Art lovers can look forward to several new exhibitions at the Bermuda National Gallery (BNG) with effect from February 7. One show will be a mixture of new and previously seen works, collectively entitled ‘Winter Exhibitions’.

These will include some of the museum’s most notable recent gifts, as well as dramatic art from Japan, and a special exhibit of woodblock prints devoted to the Kabuki Theatre.

There will also be selections from the BNG’s Bermuda, African and European Collections, with the Bermuda and European Collections being housed in the newly redecorated Ondaatje Wing and the Watlington Room, respectively.

Most of the BNG’s Permanent Collection consists of gifts, and New Acquisitions: Recent Gifts to the Bermuda National Gallery <$>exhibition will focus on some of the more significant donations, as well as other pieces which have now been restored, most of which are being shown publicly for the first time.

This exhibition includes international works by Whistler, Norman Lewis and Erté (Romain de Tirtoff); a stone sculpture by Shona sculptor Jonothan Mhondorohuma; and Bermuda works by Edward James, Bill Ming, John Athill Frith and Ethel Tucker.

Commenting on ‘New Acquisitions’, BNG director Laura Gorham said it illustrated “the breadth and diversity of our collections policy, and the care we take in restoring and preserving valuable works of art”.

“It also enables us to publicly say ‘thank you’ to those people who have generously donated pieces to us.

“Like most smaller museums, we do not have the acquisitions budget of major metropolitan museums so we — and indeed Bermuda — are dependent on their generosity to help us build our Permanent Collection.

“We hope this exhibition will inspire other art collectors to consider the BNG as an ideal beneficiary.”>

The Art of Drama: Kabuki Theatre Through Woodblock Prints is the third Japanese woodblock exhibition to be staged by the BNG, and follows its popular predecessors, ‘The Art of the Japanese Woodblock Print’ (Winter 2003) and ‘Yoshitoshi: The Last great Ukiyo-e Artist’ (Winter 2005).

Drawn from the same private collection, the more than 60 prints will illustrate how the technique of woodblock printing and traditional Japanese Kabuki Theatre developed together during the 17th and 18th centuries. Both Kabuki Theatre, which was known for the stylisation of its drama and the elaborate make-up and costumes worn by its performers, and woodblock printing were part of ‘ukiyo’ — literally the “floating world” — the hedonistic lifestyle centred on the Yoshiwara pleasure district in Edo (now Tokyo). The Japanese woodblock printing industry developed the print into a mass-produced popular art, easily affordable to people of all classes.

In their time the prints were not considered true art, but were regarded as the movie star posters of their day.

The industry turned the actors into cultural icons and, as they do today, the actors had huge fan clubs and supplemented their earnings by endorsing products. Both of the foregoing exhibitions are sponsored by Endurance Specialty Insurance Limited.

The revolving exhibition, 350 Years of Art in Bermuda, will be presented as an historical timeline and will follow the artistic, historical and cultural development of Bermuda through its decorative and fine arts from 1624 to the present day. The BNG’s Permanent Collection is complemented by significant private loans focusing on Bermuda’s early decorative arts of furniture and silverwork.

[bul] Also on February 7 woodblock aficionado Noel Chiappa will present the PartnerRe Art Lecture, with ‘Twins of the Chonin: Kabuki Woodblock Prints’ as his topic, at the BNGB>

Celebrating the Diversity of Africa <$>will include selections from the BNG collection, which encompasses sub-Saharan Africa, and consists of traditional masks and sculptures from 19 ethnic peoples and cultures. The display will includes work from the Senufo, Yoruba, Asante, Guro and Dogan peoples.

The European Collection: 1500-1<$> will be a survey of western European art from the Renaissance to the end of the 19th century. The collection will include paintings by Lucas Cranach, Alonzo Sanchez Coello, Richard Wilson, Sir Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough as well as a Rodin sculpture. All exhibitions will continue through April 5.