Cathy's Art Diary

Neat little exhibition at the National Maritime Museum looking at how the caricaturists of the late 18 th and early 19 th centuries portrayed the navy and naval exploits. The introduction pointed out that broadside means both the simultaneous firing of all guns on one side of a war ship and a sheet of paper printed on one side as advert or satire. The small gallery was divided into three themes the inequalities of officers and men, Nelson and Lady Hamilton and John Bull and Britannia. It featured pictures by all the main caricaturists of the time including Rowlandson , Gillray and Cruikshank. I thought it was a really nice touch to have a Steadman cartoon from 1995 at the end to show how the works had influences modern cartoonists.  

Nice exhibition at the National Maritime Museum looking at the work of the American photographer Ansel Adams and featuring water as the subject in all forms, sea, river, snow, falls, ice, geysers and clouds. Through various exhibitions I have been to recently I am getting interested in the early use of photography. The early Adams pictures show how by about 1910 photographic modernism was taking over from the pictorialist style ie a sharper focus and sense of reality rather than trying to reproduce the effects of paint. The exhibition showed many techniques such as using photography to show the effect of water as a mirror and trying to capture the movement of water in a still medium. Adams sometimes used the idea of a sequence of 2 or more frames to show how the water changes such as the surf sequence from 1940 shown here. There were lots of stunning images such as Maroon Bells, a study in texture; a big print of Mirror Lake, California; minimalist submerged trees from...

Imaginative exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum looking at costume in Hollywood films. It look various themes   such as how clothes can build up how we look at a character, the relationship which often builds up between a director and their costume designer and how various genres have used costume. The most interesting section was on how actors use work with designers and use costume focusing on Meryl Streep and Robert de Niro. The display had about 6 costumes for each actor then a life sized video of each of them sitting down telling you about each piece. As for favourite pieces it is hard to choose! I cried slightly on seeing the green curtain dress from “Gone with the Wind” as it is so iconic. I loved a red sequined number from “The Bride wore Red” a 1930s black and white film which had been lit with a light which changed so you could see how it would have appeared in screen as a black dress. I was fascinated by the detail of thought which went in...

Annual exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery for this award for portrait photography. This year I preferred the commissioned work such at Hilary Mantel by Michael Birt and Michael Stipe by Matthew Lloyd. There were also a nice selection of Olympian’s, obviously the subject of many features this year needing photographs. However my favourite picture had to be “Dahlia” by Mark McAvoy. It’s a picture of his 7 week old daughter taken for her passport photo and a wonderfully funny picture of a rather serious baby. I had to buy the book to have a copy of this picture but I’m not sure why I find it so funny. I guess it’s because you don’t often see an upright baby and therefore look at it face to face as you would an adult. Review Evening Standard

Charming exhibition at the National Gallery looking at the life of Prince Henry eldest son of James I and heir to the throne whose death lead to the succession of Charles I. I am increasingly attracted to this period of history which seems to get forgotten between the great reign of Elizabeth I and the Civil War. In many ways it was the heart of the British Renaissance. The renaissance of thought came with Henry VIII but I think this period shows the renaissance in art. In examining the life of Prince Henry the exhibition looks at Jacobean portraiture. I loved the double portrait of Henery and Robert Devereux by Robert Peake showing the two boys out hunting. However Peake’s world was a studied symbolic one. This contrasted with the pictures by Mierevelt which seemed to the next step up with a wonderful realistic skin quality. It was interesting that Henry’s friends kept trying to persuade this artist to come to England. The exhibition also gave a view of a Renaissance...

Innovative exhibition at Somerset House looking at the life and work of the designer Valentino. The exhibition was in the sections the first looked at the life of Valention through his own archive and the last looked at the craftwork involved in creating the clothes. The most exciting section was of 130 outfits displayed as the front 2 rows of a catwalk show putting you in the place of the models looking at the audience. This was a really innovate use of the long gallery upstairs at Somerset House and gave a real sense of occasion. It also gave you space to look at the outfits from all angles. They were arranged in lovely colour blocks with sections on day and evening ware. Of course the evening ware was the most stunning. It was interesting how many designs from the 1950s Valentino kept and did not make up until the 1990s. The use of embroidery was stunning and it was good to get close to see the detail in it. My favourite pieces came from the 2011 collection and were m...

Interesting exhibition of narrative pictures by John Bartlett at the Guildhall Art Gallery. Some of the pictures were Dr Who like visions of London. Others were quite disturbing images such as “History Painting” a study of the poll tax riot in Trafalgar Square. The centre piece was a work in progress “Rise of the Invisible” which is being worked on during the exhibition. It would have been more interesting to go at a time when the artist was there as that would have livened up the space. When I saw it it was white chalk on black. I would be interested to see the finished work. I preferred the drawing for his work including a lovely head study for “History Painting”.

Fascinating exhibition at the National Gallery examining the dialogue between art and photography in the early years of the technology and how contemporary artists have used it to reflect the old masters. It was arranged via the various genres of painting such as portraits, still life etc and created a very interesting dialogue between works. Works which stood out for me were Oscar Rejlander’s “The Two Ways of Life” a wonderful early photograph giving a louche tableau based on the School of Athens and made up of separate pictures pieced together. I loved a video by setting up an image of Lady Eastlake, reproducing the original photo but showing all the stages including the model eating here lunch! There was a nice twist at the end which raised a laugh from viewers. Unusual in a gallery to share a moment like that with you fellow visitors. It was amusing to realise that as soon as you get photography you get nudes both artistic and not so artistic. How like the st...

Stunning exhibition at the Royal Academy focusing on how bronze has been used over the centuries. The exhibition almost peaked too early as the star of the show, the Dancing Satyr, was in the first room. A stunning life sized figure recently rescued from the sea of Sicily which moves gives an amazing sense of movement and life. However instead this gave a wonderful view of what bronze could do and lead you into the rest of the show with a real sense of anticipation. I liked the way the exhibition was themed with items from different ages and countries together. It made you look at the material and the objects in their own right rather than placing them in art historic context.   For items I knew well such as the works from Florence you could add your own knowledge to put them in an artistic tradition and for new objects it gave you a sense of wanting to find out more. The revelation for me was the Nigerian bronzes. I had not come across that tradition and the work...

Annual exhibition for the Landscape photographer of the year Award held at the National Theatre. There were over 100 photographs of landscapes in the UK and many of them were stunning.   They all made you realise how breath takingly beautiful areas of the UK can be and, much as though I am a city girl at heart, it did make we want to get out into the countryside more.   I particularly like photographs with height that fill the frame with the landscape and reduce the sky. There was a lovely one of very green fields stretching as far as you could see with one farm building illuminated in the middle.

Nice little exhibition at Brighton Pavilion looking at the life of Princess Charlotte, daughter of the Prince Regent, whose sudden death in 1817 saw a public outpouring of grief. The exhibition told her story well. From how she was removed from her mother and her parents separated almost as soon as she was born, though her upbringing a heir to the thrown to her tragic death in child birth following a romantic wedding the previous year. The Queen had lent Charlottes wedding dress for the exhibition which was a beautiful silver empire line gown.   I did however prefer the recent exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery looking at Charlotte and Victorian and comparing their lives and how they were portrayed as it had a bit more depth.  

Installation by Geraldine Pilgrim at Brighton Pavilion as the first of their new annual contemporary art commission. This installation consisted by 4 pagodas in different areas of the Pavilion to recall the six porcelain pagodas commissioned by the Prince Regent for the music room. “Reflection” in the kitchen mirrored the shiny copper pans around it and contained cutlery. Upstairs “Translucent” was made of Cluny lace and lit with blue light.   I found them a welcome addition to a trip round the Pavilion.

A retrospective of artist and film-maker Jeff Keen who died earlier this year held at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery . I am going to have to have another moment where I admit I just didn’t get this work. I don’t like modern surrealism and I just did not understand this. I am sure if this is a genre you like this would be fabulous but I struggled. It did give me an understanding of who Jeff Keen was and his important role in this genre but that didn’t mean I understood. Sorry but I was willing to try!

Fantastic exhibition at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery examining the work of the designer Barbara Hulanicki who created and ran Biba. The exhibition was beautifully arranged with commentary round the edges of the galleries and a wonderful concentration of clothes in the middle. It was like walking a Jacky magazine! There was a good balance between a design and a business history of the company and it really emphasised why the shop was so revolutionary at the time and how it changed the outlook of the retail trade. The best element was the bit that was out of the curator’s hands and that was listening to the women who were going round the exhibition pointing out to friends and daughters pieces that had owned. It became a living piece of social history. I am a bit too young for Biba but could see how the pieces there had influences the clothes I bought as   teenager!  

Exhibition at St Margaret’s Church Westminster to mark the Remembrance season of works by Arabella Dorman . These works commemorated the work of the British military in Iraq and Afghanistan where the artist has worked with the military to produce pictures. I have a fascination with the work of war artists in the First World War so it is fascinating that this work continues. The pictures were very moving often showing everyday military life not just times of action. In particular the title piece of the show was a painting based on a beautiful portrait drawing of a soldier who was later killed in action. In the final picture the portrait is overlaid with words from his last letter home.

A lecture at the Courtauld given by Ayla Lepine to compliment the current Pre-Raphaelite exhibition at Tate Britain. I am going to honest and say I did get a bit lost! It is only now reading the introduction to it again that I realise it was about linking the Pre-Raphaelites and the Gothic revival and seeing how they influenced each other, I know it should have been obvious from the title! However this did not really come across clearly in the lecture. The speaker launched straight in and the introduction on the night was more about the current exhibition buy how she was going to take an imaginative view of it an include some works which were not in it. She had a tendency to rush through a series of names and links between them in an amazed fashion. I did start to think that surely as all the names lived about the same time and were operating in artistic circles in London then of course there were connections as there would be now. I think I will chalk this one up to m...

Fascinating exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery to complement their current main exhibition on the artist, looking at drawings by Lely and his substantial collection of drawings.   Lely had one of the great collections of drawings and prints in England in the 17 th century. At a sale on his death there were 10,000 works, each of which was market PL before the sale so they can now be traced in museums throughout the world. There is an emphasis in the collection on figures and drapery and many works were used as inspiration for his own work. The exhibition shone a spot light on collections of this period and how an artist used the work of others as models. I loved an ornamental head by Giulio Romano as I had seen a recent exhibition of his drawings in Paris, also a St Mark by Fra Bartolmmeo for San Marco in Florence.  

Lovely small exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery of nine etchings recently presented to them by Frank Auerbach plus a portrait of Auerbach by Freud donated by another foundation to compliment the etchings. Freud worked directly onto copper plate and there was a wonderful quote about how he considered the work “What’s black is white. What’s left is right”. There were some stunning works really showing off Freud’s skills as a draughtsman from the fineness of thistle to the expression of a man. I loved a reclining study of Leigh Bowery looking end on from the top of his head, a touching and unusual view of a figure.

Small exhibition at the Courtauld gallery looking at the early work of Peter Lely, the 17 th century painter. These early works were mainly pictures of love, music and mythology rather than the portraits he is better known. I must admit I found the works rather insipid if not verging on the bad in the case of “Reuben presenting mandrakes to Leah” which seemed to be a study in chubbiness! Other were almost 17 th soft porn such as one of voyeuristic nymphs by a fountain. This was still a good exhibition as it gave a view of the artist’s work I didn’t know before but thank goodness the Windsor Beauties came along and saved his career! Reviews Times Telegraph Independent Evening Standard  

Artistically displayed exhibition of the work of fashion photographer Tim Walker at Somerset House. These were very imaginative photographs placing the clothes and models in a fantasy world. They were displayed with the props used by the photographer in a fantasy space so there was giant skeleton, a snail climbing up the wall and a large swan shaped boat. I did sometimes feel however that the clothes were not that well shown. It was selling a dream and an image rather than the garment. I preferred Tim Walkers wonderful portraits work particularly a Vivienne Westwood with a coral tiara and orange roses and a large picture of Alexander McQueen with a skull and cigarettes. There was also a lovely picture of the Monty Python team in exploding hats giving an air of nostalgic comedy.

Small exhibition in new galleries at Somerset House of drawings of London by various artists which were to be sold at Sotheby’s to raise money for Article 25 , a development and disaster relief charity. The premise of the exhibition was that a square mile of the West End had been divided into 100 squares and each artist was allocated a square to create an art work inspired by it.   It was a mix of standard views and new takes on subjects such as Mary Bowman’s overlaying of a map of her square on a photograph of barrels. I loved a picture of the old War Office on Whitehall by Joseph Robson done in sections of photographs, drawing and   watercolour and pieced together to form a picture of the whole building.   Also Richard Portchmouth’s view of the corner of Sir John Soane’s house with a reflection of Lincoln’s Inn outside in a convex mirror. Another interesting picture by Michelle Mossessian showed the view up through buildings shown as the space they made agai...

Small exhibition at Somerset House of works by Paul Benney, a resident artist there. This series of pictures called Night Paintings were displayed in the hidden passageways underneath the fountain courtyard, a space which had not been used before for displays. I must admit that the space was so interesting that it rather over shadowed the pictures. The display began by showing individual works in very small store rooms off the passage ways then the main section was in a cellar called the Deadhouse as it had been built on a cemetery and still had a few of the gravestones in the walls, a really wonderful and evocative space. I liked some of the works which seemed hazy from a distance but as you came closer a figure appeared. They worked well in the space. Other of outdoor scenes were good and colourful but did not work so well in that environment.  

Interesting exhibition at the Petit Palais in Paris looking at the work of this early photographer and those he taught. The first room cleverly used eight images to sum up Gustav Le Gray’s achievement and covered a huge range of work. He started teaching photography just ten years after its invention. Le Gray quickly got away from the idea of putting his subject in the centre of the frame and did not use the new genre to imitate paintings. He often chose humble subjects and even by 1857 photography was being used to document war. The last few rooms focused on the work of five key students of which I liked the portraits by Adrien Tournachon best as they showed real depth of character.

Really innovative exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris looking at the tradition of Bohemians in art in all their forms. The first half of the exhibition on the ground floor looked at the history of gypsies and arts image of them. The first non-literary record is from 1421 and the name Bohemians was given to them as a king of Bohemia gave them free passage through the country. One angel of the way gypsies were portrayed was as chaste and angelic and often the Holy Family on the flight from Pilot were seen as like gypsies on the road. However in contrast to this they were also seen as sensual and tempting with their role as fortune tellers being increasingly depicted in the 17 th century. There were wonderful pictures of gypsies as entertainers including the craze for gypsy orchestras in the 19 th century. All ground floor had a brown carpet with the dusty footprints of travellers on it. The second floor looked at how young people in the arts and politic in th...

Nice exhibition at the Louvre in Paris of drawings by Giulio Romano to compliment the Late Raphael exhibition which had featured at lot of his work.   There were some exquisite drawings and in fact they were better than the paintings which seemed to lack life and spontaneity. There were wonderful designs of the Palazzo Te in Mantua for Frederico II Gonzaga including lovely signs of the zodiac.   There was also a wonderful scene of the Gods called “Divinities in Olympia ”

Outdoor exhibition of photographs of brain scans matching them to similar outside the side entrance to the Louvre in Paris. It was organized by the University of Jerusalem and AFIRNe (Franco-Israeli Association for Research in Neuroscience), and translates as "The Colour of Thought". There were some wonderful images and the match to paintings made you look at both the scan and the painting in a different light.

Lovely exhibition at the Jacquemart-Andre Museum in Paris comparing and contrasting the work of the two Venetian painters, Caneletto and Guardi. I liked the way it used different areas of the city as a focus to makes its points either between the two artists or between one artists young and mature work. I particularly liked one pair of the corner of the Canneregio canal as it included the flat I stayed in a few years ago!  I came out preferring the pure clear images of Canaletto. Guardi had freer brush work and a more realistic view but everything looked grub bier and less defined. I think Canaletto's figures are more expressive, with a couple of small lines he brings a person to live.    

Rather luscious exhibition at the Musee D'Orsay in Paris looking at the Impressionists and clothes. It was a very stylish exhibition with some full length life sized pictures being displayed like a cat walk and a lovely garden room at the end for pictures of the out doors but sometimes the style was at the expensive of ergonomics! Please can we have legible labels and don't put pictures on the audio tour or introduction boards in corridors!  Grumpy old lady moment excepted it was lovely to see the real dresses of the time next to the pictures and also alongside Eugene Disderi calling cards.  I had not come across Alfred Stevens before and now want to know more as some lovely small pictures of women in white. Tissot of course can out of it as a fashion star and of most note was his picture of a group of stylish men "Le Circle de la rue Royale". Reviews Telegraph  

Fascinating exhibition at the Musee D'Orsay in Paris looking at the work of the architect Victor Baltard who helped to transform Paris in the mid 19th century. The first section looked at his early life including his time in Rome and the friendships he made there with people like Ingres.  The main section was beautifully arranged along a gallery set up to look like his major work for the markets at Les Halles with rooms off one side, decorated in the style of the period, looking at all aspects of his work.  The exhibition also included some of the first architectural photographs by Charles Bossu dit Marville.  I found the section on Les Halles most interesting as our hotel,overlooks the current building work. One photo from about 150 years ago was almost exactly the view from our window albeit we have cranes. The section on the cultural legacy of the old Les Halles buildings was also fascinating. 

Nice companion exhibition tab the Louvre in Paris to their current Late Raphael exhibition.  Luca Penni was the brother to the Penni who featured in the Raphael exhibition and who also trained in Raphael's studio. He was part of a group of Italians employed to decorate the refurbished palace of Fontainbleu.  There were a lot of rather louch female nudes which can only be described as 16th century soft porn. There were a rather nice set of variations on Diana and Acteon which I liked and some great battles of nude men!  The drawings were better than the prints and there were also some designs used on other works. 

Good exhibition   at the Louvre in Paris on the later work of Raphael. It started with five large pictures and accompanying drawings including some commissioned by Pope Leo X for Francis I. A real strength of this exhibition was the bringing together of paintings and their drawings. There was a heavy emphasis on works for the popes including the decoration of the papal apartments. there was a good definition of studio of that Raphael "controlled it's quality and homogeneity".  There was also an emphasis on his legacy and followers mainly Giulio Romano and Gian Francesco Penni with a gallery devoted to each of their works. Romano was more mannerist in style while Penni was quite delicate. The exhibition saved the best till last with a room of stunning portraits many of which were old friends. Particularly beautiful was a Romano picture of a young man thought to be a Medici.  However the whole thing confirmed my suspicion that Raphael copied and imita...

Nice exhibition at the Greenwich Heritage Centre in Woolwich looking at the life of Bob Hope.  This is a travelling exhibition from the World Golf Hall of Fame and Museum and is at he centre because Bob Hope was born in the borough. There was a nice section on his early life with photos of the local houses he'd lived in.  I loved the sections on his work visiting troops over many years and on his relationships with US Presidents. There were many iconic objects such as his Oscar and Congressional Medal.  I did find it a bit full of golf but that just reflects the reason for the curation.  Best of all though was that there were lots of video clips in different areas of the exhibition so not only was the space full of his lovely voice but also visitors laughing at the jokes. A good joke doesn't date! 

Excellent one day seminar at the British Library Centre for Conservation looking at sources of funding for library and archive conservation projects and how to put together a funding bid.  There were three good speakers  Louise Ray - Programme Manager (Development Advice), National Archives, Caroline Peach, Head of Preservation Advisory Centre, British Library and Helen Lindsey, a collection care consultant.   I attended because I may need to looking for extra funding sources for a project we have undertaken at work. The day gave me lots of ideas and a chance to pick the brains of others! 

Neat exhibition at the British Library to showcase the original scroll version of Jack Kerouac's book "On the road".  The scroll was displayed in a long case with annotations along the edge and passages and pictures on the walls around it. There was also a useful who's who as the names were changed for publication.  There were aLso different editions of the book and other  beat works.  The work was written on a Scroll because Kerouac didn't want to stop the flow of creativity to reload paper so taped pieces together paper to form scroll. It was written in 3 weeks in 1951 based on years of  notes and sketches.  The scroll is am amazing object in itself as it is one continuous script not even paragraph breaks giving a real sense of the flow of ideas! I hate to admit I knew very little about this book other than the basics before the exhibition but as a result of it am off to the bookshop to buy a copy! 

Nice exhibition put on by the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours at the National Theatre. It showed of the range of images which can be created with water colours ranging from traditional landscapes to nightclub scenes. My favourite picture was also the poster for the show, “The ascent of woman” by Chris Myers which was a stunning portrait shaped triptych of the interior of the Natural History Museum. All the works were so sale but sadly this was beyond my reach! It was nice to see a work by Shirley Travena, who is an artist I first came across at Brighton Open Houses.