The Messel Family Dress Collection consists of over five hundred items, largely women’s wear, most of which was worn and collected by Anne, Countess of Rosse and her mother, Maud Messel. It is a unique collection of exceptionally high-quality, unusual … Continued
This display features a wide range of serious crimes and lesser felonies of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Some of the prints are cheap products of the gutter press while others are expensive copies of famous paintings. Some of … Continued
In shadows cast on a cloth screen, gods battle against agents of evil. Awe and divine inspiration unfold night after night through the Hindu epic of Ramayana. This act of religious devotion, often performed in front of a temple, also … Continued
Music, firecrackers and smoke bring these dramas to life on a shimmering stage of water. Once performed on a village pond they now travel the world. Water provides the magic and hides the mechanism of the puppet. In Vietnam today … Continued
Sequins and jewels glitter on vivid costumes. Shimmering marionettes play out fantastic myths and stories. This is the dream-like world of Burmese puppet theatre. Strings seem to disappear and puppets take on a life of their own. Spectators are caught … Continued
Henry Willett, a founding father of Brighton Museum, was a man of great energy, enthusiasm and wide-ranging interests. He was born in Newhaven, the youngest of eleven children and moved to Brighton in 1841. He ran the West Street Brewery … Continued
Visitors to Preston Manor often ask how the Stanfords managed to maintain and finance not only the Manor itself but also the Pythouse estate in Wiltshire, 3 Ennismore Gardens in South Kensington, a yacht and large houses in Madeira and … Continued
Jed Phoenix is a self-described Queer-Techno-Fetish-Punk (Q-T-F-P). Her style and identity draw on differing, sometimes overlapping interests in her life. This consciously avoids simplistic categorisation and the uniformity of single subcultural identities in favour of an assertive individualism. In an … Continued
Shadows cast by elaborate leather puppets performing Indonesian versions of Indian Hindu epics. On a portable stage, the puppeteer-priest sets up his framed screen and lamps. He will thrill and enchant a crowd with his puppets. To the women, seated … Continued
How can movement be conveyed by a still image? How is motion evoked differently in photography and painting? These questions are addressed by showing photographs from Eadweard Muybridge’s Animal Locomotion series (1887) alongside artworks from Royal Pavilion & Museums Fine … Continued
The Farebrother collection came to the museum in 1976 after a trunk containing many items of dress was found in a clear out of a family home and offered to the museum. The clothes were worn by Katherine Sophia Farebrother and date … Continued
Fashion & Style Gallery The Fashion & Style gallery draws on Brighton & Hove Museums’ costume collection to produce displays that explore a series of inter-related themes. The themes selected reflect different aspects of Brighton life. The current displays in the gallery … Continued
Inspired by the Willett collection of popular pottery depicting social dance in decorative art. From the earliest times dance has been used to express humanity’s fundamental needs and emotions. People danced in groups to invoke the spirits of the animals … Continued
Twelve was a comprehensive project designed to study the relationship between ‘Chinese things’ and ‘Chinese people’. Historical collections in British museums offer unique challenges to those working with contemporary audiences. The Chinese collections held by Brighton Museum & Art Gallery … Continued
James Williamson (1855-1933) was a filmmaker, manufacturer, producer, showman and inventor. He was married to Betsy Heaysman and had four children. Although born in Scotland, Williamson moved to Hove in 1886 and was part of the hugely influential Brighton School … Continued
This exhibition based on the Willett collection of popular pottery looks at three areas of women’s lives throughout the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries: their roles at work and in the home, in the production of ceramics and as reformers. … Continued
Brighton Museum & Art Gallery holds significant collections of objects and images from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, two island groups in the Bay of Bengal, South Asia. Most were collected by three British individuals – Richard Carnac Temple, Edward … Continued
‘Colour is life: for a world without colours appears to us as dead.’ – Johannes Itten, 1961 We take colour in the moving image for granted. But the search for a way to capture this colour is a story of … Continued
Learning about Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights This learning resource was created to promote understanding of this important Hindu festival. It reflects a long-standing partnership between Brighton Museum & Art Gallery and the Hindu Women’s Group, a partnership which … Continued
Inspired by Brighton Museum & Art Gallery’s outstanding holdings of performance related material from around the world, the Performance Gallery opened in 2002 as part of a major museum redevelopment project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Public performances happen … Continued
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The Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust is a self-funding charity. We face a huge funding deficit from revenue lost during the Covid-19 pandemic, and we now need the urgent support of individuals and businesses to help us continue our work.
