A new exhibition in Birmingham promises to be a delight for the senses – both visual and olfactory.
The link between scent and memory, and that certain smells can instantly evoke strong emotions and recollections and is a key motif in paintings by the artists of the Pre-Raphaelite and Aesthetic movements. Fragrance is visually suggested in images of daydreaming figures smelling flowers or burning incense, enhancing the sensory aura of ‘art for art’s sake’. Scent was also implied in Victorian painting to evoke hedonism – pleasure in exquisite sensations – and a preoccupation with beauty; or to reflect the Victorian vogue for synaesthesia (evoking one sense through another) and the penchant for art, like scent, to evoke moods and emotions. This exhibition demonstrates how an understanding of these and other largely forgotten ideas about smell bring to the fore significant aspects of these extraordinary artworks.
Curated by Dr Christina Bradstreet, author of Scented Visions: Smell in Art, 1850-1914, and developed in collaboration with Artphilia, the storytelling art curators, and Puig’s AirParfum olfactory technology, Scent & the Art of the Pre-Raphaelites explores how artists of the late 18th and early 19th century conveyed scent in art.
The exhibition aims to evoke the smells of objects and scenes depicted in some of the most iconic works by Pre-Raphaelite artists, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896) and John William Waterhouse (1849-1917).
Drawn from public and private collections across the UK, including Tate, the Ashmolean, Oxford, and Birmingham Museums Trust, it will also showcase works by three less familiar female artists of the period: Evelyn de Morgan (1855-1919), Anna Alma-Tadema (1867-1943) and Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale (1872 – 1945).
Visitors to the exhibition will be able to participate in an optional scent experience that will enliven the scents suggested in certain paintings. A wide-ranging programme of events exploring art and scent will accompany the exhibition.
Antje Kiewell, Founder and Director of Artphilia, says: “Artphilia is delighted to collaborate with Dr Christina Bradstreet and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in adding a new, emotive dimension to the viewing, thanks to AirParfum’s innovative olfactory technology. The exhibition offers a new way to make sense of art, inviting viewers to explore, one-on-one, the ideas conveyed by the artists with their personal emotions and memories – as only our sense of smell allows us to do.”
Scent and the Art of the Pre-Raphaelites: 11 October 2024 – 26 January 2025
The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TS
Opening Hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 5pm.
Admission FREE
Further Information: Scent and the Art of the Pre-Raphaelites Exhibitions