From 5th August – 31st October 2016
The Liverpool Central Library commemorates the 150th
anniversary of the birth in Liverpool of Richard Le Gallienne (1866–1947)—poet,
critic, and novelist—with an exhibition in its Hornby Library. On display are
over 50 rare or unique items, many highlighting his lifelong connections to
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900). Original photographs, drawings, manuscripts,
unpublished letters, Victorian periodicals, and first editions tell the story
of Le Gallienne’s successful literary career, which took him from Liverpool to
London, the US, and France. Drawn from public and private collections and local
institutions (including family papers in the Liverpool Record Office of Liverpool
Central Library), these materials show his importance to the Aesthetic and
Decadent movements, his involvement with the Yellow Book, his intimate ties to
late-Victorian feminists known as “New Women,” and his links to artists such as
Max Beerbohm and Walter Sickert.
Most of all, this exhibition illuminates the role that Oscar
Wilde played as his idol, mentor, and friend—a relationship that began when
17-year-old Dick Gallienne, clerk in a Liverpool office, heard Wilde lecture in
1883 at the Claughton Music Hall in Birkenhead. Inspired by Wilde’s personal
style and ideas about art, he renamed himself “Richard Le Gallienne,” wore long
hair and artistic clothes, and dedicated himself to becoming an equally
flamboyant figure and unconventional writer, devoted to Beauty in all its
forms.
Programming in conjunction with the exhibition:
“Late-Victorian Literary Liverpool: A Symposium”
Saturday, 29 October 2016
The Liverpool Central Library will bring together scholars
and collectors from the UK and the US for a one-day symposium about Liverpool
as a literary and cultural center at the end of the 19th century. This event is
free and open to the public.
Information about library hours and facilities:
http://liverpool.gov.uk/libraries/find-a-library/central-library/
