THE Foundling Museum, which is dedicated to exploring the history, legacy and values of the Foundling Hospital, has announced its exhibition programme for 2019.
Founded in 1739 by sailor and philanthropist Captain Thomas Coram, the Foundling Hospital aimed to provide a refuge for children at risk of abandonment and neglect. Through its fundraising efforts, the Hospital also became known as a hub for the arts, becoming the site of the first British Art Gallery and often giving fundraising concerts, at which Handel was a frequent performer.
Today, the Foundling Museum stands on the site of its predecessor, and the Hospital’s philanthropic values continue in the children’s charity Coram, which supports children and young people through adoption and parenting support, creative therapies and by championing legal rights for children across the globe.
With its originating principles in mind, the Foundling Museum covers 300 years of history, reflecting the concerns of social intervention as well as and education and entertainment through art and music.
The exhibitions for 2019 will include a study of the bedrooms of London’s poorest children, an examination of the importance of sound in the art works of Hospital governor William Hogarth, and a look at the way that Georgian citizens experienced theatre and concert-going.
The first exhibition, which will run from 8 February to 5 May, is Bedrooms of London. This photo-documentary series is created in partnership with London’s child poverty charity, The Childhood Trust, and features photographs by artist Katie Wilson.
Katie Wilson, Bedrooms of London, Amelie
This series will highlight the living conditions of London’s most disadvantaged children, focussing on portraying the spaces where children sleep.
Alongside first-hand accounts from the families of these children, the photographs will force their viewers to confront the fact that, while much has changed since the Georgian era of the Foundling Hospital, nonetheless, the shocking reality is that 700,000 children in London live below the poverty line.
By presenting these intimate accounts, the exhibition hopes to offer an insight into the personal realities of these children’s lives, challenging the prejudices and stereotypes associated with child poverty, and raising awareness of the fact that child poverty remains as important an issue as ever.
From May 24 to September 1, the Foundling Museum will exhibit Hogarth and the Art of Noise. Artist William Hogarth was a founding governor of the Foundling Hospital, as well as an instrumental figure in setting up an art exhibition in the Hospital’s buildings. Encouraging other artists to paint pictures for the exhibition, he helped to create what is considered to be the first British art gallery.
William Hogarth, The Enraged Musician (1741)
Believing that the role of sound in Hogarth’s paintings has been overlooked, the exhibition aims to bring to life the bustling energy of Hogarth’s depictions of Georgian London, by focussing on the sounds associated with the pictures.
Using recordings, a three-dimensional soundscape and contextual objects alongside the works of art, the exhibition hopes to help the viewer to “hear” Hogarth’s paintings for the first time.
Hogarth’s painting The March of the Guards to Finchley (1750) will be the focus of the exhibition.
The final exhibition, Two Last Nights! Show Business in Georgian Britain, will run from September 20 to January 5. This exhibition looks to explore the way that audiences experienced the theatre and concerts in the Georgian period.
From an era where theatre attendance was often as much about being seen as seeing, the display of images, diaries, tickets and playbills will examine what the theatrical remains can tells us about the people who went and the people who performed.
Looking at the key venues in London and the provinces, the exhibition will reveal just what attending these performances was like, from arriving in your carriage to avoiding the queue for the ladies’ “powder room”.
The exhibition will also take a look at the behind the scenes roles, in the theatre managers, carpenters and scenery painters, revealing what life was like for the creatives of the Georgian era.
by Hannah Valentine
The Foundling Museum, 40 Brunswick Square, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 1AZ
Bedrooms of London will run from 8 February to 5 May
Hogarth and the Art of Noise will run from May 24 to September 1
Two Last Nights! Show Business in Georgian Britain will run from September 20 to January 5
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