Image: Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
Norman Ackroyd’s ‘The Transience of Light’, an exhibition spanning five decades of the British artist’s printmaking, is entering its final weeks at the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath. The exhibition, which focuses on Ackroyd’s treatment of natural light in landscape, is scheduled to close on 6 September 2026.
Running from 22 May, the exhibition brings together etchings from the 1980s onwards. Its subjects include dramatic coastlines, open seas, islands and changing skies, with the gallery highlighting Ackroyd’s ability to convey atmosphere through print. The works move between subtle effects, including refracted rainbows, and stronger contrasts, hazy skies and glimmering views.
Ackroyd (1938–2024) is described by the gallery as an artist and master printmaker. The exhibition includes ‘The Rumblings, Muckle Flugga, Shetland’ from 2013, an etching measuring 49.5 by 78 centimetres, as well as ‘St Kilda Stac Lee and Stac an Armin’, made in 1990 and measuring 44 by 59 centimetres. ‘Inishbofin Sound’, a 2005 etching measuring 18 by 26.5 centimetres, is also featured in the exhibition’s promotional material.
The presentation was curated with Ackroyd’s studio manager and family, who contributed insight into his life and work. The gallery’s description places particular emphasis on the relationship between landscape and illumination, tracing how Ackroyd used the etching process to register fleeting changes in weather, water and atmosphere.
Victoria Art Gallery is Bath’s public art museum, with collections encompassing paintings, sculpture and decorative arts. For the Ackroyd exhibition, the gallery is offering free guided tours on Thursdays from 1:30 to 2pm, available with an exhibition ticket. Admission is priced at £9 for adults, £8.50 for full-time students and seniors, £4 for children aged six to 18, and £20.50 for a family ticket covering two adults and up to four children. Children under six are admitted free.
An accompanying limited-edition catalogue contains more than 50 illustrations and an essay by Sir Christopher Frayling. A selection of Ackroyd’s editioned prints is also available for sale in the gallery’s Small Gallery. ‘Norman Ackroyd: The Transience of Light’ remains on view at the Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, from 10:30am to 5pm through 6 September 2026.
