Wednesday 19 July 2017

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow


While staying with Anna near Glasgow (thank you so much for your hospitality, Anna) we went to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.  It is the first time I have been there and I could have spent days wandering around.


As with all museums and galleries a large number of the holdings are not on display because of lack of space.  



I recall when I first went behind the scenes at the old Liverpool Museum (now the Merseyside World Museum).  I was fascinated by how many hundreds of drawers of moths there were.  At Kelvingrove just one drawer was being exhibited.

 













The Floating Heads installation by Sophie Cave was my outright favourite work at Kelvingrove. 


Cave created over 50 of them, each displaying different emotions including laughter and despair. The heads are completely white, but are lit so that their expressions are accentuated, which gives the installation a somewhat eerie feel. Since the installation is hung over the foyer, it is one of the first things visitors see when they enter the museum.




10 comments:

  1. The architecture takes my breath away!
    I am not the only one, look what I just read...
    The building's architecture is one of Kelvingrove's delights. Many visitors spend as much time viewing the building and its architectural details and sculpture as they do admiring the collections housed within it.
    Looking at the building, I might even overlook the scary heads!

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  2. It IS eerie, all those heads, but a great work of art! I love big museums (and small ones), and would love a glimpse behind the scenes at them, but that is so rarely possible.

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  3. It looks like a wonderful place to visit, but those floating heads might spook me a bit!

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  4. I have walked around Kelvingrove and enjoyed it and spent hours in it (and blogged about it) for years but there is always something new. I do not recall the Allegory of the Senses nor Grenouille. So much still to experience.

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  5. I agree with Kay G. and am fascinated by the architecture. Did you notice the young ladies in the shot with the giraffe were both occupied with texting or reading on their cell phones? More's the pity; they are missing all the beauty around them for a silly pastime that seems to be taking over the planet.

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    1. Ah, but you know, Jill, it could have just been that they were using the museum's own app on their mobile phones to get more information about the things they were seeing... ;-)
      (Seriously, most museums in England now offer this kind of additional information.)

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    2. Librarian I do hope you are right, but I'm still betting they were setting dates or playing games.

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  6. I love those floating heads... Even better that they are different expressions!

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  7. I remember those floating heads from GB's photos in the past, but I'm guessing that with so many of them, different faces might catch one's interest on different occasions. Not to mention "everything" else in that place ... I had no idea there was a giraffe in there! :) And the architecture would certainly be worth a visit just in its own right, too.

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  8. It looks like a wonderful place to visit, but those floating heads might spook me a bit!


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