Utmost Fidelity: The Painting Lives of Marianne & Adrian Stokes 

Madonna and Child by Marianne Stokes, 1907 -1908, tempera on board.

The first retrospective exhibition of the Austrian-born artist Marianne Stokes and her husband the English landscape painter Adrian Stokes RA.

Co-curated by Magdalen Evans and Wolverhampton Art Gallery, over 80 paintings from public and private collections will be brought together including the well known ‘Madonna and Child’ from Wolverhampton Art Gallery’s own collection. Donated to the gallery in 1929, the artwork increased in popularity when it was selected to adorn the Christmas first class stamp in 2005.

Adrian and Marianne were a captivating couple who met in Pont-Aven, an artist colony in North West France. Financially independent and without children they were able to travel extensively and capture the culture of the many countries they visited, Adrian through his landscapes and Marianne in her portraiture.

They finally settled in St.Ives and from the late 1890s Marianne became interested in portraiture and historical subjects similar to that of the later Pre-Raphaelite movement.

Utmost Fidelity will tour to the following venues during 2009:
The Atkinson Art Gallery, 11 April – 12 June
The Mercer Art Gallery, 27 June – 31 August
Penlee House, Penzance & the Royal Cornwall Museum,19 September – 21 November

http://www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk/wolves/exhibitions