NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE.- The Laing Art Gallery’s landmark exhibition for 2022 - The Lindisfarne Gospels - celebrates the most spectacular surviving manuscript from early medieval Britain and feature new work by Turner Prize winning artist Jeremy Deller, who is also acting as an artistic advisor for the show.
This is the first time the venerated book, on loan from the British Library, has been displayed in the city since 2000. The exhibition investigates the meaning of the Lindisfarne Gospels in the world today and explore its relationship with themes of personal, regional, and national identity. Ambitious in scale the show will take place across three galleries.
Jeremy Deller's new film commission explores the journey of the Lindisfarne Gospels from London to Newcastle upon Tyne.
The Lindisfarne Gospels exhibition begins with an immersive digital experience, where visitors will journey back to Lindisfarne during the 8th century. Though remote, the island was perfectly situated on early medieval sea-borne trade routes and enjoyed imports of new ideas, art, cultures and objects. An innovative visual and sensory experience, this new digital interpretation will flow over the gallery walls reflecting the manuscript’s story, its beauty and multicultural influences in an awe inspiring way.
The second gallery showcases the Gospels themselves and this display sees early medieval treasures brought together from across Britain, in an exploration of belief and spirituality around the time of the 8th century. This was a period of great change, as Britain slowly transitioned from Paganism to Christianity, and surviving material is extremely rare. Over 20 remarkable objects are on display, each reflecting the meaning people attached to books, objects and art.
Exhibits range in scale from small tokens of devotion, including stunning gold jewellery, to fragments of monumental carved stone crosses, which stood up to twenty feet high and marked gathering places for worship. They represent both personal and collective religious experience in the 8th century, and how sacred objects brought people closer to their relatively new faith. Key loans include grave goods from some of the earliest converts to Christianity, and material from the Staffordshire Hoard.
At the heart of the exhibition, the Lindisfarne Gospels is being shown alongside other illuminated manuscripts, including another significant loan from the British Library – the St Cuthbert Gospel, the oldest intact European book. With their painstakingly elaborate decoration and symbolism, these masterpieces of craftsmanship were a tremendous show of devotion.
The Lindisfarne Gospels is open at the beginning of the Gospel of St John, ff. 210v-211r. The cross-carpet page and the opening words of the Gospel of St John are the last major decoration in the manuscript and demonstrate the many different elements of its creator’s decorative vocabulary within a single final tour de force.
In the third gallery, visitors will see how art and spirituality have developed in the centuries since the Lindisfarne Gospels were created. A number of paintings, drawings and photographs are on loan to the exhibition, reflecting how artists throughout history have represented the spiritual state of their time. They include Old Master religious works, the Romantic painters who sought spiritual experience through nature, and contemporary artists exploring the deeper questions of life.
Combining works from across different faiths, as well as outside of formal religion, the exhibition explores themes of spirituality, connection and identity in a way that is relevant to today’s world. A highlight of the exhibition is a new film commission by Turner-Prize winning artist Jeremy Deller, which explores the fantastic journey of the Lindisfarne Gospels from London to Newcastle upon Tyne.
Julie Milne, Chief Curator of Art Galleries, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, said: "We are very excited that we will be partnering with the British Library to host The Lindisfarne Gospels, one of the world’s greatest treasures, and such an important part of our region’s history and heritage. It’s a privilege to be able to exhibit them and build an exhibition around them and we’re absolutely delighted to be working with Jeremy Deller and having his artistic input to help shape the exhibition experience.
“We are very happy to have the new Ad Gefrin Visitor Experience and Distillery as our Headline Sponsor as there is an obvious synergy with us both highlighting the rich history of Northumberland during the Anglo-Saxon period.
“We’re anticipating that this will be a very popular exhibition, so I’d urge people to book their tickets as soon as possible.”
Dr Xerxes Mazda, Head of Collections and Curation at the British Library, said: “We are thrilled to be working with partners across the North East to bring the Lindisfarne Gospels to the Laing Art Gallery for this exciting exhibition. One of the greatest manuscripts in our care, the Gospels represent an extraordinary artistic achievement of national and international significance. We look forward to seeing new audiences engage with this exceptional example of early medieval design”.
