Life of pioneering inventor celebrated in new Lancaster exhibition

A major exhibition celebrating the life and work of an artist and inventor takes place in Lancaster this November.

'The Copy That – Karel Klíč – Art For All' exhibition runs from November 14-25 in Lancaster’s Storey Gallery.

Bohemian-born Klíč lived and worked in Lancaster during the 1890s and the family friendly exhibition will reveal all about the man, his background, his talents and his outstanding achievements.

The exhibition is named after the family whose company partnered with Klíč to develop a new photo-mechanical process which brought art to the masses and revolutionised the printing of newspapers, magazines, postcards and railway posters.

It will also link the past to the present as five artists - Lela Harris, Your Most Welcome, Leo & Hyde, Darren Andrews and Beyond Radio's own Ginny Koppenhol - will be displaying their contemporary responses to the theme of copying including everything from takes on Vermeer to the rave scene of the 1990s.

The exhibition is the culmination of a year-long programme of activities and events organised by Lancashire-based arts and heritage charity, Mirador and supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England.

Artefacts, paintings, documents and illustrations gathered from across the UK, Europe and America will tell the intriguing story of how intaglio rotogravure – a photo-mechanical process for accurate copying and multi-copying - revolutionised printing.

The exhibition will show how the first turning of the Rembrandt rotary press at Storey’s Queens Mill marked a moment in media history and meant that reproduced art finally became available to ordinary people who could buy, keep and look at a full-colour copied masterpiece reproduced in their own homes.

And before the exhibition opens, a digital artwork entitled Duplication by artist Phil Barber of NA11 will also bring the copying theme up-to-date in the Storey Gallery from November 5-7 as part of Light Up Lancaster.

The timing of this free exhibition in November holds special significance as it marks exactly 100 years since Karel Klíč died and on the anniversary itself, a plaque will be unveiled on his former home at Meadowside, now Lancaster Medical Practice.

Copy That – Karel Klíč – Art For All runs from November 14-25 on Mondays to Saturdays from 10am to 6pm at the Storey Gallery before transferring to Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery from January 16 to March 6, 2027.