Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art at the British Library

Written by Tilley Masterson Friday, 30 April 2010 20:10

LONDON.- Maps can be works of art, propaganda and indoctrination. Opening on 30 April 2010, "Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art" offers a rare chance to see an unrivalled collection of cartographic masterpieces on paper, wood, vellum, silver, silk and marble, including atlases, maps, globes and tapestries that were intended for display side-by-side with the world’s greatest paintings and sculptures. The exhibition coincides with two BBC Four series about maps broadcast this April. Peter Barber was series consultant for Maps: Power, Plunder and Possession and The Beauty of Maps which featured maps held in the British Library.

Drawn from the 4½ million maps held in the British Library’s cartographic collections - the greatest map collection in the world - this new exhibition will showcase 100 maps dating from 200AD to the present day, including 80 of the most impressive wall-maps ever created, most of which have never been seen before.

Recreating the settings in which they would have originally been seen - from the palace to the schoolroom, the exhibition reveals how maps express an enormous variety of differing world views, using size and beauty to convey messages of status and power.

Peter Barber, Head of Map Collections at the British Library, said: “Maps are pictorial encyclopedias that are about far more than just geography. The artistry of maps is seductive and like the teaspoon of sugar that helps the medicine go down, tries to persuade us to swallow a particular political message.

“Unless you have a scale of one-to-one, in effect a map is a lie because you can’t fit everything in. All maps are subjective, what is more important: the Last Judgment or the correct placement of Birmingham?

“Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art is a visual extravaganza that will, I hope, intrigue, fascinate and entrance visitors while challenging their assumptions about the very nature and purpose of maps.”

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the Worlds greatest libraries. Set up in 1973, with galleries formerly in the British Museum building, it moved to its spectacular flagship new home at St Pancras in Central London in 1997.

The John Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library, PACCAR Gallery of Living Words and the Workshop of Words, Sound and Images offer permanent displays and a changing programme of special thematic exhibitions. We also have the best permanent display of stamps and philately in the world. The Kings Library, housed in a 17-metre glass-walled tower at the heart of the building, plus a number of major works of art can be seen by all visitors. The Library also offers a wide programme of events - including talks, music and discussions, all developing themes and ideas associated with the collections.

Visit The British Library at : www.bl.uk/

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