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NEW DISPLAY ARE EIGHT SPECTACULAR HAND-COLOURED ETCHINGS BY WILLIAM BLAKE WHICH WERE ACQUIRED FOR THE NATION LAST YEAR. FOUND HIDDEN IN A RAILWAY TIMETABLE AMONGST A BOX OF SECONDHAND BOOKS IN THE 1970s, THE RARE WORKS ARE IMAGES FROM BLAKE'S NOW FAMOUS SERIES OF ILLUMINATED BOOKS. ORIGINALLY LEFT TO BLAKE'S WIDOW, THE PRINTS WERE GIFTED TO A FRIEND, AND THEIR LOCATION WAS UNKNOWN UNTIL THEIR REMARKABLE REDISCOVERY. THE CLORE DISPLAYS ALSO FEATURE A NEW ROOM OF LATE WORKS BY J M W TURNER. CHARACTERIZED BY THE EXPERIMENTAL USE OF COLOUR AND THE DEPICTION OF LIGHT FOR WHICH TURNER IS NOW SO RENOWNED, THE PAINTINGS FROM THE SECOND HALF OF THE ARTIST'S CAREER WERE HEAVILY CRITICIZED AT THE TIME. UNDETERRED BY PUBLIC OPINION, HOWEVER, TURNER HEROICALLY FOLLOWED HIS OWN IMPULSES LIKE A TRUE ROMANTIC, CONTINUING TO EXHIBIT THE UNIQUE AND CHALLENGING WORK WHICH WE CELEBRATE TODAY. THE DISPLAY FEATURES MASTERPIECES FROM THE TATE COLLECTION INCLUDING 'NORHAM CASTLE, SUNRISE' AND 'SUN SETTING OVER A LAKE'. TWO ROOMS IN THE DISPLAY EXPLORE THE LEGACY OF THE ROMANTICS. THE FIRST OF THESE PRESENTS THE NEO-ROMANTICS OF THE MID 20th CENTURY, INCLUDING ARTISTS SUCH AS GRAHAM SUTHERLAND AND PAUL NASH, WHO LOOKED BACK TO ROMANTIC BRITISH VISIONARIES SUCH AS WILLIAM BLAKE AND SAMUEL PALMER. THE SECOND WILL EXPLORE LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE LAST FORTY YEARS WHICH PARODIES OR PLAYS OFF THE ROMANTIC TRADITION.