Earthly Paradise: Gardens in Art at Graves Gallery
Polly Checkland Harding
The centrepiece of this exhibition, which – as the name suggests – is a showcase of artist representations of gardens, is Stanley Spencer’s Zacharias and Elizabeth, painted when the artist was just 22 years old. Newly returned to Sheffield, Spencer’s work is complemented by paintings and works on paper from the Sheffield Visual Art Collection, including pieces by Tissot, Stott, Cezanne and Bonnard. The result is an exhibition that explores gardens as public and private spaces, areas for work, play or repose; drop by Sheffield’s Botanical Gardens after a visit for a real-life version of the works on show here, complete with a (now disused) bear pit and 90-metre-long glass roofed pavilion.
