Cathy's Art Diary

Colourful and fascinating exhibition at the Royal Academy of work by a selection of female German and Russian Modernist artists. I only knew two of these artists before a talk I did by the curator before I went to the show, Munter and Kollwitz but found their art, lives and connections fascinating. I couldn’t help but compare their work to early pieces by Vanessa Bell which could easily have fit in here. I loved the colour and blocky presentation of the pictures. I think my favourite was one by Munter off her flat/studio with a wonderful striped rug drawing your eye across it and her husband or Kandinsky in the bedroom to one side. I was less fond of Werefkin’s work but she was only really represented by paintings when she was mainly known as a sculptor. I learnt about lots of new people and stories which I will look out for in the future. Closes 12 February 2023 Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard    

Enlightening exhibition at the British Museum looking at the work of Käthe Kollwitz. As I went round the show I realised I’d come across her before as part of the Germany exhibition at the museum a couple of years ago. There she featured as the designer of a war memorial and model for an angel figure in a church, destroyed by the Nazi’s but remade as a symbol of recovery. It was therefore fascinating to see more of her work and learn not about her life. Kollowitz was seen as an innovative print maker and the show included a number of her series of prints starting with “The Weavers Revolt” from 1893. I loved her set from the First World War, made after her son was killed. These were dark moving images. There was a wonderful case of self-portraits and drawings she did for a satirical magazine. I loved “The Many Silent and Noisy Tradespeople in a Big City” a wonderful, dense   Hogarthian scene. Closes 12 January 2020