Paula Rego: Visions of English Literature is a Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition that has opened this week at Surrey’s Lightbox Gallery & Museum.
Celebrating the art of one of the most important artists of her generation, the exhibition showcases Paula Rego’s remarkable printmaking practice and explores the literary influences that have inspired her work.
Rego drew inspiration from a vast range of sources, from traditional folklore and fairy tales to nursery rhymes and literary classics. This exhibition presents three of the artist’s most ambitious and profound series of works in printmaking: Nursery Rhymes, Peter Pan and Jane Eyre, made across a decade of the artist’s life. These works are accompanied by a variety of rarely seen personal items, including preparatory sketches, etching plates and Rego’s very own childhood copy of Peter Pan.
Paula Rego: Visions of English Literature offers audiences an intimate portrayal of the artist’s lifelong fascination with literature and insight into how the artist transformed this material into startlingly original and unexpected images. From menacing oversized creatures etched into life from children’s nursery rhymes such as Little Miss Muffet and Three Blind Mice, to the almost hallucinatory depictions of Neverland from Peter Pan and the tumultuous power dynamics at work in Jane Eyre, Rego’s work tells stories that combine fantasy and imagination, innocence and cruelty, in order to explore the complexities of life and the experience of women in particular, in all its strangeness and mystery.
Paula Rego’s Estate, says:
“Life with Paula was filled with stories, humour and mischief and she always seemed to have her own, surprising twist on the books she read. She often said that she had the most fun making the prints for these series because the stories were already laid out for her, but there’s no question that she made them her own. We’d like to thank Hayward Gallery Touring for mounting this exhibition.”
Paula Rego: Visions of English Literature continues at Lightbox Gallery & Museum until 8 June 2025. For further information: thelightbox.org.uk
Image: Paula Rego, Little Miss Muffet II, 1989, Hand coloured etching and aquatint, Edition of 50 © Ostrich Arts Ltd | Paula Rego Estate, Courtesy Ostrich Arts Ltd and Cristea Roberts Gallery
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