This is a marvellous show, spread over many rooms at the Hall by the river in Kendal. I was most looking forward to seeing the Stanley Spencer’s (of which there was only one), but the rest of the collection in this show is very impressive.

I was most surprised by the Paula Rego pastels, three enormous paintings with a strong message about abortion and politics. Having never seen her work first-hand before, but being very familiar from books, I was unprepared for their impact, truly punchy.

“Collecting the Past, Present & Future
Highlights of British Art From Turner to Freud

13 July – 27 October 2007

This summer Abbot Hall celebrates forty-five years of collecting by staging the most comprehensive exhibition of its own collection since the gallery opened in 1962. Although perhaps best known for its temporary exhibition programme, Abbot Hall Art Gallery has also been one of the most active galleries collecting British art in recent years, acquiring important works ranging from a Turner watercolour of Windermere to portraits by Stanley Spencer and Frank Auerbach, and abstract paintings by Bridget Riley and Sean Scully. Through its wide contacts with private collectors, the gallery has also secured somes pectacular long term loans, including the largest collection of Lucian Freud etchings to be found in a public gallery.”

http://www.abbothall.org.uk/

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