BP British Art Displays : Atlantic Britain

5 Dec 2011-4 Nov 2012

Overview

The history of British art has often been told as an ‘island story’, as if the visual arts were directly shaped by the immediate social and physical environment. The modesty and naturalism of British art has been explained with reference to a mythic ‘national character’. However, all the paintings displayed here illuminate a different history – that of the ‘Atlantic world’ which connected Africa, Europe and the Americas. Supported by BP