Exhibition celebrating John Flaxman, marking the 200th anniversary of his death, with loans from museums across the UK.
York Art Gallery is bringing home one of its own this autumn. Turner, Wedgwood & Beyond: Inspired by Flaxman opens on 18 September 2026 and runs until 17 January 2027, a major exhibition marking the 200th anniversary of the death of John Flaxman (1755–1826). He was a York-born draughtsman, designer and sculptor, and if you've ever walked past the gallery's facade, you've seen him there — he's commemorated on the building itself.
Flaxman is one of those figures who worked behind the scenes of some of the most famous names in British art. His designs for the potter Josiah Wedgwood shaped some of the most recognisable pieces of British ceramic art, while his published outline illustrations to Homer and Dante earned him an international reputation. Those illustrations of Greek myths also had a long life after him; they inspired Christopher Nolan's film The Odyssey.
That influence runs through the exhibition's line-up. You'll see Turner's Ulysses deriding Polyphemus, works by William Blake, Wedgwood jasperware, Flaxman's own sculpture, and Wedgwood chess pieces on loan from the V&A, alongside portraits from the National Portrait Gallery. He left his mark on contemporaries like Turner, Blake, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and fellow York artist William Etty, so the show puts his work alongside the people he inspired. It's produced and curated with the University of York's Department of History of Art, bringing together over 70 loans from museums and galleries across the UK alongside works from the gallery's own collection.
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It's a long run, so you've got plenty of time to fit it in over the autumn and winter. Entry is included in general admission to York Art Gallery, and it stays open until 17 January 2027.
