What's On

Annie Swynnerton, Painting Light and Hope – exhibition curator talk.

Painting Light and Hope is the first retrospective exhibition of Annie Swynnerton’s work for many years currently at Manchester City Art Gallery and features 36 paintings from across her career. Rebecca Milner, who is the Gallery’s Curator for Fine Art, will talk about Annie Swynnerton and the Exhibition, at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House and there will be an opportunity to hear about other portraits in the House.

Annie Swynnerton was born in 1844 in Hulme. She trained at the Manchester School of Art and went on to study abroad in Rome and Paris. In 1879 she founded the Manchester Society of Women Painters with her friend and fellow artist Susan Dacre with whom she shared a studio. Annie painted a huge range of subjects and particularly enjoyed painting real women – what she called ‘the strong female gaze’. She was a committed feminist and suffragist all her life and in 1922 became the first elected female member of the Royal Academy of Arts. Her portraits are extraordinarily accomplished, and the one she painted of William Gaskell has been borrowed from the House for the duration of the Exhibition.

Doors open at 6pm.
Volunteers will be talking about William Gaskell in the study and about Elizabeth Gaskell and Charlotte Bronte in the Drawing Room before the main talk.

A vegetable chilli with crusty bread will be available from 6.15pm – please pre-order by ticket and let us know if you require gluten-free bread or have any allergies.

Talk 7.30 to 8.30.
The bar will be open from 6.15pm to 7.30pm and after the talk until 9.30pm.

Tickets £8.50 talk only
£16.50 talk and vegetable chilli

This is a Friends of Elizabeth Gaskell’s House fundraising event and proceeds go to Elizabeth Gaskell’s House.