Exhibition - William Etty: Art and Controversy - York Art Gallery (2011-12)

William Etty: Art & Controversy was shown at York Art Gallery from 25 June 2011 to 22nd January 2012.

William Etty, Self-Portrait, 1825. Photo credit: Manchester Art Gallery, licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode)

The exhibition was co-curated by Dr Sarah Burnage (University of York) and Laura Turner, Curator of Art at the Gallery. It offered the first major focus on William Etty RA (1787-1849) and his work for more than 50 years, revealing the reasons for his controversial and conflicting reputation as ‘the greatest of all our history painters’, whilst provoking calls to ‘turn from his wicked ways’ as a painter of the female nude.

Venus and Cupid (1830) by William Etty, oil on canvas. Image courtesy of York Museums Trust :: http://yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk/ :: Public Domain

St. John the Baptist, by William Etty (1824-25), oil on paper on plywood. Image courtesy of York Museums Trust (http://yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk/) – Public Domain

The exhibition was reviewed widely, including: the Guardian, Visual Culture in Britain (Volume 13, 2012 – Issue 2), and the Independent.

A catalogue of the exhibition was co-edited by Dr Burnage, Laura Turner and Professor Mark Hallett, then Head of the History of Art Department.

A symposium was held at York Art Gallery on 25 November 2011.

Watch York Art Gallery’s video, in which Dr Burnage introduces Etty and the exhibition:

Online Exhibition

The William Etty: Art and Controversy exhibition continued to be accessible online, developed by the Department with York Art Gallery, initially via the Department of History of Art’s multi-media Research Portal, and now in the Research area of this website.

Exhibition – William Etty: Art and Controversy – York Art Gallery (2011-12)

Online Exhibition