Cathy's Art Diary

Exhibition at the Royal Academy which looked at the achievement of the Galerie Maeght. The gallery was founded by Aimé and Marguerite Maeght and opened in Paris in 1945. It was to become one of the most influential and creative galleries of the twentieth century. In particular this exhibition focused the work of four artists Miro, Calder, Giametti and Braque who formed close links with the family. It also looked at their early relationship with Bonnard and Matisse. My favorite pieces were some stunning un-Braque like landscapes by Braque. There were about 7 of them put closely together and reminded me of the arrangement in my lounge! I found the film the family had taken of the artists particularly touching especially that of Matisse painting Margarite Maeght just underneath the picture he was drawing. Reviews Metro

Stunning exhibition at the Royal Academy bringing together objects from the Byzantine Empire. As soon as you walked into exhibition you are struck by a sense of gold and richness. The first rooms presented the history and then they looked at themes. Interesting themes included the way that the early Byzantine Christians set the iconic traditions for Christian art even till today. It looked at how the bearded image of Christ took precedence and how many of the now standard images developed. It was fascinating to see early Annunciations and to realize they were working out how to show this. I was also fascinated by the room which looked at the relationship between Byzantium and Italy. As well as looking at the objects the Venetians stole from Constantinople it also looked at artistic elements which they took. Best of all had to be the room of icons. There were all so luxurious but also had a real sense of peace. However I will say that this is in some ways a very annoying exhibition. Ma...

Beautiful exhibition at the National Gallery which brought together portraits from the Northern and Italian Renaissance together. Arranged in themes it showed the works together not in northern and southern rooms so you could see how the north influence the south and how the south then took the techniques it learnt and ran with them. The exhibition was full of old friends and I spent a lot of time working out where I had seen pictures before. Most wonderful was bringing the Van Eyck self portrait together with his portrait of his wife. Surely these were designed as a pair and it was so lovely to see them together again. My favourite has to me the Memling, probably of a Venetian, holding a coin. The detail in the face is so fine down to individual strands of hair against the landscape. Also worth mentioning is the stunning red chalk self portrait by Pontormo. Even better was that this was a bonus afternoon brought about by a power cut at work which meant we were all let out early! Revi...

Small exhibition at the National Gallery bringing together Titian’s “Death of Actaeon” and “Diana and Actaeon” to help raise money to but the later for the nation. Painted for Philip II of Spain it is lovely to see these two works together. They were presented with the sections of Ovid which they represent. Review Daily Telegraph

Second lecture in a series at the National Gallery focusing on the Renaissance Faces exhibition . Given by Paula Nuttall this lecture looked in particular at the influence of Northern artists on the Italians claiming that many of the idea which later flourished in Italy began in the North, an idea I absolutely agree with. In particular it looked at the role of landscape in the backgrounds and the ¾ face pose. It drew interesting parallels between works.

Good exhibition on the life and work of Le Corbusier at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Liverpool. Just realised I missed this exhibition off my Liverpool Odyssey! Not sure why as it was very good! It was held in the crypt which was also a good opportunity to see this work by Lutchens. I found the architecture was much nicer from the inside than the outside and often addressed very practical issues. I loved the kitchen for a block of flats complete with a small hatch that the milk man could leave the daily delivery in. I was also struck by the paintings by Le Corbusier. I’d not thought of him as a painter and they were very fine. Reviews Times Daily Telegraph

Annual craft fair held in the courtyard of Somerset House . As my Mother would say “It’s clever but it’s not art” so not sure it should be in the blog but I decided it was a vaguely artistic event so I’d let it count! Also it cost £8 so I wanted to get my money’s worth. There were some beautiful things in the fair and if I win the lottery at the weekend there are a number of people I’d phone up to buy! I fell for a lovely silk stripped scarf but at £170 I think now. Instead I bought the cheapest item in the show, a small button badge with a bit of map and a press stud on it! It’s better than it sounds and was only £4!

First in a series of lectures at the National Gallery based around their Renaissance Faces exhibition Colin Wiggins, Head of National Gallery Education, talked about the life and work of Pontormo taking as his starting point a beautiful self portrait daring in the exhibition. I find Pontormo’s work odd and fascinating and it was interesting to find his life reflected his art. In particular I loved the reading from his diaries which showed a weird obsession with what he ate and his health.

Liverpool’s International Biennial exhibition which commissions ambitious and challenging new work by leading international artists. I must admit I did not do this justice as there were many works all over the city and we only had a weekend. However we did get to see Ai WeiWei’s giant diamante spider at the Town Hall and Richard Wilson’s “Turning the Place Over” which was a large circle cut our of derelict building which turned round slowly to complete the building then break it again. Oh and it turns out that the John Moore’s 25 exhibition which I have already reviewed as part of it! However given how much was going on this seems a rather pathetic effort! Review Daily Telegraph

Excellent exhibition at the World Museum Liverpool which looks at the story of music on Merseyside since the end of the Second World War. Although there is obviously some emphasis on the Beatles, it is a very wide ranging exhibition and brought back memories of living there 23 years ago! As well as a good chronology of the Merseyside music scene there was also a section on how music is made and marketed which included a small mock up of a recording school, a mixing desk and a video mock up complete with glitter ball and blow up instruments. There was almost too much to take in and of four of us who went round together we each seem to have remembered different aspects. Review Liverpool Echo

Exhibition for this contemporary art prize held about every two years at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. I must admit I didn’t have long to do it and skimmed but some images still leapt out at the me. I think my favourite was “Special Relativity” by Julian Brian which showed a rearranged front room with the pair of ceramic dogs taking the place of the chairs on either side of the fireplace. Alongside was a related display of past winners including David Hockney and Peter Blake. Review Liverpool Echo

Excellent exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool showing this series of detailed city panorama’s by Ben Johnson. In particular it focused on a new panorama of Liverpool from the waterfront commission for the European Year of Culture. It shows both existing and planned buildings in exquisite detail and it was lovely to see local people enjoying it and pointing out where they lived and worked to friends. I had a great conversation with the lady next to me talking about what the new buildings were as it is 23 years since I lived in the city. A super video showed you how the picture was created and a computer simulation took you through how it grew and let you focus in on particular features. In the next room there was a sequence of older panoramas of the city to compare to the new vision. It had a real sense of being a work of art created for a city. Reviews Independent Liverpool Echo

Talk at the Charleston Small Wonder Festival by Gerald Scarfe. It took the idea that a cartoon is the ultimate short story and Scarfe talked about where he gets his ideas and how he works. It was fascinating to be talked through this art form and to see the images blown up on a large screen rather than the size they appear in the newspaper.

Talk at the Charleston Small Wonder Festival given by Harland Miller on an exhibition he curated at the White Cube Gallery using art works inspired by the poems of Edgar Allan Poe. This was an excellent evening particularly when you realised there should have been three speakers but the other two pulled out at short notice or didn’t turn up at all. However Harland Millar, author and artist, managed to fill the session reading a short story he write for the catalogue to the exhibition and showing images from it. It gave you a real insight into how such shows come together and how a different theme can stimulate creative ideas.

Small exhibition of the First World War photographs of Frank Hurley at Charleston Farmhouse . I had previously come across Hurley at the photographer on Shackleton’s expedition to the Antarctic and loved those evocative images. It’s a powerful idea that having been rescued from the South Atlantic, he then went to the Western Front as an Australian war artist. Many of the photographs reminded me of those Antarctic ones, particularly those in dug outs. He was criticized at the time for using composite images when he could not get the scene he wanted however these make powerful images which show scenes which could not have been achieved in a single frame. The exhibition was part of the Brighton Photo Biennial .