3 Review(s)

Published to accompany an exhibition at Salisbury Museum and Art Gallery,this volume explores the most significant works of art engaged with prehistoricmoments across Britain from the 18th century to the 21st. While some of theworks in the earlier period may be familiar to readers - especially Turner andConstable's famous watercolours of Stonehenge - the varied responses to BritishAntiquity since 1900 are much less well known and have never been groupedtogether.The author aims to show the significance of antiquity for 20th-century artists,demonstrating how they responded to the observable features of prehistoricBritain and exploited their potential for imaginative re-interpretation. Theclassic phase of modernist interest in these sites and monuments was the1930s, but a number of artists working after WWII developed this legacy orwere stimulated to explore that landscape in new ways. Indeed, it continues tostimulate responses and the book concludes with an examination of works madewithin the last few years.An introductory essay looks at the changing artistic approach to Britishprehistoric remains over the last 250 years, emphasizing the artistic significanceof this body of work and examining the very different contexts that broughtit into being. The cultural intersections between the prehistoric landscape, itsrepresentation by fine artists and the emergence of its most famous sites asfamiliar locations in public consciousness will also be examined. For example,engraved topographical illustrations from the 18th and 19th centuries and Shelladvertising posters from the 20th century will be considered.Artists represented include: JMW Turner, John Constable, Thomas Hearne,William Blake, Samuel Prout, William Geller, Richard Tongue, Thomas Guest,John William Inchbold, George Shepherd, William Andrews Nesfield, CopleyFielding, Yoshijiro (Mokuchu) Urushibara, Alan Sorrell, Edward McKnightKauffer, Frank Dobson, Paul Nash, Eric Ravilious, John Piper, Henry Moore,Barbara Hepworth, Ithell Colquhoun, Gertrude Hermes, Norman Stevens,Norman Ackroyd, Bill Brandt, Derek Jarman, Richard Long, Joe Tilson, DavidInshaw and Jeremy Deller.