A NEW exhibition that celebrates the work of the Leicester textile artist Mary Linwood will open at Leicester Museum & Art Gallery on Saturday (13 September).
Mary Linwood: Art, Stitch and Life is the first retrospective of the artist’s work since 1945 and will feature 14 embroidered works from the Leicester Museums’ collections.
Alongside these historic pieces will be new textile artworks by the exhibition’s curator – the artist Ruth Singer – that reflect on Linwood’s life and legacy.
Born in 1755, Mary Linwood created detailed embroidered versions of famous British paintings using a technique known as needle painting. Her work was displayed in touring exhibitions and at her gallery in London’s Leicester Square which, when it opened in 1809, was the first gallery to be run by a woman in the capital.
Here she displayed her full-scale textile copies of paintings by popular British artists such as Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough and George Morland.
Linwood was not only a talented artist but also an innovator and an educator, running a successful school for young ladies on Belgrave Gate in Leicester.
In her lifetime, she was supported by the wealthy and powerful, and was widely respected and well known. Since her death in 1845, however, her work has perhaps not had the recognition it deserves.
Mary Linwood: Art, Stitch and Life runs from Saturday (13 September) until 22 February 2026. Admission is free of charge.
Throughout the exhibition’s run there will be monthly drop-in sessions for those inspired by the needlework on display.
Anyone who likes to sew and craft can bring in their sewing baskets and join the museum’s Social Stitch Gatherings on 22 September, 13 October, 10 November, 8 December and 12 January. The free drop-in sessions run from 3pm until 4.30pm.
There will also be an hour-long talk by the exhibition’s curator Ruth Singer at Leicester’s Guildhall on Saturday 4 October.
The illustrated presentation, Mary Linwood Rediscovered, starts at 11am. Tickets are £10 (£8 for those aged 65+).
Photo caption: detail of 'Woodpecker and Jay'