Cathy's Art Diary

S mall exhibition at the Maughan Library at King’s College London marking the centenary of the death of Joseph Lister. There seem to be so many centenaries and anniversaries this year! 1912 must have been a rollercoaster news year! I found this exhibition while attending a professional meeting in the room it was held in. It is just a few display cabinets but is very well curated with excellent descriptions of the items and a good handout. It gave a good over view of Lister’s life and gave the impression of not only a very talented man but a well loved one.

An egg hunt across Central London to raise money for Elephant Family and Action for Children. There are eggs scattered around London designed by various artists, designers, jewelers and architects and the idea is that when you find one you text its name to a number and are entered into a draw to win a Diamond Jubilee egg worth £100,000. I haven’t found that many yet but I’ve done a quick trawl of the South Bank and intend looking for more. It’s good fun as you find other people doing the hunt gathered round the eggs and can swap hints as to where you’ve seen others. From 2 April all the eggs will be in Covent Garden for a week so op along if you want to see all of them in one go!

Fun exhibition of portrait photographs by Anthony Grant at the National Theatre taken to raise money for the Royal Marsden Hospital following the death of his father. He invited famous people to sit for him some dressing up as famous figures from history. Striking images included Mary Whitehouse as Boadicea and John Cleese as Lady Jane Grey. My favourite was Tom Sharpe with the artist’s dog asleep in his arms. The dog was super relaxed with its head lolling upside down. A wonder picture of dog-ness.

Small exhibition at the Greenwich Heritage Centre looking at the different people who have settled in Greenwich over the years. This modest exhibition was curated by students from the Greenwich Community College. They had represented each culture by showing their national drink and focusing the few exhibits around it which I thought was an imaginative approach.

The latest sculpture to be added to the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. I must admit I was dubious about this one and did not vote for it in the original exhibition . However now it is up I really like it. I think it helps that I first saw it on a sunny day so the bronze made a lovely blocked contrast to the sky. The proportions work well so it imitates the corresponding general on a horse on the other plinth well. I assume it is saying something about innocence and war but I’m not too sure or too convinced but it works well as a piece of public sculpture. Reviews Times Guardian Daily Telegraph