Cathy's Art Diary

Fifth session of a six week course at the Bishopsgate Institute looking at the art of the 19th century, a period of great changes in art and society. The course is led by James Heard and this session looked at Post-Impressionists and was fascinating. The first part acknowledged that this was not really a conscious group of artists but a term applied to a movement in art after it had happened. We then talked about the two intellectual post-impressionists Cezanne and Seurat. I must admit I’d always assumed that Cezanne had painted very quickly so was fascinated to hear how slowly and carefully he pitched colours against each other to form shapes. In part two we looked at the mad men, Gaugin and Van Gogh. Who both painted with emotion and symbolism. I have always been fascinated by the period when they lived together in Arles in the Yellow House. We looked slightly more at Van Gogh then Gaugin as I think we are due to spend more time on the later next week.

Small display at the Museum of London looking at the life and work of Michael Caine. What there was was interesting but there just wasn’t enough. I suspect there were less than 20 photographs altogether and not much commentary on them. I like the idea of playing films and interviews to complement the pictures but because the space was small and quite open it was difficult to focus on one sound track without other interfering.

Grisly but fascinating exhibition at the Museum of London looking at the history of dissection and in particular where the surgeons and students got the bodies from. I’d not really thought before that pre-anaesthetics   surgeons had to be very quick so they had to have bodies in order to be able to practice. The first section looked at resurrection men who took bodies from cemeteries to sell to the surgeons. It looked at what measures people too to avoid this fate plus what happened when the resurrection men got greedy and turned to murder to acquire bodies. I loved the very vivid reading of a contemporary ballad. Most fascinating through was the room looking at skeletons which were excavated in 2006 at the Royal London Hospital which showed evidence of dissection. There was evidence from the time that the hospital had robbed its own graveyard for bodies. My only slight worry was that as a chaplain at the time had fought to get all bodies a decent burial what woul...

Sumptuous exhibition at the British Library looking at the history and culture of the Mughal emperors which ruled from the 16th to the 19th century in India and South Asia. There were some exquisite objects and books on display and the whole thing was very rich on the eye. I knew nothing about this period so needed explanations but was almost overwhelmed by the amount of information given. I think if I had read everything careful I would have been there for hours! But there again I wanted more information in places as I would have been interested to know if there was any link with western art as some of the illuminated manuscripts used similar ideas of the western ones. Then I must remember it was more of a history exhibition than an art one. Stand out items included a beautiful small study of the head of Akbar. I loved the idea of an instructional poem for pigeon fanciers with sweet illustrations. I also liked a route map on a scroll which shows a journey including p...

Interesting exhibition at Somerset House of landscape photography looking at both the grandeur of natural landscape and what man has done to the landscape. This exhibition was much bigger than I expected and occupied the relatively newly renovated East Wing but also expanded in to the East Galleries by the river. I’d never realized how those spaces linked up so that was quite exciting in itself! I think the best way to tackle this is to mention my highlights. I loved a panorama of the Grand Canyon in different lights by Mark Klett and Bryon Wolfe which was a nice response to Ansel Adams. I liked the section of construction work at odd stages such as the one of scaffolding holding up the end of an overpass. More small scale was a nice study of the windows of a French chateau by Stephane Courturier. Most interesting in the section on damage done by man was an oil platform in the middle of an oil spill by Daniel Beltra. Review Evening Standard   ...

Fourth session of a six week course at the Bishopsgate Institute looking at the art of the 19th century, a period of great changes in art and society. The course is led by James Heard and this session looked at Impressionism. We tried to look at the pictures in comparison to what audiences at the time were used to so we could see how revolutionary their style was. We discussed their influences such as the cartoonist Daumier and how they used the latest technology such as factory produced brushes and paint in tubes. We also looked at differences in their styles, although we think of them as one groups each artists work was very different from the clear almost realist style of Calliebotte to Monet’s technique of painting light.

Fun exhibition at the London Transport Museum of advertising posters for London Underground to mark its 150th anniversary. They were arranged by theme some of them quite amusing like the section on how over the years the Tube has been advertised as a way to avoid the weather both hot and cold! I loved the section which advertises the sense of opportunity of the city which the Tube opens up and the opposing side advertising that the Tube can take you out of the city too. The 1920s and 30s seem to have been the golden age presenting a great view of a vibrant and exiting city. By the 1970s London Underground moved from commissioning artists to working with advertising agencies as posters were no longer their main advertising medium. Favourite posts was the Graham Sutherland “Go out into the country” of an office scene with an imagined landscape in an artistic think bubble.   Closely followed by a lovely 1920s picture of penguin to advertise London Zoo.   ...

Nice exhibition at the National Theatre to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the photographer Norman Parkinson. It covered both his portrait and fashion work from the classic 1950s pictures of his wife through to lovely 1960s portraits. It didn’t really follow themes but did present lovely images. Favourites were a great picture of Maggie Smith in a red dress with heavy blue eye make up,   one of John Piper against a flint wall and a clever one of Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen face to face with the Ghirlandaio portrait in his collection.

Surprising exhibition at Tate Britain of the work of Kurt Schwitters focusing on work he did in Britain. I say surprising as I had not come across Schwitters before even though he was a significant figure in the early 20th avant guard who was an influence on other artists. I went along rather as a duty not being a big fan of abstract art but I really enjoyed it. It introduced me to the idea of Metz, a combination of any materials to form art. I loved the small collages and the use of bus tickets, sweet wrappers and other found items. You can’t help but compare this to Duchamp at the Barbican and I liked this a lot better. The work seemed less self-conscious. I was particularly interested in the section on his internment on the Isle of Man and the artists’ community which grew up there. It was also fascinating to see some of his paintings. He did some nice lovely landscapes and portraits. Reviews Telegraph Independent Evening Standard  

Interesting exhibition at Tate Britain looking at how works in the collection look at landscape. However it was cleverer that that sounds. It hung works together which were similar in composition but from different eras such as portraits with landscape backgrounds. The commentary said it gives “insights into ways in which a viewer is engaged in the process of looking”. I did find it made you take a step back and loo at each picture in their own right rather than as part of an era or genre. This set up interesting dialogues between works such as Nevinson’s picture of flying from the First World War next to a collage of photographs of Concorde. I think my favourite picture was a wonderful bare seascape by John Brett of light falling on water. Closely followed by “Black Square” by Gillian Carnegie of a tree and ground foliage drawn out in different thicknesses and textures of black paint. Reviews Independent  

Wonderful installation in the Duveen Gallery at Tate Britain by Simon Starling. At first I thought it was a bit dull as it was just a screen but you started to realize that the projection was of the space around you and a homage to previous exhibitions in that space. It became quite ghost like and I found myself looking round to check that the objects on the screen weren’t actually there. I particularly like a representation of what the space might have looked like when it was bombed in the war. The whole thing became a new work made of the history of the space. Very clever. Reviews Independent Evening Standard

Delightful exhibition at St Margaret’s Westminster of triptychs, reliefs and other sculptures by Edward Armitage Robinson. I particularly liked the triptychs and that you were encouraged to open and close them and feel the lovely carving. They added to the lovely peaceful atmosphere of the church. The introduction to the exhibition says “we may find them suggesting fresh ways of thinking of feeling about old and familiar truth”. Somehow you left feeling you’d make some sort of connection.

Small exhibition at St Martin in the Fields of work by the painter Andrew McConnach. This exhibition could really have done with some explanation because I am afraid without it they were just poor pictures. They were quite decorative and I guessed they had something to do with memory but I have no idea if that’s what he was aiming for. Sorry I didn’t get it!   

Third session of a six week course at the Bishopsgate Institute looking at the art of the 19th century, a period of great changes in art and society. The course is led by James Heard and this session looked at Realism comparing the French and English versions of it. We started by looking at Delaroche's "Executing of Lady Jane Grey" and comparing it to Courbet's "After Diner at Ornans”. The latter being in a more rugged loose style. We talked about how revolutionary it was for audiences to see real life depicted in art and how badly they reacted to this. On the English side we focused on the realist pictures of the Pre-Raphaelites such as Ford Maddox Brown's "Work" showing men at work building the London sewers and the other work going on around them. I must admit we did end up laughing rather at August Egg's "Past and Present" with it’s rather heavy handed symbolism.

Surprisingly good exhibition of work at Tate Modern looking at the work of Lichtenstein I must admit I went along thinking of Lichtenstein as the cartoon painter and therefore a bit simple but I’d not realized that a lot of his work was a study on painting and a reaction to and against other art works. The fact that they are paintings are at the heart of the work. The tape tour was well worth taking and gave the exhibition depth but while still letting the pictures stand alone. My favourite work was “Still life with glass and peeled lemon” which played with the idea of reflection and distortion but all in the cartoon, Pop art style. I also liked the four studio pictures being displayed together in a room so it was like looking into a space and yet you are looking out of one. I was also interested in the room which looked at his artistic dialogue with earlier artists such as his take on Monet’s Rouen Cathedral. Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Ind...

Fun exhibition at Somerset House showcasing the use of wool in the home. This was delightful from the smell of fresh carpet as you walked in, the funky coloured sheep in the courtyard through to the trendy room settings. I loved the lime green bedroom and the nursery complete with a sheep   a child could ride. There were also rooms showing wools use in fashion and rooms show casing people spinning and weaving. All an unexpected delight!

Small exhibition at the Courtauld of drawings of women by Picasso, Mattisse and Maillol to compliment the current Picasso exhibition. They were mainly works from the 1920s looking at the post First World War desire for regeneration, order and classical beauty. I loved a half draw woman by Picasso where he has left her right side and thigh blank but your brain fills them in. Maillol mainly did sculpture so his figures are fuller figured and well-drawn.

Clever exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery focusing on Picasso’s breakthrough year 1901 in Paris when he has his first major exhibition. The first gallery was of pictures that were in that exhibition mainly following the styles of the period but with his own special spin. The picture descriptions were excellent pointing out influences such as the influence of both Degas and Velazquez on “Dwarf Dancer”. It was interesting to see how many of the pictures from that exhibition are now still in private hands. The second room looked at the effect of a friend’s suicide had on him and his move towards the Blue Period pictures. I loved the smaller of the two self-portraits which had wonderful loose brush strokes and a brooding expression. I particularly liked the group of pictures of drinkers at café tables brought together from Russia and New York.   It was great to see Courtauld so busy. They had even had to introduce timed tickets. Reviews Times Guardian Te...

Last session in a six week course at the National Gallery on Renaissance painting which focused this week on stories and symbols. The first lecture was given by the course tutor Sian Walters and looked how to read the signs and symbols in paintings of this period. We also looked at the importance of colour and shape as well. We focused on religious symbols but also looked at the use of family symbols and mythological ones. The second lecture was by Susan Foister, the Deputy Direct or the Gallery and looked at the symbols in Holbein’s “The Ambassadors” and what they may mean. She was wonderfully non-committal as she said they could mean anything we can’t be sure. It remains and enigmatic picture but as one member of the audience pointed out they two men look like two good friends who are about to go out and enjoy life!  

Fun evening at the National Portrait Gallery with Sandy Nairn, the current director of the gallery interviewing Roy Strong who was director from 1967-73 and changed its direction. The reason for the interview was that Strong had published a memoir of his early life and it was a witty and interesting discussion. He painted a wonderful picture of what the gallery had been like when he first arrived in 1959 with no-one really talking to each other and very little emphasis on the pictures and who their audience might be. It was fascinating to hear how iconic exhibitions where put on which changed how galleries engaged with the public during this period of great social change.

Fun exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of portraits of American Indian’s by George Catlin. These were painted in the early 19th century during a period of great change in the American West as an attempt to document a changing way of life. I particularly liked the room hung to recreate how they were exhibited in London at the Egyptian Hall in 1841. One wall was hung thickly with them frame to frame and floor to ceiling.   It was an impressive sight and was only 5% of the original display. I liked the fact that all the sitters were named and many had a small history of their lives. I felt I’d like to be “One Who Gives No Attention”! Reviews Sunday Times Telegraph    

Second session of a six week course at the Bishopsgate Institute looking at the art of the 19th century, a period of great changes in art and society. The course is led by James Heard and this session looked at Romanticism in art and architecture. We compared the David which we’d studied last week with Gericault’s “Raft of the Medusa” to work out what he difference was between neo-classism and romanticism seeing that the later was more emotional, has less colour, was more muddle and disordered in style and had a great concentration on nature. We then went on to look at other pictures and building which reflected the style and discussed the difference between the beautiful, the sublime and the picturesque. We finished my looking in detail at Constable’s “The Cornfield”. I don’t think I’d ever looked properly at a Constable and it was fascinating to see what was real and what was heightened for effect. I was particularly interested that he didn’t use green paint all the...

Interesting exhibition at the Barbican focusing on “The Bride and the Bachelors” by Duchamp and the influence it had on the cultural in New York at the time including John Cage, Merce Cunningham and Jasper Johns. I must admit on the ground floor and I had a “Pull the other one” moment. I am not sure I really understood the central work. It was an abstract work painted on glass. The whole display was by Phillipe Parreno and called Mise en Scene and provided a sound track to the exhibition. Again I found some of the music quite trying but I did love the occasional sound of dancers running across the floor. However by the time I got upstairs I was starting to get a view of a group of friends. I’m not sure I liked much of the art but I did like the sense of friendship and their work becoming a dialogue between them. The artist I most warmed to was Jasper John’s because his work seemed to have more of a sense of humour such as the lovely zig zag abstract works with cutlery...

Interesting exhibition at the British Museum of African textiles explaining where the different designs are worn and their meanings. This was something I knew nothing about it but the material was colourful and beautiful as well being really interesting. There was a super wall of kangas from East Africa which are rectangular printed clothes all with an inscription in the same place. There were commemorative ones such as for the election of Obama and political ones, particularly ones about women’s rights. I wanted the wonderful dress in honour of Albertina Susuly from South Africa in blue with a full skirt and big faces of said Albertina round the bottom.  

Delightful exhibition at the British Museum of drawings by Edward Dodwell and Simone Pomardi made on a trip to Greece in 1805-06.    When Napoleon’s activities in Europe stopped the Grand Tour people turned to Greece instead. Dodwell and Pomardi were interested in the ruins and remains but they also seemed to like the contrast with Greek life at the time and show the buildings as they were then not reimagined.    The exhibition also included a mock-up of a panorama they painted on canvas on their return to England which was displayed in a rotunda on the Strand in 1818.    Having just been to a lecture on neo-classical art of the early 19th century these fitted in really well to that idea and I would have been interested to know a bit more about whether the pictures had been used as source material for other works.

Inspiring exhibition at the British Museum looking at art and decorated objects from the Ice Age. I went along thinking I had better go but fearing it would be very worthy and I loved it. It made you think about what art really is in its purest form and how basic an instinct being creative is. It showed that ice age people had the same modern visual brain as our own. The female figures were intensely moving as they were a record of different stages of a woman’s life. I loved the idea that the pregnant figures were probably given to women by women as a talisman for a safe birth. The descriptions of the objects were very good and included the best definition of art I’ve seen “An expression of ideas … formed by the brain and shaped by cultural experience.” They also showed a wry sense of humour at times. There was a tendency to define everything as being a spiritual or ritual object but on one small sculpture after suggesting it may represent the spirit world the caption...

Three nice displays of art from the First World War at Abbott and Holder. The first I have already blogged as it was on at the Watercolour and Works on Paper Fair and are works by watercolours by Albert Heim. They take up most of the 2nd floor of the gallery at the moment and are a lovely depiction of life in the trenches. On the first floor there are 6 lithographs by Frank Brangwyn for the Canadian War Memorial of sites where Canadian fought. These are rather bleak heavily printed black and white prints but very atmospheric. Next to them are paintings by Victor Tardieu of the Duchess of Sutherland’s tented hospital. I rather liked these as they are in unusually bright colours for First World War art! R eview of Victor Tardieu pictures Times

Delightful exhibition at the National Gallery examining the work of Federico Barocci, the 16th century artist from Urbino. The paintings were slightly mannerist in style but more delicate than Bronzino and Pontormo. His use of colour was beautiful. The exhibition was beautifully arranged with one or 2 major paintings in each room surrounded my their fine preparatory drawings. He also specialised in doing very detailed studies for the heads of figures in chalk and pastel. There was also good use of the vista’s across galleries to display the works. You also go a nice sense of the man who seemed to be gentle and meticulous. He became good friends with his patron Franceso Maria III della Rovere and they seemed to remain friends throughout their lives with Francesco recommending Federico for commissions and Federico adding Franceso’s castle to many of his works. My favourite was the “Visitation” which just looked like a couple arriving at another couple’s house with ...

Fifth session in a six week course at the National Gallery on Renaissance painting which focused this week on form and function. The first lecture was given by the course tutor Sian Walters and looked at art in Venice in this period and how the state used art to show its political harmony and civil concord. Paintings she used from the gallery’s own collection to show this including “Jsutics” by Salviati, Titian’s Vendramin family portrait and Veronese’s wonderful “Family of Darious before Alexander”. In each case she talked us through how they demonstrated the joint role of state and family. The second lecture was by Patrick O’Sullivan, Head of Art Handling, at the gallery who talked us through how the department moved the great Piombo altarpiece and why it was such a difficult job. He also showed a wonderful film of them doing it made for training purposes. It was speeded up footage to a jaunty sound track and while being very interesting was also very funny. He have a wo...

First session of a six week course at the Bishopsgate Institute looking at the art of the 19th century, a period of great changes in art and society. The course is led by James Heard and this first session looked at Neo-Classicism.   We began by looking at what is was and how it started with the discover of Pompeii and the influence of Rome and Greece on art. It led to a simplification of vision across the western world and a across genres. In the second half of the session we analysed “The Oath of Horati” by David using it to look at the first part of David’s life and looking at it in the context of the French Revolution. OK this picture was actually 18th century but it sets up the period we are going to study well. Looking forward to next week.

Interesting little exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery looking at the Aspen Magazine, a multi-media magazine published in a box with contributions from artists, writes, musicians and more. It had 10 issues and was published in New York between 1965 and 1971 by Roaring Fork Press and all 10 issues were included here. There seems to have been an amazing eclectic mix of things included. My personal highlights were a sheet of music by Philip Glass a pattern for British knickers by Ossie Clark and “The Gay Atomic Colouring Book” by Eduardo Paolozzi. You know it’s stimulating exhibition when you send a text a quote from it to a friend!

One of a series of exhibitions at the Whitechapel Gallery showcasing the Collection Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, one of the private contemporary art collections in Europe. This exhibition had only black and white pieces. This bound the items together well while making you look at the differences between them. My favourite was “Untitled (Alpha and Omega)” by Piotr Uklanski which was a collection of ceramic pits held together by a clay ground displayed vertically on the wall. I loved the sense of danger it gave while also including some stunning pots!

Interesting exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery of work by Gerard Byrne, which explored how we can understand the present by looking at the past. I must admit I found the video works to begin with a bit long. Called me old fashioned but if I’m to watch an hour long film I want a comfy chair not to stand in a gallery however I loved the collection of photos based on the opening line of “Waiting for Godot” and showing trees in places in Ireland and France which were important to Samuel Beckett. These were playing with the idea of whether the space of the play is real ir imagined. I also like the photos of newsstands showing the passing of time by the changing dates on the magazines and the reenacting of magazine interviews from the 1970’s. I am interested in how the past and present connect and this has left me ideas to thin about rather than having an immediate effect. Reviews Independent Evening Standard