The Tatham Art Gallery in Pietermaritzburg presented Treasures from the Dungeon Exhibition during December 2005. Public response was so favourable that it was decided to repeat this exhibition in 2006.

This exhibition unearths a number of works donated to the Tatham Art Gallery collection by Colonel R H Whitwell between 1923 and 1926. Whitwell’s donation of over 400 artworks, mainly by British and French artists broadened and deepened the range and had an invaluable impact on the quality of the Tatham Art Gallery collection.

The Treasures from the Dungeon exhibition focuses on lesser known works from Whitwell’s donation, those which would not normally be displayed as part of the permanent collection. Two dimensional works by British artists such as Charles Isaac Ginner, Charles Maurice and Edward Julius Detmold, Edward Frank Gillett, George du Maurier, Kate Greenaway, Sidney Sime, Sir Frank Brangwyn, Sir Henry George Rushbury, Therese Lessore and Yoshijiro Urishibara are included.

Also on display are Moorcroft ceramics with tudric pewter stands and silver work based on ancient Celtic designs by George Connell. This kind of work was part of the arts and crafts movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which reintroduced hand crafted items of high quality design in the face of increasing industrialisation. Today these pieces are highly sought after collectors’ items.

Treasures from the Dungeon exhibition runs until August 27.