Independent Bookshop Week

Visit Ikon Shop during Independent Bookshop Week! (Saturday 14 – Saturday 21 June).

Ikon Shop stocks a range of books, cards, prints, posters and gifts including jewellery and homeware. We are offering 25% off all Ikon catalogues for the month of June. Shop in-store or online.

Ikon is a charity and all purchases support the gallery’s exhibition and education programme.

We asked Pippa Somervell, Commercial & Visitor Services Manager at Ikon, what her top pick catalogues were:

I’ve been working at Ikon since 2009 and have seen almost 100 catalogues produced during this time (96 so far!) – I’d like to highlight five of my favourites:

Carmen Herrera (2009), was £20, now £15

This was my first exhibition at Ikon and I absolutely adored the show. The bold colours and abstract forms really stood out against the backdrop of the gallery walls. The Cuban artist’s work had rarely been shown (at the time of the exhibition she was 94) and she was only starting to get the recognition she deserved. The catalogue is a beautiful large hardback publication with an essay on Herrera’s use of colour by Carmen Julia, Curator, Tate Britain, and an essay by Juan Ledezma, art historian, who explores the importance of Herrera’s work in the abstract movement.

Janet Mendelsohn: Varna Road (2016), was £15 now £11.75

I’ve chosen this catalogue because I have a soft spot for black and white documentary photography, as it formed part of my own practice when studying at university. Mendelsohn herself studied at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham in the late 60s. She spent her time photographing Balsall Heath, an area of the city which had mostly been overlooked and undocumented, with her images reflecting the lives of the residents in a post war inner-city landscape. The catalogue has over 110 pages of photographs and includes transcribed texts from the participants and essays by Kieran Connell, Queen’s University Belfast and Matthew Hilton, University of Birmingham.

Hurvin Anderson: reporting back (2013), was £20 now £15

The Hurvin Anderson exhibition was a stand out show for me and I felt so lucky to be surrounded by the huge vibrant artworks that adorned the galleries. At the time, it was the most comprehensive survey of Anderson’s work to date and I felt privileged that it took place at Ikon Gallery in his home city. The neon cover to the catalogue invites you into the colourful landscapes and figurative scenes Anderson creates. The catalogue contains artworks such as the Peter’s series, in which Anderson depicts a childhood scene of a Barber shop in an attic in Handsworth, and an essay by Eddie Chambers, artist, curator and art historian.

Käthe Kollwitz: Portrait of the Artist (2017), was £20 now £15

Portrait of the Artist was an exhibition showcasing the hugely talented printmaking and drawing skills of Käthe Kollwitz. Born in 1867 in Prussia near the German border, Kollwitz took a very personal approach when creating her artwork, often depicting scenes in which she is the central figure, but also the fragile political environment which surrounded her. Each artwork has a huge amount of detail and a great depth, created by the dark spaces the artist used. The catalogue shows the full artworks alongside selected details which demonstrate the effective use of line in Kollwitz’s work. This catalogue has 155 pages and contains essays by Max Egremont, novelist and biographer, and Francis Carey, former Deputy Keeper, Prints and Drawings Department, British Museum.

Edward Lear: Moment to Moment (2022), was £25 now £18.75

I have always loved Edward Lear and have very fond memories of his poetry being read to me as a child. The artwork selected for the exhibition were sketches from Lear’s travels around Europe and Asia in the 1860s. Many of the sketches have notes and poems hidden within the artwork and show a great insight into the art of sketch booking and journaling which inspired Lear’s late works. The catalogue is a comprehensive study of Lear’s travels and also includes texts by Matthew Bevis, Stephen Duckworth, Hugh Haughton, Adam Phillips and Jenny Uglow.

Please note Ikon’s Galleries are closed while we install our new exhibitions. Ikon Shop is open as usual: Monday, 9am – 4pm and Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 5pm.