What’s in a name? In our collections display, ‘Pictures of the Floating World: Japanese Ukiyo-e Prints’ we celebrate the wonderful collection of Japanese prints from the Edo period (1603-1868), the majority of which were given to York Art Gallery in 1954 by J.B. Morrell. One of the challenges in researching these prints has been …
One of the oldest objects in our Costume and Textiles collection is a coif (a type of cap) made over 400 years ago. It was made in an age before sewing machines and mechanised factories, when every stitch of every garment was sewn by hand. We don’t know who made the coif, or who originally …
York Art Gallery houses an outstanding collection of over 1,100 paintings, around 14,000 works on paper and almost 120 sculptures, not to mention our Centre of Ceramic Art, which holds the largest collection of British Studio Ceramics. One of the many joys and privileges of being a curator, is delving into the stores and selecting works to share …
This is the first in a short series of blog posts about our current display at York Art Gallery – ‘Pictures of the Floating World: Japanese Ukiyo-e Prints’. In these posts, I highlight some of the discoveries that I made during the research, and some revelations that have surfaced since putting the prints on public display. …
Like the Yule Log and the Christmas Tree, Christmas baubles originally came from Germany. They were first made in the town of Lauscha (Thuringia, Germany) in the 16th century. The invention of baubles is credited to a glassblower called Hans Greiner (1550-1609) who made strings of glass beads that could be hung up as decorations. …
Bringing greenery indoors is one of our oldest seasonal traditions. In Europe before Christianity, people decorated their homes with greenery for festivals. We know this because important early bishops gathered to discuss whether Christians should be allowed to do this too. Some thought it was too pagan, but Pope Gregory the Great was in support. …
For centuries, wassailing was a popular part of Christmas and New Year celebrations. The word ‘wassail’ comes from the Old Norse for ‘good health’, and wassailing generally involved drinking to peoples’ health, often while singing about it. Special communal drinking bowls developed. These could be large like the grand sharing bowl on display in our 17 …
York Museums Trust has partnered with the Centre for Applied Human Rights, based at the University of York, to support their work with recording lived experiences of those who have been hardest hit by the pandemic and the UK Governments response to it. Chey’s research worked with people from York’s LGBT community to …
For Black History Month in 2020, we shared a blog about a young Roman woman who was buried in York in the late fourth century. She is affectionately known as ‘Ivory Bangle Lady’, named after the rare ivory bangles found around her wrists. The blog was written as a part of last year’s Black History …
Introducing the new Patricia Barnes Collection Blog by Grace England, York Art Gallery’s MA scholar Gender diversity within the museum world is a controversial topic within the 21st Century. It remains the case that within the vast National Gallery collection, spanning over 2,300 paintings from the thirteenth to the early 20th Century, there are still …
