Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery looking at the life and work of the 17th century artist Anthony Van Dyck. Jo Walton led us through the topic over two session taking us in detail through a selection of images from his early days in Antwerp, through working in various cities in Italy to working for the English court. We looked in detail at his work for Charles I, its symbolism and how Charles used the work to build an image of himself. We also looked at his work for other members of the court as well as he self-portraits. Finally we discussed how later artists have looked back to his work and his influence since his death.

Interesting exhibition at the Goodwood Art Foundation of work by three artists who use the removal of material to create art. According to the blurb the work also reflects environmental consciousness and cultural memory but I'm not sure I got that. Lais Amaral presented paintings which reminded me of maps created by scraping off layers of paint with tweezers and combs. I loved the effect and the colours in them. Solange Pessoa, a sculptor, showed stone in which she had carved symbols. They had a tactile quality and were shown on the ground both inside and outside a gallery. In the Piggott Gallery in the landscape Dana Awartani showed a video installation including a floor made of dyed sand in a traditional tile design. In the video she washes away a similar floor in a Middle Eastern style room. It was quite mesmeric. This was the first time I'd been to the Goodwood Art Foundation and I'll definitely be going back. As well as the lovely gallery spaces it presents ...

Lovely small exhibition at Chichester Cathedral looking at their tapestries by John Piper. The show put the tapestries in the context of Piper's wider work for churches and how this reflected his religious beliefs. It also talked about the influences on these projects including the colours of stained glass. It then went on to discuss the commissioning of this work and others for the cathedral and took us though the iconography of the work. I must admit I love the work but never really looked at it properly. There was some fascinating archive material including a postcard with a preliminary sketch of ideas. It was a nice touch to include a chasuble designed for the cathedral by Piper which provided a nice focal point for the show. Closes 15 November 2026

Thoughtful exhibition at Chichester Cathedral of seven oil paintings by Alice Carter. The works were a meditation on key moments in the Easter story from Ash Wednesday to Pentecost. I loved how they reflected the mood of each moment from the gloom of the first event to the joy of the last. The works were shown in a line in the South Transept and looked jewel like in the space. Closed 24 May 2026

Glamorous exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum on the life of Elsa Schiaparelli and her fashion house. I loved this show! It was so well set out and full of beautiful clothes both from the original house and its reboot in this century under Daniel Roseberry. I liked the way it set out the ethos of Schiaparelli's designs then built on that to look at her clients and accessories. It used Roseberry's pieces sparingly through the early rooms before introducing a dedicated display at the end including Ariana Grande's Oscar dress complete with ruby slipper on the back. I think my favourite room was the semi-circle of jackets displayed like art works and at eye level so you could study the details. That was the only place where I experienced a bottle neck partly caused by the dramatic changing lighting which meant people were pausing to get the best light for a photograph and yes, I admit I was one of the guilty parties. I loved the room examining her collaboration ...

Useful online lecture from the Victoria and Albert Museum introducing their exhibition on the designer Elsa Schiaparelli. I went to the show the next day and this was a very useful introduction to it. I was so overwhelmed by the beautiful clothes it was good to have a narrative in my head already rather than having to piece it together via the labels. The was both enhanced by but also suffered from having four speakers, Sonnet Stanfill, Lydia Caston, Rosalind McKever and Simon Sladen. All of them were good but it made the talk a bit fragmented. They outlined the four themes of the show and talked us through the highlights.