FOLLOWING the success of Percy Kelly: Line of Beauty, Tullie House is staging a special exhibition to celebrate what would have been the artists 100th birthday.

Percy was born on November 3, 1918, in Workington, and the Carlisle museum and art gallery is marking the occasion with Percy Kelly: A Legacy, an exhibition of recent bequests and gifts to the Percy Kelly Collection.

Running until February, the exhibition consists of gifts and bequests from several individuals including 13 works bequeathed to the collection earlier this year, which include charcoal drawings, watercolours and an illustrated letter; a selection from 400 mostly preparatory works gifted in 2013, which are rare survivors and give a unique insight into Kelly’s working methods; five watercolours which are currently on loan and will be bequeathed, and a single work Seedheads, gifted in 2017. There is also a selection of significant works from Chris Wadsworth’s own Percy Kelly collection that will compliment and further enhance both the exhibition and Tullie House’s permanent Kelly collection.

The exhibition will hang in the Special Exhibitions Gallery in the Old Tullie House building - the very room in which the hugely talented artist would have attended life drawing classes when a student. The grade one listed classical revival building was once part of Carlisle College of Art.

Director of Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery Trust, Andrew Mackay, said that galleries often depend on bequests and donations to develop their collection and to acquire significant works of art which might otherwise be out of their reach. He added: "We are grateful to all our benefactors: those that give financially or those who donate artwork. Bequests make a lasting contribution to the gallery’s collection and ensure future generations will benefit from the foresight and generosity of today’s supporters. This exhibition has only been possible through the support of our generous benefactors."

All enquiries concerning legacies, gifts and bequests to the Tullie House Collection should be directed to Kate Davidson, development coordinator, at kate.davidson@tulliehouse.org.

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