Testing notion of what is modern at Bournemouth’s Russell-Cotes Museum

Testing notion of what is modern

Bournemouth’s Russell-Cotes Museum, where one is transported to the early 1900s upon stepping into its eloquent Victorian interior, has welcomed a more modern motif to its celebrated antiquity.

As one of Dorset’s best art attractions, the museum’s Meeting Modernism exhibition offers an exciting contrast to the mural-covered walls, expensive furniture and regal flamboyance found throughout the rest of the mansion.

Bringing vibrancy previously kept in storage; this new collection of paintings offers familiar Dorset landscapes and war art from the early 20th century onwards.

Having been amassed by the first curators after the deaths of Merton and Annie Russell-Cotes, I was hoping for something not too different from the rest of the museum’s collection; a Jackson Pollock or Dalí wouldn’t look too great in a mansion clad head-to-toe in Victorian décor.

And thankfully, there wasn’t. What greeted me instead was a room bursting with local paintings – vistas not too dissimilar from the ones visible out of the museum’s windows – portraits and scenes of war. Oils of Bournemouth’s seaside and neighbouring suburbs, even cracking slightly from age, made one question the actual notion of something being “modern”.

The exhibition continues until April 24, and for those interested in the arts or Dorset’s heritage through paintbrush and canvas, it comes greatly recommended. And following on from the Russel-Cotes’ own philosophy; judge for yourself how well the former curators chose the museum’s paintings.