Fighting History
Rather dry but still interesting exhibition at Tate Britain looking at history painting in Britain both in its heyday of the 18th and 19th centuries when it was considered the highest form of art and in contemporary art. The show was display by type of history as well as having a room on how it has been used in a radical way and an overview of the history of the form. That room was fascinating as it took you from Benjamin West’s, though Millais’ hideously kitsch “Boyhood of Raleigh”, an Alma Tadema, a Sickert based on a photograph produced within days of the event and ended with a Steve McQueen photograph of a lynching tree. The British history room included the amazing “Amy Robsart”, a huge picture which was very popular when it was first exhibited in 1877 but is now forgotten. It did make me think about what is popular now and how they’ll be considered in the future. I loved the section on the documentary on the re-enactment of the Battle of Orgreave fr...