The Art Isles - A 15,000-Year Story of Art in Britain and Ireland by National Gallery

About The Art Isles - A 15,000-Year Story of Art in Britain and Ireland

The British Isles hold a unique position in the history of art, a place where local traditions fuse with international ideas in extraordinary waysAt once isolated by coastal boundaries, yet also part of larger networks of diverse peoples, these islands have always benefited from a dual perspective.Artistic creativity in the British Isles stretches back to Ice Age engravings of reindeer, horses and birds. International networks were already shaping prehistoric art and by 1,000 CE artists working in Britain and Ireland were using lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, walrus tusks from Greenland, garnets from India and elephant ivory from Africa. The Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans introduced new styles from overseas, as did later European artists, attracted by the wealth of royal courts. Art was traded and looted across the British empire by colonial explorers, merchants and the military.In the course of the 20th century these islands have been a refuge, but also a place where migrants have faced resistance. Sculptures by Jewish immigrants fleeing Nazi death camps, paintings by post-war Caribbean artists and protest murals sparked by the Troubles in Northern Ireland all express artists' complex relationships with the idea of home.Artists today such as Grayson Perry, Lubaina Himid, Yinka Shonibare, Rachel Whiteread and Edmund de Waal consciously reflect on this long history in their work, exploring concepts of identity and belonging.Fresh, pacy and surprising, The Art Isles tells the story of why art in Britain and Ireland is so rich and dynamic - and why it has always extended far beyond geographical borders.

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The National Gallery Shop brings the world's great paintings into everyday life through a beautifully curated range of art-inspired products, all connected to the collection housed in one of the world's finest art museums on Trafalgar Square in London. For art lovers around the world who can't make it to London in person, the online shop offers a way to own a piece of the collection's legacy. The range includes high-quality art prints and posters of paintings from the National Gallery collection — Van Gogh's Sunflowers, Vermeer's Young Woman Standing at a Virginal, Seurat's Bathers at Asnières — available framed or unframed in a range of sizes. Beyond prints, the shop stocks exhibition catalogues and art books, stationery and notebooks featuring famous works, scarves and accessories inspired by the collection, mugs and tote bags, jewellery, and a wide range of gifts suitable for art lovers of all ages. The children's range is particularly charming. The shop ships internationally and is an excellent source for thoughtful, culturally meaningful gifts that are genuinely connected to one of the world's great art institutions.