Mapping The Archive, Birmingham's Journey Through the RBSA Permanent Collection

Mapping the Archive, Birmingham’s Journey Through the RBSA Permanent Collection focuses on the changing face of Birmingham’s cityscape, travelling through its architectural history by way of the Society’s Permanent Collection.

Work dating back as far as 1814, the same year that the RBSA’s earliest incarnation the Birmingham Academy of Arts was born, are displayed alongside artwork depicting the second city’s current landscape, and there are some notable names amongst the artists included.

The Society of Arts engraving by Thomas Radclyffe (active 1817 – 1830) dating from c.1830 and Charles Walter Radclyffe’s (1817 – 1903) c.1840 lithograph View of New Street, Portico of the RBSA and Town Hall deservedly take their place, with Frank T Lockwood’s (1895 – 1961) Old Houses Near the Crescent from 1952.

As well as these gems, visitors to the exhibition will also be able to enjoy works depicting other Birmingham locations, including Digbeth and Deritend, Broad Street, Chamberlain Square, Piccadilly Arcade, and Moseley Road School of Art, to name but a few. They will see buildings which remain, as well as those which no longer stand, reminding us that the much-maligned Birmingham is a beautiful city worth celebrating and championing.

Private View: Thursday 18 September 6.00pm – 8.00pm

Exhibition closes: Saturday 18 October 5.00pm

Featured image: Edward Richard Taylor RBSA, RBSA and Town Hall, New Street, 1878

Opening Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 10.30am – 5.00pm