Cathy's Art Diary

Touching exhibition in the Organ Room at Glyndebourne Opera House of a selection of costumes worn by Dame Felicity Lott. I say touching as since the display was planned Dame Felicity Lott has died. The display was organised with her to mark the auction of a number of her outfits in aid of   Friends of Sussex Hospices in October. As she was involved in the show the descriptions of the outfits had been written by her. There were five outfits displayed in the fireplace including a kaftan made by Glyndebourne’s costume department, worn at the BBC Proms, and a military jacket designed by Laurent Pelly, director of this season’s Ariadne auf Naxos. This was a lovely unintentional homage to the singer who had often sung at the opera house and who lived nearby. Closes 30 August 2026

Delightful small exhibition at Glyndebourne Opera House by Luke Edward Hall responding to the sister exhibition on Oliver Messel’s designs for the company. The main work was an imagined small backdrop in the style of Messel alongside six watercolours. I loved the delicate colours and Rococo styling. I had seen Hall talk at Charleston Festival last year, so it was I interesting to see another aspect of his work.   Closed 24 August 2025

Charming exhibition at Glyndebourne Opera House exploring Oliver Messel’s designs for the company in the 1950s and 1960s. The show had a selection of design drawings and posters as well as costumes and props. Messel is a designer who keeps cropping up in strange places for me so it was a welcome addition to add this one. As well as designing for the stage it was In Messel’s house in London in 1951, that the Glyndebourne Festival Society was launched and he was also instrumental in the creation of the Glyndebourne Festival Programme Book, designing the cover for its inaugural edition in 1952. Closed 24 August 2025

Glamorous exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum looking at the concept of the Diva from Victorian opera singers to today. The ground floor looked at stage and screen and the more open upper floor looked at the reclaiming of the Diva. That floor was spectacular but I felt I lost track of the themes and narrative because it was so visually stunning. I didn’t take the headphones for the tour as a friend said she found it distracting as in a crowd it triggered in the wrong   places. In did fine instead of that I seemed to be surrounded by shouting middle aged people who couldn’t hear each other over the music in their ears. I loved that they included a lot of opera singers particularly as I still think of the idea of the diva as an opera concept. I also liked that they included film stars not just singers. It was a good touch that the biographies of the women pointed out where they had been pioneering in their field and linked this to the different phases of feminism. All...

Interesting exhibition at Glyndebourne by Lubaina Himid. Himid draws on her love of opera to respond to the current season at the opera house. Himid trained as a theatre designer before turning to art and grew up listening to opera records owned by her grandfather. The centrepiece, which is also the cover of the season's programme, looks at what love sounds like combine the title with an abstract piece based on the structure of the ear. This was combined with some of her signature pieces painted on the inside of draws. The commentary says she images the portraits are people involved in the operas. Himid has also done paintings inspired by the operas in the current season which are used in the programme to introduce each work which I think are on display in another venue. I must investigate as I am due to go again! Closes 27 August 2023 Review Guardian    

Interesting exhibition at Glyndebourne marking 70 years of their production of a programme to cover the whole season of opera. The Glyndebourne programme, as the commentary said, is “an anthology of ideas on opera, art, history and place.” Over the years they have commissioned well known artists to design them. This year it is designed by Maggi Hambling and there were previous examples by David Hockney and Oliver Messel. I liked this photo print by Mark Vessey, commissioned to mark this event of the edges all the covers. Closes 28 August 2022

Lavish exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum looking at the history of opera via seven operas the cities they premiered in. I loved the fact this show put the operas into their social and political contexts and that each section had a similar rhythm with a contemporary map of the city, prints of the opera houses and portraits of the main protagonist. I also like the large, blackboard like fact board in each section which gave a simple outline of the story and why the opera was ground-breaking. It was great to have the audio tour as this would have been a strange show without music however I found it didn’t always trigger in the right places and in comparing the experience with the other people I was with we had each missed certain sections as we’d stood in different places. Needless to say I liked the earlier sections best as I preferred this music and they fell into periods I love in art. The Venice section was luscious and focused the city as one of entertain...