Hunting for inspiration without doing prior research in Central London
Visiting the Fantasy: Realms of Imagination exhibit and getting lost in the V&A
I love a trip to London. On hearing that the Fantasy exhibit was running at the British Library, I felt like it was my sworn duty to visit, and why not make a day of it. My lovely mum - who during my student days, endured countless trips with me - offered to join me, and I assured her I had planned the trip carefully. She knows me well, so I’m surprised she took me at my word.
I had decided I would really love to see some inspiring pieces at the V&A while we were down there, so we decided to pop over to South Kensington after our timeslot at the exhibition.
Fantasy: Realms of Imagination was great. I didn’t well up with emotion like I had at the Tolkien exhibit at the Bodleian, but seeing an original Alan Lee painting next to Gandalf’s staff and pipe was a highlight.
There were other people around, but not so many that meant you couldn’t pause to read and take everything in. I liked how it was in a bit of a haphazard order, with Dragon Ball next to The Grail Quest, and a broad range of fantasy literature on display, the books open on a notable page (I wanted so badly to be able to pick them up and leaf through!)
I wish the illustrators had been listed with a little more prominence in some cases - in fact, I read that Jackie Morris had to request her name be added to the Robin Hobb display. But getting to look at so many private notebooks, first draft pages and stunning illustrated editions was truly special.
As a gamer, it was refreshing to see video games represented as important to the genre, as well as tabletop gaming, cosplay and fanfiction. I can’t say I would have ever expected to see AO3 in the British Library…
Overall, well worth a visit and I left with notes to pick up a few additional books I hadn’t heard of and with the determination to finally read my copy of Lud-in-the-Mist.
On to the V&A. Have you visited? I had forgotten that the V&A is not quite as easy to navigate as the British Museum, where you can go straight to what you want to look at. Whilst equally uncomfortable in all its stolen artifacts, the V&A is a rabbit warren with no discernable logic, especially if you didn’t bother to look up what hall things are in before your visit. My ever-patient mum and I circled through the Chanel exhibit around five times before finding someone to help, only to be met with a panicked expression when I unhelpfully asked where to find the pre-raphaelites.
Turns out, they don’t really have any, and the ones they do have are scattered about at different ends of the museum. All our wanderings did mean we stumbled across some gems, including Beatrix Potter originals, some beautiful tapestries and some even more beautiful stained glass, all of which was very lovely and inspiring.
And the miniatures! I love miniature paintings and they had some absolute beauties. Including Nicholas Hilliard, who was cute, at least by his own account:
The photos I took in this section were not in my camera roll on leaving. Weird. (Image courtesy of Wikipedia).
The jewellery in the V&A is worth the visit alone, but it was heaving - way too warm and claustrophobic and you couldn’t take a moment to look at anything, so we didn’t linger. I had been there before when I was writing my thesis on magical rings and stones in Middle-English literature (more on that another day), so I contented myself with a quick look at the medieval pieces.
A lovely trip, with five extra miles walked inside the V&A. On googling, I discovered that many of the artists I wanted to see are in Birmingham. In fact, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery has a ton of Burne-Jones (fave) and they are about to open a Victorian Radicals exhibit with hundreds of pre-Raphaelite treasures. I am from Birmingham and my mum lives there. Research is your friend!
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