Allsop Gallery, Bridport Arts Centre, Bridport
4 April – 5 May 2008
Open: Tuesday - Saturday 10.00am – 4.00pm
Fra Newbery – A Retrospective

Many people may be familiar with the 1920s paintings in Bridport Town Hall by Fra Newbery. This exhibition, loaned from public and private art collections across the UK, spans his artistic career and includes some paintings never before publicly exhibited. The exhibition is the hub of the Newbery Trail.

As part of the Newbery Trail, three artists have worked with children and young people from ages 5 up to 17 on themes drawn from Fra Newbery’s work. See the results in the Arts Centre Foyer and Café.

The Gallery will also be open throughout the May Bank Holiday weekend (10.00am – 4.00pm Sat 3 - Mon 5 May) as Museums and Galleries Month begins across the UK.

Bridport Town Hall
4 April – 5 May 2008
Open: daily 10.00am – 4.00pm

In his retirement Newbery painted a number of works for public places. Bridport Town Hall houses the largest collection of these, painted and donated to the town as thanks for the role it played in his early education and development. The collection of work, painted between 1923 and 1925, comprises five paintings and a series of murals depicting the history and trade of Bridport.

Bridport Museum, South Street, Bridport
17 March – end October 2008
Open: Monday-Saturday 10.00am – 5.00pm
Fra Newbery’s Victorian Bridport

Take a look at what life was like in Victorian Bridport and experience the places and ideas that influenced Fra Newbery’s work.
The Museum tells the story of the town’s history from its origins to the present day with notable displays on artefacts from a nearby Roman Hill fort and the world famous rope and net making industries. As well as the permanent displays there is a programme of temporary exhibitions. Photographs, costume, lace, dolls, numismatics, and fine art are among the collections held. The Local History Collection contains a wide range of materials for people researching their local or family history.

Corfe Castle Town Hall
29 March – 27 April 2008
Open: Tuesday – Sunday 11.00am – 5.00pm
The Newbery Effect in a Rural Setting

Francis Newbery and his wife Jessie moved to Corfe Castle towards the end of the Great War. They first stayed at the Greyhound Inn and later bought their own cottage in East Street. This exhibition gives a flavour of his influence on people of all ages in a small rural community and his part in their cultural activities: sculpture, painting, drama and photography. He used them as models and as craftsmen in some of his best work in these, his later years.

Dorset County Museum, High West Street, Dorchester
5 April – 28 May 2008
Open: Monday – Saturday 10.00am – 5.00pm
Face to Face – Photographs by Helen Muspratt

The early twenties saw the establishment in Swanage of a thriving artistic community led by Francis Newbery, the newly retired Head of Glasgow School of Art. Helen Muspratt moved to Swanage in her late teens and met Newbery, who encouraged her to follow her dream of becoming a photographer. He persuaded Helen to study photography at the renowned Regent Street Polytechnic. When she graduated, Newbery designed a photographic studio for the rear garden of her newly acquired premises on the Institute Road.

Helen returned to Swanage throughout her life and remained friends with the art colony gathered together by Newbery in the 1920s. This exhibition will explore Helen’s life and work, her inspirations, successes and influences, and her life long relationship with Dorset.

Swanage Museum and Heritage Centre
31 March - 9 May 2008
Open: daily 10.00am – 5.00pm (Closed for Lunch 1.00 – 2.00pm)
Swanage in Newbery’s Time

This exhibition features photographs of people and events in Swanage taken during the 1920’s and 1930’s by local photographers, Helen and Joan Muspratt.

Their father had retired to Swanage, where his daughters attended Oldfeld School. Helen later studied photography at London Polytechnic, while Joan became a teacher. In 1929 Helen opened a studio in Swanage. She required a shop sign and approached Francis Newbery, who also helped to plan and organize the new studio.

By 1934 Joan had given up teaching and joined her sister. Helen later married and moved to Oxford. She became one of the leading women photographers of her generation.

The Museum of Net Manufacture
29 March – 27 April 2008
Open: by appointment only. Please call 01308 485621 / 01308 485349 before visiting

The Museum of Net Manufacture was a rescue effort by Anthony Sanctuary who spent his working life in the employment of what became Bridport Gundry plc but was originally an amalgamation of family firms of which Wm Edwards & Son (his mother’s family) was one. During his period of office as Training Director, Anthony had the opportunity to set aside a valuable history of the company’s operation and the production of net.

This fascinating museum records this history and demonstrates the many uses of Bridport made net, from the sporting nets of Wimbledon and the 1956 Wembley World Cup to nets used in fishing, warfare and even space exploration. The museum places Bridport at the heart of an international trade that has seen locally made net used around the globe.

Sladers Yard
16 March – 11 May 2008
Open 10 – 3pm Wednesday to Saturday, 11 – 4pm Sundays
Inspired - The Contemporary Response

A hundred years on from the heyday of the Glasgow School, the influence of Rennie Mackintosh and the artists Fra Newbery promoted can still be found inspiring the best contemporary makers. Far from reproducing designs, these makers respond to the Glasgow School’s designs often with surprising and delightful echoes in their individual contemporary work. We have brought together some of the most interesting and encourage you to support them, appreciate and perhaps buy their work and help keep their skills alive.

A gem of English Catholicism this small church, designed in the Italian Romanesque style, houses a painting by Newbery of The Chideock Martyrs in the priest’s sacristy.