What’s on

Our current exhibitions

Camden Town to Garden City: work by Gilman, Gore and Ratcliffe

9 March – 30 June 2024
A major exhibition of paintings and drawings by three members of the famous Camden Town Group who worked in Letchworth in the years before the First World War, with loans from museums across the country including Tate, the Government Art Collection and the National Museum of Wales.

The exhibition looks at Harold Gilman (1876-1919), Frederick Spencer Gore (1878-1914), and William Ratcliffe (1870-1955), and specifically at paintings they made while living in Letchworth, the world’s first Garden City. Many of these works have never been shown in North Herts since they were painted over a century ago.

Lord Chris Smith of Finsbury, Chair of the Art Fund, said: ‘There is no better place in the world for an exhibition of the works of Harold Gilman, Frederick Spencer Gore and William Ratcliffe than the North Herts Museum.’

Sir Michael Palin, actor and comedian, and fan of the Camden Town Group of artists, said: ‘What I find so appealing is the attention to detail. They show us, with honesty and precision, the fine detail of everyday life at the turn of the twentieth century. Their subjects are bedrooms, kitchen tables, teapots and mugs. Apart from being beautiful works in themselves, they offer a wonderfully vivid snapshot of our social and cultural history. What people washed in, what crockery they used, how they decorated their rooms. These are very English paintings. They move me most of all because I recognise a truth there. They have captured a corner of English life in a way few others ever tried, and they should be treasured for that.’

Inspired by Arbus – The next generation

We were fortunate to be given a bursary by the Tate in connection with our exhibition ARTIST ROOMS Diane Arbus, which ran from November 2023 to February 2024. This allowed us to work with sixth formers from four local schools: Hitchin Boys, Hitchin Girls, The Priory and St Christopher School. Each student was given access to a disposable black and white film camera and asked to take four shots inspired by their visit to the Arbus Exhibition at the museum.

The cameras are unmerciful, have limited focus as they were film, and the students had no delete or second chances. The images produced captured a moment in time and are unedited. Some of these images were blurred or too fark and could not be used. We asked the students to pick one of their remaining images which to them best represented their intention.

This exhibition is in The Arches, part of the upstairs Terrace Gallery.

Future exhibitions

For upcoming exhibitions, please see here.

Museum Talks

For more information and to book tickets click here to go to Art Tickets, have a look at the events on our Facebook page or ask at the Museum reception and we can book it for you.

Are you part of a local group or society?

We offer a number of bookable talks given by our expert museum staff. The talks need to be pre-booked and cost £60. Talks can be held at the Museum or at your own venue; if your venue is outside the district, we have to charge travelling expenses.

They can be for up to 40 people. The talks usually last an hour and can be daytime or evening.

It is also possible to arrange online talks using platforms such as Zoom. Please ask for further details.

For more information or to book a talk please email Rebecca Barkus.

To see a full list of available talks, please click here.