On Thursday evening Nick and I went along to the Gainsborough’s House 50th Anniversary Dinner at the Swan Hotel in Lavenham. The 50th Anniversary Celebrations are likely to continue for about three years since it took that length of time, following the purchase of Gainsborough’s House by the Trust in 1958, for the museum to actually open, so expect to see a steady procession of related events.
Ninety people or so attended the dinner at which the Director of the House, Diane Perkins, gave an overview of what the museum now looks like following its makeover in 2006. She also described some of the community and outreach work that is carried out by Liam, our marvellous Education Officer. The after dinner speaker was Mark Fisher, Member of Parliament for Stoke on Trent and author of a book on Museums which has a chapter on Gainsborough’s House. He was clearly very keen on the Sudbury collection and pointed out that Gainsborough’s House is the only artist’s birthplace museum in the country.
If you haven’t done so, do go down to the House before 15th December to see the temporary exhibition of early 20th century paintings from the collection at Boxted House in North Essex. There are many excellent works on show, including the one pictured above of Nathalie Bevan by Gertler, which I think is simply stunning!
Entry is free on Tuesday afternoons, and a cup of tea or coffee only costs £1. There are some lovely Christmas cards on sale in the shop, where all profits go towards the work of the House.
