PRESS RELEASE for immediate use / 11 August 2015 

 
  

On show from 2 to 22 September, the Guildhall Art Gallery presents artist and illustrator Tracy Satchwill’s unique project Magna Carta Women.

Conceived in response to this year’s 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta, Magna Carta Women engages with some of the most significant social and political questions of our present and our past. Comprised of four panels in the narrative style of the traditional stained glass window, Magna Carta Women is a collage of notable people who have made a significant contribution to the furtherment of women’s rights and freedoms over the last 800 years.

Combining original photography with illustration, print and found objects, Satchwill’s work highlights the definitive role played by 50 remarkable men and women, including 12th century Medieval poet Marie de France; Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first woman physician; politician Nancy Astor, who was the first woman to sit in the House of Commons; Helena Normanton, the first woman barrister at High Court; Dorothy Hodgkin, sole winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize for Chemistry; John Stuart Mill, whose book The Subjection of Women compared the then legal status of women to the status of slaves; Laurence Housman, who founded the Men's League for Women's Suffrage, and writer Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism Project.

‘This year we are celebrating ideas of freedom and justice’ says artist Tracy Satchwill, ‘But what about women, and their gruelling journey of obstacles, prejudices and battles for the right to vote, for equality of education, equal pay and other basic human rights? The social history of women is something I am passionate about, and I hope my art will be a platform from which to inform and inspire the next generation and teach them more about the history of women’s rights.’

'Guildhall Art Gallery is delighted to be hosting this witty and informative display which celebrates the rights and freedoms of women through history into the present day' says Guildhall Art Gallery Curator Katherine Pearce. 'We hope visitors will enjoy it in the historic Magna context of our art and heritage exhibitions, and that it adds another dimension to their visit as they view the City of London’s Carta.'

Having started the year on show at the Devon Guild of Craftsmen this important work, which has been awarded Arts Council funding, has toured the south of England as part of the national Magna Carta celebrations, taking in Surrey, Hillingdon, Maidenhead - including Runnymede pop up museum, Runneymede National Trust and Brunel University. Following its three week run at the Guildhall Art Gallery it will go on to be exhibited at Sarum College, Salisbury from 25 September to 24 October and St Botolph's Church, Boston, Lincolnshire from 11 to 21 November.

Magna Carta Women is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. 

  
Please download 300 dpi print ready image here: 
 
Magna Carta Women panel detail 

Notes to Editors

Guildhall Art Gallery

Guildhall Art Gallery is located in the heart of the City next to the medieval Guildhall. The Art Gallery houses and displays paintings and sculptures collected by the City of London Corporation. Steeped in history, the Gallery also houses the remains of London’s Roman Amphitheatre, which was discovered here in 1988 and is open to the public.

Find the Guildhall Art Gallery, Heritage Gallery and London’s Roman Amphitheatre at Guildhall Yard, London EC2V 5AR | 020 7332 3700 | www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/heritagegallery

Admission: Free to the Gallery’s permanent collection, No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960-1990 and the amphitheatre.

Open: Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm, Sun 12-4pm.

Nearest Underground stations: Bank, St. Pauls, Mansion House or Moorgate.