Art & Action: Making Change in Victorian Britain

From the 1840s, as issues of poverty, hunger, and disease all became increasingly urgent in industrial Britain, artists began to question how their work could benefit society. From major Academy oils to Arts & Crafts designs, Art & Action explores how artists sought not only to comment on social problems, but to use their art to actively help solve them.

Often working in conjunction with social movements, Victorian artists were at the frontline of reform efforts. Featuring key works by Sir Luke Fildes, William Morris and G F Watts, the exhibition explores how, in the Victorian era, art came to be recognized as a powerful tool that could enact social change, improve lives and ultimately shape the future.