ABBEY HOUSE MUSEUM
Opening Hours
Mon: closed
Tues – Fri: 10am – 5pm
Sat: 12 – 5pm
Sun: 10am – 5pm
Last admission: 4.30pm
Address
Abbey Walk
Kirkstall
Leeds
LS5 3EH
Ticket Provider
ABBEY HOUSE MUSEUM
Opening Hours
Mon: closed
Tues – Fri: 10am – 5pm
Sat: 12 – 5pm
Sun: 10am – 5pm
Last admission: 4.30pm
Address
Abbey Walk
Kirkstall
Leeds
LS5 3EH
Ticket Provider
LEEDS ART GALLERY
Opening Hours
Mon: Closed
Tues -Sat: 10am – 5pm
Sun: 11am – 3pm
Address
The Headrow
Leeds
LS1 3AA
LEEDS CITY MUSEUM
Opening Hours
Mon: closed (11am – 5pm on bank holidays)
Tues – Fri: 10am – 5pm
Sat & Sun: 11am – 5pm
Address
Leeds City Museum
Millennium Square
Leeds
LS2 8BH
Ticket Provider
LEEDS DISCOVERY CENTRE
Opening Hours
Visits by appointment/special event only.
Free public store tours are now available by booking in advance. Please call or email us.
Address
Leeds Discovery Centre
Off Carlisle Road
Leeds
LS10 1LB
LEEDS INDUSTRIAL MUSEUM
Opening Hours
Mon: Closed (10am – 5pm on bank holiday Mondays)
Tues – Fri: 10am – 5pm
Sat – Sun: 12 – 5pm
Last admission one hour before closing.
Address
Canal Road
Leeds
LS12 2QF
KIRKSTALL ABBEY
Opening Hours
Mon: closed (10am – 4pm on bank holidays)
Tues – Sun: 10am – 4.30pm
Last admission: 4pm
Address
Abbey Road
Kirkstall
Leeds
LS5 3EH
Ticket Provider
LOTHERTON
Opening Hours
Open Daily
Estate opens: 7.30am
Hall: Open (Downstairs only) 10am-5pm
Wildlife World: 10am – 5pm
Estate closes: 7pm
Last entry 45 mins before estate closing time
TEMPLE NEWSAM
Opening Hours
House: Tues – Sun: 10.30am – 5pm
Home Farm: Tues – Sun: 10am – 5pm
Last entry 45 minutes before
THWAITE WATERMILL
Address
Thwaite Lane
Stourton
Leeds
LS10 1RP
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Re-thinking John Sell Cotman
Collections, Fine Art‘Kirkstall Abbey, Yorkshire’ John Sell Cotman c. 1811
Project Archivist Jane Speller explores ‘Re-thinking John Sell Cotman’, the major project currently taking place at Leeds Art Gallery.
Funded by the Esmée Fairburn Foundation, the project aims to introduce new audiences to the Leeds collection of John Sell Cotman (1782-1842) watercolours and drawings, as seen through the lens of the Kitson Archive. The project will culminate with an exhibition in the newly refurbished Leeds Art Gallery which opens to the public in October 2017.
Sydney Decimus Kitson (1871-1937) was the tenth child of Leeds industrialist James Kitson, whose locomotive engineering business was based in Hunslet. Unlike the other Kitson men who followed into the family business, Sydney trained as an architect and eventually ran a successful practice in Leeds. Many of the fine buildings designed by Sydney still remain, such as the Leeds College of Art (1902), and Sydney’s own home, ‘Hillside’ in Gledhow Lane.
In addition to architecture, Kitson’s other great passion was collecting watercolours by English Romantic artists. John Sell Cotman was Kitson’s main interest and over the course of his life, Kitson collected more than a thousand works by Cotman and his children, Miles Edmund (1810-58), Ann (1812-1862) and John Joseph (1814-78). Kitson also wrote what is still considered to be the definitive biography of Cotman: ‘Life of John Sell Cotman’ (Faber & Faber, 1937). Kitson’s collecting and writing activities over an intensive ten year period between 1926 and 1937 are detailed in the archive, primarily through a series of 12 bound diaries entitled ‘Cotmania’.
As a Project Archivist, I joined the ‘Re-thinking John Sell Cotman’ project team in late October 2016. I have been working with Theodore Wilkins, Assistant Curator of Fine Art, to develop the Leeds Art Gallery museum catalogue (as part of the project website) to make it suitable for cataloguing the Kitson archive. Freelance Photographer, Norman Taylor, helped us to digitise a large number of items from the Kitson archive, giving most online catalogue entries (and in the case of the ‘Cotmania’ volumes, every page) an individual image.
Digitising the Kitson Archive
In December 2016, a team of ten project volunteers was recruited. A room within the Art Gallery was converted to accommodate the volunteers, and equipment was purchased: laptops, magnifying glasses, book supports and other handling aids. Volunteers were given training in understanding and handling archives by the Project Archivist; David Hill, the academic attached to the project, then gave the team an introduction to Cotman and Kitson. Each volunteer was assigned one of the 12 ‘Cotmania’ volumes – a key part of the archive – to transcribe. Following in Kitson’s footsteps as he follows in Cotman’s has given us a fascinating glimpse into two lives, a hundred years apart. We envisage that in addition to academic researchers, the data produced by this project will be of interest to genealogists and local historians.
Cotman Family Tree, ‘Cotmania’ Volume
So far an amazing 600 transcribing hours have been clocked up, amounting to hundreds of individual pages of transcriptions. The online catalogue means that transcribing work is possible from home and several of the volunteers have been doing this in addition to the work they do in the gallery.
Last week, Leeds based artist Hondartza Fraga joined the project. Hondartza, who works primarily with drawing and video, has been commissioned to produce work in response to the Kitson archive and the Cotman collection. The resulting work can be experienced as part of the ‘Re-thinking John Sell Cotman’ exhibition in October 2017. Watch this space as plans take shape for what promises to be an amazing exhibition!
By Jane Speller, Project Archivist
Visit the Leeds Art Gallery webpage to find out about our current exhibitions and collections on display.