Gainsborough's House Sudbury welcomes three new exhibitions

Gainsborough's House, the museum and art gallery based in the Sudbury birthplace of portrait and landscape painter Thomas Gainsborough, will welcome the public to view the new collections from November 16.

The Image of the Artist: Portraits from the Royal Academy exhibition features  self-portraits made by current and recent Royal Academicians, giving visitors a glimpse into their lives and personalities.

The Image of the Artist: Portraits from the Royal Academy is set to open at Gainsborough's House (Image: Newsquest) Part of the exhibition which opens on Saturday (Image: Newsquest) The exhibition spans from the time of Thomas Gainsborough, who was a founding member of the Royal Academy, featuring Sir Thomas Lawrence and Richard Westall, to more contemporary art by the likes of Chantal Joffe, Jean Cooke and Sir Sidney Nolan. 

It also features photographs by American photographer Catherine Opie of contemporary Royal Academicians including David Hockney and Gillian Wearing. 

More of the paintings that will be open to the public this week (Image: Newsquest) Thomas Gainsborough's self portrait (Image: Newsquest) Images by Catherine Opie in the exhibition (Image: Newsquest) The second exhibition launching on Saturday is entitled Picture Perfect: A Century of Fashion Photography from the National Portrait Gallery and outlines the models and photographers who helped shape culture over the last 100 years. 

The 29-image exhibition features huge names from the likes of Twiggy, pictured by Ronald Traeger, to Audrey Hepburn, captured by Cecil Beaton, The Beatles, taken by Harry Hammond and more recently Stormzy, pictured by Olivia Rose.

The Picture Perfect exhibit (Image: Newsquest) Twiggy photograph in the exhibition (Image: Newsquest) Taken by some of the most influential photographers of the time, the exhibition is a snapshot of the role of fashion in the changing culture of the last century. 

The exhibition opens on Saturday, November 16 (Image: Newsquest) The Beatles image displayed in the exhibition (Image: Newsquest) The third new exhibition opening this weekend explores the work of legendary designer and artist John Macfarlane. 

John Macfarlane and the Art of Theatrical Designs features 21 drawings and three stage models spanning his five-decade career designing sets and costumes for some of the biggest productions around the globe. 

Artwork by John Macfarlane (Image: Newsquest) Stage design model by John Macfarlane (Image: Newsquest) These include Swan Lake for The Royal Ballet, Magic Flute for The Royal Opera, as well as Frankenstein for The Joffrey Ballet in Chicago, and Tosca for New York’s Metropolitan Opera.

Gainsborough's House is known as Suffolk's largest gallery and reopened in November 2022 following a three-year £10million revamp.

The project doubled the size of the museum based in Thomas Gainsborough's childhood home, creating more space for exhibitions and visitors. 

Earlier this year an exhibition on the work of Cedric Morris and Arthur Lett-Haines, who lived at Benton End in Hadleigh, proved particularly popular with visitors and a 2023 exhibition of work by Sudbury-born Maggi Hambling was another firm favourite. 

The new exhibitions will run from November 16, 2024, to April 20, 2025.

The museum, café and visitor shop are open from 10am until 4pm every day and an adult ticket costs £16.50 with Gift Aid, £15 without.