Linda McCartney retrospective and interactive AI among Liverpool shows in 2020

The first major retrospective of the work of photographer Linda McCartney will take place in Liverpool next year.

Around 200 photos will be on display at the Walker Art Gallery from April 25 to August 31 as part of National Museums Liverpool’s programme of 2020 exhibitions.

The show has been made possible by the McCartney family and visitors will be able to enjoy never-before-seen shots taken in Liverpool and Wirral as well as images of icons of the 1960s.

Elsewhere, the world of AI comes to World Museum in an immersive and interactive exhibition – AI: More Than Human – which opens on July 10.

Works by early 20th century artists like Munch, Schiele and Kokoschka will be showcased at the Lady Lever Art Gallery in German Revolution: Expressionist print.

And 2020 sees the return of the prestigious John Moores Painting Prize.

NML director Laura Pye said: “From the photography of Linda McCartney, both iconic and intimate, to a glimpse into the fascinating potential AI has to shape our future, 2020 promises to be an amazing year for National Museums Liverpool, which we hope will challenge, inspire and delight our visitors.

“And this year it’s not just about exhibitions. This spring we are also opening Life on Board, a major new gallery at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, which explores more than three centuries of our city’s seafaring history.

"While at World Museum we’re looking forward to a series of interventions that brings fresh perspectives to the World Cultures gallery and addresses current debates.”

Here's what you can see where in 2020.

Liverpool on wheels: from horses to horsepower

Museum of Liverpool – February 14-November 1

Liverpool’s transport history is revealed through an array of vehicles built in and around the city.

From bicycles to horse drawn carriages, the exhibition at the waterfront Museum of Liverpool will feature some of the larger objects in Nnational Museum Liverpool’s collection.

Exploring the city’s remarkable history of transport innovation and manufacturing, which still continues today, Liverpool on Wheels promises to be a unique view of the city’s social history.

Photo: The one millionth European-manufactured Ford Escort, 1982, made in Liverpool © National Museums Liverpool

German Revolution: Expressionist prints

Lady Lever Art Gallery – April 10-August 31

Powerful prints by some of the most influential artists of the 20th Century will arrive at the Lady Lever Art Gallery next year.

The exhibition includes work by Munch, Schiele and Kokoschka, exploring how the social, political, sexual and moral struggles taking place during the turbulent period of the German Revolution (1918-1919) moved artists to produce such dramatic imagery.

It also features important prints by Gauguin and Picasso that demonstrate how artists outside Germany contributed to the evolution of Expressionism.

The exhibition is drawn from the collection of The Hunterian, University of Glasgow.

Image: In the Man’s Brain by Edvard Munch,1897, woodcut

Linda McCartney Retrospective

Walker Art Gallery – April 25-August 31

The Walker Art Gallery will host a major retrospective of Linda McCartney’s photography.

From her iconic depictions of the music scene of the 1960s, to family life with Paul, Linda captured her whole world on film.

The paid-for retrospective will feature more than 200 extraordinary images that reveal what a prolific photographer McCartney was, and how her love for the natural world, her surreal sense of humour, and an exceptional eye for capturing the spontaneous, gave her work an inimitable style.

It will also include a selection of images taken in Liverpool and Wirral which have never been on public display.

Tickets go on general sale on October 17.

Photo top: Linda McCartney taken by Eric Clapton, 1967 © Paul McCartney / Photographer: Linda McCartney

AI: More than Human

World Museum – July 10-November 1

The fascinating world of artificial intelligence comes to World Museum in a new exhibition bursting with interactivity through immersive artworks and scientific developments, giving visitors a thrilling vision of the future.

Explored through prominent and cutting-edge research projects, and special commissions and projects by international artists, AI: More than Human is an unprecedented survey of the relationship between humans and technology.

The exhibition tells the rapidly developing story of AI, from its extraordinary ancient roots in Japanese Shintoism, to Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage’s early experiments in computing, through to the major developmental leaps from the 1940s to the present day.

The Exhibition was curated and organised by Barbican International Enterprises and Co-produced by Groninger Forum, Netherlands.

Tickets go on general sale on October 17.

John Moores Painting Prize 2020

Walker Art Gallery – September 11-February 14 2021

The John Moores Painting Prize returns with the very best of contemporary British painting.

Respected by artists and renowned for spotting emerging talent, the competition attracts a hugely diverse range of work which may divide opinion but always reaffirms the power of paint to move and provoke.

The winner of the 2020 prize picks up £25,000 and joins stellar alumni including David Hockney, Mary Martin, Peter Doig and Rose Wylie.

The Prize jury is yet to be announced.

Photo: 2018 prize winner Jacqui Hallam with Sir Peter Blake

Sublime Symmetry: De Morgan ceramics

Lady Lever Art Gallery – September 25-January 17 2021

The beautiful ceramics of William De Morgan (1839-1917) are the focus of this unmissable

new exhibition which uncovers the pattern, shape and symmetry in De Morgan’s designs.

The exhibition explores De Morgan’s rigorous working method and reveals underneath the fantastical beasts and fanciful flora, carefully planned mathematical structure and adherence to precise geometric rules.

A touring show from the De Morgan Foundation.