Curator’s Introduction: Astonishing Things : The Drawings of Victor Hugo

Useful online lecture from ARTScapades describing the exhibition of drawings by Victor Hugo at the Royal Academy.

I had visited this excellent exhibition a few days before so it was less of an introduction for me and more of a rediscovery. Sarah Lea guided us through the show’s layout highlighting some key works.

I must admit didn’t get a lot from the talk which I hadn’t got from the show which was clearly narrated. I would like to have heard a bit more about how the show was put together and what she had learnt from doing it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

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

Hockney’s Double Portraits

Image
Small exhibition at Tate Britain of three of David Hockney’s double portraits to mark the donation of one of them to the gallery in 2014. The donated one was of Wayne Sleep and George Lawson and it was shown with “Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy” and “My Parents”. I’d not realised before that Hockney was best man to Ozzie Clark and Celia Birtwhistle which explains why it is such a sympathetic picture of them. I couldn’t help but notice that in the picture of his parents they are sitting on the chairs we had in our kitchen at home! I love the touches of the Chardin book and the Della Francesca Baptism of Christ to include himself, an artist, in the picture by showing his influences. The Wayne Sleep and George Lawson picture was unfinished and has a more blocky composition but I love the stance of the dancer leaning against the door in contrast to the more sombre seated figure. Closes autumn 2016
Read more