Elmet at the Parsonage

A very interesting new exhibition opens today, May 19, at the Brontë Parsonage Museum:

Elmet

Monday 19 May until Friday 25 July, Brontë Parsonage Museum

A special exhibition of photographs by Fay Godwin from her collaboration with Ted Hughes, Elmet, will go on show at the Brontë Parsonage Museum on Monday 19th May 2008 until 25 July 2008.

The photographs are on loan from the British Library, which has recently acquired the Fay Godwin archive. This special exhibition will be a rare opportunity to view the original exhibition prints of the Elmet photographs, displayed within the period rooms of the museum.

The Elmet exhibition forms part of the Brontë Parsonage Museum’s Contemporary Arts Programme 2008.

“We are very grateful to the British Library for loaning us these incredibly evocative photographs. Elmet is inspired by the local landscape, which also inspired the Brontës, and the exhibition will include photographs of the Parsonage and Brontë landmarks such as Top Withens. The exhibition also enables us to build on the reputation of the museum as a vibrant centre for the arts, which is one of the central aims of our arts programme here.” Jenna Holmes, Arts Officer.

One of the country’s best loved landscape photographers, Fay Godwin captured the drama of the Yorkshire landscape in her work, including the moors around Haworth.

Ted Hughes was inspired to write prose in response to Godwin’s photographs of the part of Yorkshire that he was born and grew up in. Their first collaboration, The Remains of Elmet, was published in 1979.

Both Fay Godwin and Ted Hughes went on to add to the sequence, republishing their collaboration as Elmet in 1994. The result is often regarded as one of Ted Hughes’ most personal texts.

In the Middle Ages “Elmet” was the name given to the last independent Celtic kingdom in England, spread across an area roughly encircling Halifax and Keighley, through to Colne and down to Burnley.

For further information about the exhibition or arts events contact jenna.holmes@bronte.org.uk/ 01535 640188.

Check these previous posts and the Brontë Parsonage Blog for more information.

Picture: Top Withens, Calder Valley, 1977 by Fay Godwin

Categories: Art-Exhibitions, Brontë Parsonage Museum