Art Group visits Birmingham

Fourteen members of the Audlem Art Group travelled to Birmingham on Friday to see an exhibition of the work of Edward Robert Hughes (1851-1914) at the Birmingham Art Gallery & Museum.

Our thanks to Lynne Smith for the photo.

Ted Hughes was a close associate of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was the nephew of the painter Arthur Hughes, modelled for Rossetti, and worked for many years as the studio assistant of William Holman Hunt. However, although Hughes also made a successful career as an artist in his own right, he is still little known.

'Enchanted Dreams' is the first exhibition ever dedicated to Hughes and his work. It brought together paintings, drawings and watercolours from public and private collections in the UK and overseas, many of them unseen in the hundred years since the artist's death.

The exhibition featured Hughes's delightful child portraiture and exquisite chalk drawings as well as the magical late 'blue pictures' such as 'Night with her Train of Stars' which have become famous and loved worldwide. The group enjoyed a conducted tour where they learnt much about his work.

Most then took an enjoyable lunch-break at Carluccio's restaurant before returning to the exhibition.

The Audlem Art Group, which is led by Christine Johnson, was formed eighteen months ago and meets every other Friday at 1.00pm until 3.00pm at the Scout & Guide Hall. Over the past year, they have enjoyed visits to exhibitions in Liverpool at the Tate and at Manchester's College of Art as well as Birmingham's visit on Friday.

The group tackles a wide range of techniques, recently a Life class, and last summer enjoyed a number of sessions painting outdoors. New members are always welcome.

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