Carla Zaccagnini Elements of Beauty

14 Mar 2014-31 May 2015

Overview

Carla Zaccagnini's project, Elements of Beauty, revisits the campaign for women's suffrage in Britain a century ago, examining a series of actions that took place in British museums. From 1913 to 1914 over 20 artworks and artefacts, including 13 paintings at the Manchester Art Gallery and 6 at the National Gallery in London – most notably, Diego Velázquez’s The Toilet of Venus (or The Rokeby Venus, 1647–51) – were attacked by Suffragettes. Zaccagnini's installation draws upon research into this history, quoting statistics, primary evidence and newspaper reports from the time, and information about the artworks at the centre of the iconoclastic acts. The exhibition will include a series of new sculptures based on accounts of the weapons used by the Suffragettes, a book and an audio guide with entries for each of the 29 damaged objects. Elements of Beauty is the first solo exhibition of Carla Zaccagnini’s work in a public gallery in the UK.