Archive: This article describes Buxton Museum in 2020. Its former Terrace Road premises closed in 2023. The museum reopened in a temporary home next to Buxton Library in October 2026; see the museum for current exhibitions and visiting information.
Between Two Worlds, an exhibition at Buxton Museum and Art Gallery in 2020, explored art and objects associated with war, persecution and displacement. The headings included Degenerate, Imprisoned and Persecuted.
The museum closed temporarily on 20 March 2020 because of COVID-19.
The exhibition featured work by John Minton, Fred Uhlman, Josef Herman and Ben Enwonwu. It drew on Derbyshire County Council’s collection, including the bequest of Arto Funduklian, which contained works by Marc Chagall, Duncan Grant and Wyndham Lewis.
The display considered the experiences of people who had been persecuted, interned or displaced, and the effects of colonial rule and discrimination on communities and artists.
Forgotten treasures of Derbyshire Museums Loans Service
Derbyshire’s Schools Library Service, established in the 1930s, lent museum objects and artworks to schools. After the service dissolved in 2018, Buxton Museum received thousands of objects, as the museum explained in 2020.
The original 2020 report said that a project supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund was overseeing the collection’s dispersal, and that more than 1,000 pictures had been offered for transfer to museums. It reported interest from 30 museums and galleries; the final transfers were not established in this report.
Curating the exhibition Project Officer Anna Rhodes and Assistant Collections Officer Bret Gaunt said it was probably one of the more difficult topics to cover for an exhibition and certainly one of the most unusual the museum have ever delivered. “Being able to give the public access to objects that rarely go on display has been fantastic. The messages and stories behind so many of the objects and paintings are still very relevant today”, said Anna.
“It’s not often we can put on an exhibition of this kind with such a broad range of objects from all over globe. From Native American, Aboriginal, Tibetan, Inuit and more – all in Buxton, we’re really fortunate to have been able to do this”, said Bret.
The original report described the exhibition as a chance to see the works together while the collection was being considered for transfer.
The article said its photographs were taken before the 2020 restrictions.
Former museum address (closed in 2023): Buxton Museum & Art Gallery, Terrace Road, Buxton, SK17 6DA
T: 01629. 533540
The museum is now in a temporary building next to Buxton Library on Kents Bank Road. Find Buxton Library on Google Maps.
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