The Barber Institute of Fine Arts

• Part of Scala’s acclaimed Director’s Choice series
• A personal and engaging guide with a unique approach to works in one of the finest small picture galleries in the world
• Each work is selected and discussed by the collection’s Director

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts is widely recognised as one of the finest small picture galleries in the world, and the most representative collection of Western art assembled in Britain in the 20th century. The Barber Institute’s Director, Ann Summer, offers here a charmingly personal guide to some of the collection’s finest pieces, allowing us to share in her passion and enthusiasm for the world-renowned works in her care, which include Bellini’s St Jerome in the Wilderness, Gainsborough’s The Harvest Wagon, Van Gogh’s A Peasant Woman Digging, Monet’s The Church at Varengeville, Rubens’ Portrait of a Carmelite Prior and Isaac Oliver’s Portrait of Henry Prince of Wales.

Ann Sumner has held curatorial positions at the National Portrait Gallery, London; Holburne Museum, Bath; and Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, and was Keeper at Dulwich Picture Gallery. She spent seven years as Head of Fine Art at National Museum Wales, before serving as Director and Professor of Fine Arts and Curatorial Practice at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham from 2007 to 2012. She is now Executive Director of the Bronte Paronsage Museum.