Birmingham
The Barber Collection
The Barber Institution of Fine Arts will be celebrating Black History Month during October with events and activities for everyone to come along to. This trail seeks to highlight the non-European and Black presence within the Barber’s collections.
These works form a fascinating and integral part of the story of art the Barber seeks to tell. You will see works of art from West Africa, India, China and Persia (modern Iran) as well as images of Black figures in Dutch, Flemish, Spanish and Italian old master paintings.
In addition, throughout the month, visitors to our permanent collection will be able to enjoy a FREE gallery trail entitled Reframing the Past: Hidden Histories at the Barber Institute, which places the focus on BME figures in our collection.
In particular, there’s the Head of Amenhotep III Egyptian, about 1350 BC. Gabbro stone and created by an ‘Unknown Artists’. This monumental head depicts Amenhotep III, who ruled Egypt for almost forty years. He was the ninth member of the eighteenth recorded dynasty of Egyptian pharaohs and reigned over an empire that extended from Syria to the Sudan. Under his rule Egypt reached the peak of its power and artistic splendour. He commissioned more than a thousand portrait statues of himself, many on this colossal scale. This head may be from his funerary temple and originally formed part of a full-length statue of the King.
For more information click here:
http://www.barber.org.uk/blackhistorymonth2011.html
