Monday 18 July 2016

Richard le Gallienne: Liverpool’s Wild Poet - an exhibition at Liverpool Central Library 5th August - 31st October 2016

Richard le Gallienne:  Liverpool’s Wild(e) Poet - An exhibition - will be held at the Hornby Library, Liverpool Central Library, William Brown Street, LIVERPOOL, L3 8E, UK

From 5th August – 31st October 2016
The Liverpool Central Library commemorates the 150th anniversary of the birth in Liverpool of Richard Le Gallienne (1866–1947)—poet, critic, and novelist—with an exhibition in its Hornby Library. On display are over 50 rare or unique items, many highlighting his lifelong connections to Oscar Wilde (1854–1900). Original photographs, drawings, manuscripts, unpublished letters, Victorian periodicals, and first editions tell the story of Le Gallienne’s successful literary career, which took him from Liverpool to London, the US, and France. Drawn from public and private collections and local institutions (including family papers in the Liverpool Record Office of Liverpool Central Library), these materials show his importance to the Aesthetic and Decadent movements, his involvement with the Yellow Book, his intimate ties to late-Victorian feminists known as “New Women,” and his links to artists such as Max Beerbohm and Walter Sickert.

Most of all, this exhibition illuminates the role that Oscar Wilde played as his idol, mentor, and friend—a relationship that began when 17-year-old Dick Gallienne, clerk in a Liverpool office, heard Wilde lecture in 1883 at the Claughton Music Hall in Birkenhead. Inspired by Wilde’s personal style and ideas about art, he renamed himself “Richard Le Gallienne,” wore long hair and artistic clothes, and dedicated himself to becoming an equally flamboyant figure and unconventional writer, devoted to Beauty in all its forms.

Programming in conjunction with the exhibition:

“Late-Victorian Literary Liverpool: A Symposium”

Saturday, 29 October 2016

The Liverpool Central Library will bring together scholars and collectors from the UK and the US for a one-day symposium about Liverpool as a literary and cultural center at the end of the 19th century. This event is free and open to the public.

Information about library hours and facilities:
http://liverpool.gov.uk/libraries/find-a-library/central-library/