Description
Stephen Farthing’s Museums of the World
Stephen Farthing’s Museums of the World is a collection of 19 paintings produced between 2015-2017 by Royal Academy Exhibitions Committee Chairman Stephen Farthing RA, depicting the interiors of public and private museums around the world. They were inspired by his involvement with British museums including the Royal Academy and the Ashmolean and by years of travelling the world as the husband of an American diplomat. The work combines a probing look at the history of collecting while painted with Farthing’s usual good humour.
The exhibition was split across two venues, Manor Place Gallery and Candida Stevens Gallery in Chichester, West Sussex. Nine of the paintings were on show at Manor Place Gallery which was open on Saturday 10th March only. The entire exhibition was on show at Candida Stevens Gallery from 14 March – 14 April 2018.
Palawan Press has published a limited edition catalogue to celebrate the exhibition. The catalogue not only features the artworks but also an interview with Stephen Farthing by the eminent art critic, Marco Livingstone and an essay by Candida Stevens.
The edition is limited to 100 copies signed by the artist.
Of these, 50 copies, numbered 1 – 50, includes a limited edition hand finished digital print entitled The Queen’s Zebra, signed and numbered by Stephen Farthing.
REVIEWS
“[The paintings] demonstrate Stephen’s worldliness, his ability to travel in the imagination, his knowledge of the conditions of art display, and the contrasts between the way that art is displayed on a different continents, in different milieux, in private and in public. Intelligent and knowing wit is not something which we normally look for in contemporary art, but it is evident in the work of Stephen Farthing.” – CHARLES SAUMAREZ SMITH, SECRETARY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS