'Strange Worlds: The Vision of Angela Carter' at the RWA

I shook off my post-Christmas torpor and went to two fascinating exhibitions in Bristol today: The Staffordshire Hoard at Bristol City Museum, of which more anon, and 'Strange Worlds: The Vision of Angela Carter' at the Royal West of England Academy. 

You'll find far better photos than mine of the exhibits online, but I'll share some anyway.

'Castle' by Sarah Woodfine, right and above

Any exhibition with paintings by Leonora Carrington, Marc Chagall, Stanley Spencer, Holman Hunt, Dame Laura Knight, Paula Rego, Karl Weschke is going to grab my attention, but the more modern pieces easily hold their own. 

'Women's Place' by Juli Haas, above

As Carman Callil writes in the preface of the excellent accompanying publication, Carter was herself an accomplished artist, so it's not surprising that her writing should conjure fantastical images in the minds of these artists. 

'The Fairy Tale' by Di Oliver, above

Some of it is really quite creepy. 

This - 'The Shipwrecked Bride' by Katarina Rose - struck a chord and made me shudder. 

'Not waving but drowning' by Wendy Mayer

Heather Nevay's The Murder ...

... and 'The Lesson'

Details of Tessa Farmer's 'The Perilous Pursuit of a Python'

I was disappointed to see that the writing workshops associated with this exhibition are being on held on weekdays, which means I've no hope of getting to them; still, the exhibition itself runs till 19th March so and I hope to return to the RWA to see it again. 

'Blue Circus' by Marc Chagall

'The Pomps of the Subsoil' by Leonora Carrington 

'The Banquet' by Ana Maria Pacheco