Exhibition Catalogue - Flaming June (2016)

Catalogue of Exhibition at Leighton House Museum, 2016-17

Flaming June: The Making of an Icon
Edited by Catherine Blake
Text by Susan Grace Galassi, Patrick Monahan, Pablo Pérez d’Ors, Elizabeth Prettejohn, Daniel Robins
Picture and Exhibition Research by Ciarán Rua O’Neill, Hannah Lund
Exhibition catalogue, published by The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Leighton House Museum, 2016

ISBN-13: 978-0-9931059-1-3

Exhibtion catalogue - Flaming June: The Making of an Icon (Leighton House MuseumFlaming June: The Making of an Icon is the catalogue accompanying the exhibition held at Leighton House Museum from 4 November 2016 to 2 April 2017 and organised in collaboration with the Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico.

The exhibition brought the painting Flaming June by Sir Frederic Leighton (1830-96) back to Leighton House for the first time since it was displayed there after its completion in 1895, as one of the paintings submitted by Leighton to that year’s Royal Academy Exhibition.   Flaming June: The Making of an Icon reconstructed a photograph taken in 1895 of Leighton’s studio display, which included four further paintings submitted to the Royal Academy; one other that he had intended to submit but then substituted at the last minute; and preparatory sketches for Flaming June.

Ciarán Rua O’Neill, currently researching his PhD at the University of York, was a curatorial research assistant for the exhibition, including the catalogue; read more about his involvement. Professor Elizabeth Prettejohn (University of York) contributed the introductory essay ‘Leighton’s Last Academy’, in which she discusses the reception of Leighton’s paintings at the 1895 exhibition, which turned out to be his last as he died in January 1896.

Other essays are:

‘Flaming June, A Victorian Masterpeice’ by Pablo Pérez d’Ors

‘Leighton’s Path to Flaming June’ by Susan Grace Galassi

‘“No Weakness or Wavering”: Leighton at Work, 1894-1895’ by Daniel Robins

‘Flaming June: The Accidental Icon’ by Patrick Monahan

‘Leighton’s Late Models’ by Daniel Robins

Frederic Leighton's Studio photographed by Bedford Lemere, 1 April 1895. ©Historic England Archive; courtesy of Leighton House Museum

Frederic Leighton's Studio photographed by Bedford Lemere, 1 April 1895. ©Historic England Archive; courtesy of Leighton House Museum

Flaming June, by Frederic Leighton, 1895, oil on canvas, Museo de Arte de Ponce/The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, at the Leighton House Museum exhibition Flaming June: The Making of an Icon. Photo: ©Kevin Moran Photography; courtesy of Leighton House Museum

Flaming June, by Frederic Leighton, 1895, oil on canvas, Museo de Arte de Ponce/The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, at the Leighton House Museum exhibition Flaming June: The Making of an Icon. Photo: ©Kevin Moran Photography; courtesy of Leighton House Museum

Flaming June: The Making of an Icon - exhibition installation shot at Leighton House Museum. Photo: ©Kevin Moran Photography; courtesy of Leighton House Museum

Flaming June: The Making of an Icon - exhibition installation shot at Leighton House Museum. From left to right: Candida, 1895, oil on canvas; Lachrymae, 1894-96, oil on canvas; The Maid with the Golden Hair, 1895, oil on canvas; Twixt Hope and Fear, 1895, oil on canvas; Flaming June, 1895, oil on canvas. Photo ©Kevin Moran Photography; courtesy of Leighton House Museum

Main image: Flaming June (detail), by Frederic Leighton, 1895, oil on canvas. ®Museo de Arte de Ponce/ The Luis A. Ferré Foundation. Photo (detail): Flaming June The Making of an Icon at Leighton House, ©Kevin Moran Photography

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