Exhibition poster by Dave McLean
Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination is a 2014 exhibition being held from October 3, 2014 to January 20, 2015 at the British Library in London, England.
Press release:
Two hundred rare objects trace 250 years of the Gothic tradition, exploring our enduring fascination with the mysterious, the terrifying and the macabre.
From Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker to Stanley Kubrick (The Shining) and Alexander McQueen, via posters, books, film and even a vampire-slaying kit, experience the dark shadow the Gothic imagination has cast across film, art, music, fashion, architecture and our daily lives.
Elsa Lanchester and Boris Karloff in Bride of Frankenstein
Beginning with Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto, Gothic literature challenged the moral certainties of the 18th century. By exploring the dark romance of the medieval past with its castles and abbeys, its wild landscapes and fascination with the supernatural, Gothic writers placed imagination firmly at the heart of their work – and our culture.
Iconic works, such as handwritten drafts of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the modern horrors of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser and the popular Twilight series, highlight how contemporary fears have been addressed by generation after generation.
Terror and Wonder presents an intriguing glimpse of a fascinating and mysterious world.
Richard Mansfield as Jekyll and Hyde
