Cathy's Art Diary

Imaginative exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery of drawings from their collection which involved grid patterns to compliment the current Mondrian and Nicholson exhibition. It included works on which a grid had been drawn to transfer them to canvas of painting. There was a fascinating sketch by Auberbach which he had drawn a grid pattern on to make sense of the composition. I loved a Canaletto of the inside of a nunnery where the grills through which visitors spoke to the nuns where reflect as a gird pattern on the floor and drove the perspective throught a view of Venice in the doorway. And of course I wanted the Omega design for a tray with a grid design on it! 

A scholarly exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery examining the relationship between Piet Mondrian and Ben Nicholson during the 1930's. when they were leading forces of abstract art in Europe . The works of both artists were hung next to each other so that you could compare and contrast easily. I had not really understood Mondrian before but seeing the works up close showed me that there is much more artistry in them that a reproduced image can ever show. I was fascinated by the letters and other ephemera which were shown with the pictures and the detail of the artists’ lives this showed. I find the theory of abstract art rather serious and philosophical but this was an exhibition which will make me take more interest in abstract work as objects and individual pictures. 

Small exhibition at Somerset House of the work of Horiyoshi III, an influential Japanese tattoo artist. The exhibition was of very delicate silk paintings with a mix of action, such as the tiger and thunder bolt and peace, such as my favourite of a fish. This was a wonderfully modern take on traditional Japanese art, or at least it seemed to be to my very untrained eye.  

Very good study day at the Courtauld Institute of Art to complement their current exhibition looking at the work of Piet Mondrian and Ben Nicholson and the links between them. The morning looked at the lives of the two artists up to the point they met with Caroline Levitt looking at Mondrian and Jeremy Lewison at Nicholson. I did not know much about either artist and these talks gave me good overview of their artistic development up to 1934. The afternoon put them in the context of 1930s artistic London in an interesting talk by Sam Rose, although I could have done with a few less long quotes. Finally we brought the two artists together in a talk from co-curator of the exhibition Lee Beard. This was a fascinating overview of the parallels between their work and how they may have influenced each other. I would have liked to hear a bit more about the personal links between them as later in the exhibition I was fascinated to see that Winfred Nicholson, Ben’s wife, was the firs

Wonderful installation in the courtyard of Somerset House by Fernando Casasempere. The whole of the courtyard has been given over to a low grass mound covered in ceramic flowers in shades of brown, cream and pink. Each one is individually made and mounted on metal stem. They are arranged in clumps and give the effect of a meadow of flowers. The work made me feel very peaceful and I wanted to walk round all sides of it to get the different views. If it had been a bit warmed it would have been nice to just sit with it. It reminded me slightly of Anthony Gormley’s “Fields” which also give me this immense sense of calm. Although it is called “Out of Sync” it had the opposite effect on me. 

Fantastic lecture at the National Portrait Gallery given by co-curator of the current Lucien Freud exhibition, Sarah Howgate. This was a fascinating look at how an exhibition is put together from the moment this idea was muted to the prospect of 225,000 visitors in total. It was very interesting to hear about the mechanics of how the pictures have to be delivered to the gallery in an particular order and how many of them had to be unpacked and hung in front of the couriers who had brought them. It was interesting to hear her talk about regular lunches with the artist and the effect his death during the process had on the final exhibition. I loved the fact that some people wouldn’t lend their pictures because they couldn’t bare to be without them for the year. A real tribute to Sarah was how the questions flowed at the end. She had a very real and approachable style which put people at ease and made them feel they could ask more.

Very small display at the National Portrait Gallery in their Photograph of the Month series picking for April Captain Edward Smith of the Titanic. Even I don’t always mention a display this small but I have to for personal reasons. Throughout the Titanic celebrations I have been waiting to see a photo of Captain Rostron of the Carpathia, the ship which came to the Titanic’s rescue. A friend of my father’s was the grandson of Captain Rostron so I  always think of him when Titanic is mentioned. There next to the photo of Captain Smith, in an example of the how the photo was used in the press, was a picture of Captain Rostron so I now feel he has been marked in some way. OK I could have found a picture on the web but it wouldn’t as been an moving as coming across it in a gallery! 

Nice little exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery   comparing the lives and imagery of Princess Charlotte and Queen Victoria. Princess Charlotte was the daughter of the Prince Regent who was expected to be Queen but died in childbirth. Queen Victoria was almost bred to be a replacement for her. The exhibition showed how Victoria was often portrayed in similar poses and clothes to Charlotte to rekindle memories of the earlier princess and strengthen Victoria ’s claim to the throne. It also looked at the role of Prince Leopold, beloved husband to one and trusted uncle to the other and how Victoria married a very similar man. 

Small but interesting display at the National Portrait Gallery  of casts from the tombs of early kings of England . The casts were produced in the late 19 th century by the gallery these on the grounds that the tombs are the nearest thing we have to portraits of these monarchs.  Taken from Westminster Abbey, Gloucester Cathedral and Canterbury Cathedral they show the Plantagenet family from Edward II to Henry IV and including the Black Prince. It was lovely that these figures were shown upright so that you could look into their faces. Even though the notes said the figure of the Black Prince was not a good likeness it was the most striking statue as he was wearing full amour including helmet and therefore seemed to show more shape to the body. 

Scholarly exhibition at the National Gallery focusing on an early work by Titian currently on loan from the Hermitage. The picture put a religious scene into a wonderful landscape complete with detailed flowers and animals. Ii was displayed with drawing s which complemented it in front of it. The rest of the gallery included other Titian’s from the Hermitage and contemporary Venetian works from the National Gallery’s collections such as the Bellini “Madonna of the Meadow” and a Giorgione from the collection I didn’t know. In fact I felt the pastoral figure at the back of the Titian was very similar to the main figure in “The Tempest”. Review Evening Standard

Lovely trip to the archives of the National Gallery organised as part of a departmental day out. We had a nice introduction to the collection from the curator, Alan, who had got out some lovely pieces. I found it so exciting to hold one of Eastlake’s notebooks from his buying trips with his lovely neat handwriting. He also had out some of the designs for what is now the Sainsbury Wing from the 1950s. He then showed us their rolling stack with some other gems such as early minute books and an invitation from Dickens. This was lovely chance for me to link my hobby and work! Many thanks to Holly and Andy for organising it.

Magical exhibition at the Royal Academy of recent works by David Hockney. Despite going on the last day the pictures managed to almost control the crowds. Luckily they were works to view en mass not necessarily to study each brush stroke in depth. There was a tremendous sense of colour. I started off feeling that he had seen a different Yorkshire to me but when you watched the video near the end you realised these were the colours of the countryside on a sunny day. I loved the room with multiple sets of small pictures which picked up on common colours but had different scenes sometimes mixing deep landscapes with close of flowers. Reviews Times Guardian Daily Telegraph Independent Evening Standard

Lovely exhibition at the Royal Academy looking at the life and work of Johann Zoffany. Zoffany settled in London in 1760 and produced a wonderful snapshot of life in England at the time. He became one of the leading portrait painters of the time and almost invented the conversation style group portrait. He had an unique insight on English life at the time as he was an outsider. There was a lovely gallery looking at pictures of theatrical life as one of his early patron had been Garrick and most unusually a group of pictures at the end from him time spent in India. I think my favourite piece was actually his most famous, the study of the Uffizzi gallery complete with lots of well known pictures. A name that tune of a picture. Reviews Daily Telegraph Independent Evening Standard

Small exhibition downstairs at the National Portrait Gallery of photographs by Sandra Lousada who has worked as a portrait photographer for 50 years. There were some interesting works including a reminder of how good looking Tom Courtney was! I loved the picture of Gilbert Harding and his dog at Paddington Station. There was a good cross section of people represented from Arthur Bliss to Cilla Black but I must admit I did not get a great sense of the artist. I’d have liked a bit more about her and why some of the pictures were taken.

Wonderful exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of portraits by Lucien Freud. Ever since the Tate exhibition a few years ago I have loved Freud and this was a nice opportunity to focus on the portraits and to see how they progressed. I found the earlier works almost a bit cartoon like and it was a relief when in about the third gallery he found his more familiar style. My favourite room had to be the Leigh Bowerys. I love the confident way he poses and the wonderful contrast between his size and the rather dilapidated studio furniture. The final picture “Portrait of the Hound” was very moving as Freud’s last paint stokes formed his dog’s ear and may I say what good dogs he painted. I will say though that the exhibition space does not work very well as the gallery has to use the small spaces in what is usually the contemporary gallery which did not cope too well with the volume of people. However Good Friday might not have been the best day to go! Reviews Guardian Daily Telegraph