Victorian Radicals

de Martin Ellis, Timothy Barringer, Victoria Osborne

"In the second half of the nineteenth century, three generations of young, rebellious artists and designers revolutionized the visual arts in Britain, engaging with and challenging the new industrial world around them. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, William Morris and his associates, and the champions of the Arts & Crafts movement offered a radical artistic and social vision that found inspiration in the pre-industrial past and came to decisively influence visual culture in Britain and beyond. Drawn from the outstanding collection of the city of Birmingham, United Kingdom, Victorian Radicals will, for the first time, bring together paintings, works on paper, and decorative arts to illuminate this most dynamic period of British art in an exhibition of unparalleled historical and visual richness. Through approximately 145 objects by pioneering artists including Ford Madox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, William Morris, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Elizabeth Siddall, among others, Victorian Radicals will represent the spectrum of avant-garde practices of the Victorian period, emphasizing the response of Britain's first modern art movements to unfettered industrialization. These artists' attention to detail, use of vibrant colors, and engagement with both literary themes and contemporary life will be illustrated through a selection of paintings, drawings, and watercolors presented alongside superb examples of decorative art"--