Museums -St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery-Lymington.
I visited Lymington. It is a historic market town with a harbour, high street, slippy cobbles and excellent charity shops.
St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery is situated off the main high street. From the outside without any knowledge of the history of the building it all looked very new and modern and had a cafe with big windows to nose out of. I understand that ‘nose’ isn’t the correct language to use when researching but they were very big windows.
On arrival it was quite busy with lots of people in the cafe and bustling around. I had my National Art Pass so entrance was free on producing but the prices vary between adult and child and are between £3.00 and £6.00 if you include gift aid. The exhibition that was being shown was Art of World War II: John Noott Collection.
‘Featuring rarely seen portrayals of Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain and the Blitz, this exhibition explores the art of the Second World War through the remarkable collection of art dealer John Noott.’
‘John Noott was just seven when war broke out in 1939. Later in life, as a successful art dealer, he began to collect art made during the war years. The collection now includes over 100 paintings, prints and posters by famous and lesser-known artists, including Felix Topolski and Eduardo Paolozzi. After a brief showing at the Broadway Arts Festival in 2016, this exhibition represents the first major gallery showing of Noott’s rich collection of war art.’
I didn’t ask about taking pictures in the gallery spaces until I was inside so I kept it to a minimum of a couple of outdoor images and a few indoor to show the inside of the gallery.
I looked up the origins of the museum on their website;
‘St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery is an independent organisation governed by Lymington Museum Trust, a registered charity (no.1018779). Since opening in 1999, it has acquired a reputation as one of the finest museums and art galleries in the region.
In July 2017, St Barbe re-opened after a 10 month closure for a total refurbishment. The project was made possible by a £1.78 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and more than £500,000 in donations from other trusts, organisations, businesses and individuals.’
How the gallery used to look before refurbishment. This image is on the art uk website and it hasn’t been updated to show the new building. I feel I must tell them.
‘The Museum is housed in a building which was formerly Lymington’s first national school, built in 1835. The museum was opened in its current form in 1999 and is fully accessible. St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery’s collections cover primarily the social history of the New Forest coast area, including Lymington, New Milton, Milford-on-Sea, Barton, Boldre, Sway and Hordle. This comprises a large photographic collection, prints and drawings and a collection of items reflecting the people, events, places and businesses of the Solent shore.’
Ruskin Spear (1911-1990) VE Night.
The second room held the museum which had lots of local history pieces inside. I am not from the area but it was very interesting to learn about its past and the surrounding areas. I did very much like these big shells and sharks teeth.
The exhibitions and the museum were very interesting. They have an excellent website that tells you all about the history and the exhibitions they have on show.
Visit their website here- https://www.stbarbe-museum.org.uk/