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Displays

Japanese Ghosts and Demons: Ukiyo-E Prints from the Ashmolean
Until 27 February 2011
Gallery 29
Admission: Free

Giant spiders, dancing skeletons, winged goblins and hordes of ghostly warriors are among the spooky subjects depicted in this display of 19th century woodblock prints from the Ashmolean’s own collection, including works by the renowned artists Kuniyoshi and Yoshitoshi.

Thomas Houseago: Contemporary Sculpture at the Ashmolean
Until 20 February 2011
Gallery 2, Gallery 14, Ashmolean Forecourt
Admission Free

For the first time, the Ashmolean Museum and Modern Art Oxford will collaborate in the display of contemporary sculpture, presenting work by British artist Thomas Houseago. To accompany Houseago’s first major solo exhibition in the UK at Modern Art Oxford, the Ashmolean will exhibit 4 of his monolithic plaster figures in the Museum’s new Cast Gallery, the Human Image gallery and on the Ashmolean forecourt, highlighting the relationships between the past and present found in his work.

Lucien Pissarro In England: The Eragny Press 1895 - 1914
8 January – 13 March 2011
Exhibition Gallery 61
Admission: Free

The Ashmolean celebrates the work of painter, engraver and printmaker, Lucien Pissarro (1863-1944) with the first comprehensive display of the Eragny Press. Highlights include the thirty-two books printed by Lucien and his wife Esther at their home in London, with paintings by his father, Camille Pissarro, letters and family photographs from the Pissarro Family Archive, held at the Ashmolean.

British Drawings In The Age Of The Eragny Press
8 January – 13 March 2011
Exhibition Gallery 58
Admission: Free

To accompany Lucien Pissarro And The Eragny Press 1895 - 1914, the Ashmolean will display a selection of drawings by the friends and contemporaries of Lucien Pissarro. From Ruskin and Burne-Jones, to Augustus John and Sargent, the impact of their work is clearly seen in Lucien’s first English prints which combined an early debt to the Pre-Raphaelites alongside a deep commitment to the principles of French Impressionism.

Cultural Revolution: State Graphics In China In The1960S And ‘70S
8 March – 3 July 2011
Gallery 29
Admission: Free

Visual imagery in China during the Cultural Revolution was limited to officially sanctioned subject matter and styles. Simple graphics and bold colour prevailed in designs that were often accompanied by political slogans and images of Mao Zedong were everywhere. From posters, papercuts and matchboxes, this 2 part display of recent acquisitions demonstrates how images in the 1960s and ‘70s appeared consistently across the media. They featured ancient popular motifs and were surprisingly designed by artists better known for traditional ink paintings.

Major Exhibitions

Heracles To Alexander The Great: Treasures From The Royal Capital of Macedon
A Hellenic Kingdom in the Age of Democracy
7 April – 29 August 2011
Exhibition Galleries 57–61
Tickets: £8, £6 concession

In the first major archaeological exhibition to be shown in the new temporary exhibition galleries, the Ashmolean Museum will showcase new discoveries from the royal tombs of Aegae, the ancient capital of Macedon. Over five hundred extraordinary objects will come to Oxford from Vergina, northern Greece, the vast majority of which will go on display for the first time anywhere in the world. They tell the story of the kings and queens of Macedon, the rise of the Temenids – descendents of Heracles, and the ruling dynasty of Alexander the Great.

Claude Lorrain And The Poetry Of Landscape: Prints. Drawings And Paintings
6 October 2011 – 8 January 2012
Exhibition Galleries 57–61
Tickets: £8, £6 concession

This groundbreaking exhibition rediscovers the life and work produced by the father of European landscape painting, Claude Lorrain. The exhibition will reunite a large group of inspirational paintings, from different periods of his life, with drawings and prints, from collections in England, France and Germany.