A Pre-Raphaelite Journey: Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale

Lovely exhibition at the Watts Gallery of work by Eleanor Fortesecue-Brickdale, often described as the last Pre-Raphaelite.

By the end of Eleanor’s working life her style was quite old fashioned but the works were very delicate and engaging. A lot of her work was for book illustration and it was interesting to see the preparatory drawings and finished books together.

There was also some lovely paintings such as a Renaissance style portrait Most interesting was a picture of Winifred Roberts who went on to become Winifred Nicholson, a real colliding of artistic worlds.

This was the first time I had visited the Watts Gallery and I thought it was delightful and I’ll definitely be going back.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Renaissance Nude

Image
Beautiful exhibition at the Royal Academy looking at the nude in Renaissance art. The show was gently themed but mainly let the pictures speak for themselves. It began by looking at the subjects, both religious and secular, which include nude figures then examined techniques and models used in these works, finishing by looking at more personal pictures. This is a period I’ve studied a lot so there were a lot of old friends and it was quite fun predicting what might appear. There were a few surprises too such as the rather surprising drawing of the Ecstatic Christ. I liked the fact the show included lots of different art forms not just paintings including sculpture, etchings, drawings and illuminated manuscripts. There were some fascinating hangs to draw comparisons particularly two sets of pictures by Giovanni Bellini and Hand Memling from almost exactly the same date. These were shown back to back in a display cabinet down the middle of one room. My favourite work was ...
Read more

Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year Exhibition 2019

Image
Delightful exhibition at Clarendon Fine Art showing pictures from the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year TV series. I had loved the series which had set nine artists, both professional and amateur, to paint one of three celebrities. It then had a semi-final and final with them all looking at one sitter and in the final they also took on a commission. I loved the way you watched a picture build and how some were then made or spoiled by one stroke of paint.   Finding these pictures I knew so well in the flesh was therefore fascinating. None of them disappointed. My favourite artist from the final, Tom Mead, works looked just as good in real life if not better as you could see the detail. The show included his impressive self-portrait which he submitted to enter the competition, a wonderful fragmented picture of his reflection in a mirror giving a sense of movement. I loved that it included a large version of him and a miniature. His commission for the final of Jazzie B...
Read more

Tai Shan Schierenberg: Men Without Women

Image
Stunning exhibition at Flowers Gallery of new work by Tai Shan Schierenberg. There were just a few large pictures in this show by a former winner of the BP Portrait Award which examined ideas of masculinity in Western society. They grabbed you with their size and colour as you entered the gallery. I loved “No Man Left Behind” a study of two men supporting a slumped figure. I assume he was a drunk on a stag night but it could be a runner in a race. All the figures have a well caught, naturalistic stance. Other pictures showed footballers as he was artist in residence at West Bromwich Albion for a Channel   4 series. My favourite piece was a striking double portrait (140 x 200 cm) called “Brothers”, two young men sitting one behind the other and facing in different directions with a blue bookcase behind.  Closed   23 November 2019
Read more