Cathy's Art Diary

Slightly disjointed exhibition at the British Museum tracing the horse from its earliest origins to the race horses of today. Each bit of the exhibition was very good but I wasn’t sure the bits fitted together.  I would have preferred three exhibitions the horse in the classical world, the horse in Islam and the growth of the modern race horse.  I liked the last section best on race horses in particular the work of Blunts who were the first English people to collect Arabian horse and started a stud in England. I loved the illustrations of  their travels. I was also fascinated to see the development from UK race horse from just three foundation stud horses. A friend had described this to me a while ago at Goodwood races so it was nice to find out more and relive happy memories.

Academic exhibition at the in the print room of the British Library focusing on Spanish drawings from 1500 to the early 19 th century. It was well organised focusing on particular cities at points in time to illustrate a technique or theme. It began with Madrid and designs of the Philip II’s palace including a beautiful design for a vestment.    Here was a slight misbalance to the show as Velazquez had done very view drawings so there were only two by him. This did mean there was rather a lot of fairly standard 17 th century studies for or copies of altar piece which got a but waring. My favourite piece in the show was a wonderful drawing of a monk by Zuberan which had such pathos. I am rapidly becoming a Zuberan fan! The main thing I learnt was the Tiepolo and his sons moved to Spain in the 1750s. I didn’t know that and would like to know more!  Reviews Independent  

Trip to see the print collection at the law firm Clifford Chance organised by the Friends of the Courtauld. For twenty years the firm has acquired a significant collection of original artist prints. The collection includes works by major artists working in Britain over the last 150 years, running from Whistler and Nevinson, through Hockney, Riley and Gormley to works by recent Art School graduates. We were taken round by the advisers to the art committee and it was fascinating to hear how a collection was being developed and the process by which they chose and acquired new work. It was interesting to see that the work was displayed in all areas of the offices not just directors’ offices so that all staff had access to them. However it has to be said that any works we saw, and there were some lovely pieces, paled into insignificance when compared to the view from room where we had drinks which was on the 30 th floor of their Canary Wharf office!

I only managed to get out one day of this year's Open House weekend as the Sunday was so wet and windy. However on the Saturday I investigated events in my local area. I only moved to Woolwich about 6 months ago so I am still exploring. The most fascinating event was the barracks at Station Officers’ Mess Woolwich Barracks . The building has the longest Georgian frontage in Europe and it was so interesting to go inside and see how a modern regiment was using it. I was delighted to see they were still commissioning art works. The other half of the building held the mess for the King’s Own Troop who have only recently moved there from St John’s Wood. Over the road from the Barracks were the bombed ruins of St George’s Church which is now the VC memorial for the Royal Artillery. It was manned by a faithful band of ladies who are working to preserve it. Finally on the way back I popped into Woolwich Town Hall . This Edwardian civic building had a lovely faded grand

Fascinating talk at the National Portrait Gallery by Rob Dickens looking at how images of the famous have changed over the last 150 years and how the famous have used artists to build their images. He began with how the most famous Victorians are often seen in our minds a sold men because that is when their photographs appeared although there are in fact striking portraits of them as young me. He then went through the relationships between various Hollywood stars and the photographers they worked with. He then develpoed this into the way pop stars have built similar relationships. He touched on the vital role Vanity Fair photographer played in both eras. He also talked about how looking at pictures of someone throughout their life could tell their story using Tony Blair as one example.

Nice exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery looking at how images of the Queen have developed throughout her reign. It began with the familiar coronation images such as the Cecil Beaton photo but then came up to date with the wonderful photo of the Queen and Prince Philip to sitting together on a sofa to mark Phillips 90 th birthday. I particularly liked the way images referred back to earlier ones with 3 of her in a military cloak staring with the great Annigoni portrait and ending with a recent photo by Annie Liebovitz. I would have liked the exhibition to be have had a bit more depth and been a bit bigger. For a Jubilee event it was a shame it was only 3 rooms worth.

Annual exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery for this award for portrait painting. I thought this year’s exhibition was better than some years as the pictures were mainly realistic. I do tend to struggle with abstract portraits. My favourite was “Swallow” by Alexander Garner a classic portrait of a woman in the early 20 th century tradition with a striking yellow background with swallows on. I also though the picture opposite the entrance “Tess and the clay heads” by Ruth Murray was a wonderful study of texture and I love the similarity between the swirls of clay and the sitters hair. There was also a very classic commissioned portrait of the High Sherriff of Lincolnshire which was glossy and highly finished. Great to know there are still people who can paint this sort of formal work. Reviews Independent Evening Standard

Great exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of photographs commissioned from four photographers to record people from the London 2012 Olympics, not only sports people but also torch bearers, builders, chefs and anyone else you could think of. Seeing this post Olympics made me quite nostalgic and yet it only finished a week ago! I loved the free standing almost full sized photos of torch bearers by Nada Kander particularly the little older lady holding a tissue! They were so realistic they felt like people sharing the space with you. I also liked the almost super real photos of Anderson and Low. My eye was caught by the picture of the men’s rowing eight but I think that had as much to do with the men and the quality of the photo! Reviews DailyTelegraph

New statute of Nike at Royal Woolwich Arsensal presented to London by the Ancient City of Olympia to mark the Greek origins of the Games. My main interest in this is that it’s on the development I live on. I saw a strange block of stone arrive a while ago but the workmen putting it in didn’t seem to know what it was for but a couple of weeks later a poster appeared for an unveiling followed by a statue covered in a tarpaulin! Sadly I was away for the unveiling but got back to find an elegant statue of Nik so thank you very much Olympia! 

Rather dark exhibition at Pallant House in Chichester looking at record cover designs which used goth, art nouveau and surrealist images.   The prints were all published by the Edinburgh Printmarkers. I was probably getting a but tired by the time I got to this display but I wasn’t very moved by it. I had only heard of one or two of the bands the covers were for so it didn’t grab and maintain my interest. Sorry but that’s the hazard of a gallery with 6 exhibitions!

Very small exhibition at Pallant House in Chichester of posters for the 1972 Munich Olympics. When I say very small I really mean it, one side of a corridor! The posters were designed by the leading Pop Artists of the day such as David Hockney. I found then interesting as Munich is the first Olympic I remember quite well and so these showed the design trends of my childhood. Also a good attidote to the post 2012 Olympics come down!

Interesting exhibition at Pallant House in Chichester bringing together art works by pop stars to complement the current Peter Blake exhibition. I would have liked this exhibition to be bigger because it was quite fascinating, I did know of some pop stars who painted but not how many and how many had come from art school backgrounds. I loved the vibrant works by Ian Dury and the Stuart Sutcliffe sketch book.

Small exhibition at Pallant House in Chichester looking at the work Derek Boshier did for David Bowie and the Clash. This exhibition complemented the current Peter Blake exhibition but I must admit was rather put into the shade by it. Again this was work I didn’t know but it lacked the humour of Blake’s work and looked drab in comparison. I am sure if I’d seen it in a different context I would have been more interested. I did like the series of photos and silhouettes for Bowies Lodger album.

Fascinating exhibition at Pallant House in Chichester looking at work relating to pop music by Peter Blake. I found this very interesting as I must admit my knowledge of Peter Blake’s work in this field didn’t extend much further than Sergeant Pepper. I hadn’t even realised he had done the cover design for Band Aid, sorry! However now I know a lot more. I was particularly interest that he had taught Ian Dury and that this had led to a life long friendship. I was very moved to see Dury’s rhythm stick as designed by Blake. Going back to Sergeant Pepper again it was lovely to see items which had been included in the iconic picture such a the small Snow White figure. Reviews Independent

Small exhibition at Pallant House in Chichester marking the life and work of landscape painter Adrian Berg who dies last year. I remembered Berg’s large pictures of Kew Gardens from various Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions and had always liked them thinking of the pictures with running paint. It was lively to see a collection of smaller works which in many ways were more satisfying that the large pictures. I really liked a series of panoramic views in sketch books which were more detailed and finely finished than I was used to from him.

An imaginative exhibition at the National Gallery bringing together the three Titian mythological paintings and commissioning reactions from artists, choreographers and poets. In collaboration with the Royal Ballet, the exhibition takes the metamorphosis theme of the pictures a step further and creates works which are themselves a metamorphosis from the Titian. I watched the Imagine programme on BBC about the ballets and was fascinated. It helped me to understand how the works fitted together as it was hard in the exhibition to get across the idea of movement despite including the costumes and set designs. Of the contemporary works I loved the fluid slow movement of Conrad Shawcross's machine Diana but I am afraid the Chris Ofili pictures left me a bit cold although I did prefer Ofili's ballet's set and costumes. Mark Wallinger's installation was fantastic. I had read about it and felt I knew what to expect but had the strange experience of looking through t

What can best be described as a happening in Greenwich! When wandering in Greenwich I turned a corner to find a large very thing! It turns out it is called Bloom and describes itself as “an urban toy, a distributed social game and collective “gardening” experience that seeks the engagement of people in order to construct fuzzy BLOOM formations”. Ay the wiser, not sure I am but it was fun. It’s a series of flat pink pieces of plastic which can be clipped together to create firms. The core is put together by designers but then it moves to different sites and passers by join in and add new section or build their own designs. It was lovely to see a family concentrating on putting the bits together, often with the Dad’s having the most fun!