Cathy's Art Diary

Exhibition of new drawings by Richard Serra made for and displayed in the Courtauld Gallery. They were made using a fascinating technique using a sandwich of see though sheets with thick crayon between them, the finished work being the middle sheet with crayon on both sides. However I must admit I wasn’t moved by them, in fact I am not sure I would call them drawings. As textural abstract pictures I thought they were interesting as a study in black and surface. However I expect something more specific from a drawing such as an idea of what the subject was and I found I was looking at these and trying to work out what they were. Review Guardian    

Surprisingly good exhibition at the Royal Academy looking at art in Mexico in its revolutionary years. It was interesting to see both how the revolutionary leaders had used art to establish their rule but also how it had attracted foreign authors and artists to go and see what was happening. The paintings were very vibrant with a real sense of warm colour and action. Alongside them were some fascinating photographs with some particularly gory ones from the time of the revolution itself. I was interested to see that Edward Burra had gone there and done some enlightening work on his return home. My favourite piece through was Giotia’s “Old man seated on a trash heap” which had a wonderful texture and a great light blue sky. Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Independent Evening Standard  

Fascinating visit to the Sands Films Studio  as part of the London Open House weekend. This was a wonderful old docklands warehouse and the guide explained why it was perfect to use as a film studios and workshops because it had no windows and was virtually sound proof. We were also shown round the workshops and saw costumes in the process of being made and their amazing store rooms of costumes and accessories. I was particularly moved to see heads from the” Tales of Beatrix Potter” as I had loved that film as a child. Most interesting though was the sense of the place and what a wonderful company it seemed to be to work for. A real family atmosphere.

Super study morning at the National Gallery focusing on Ruben’s “Peace and War” from the collection led by Rebecca Lyons. We began by looking at where Ruben’s was in his career at this point and how he came to be in England on a diplomatic mission which led to the painting of this work as part of a plea to Charles I to end his war with Spain in the Netherlands.   We then sat in front of the picture and dissected its iconography and tried to imagine looking at it with a contemporary eye of the time. We now just see the children in the foreground as part of the mix of people but at the time it would have been very obvious that these were contemporary children incongruously appearing in a mythological scene.   Finally we discussed the context of the picture, who the children were, whether it has expanded in size and why and what happened to the picture when it was sold from the Royal Collection on Charles execution. All in all a fascinating morning and a ...

Interesting exhibition by the ICA at the Old Selfridges Hotel which looked at the period between the end of Punk and the present day and examing what emerging artists have in common with their cultural forebears. Each contributor, including shops, designers, magazine, clubs and lots more, presented a 4x2 foot flat display case which they felt represented them and their work. It was a fascinating look at an era however I did realize how little I know of subculture and that possibly I’ve reached an age when I don’t want to join in! The most interesting thing was the space in which the exhibition was housed as it was the gutted first floor of the Old Selfridge Hotel and was therefore a wonderful mix of a warehouse type space but with a few features left in place. A super view of an abandoned space! Reviews Independent Evening Standard  

Selection of displays at the V&A marking the London Design Festival. This was a fun set of displays and installations all over the Museum looking at contemporary design. I was fascinated at the film looking at how a foot in a high heels reaction when it steps onto different surfaces. This had been used to design a new support for a shoe but was also really compelling to watch although I found myself wincing at the slippery surfaces! I also liked a moving sculpture of a skull made with a liquid which reacts to magnetic fields. This meant that the liquid crept up the skull, formed peaks and then ran away again. Smoothing if a bit creepy! There was also a dinner party set up in the Norfolk Music Room and an display of the design process at Alessi which included all the components of some of their iconic products. I think I got round about half the displays in an afternoon and was pleased I’d spotted this was on.

Brilliant exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery looking at the work of the students at the Slade School of Art in between 1908 and 1912 where they formed part of what their esteemed drawing teacher Henry Tonks described as the school’s last ‘crisis of brilliance’. The exhibition was based on David Boyd Haycock’s book of the same title. The main artists were C.R.W. Nevinson, Stanley Spencer, Mark Gertler, Dora Carrington, David Bomberg and Paul Nash who, I admit, are some of my favourites. The exhibition had all the main pieces you’d want to see if you know anything about the lives of these artists and some I had not seen before. I loved the first wall of portraits and self portraits of them particularly the run of pictures of Carrington and Gertler. It followed their lives not only through their college years but also in the First World War and beyond. I loved the room on how the war had influenced them either because they went or because   of their pacifism. I ju...

Open day at the Royal Artillery Museum Firepower. I only managed to go to the start of this day of events but I was very impressed by the list of events and hope to go to more next time. I was there for the drop in by the Kings Troop and their 50 horses on their morning exercise walk. The officer gave a short talk, from his horse, about what the troop do and apologising for holding up the traffic in Woolwich when they exercise the horses! I then popped inside to have a quick chat with an air raid warden and held a World War II bomb. OK I admit this is not art and this blog calls itself an art diary but as you’ve probably guessed we are talking, art history and events!

Exhibition at St Martin in the Fields of work from the London Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers of work inspired by weaving from a round the world. There were a lot of scarves and the label on each one told you the maker , the inspiration, the fibre and technique. My favourite was by Wendy Morris in turquoise and bronze lurex and pleated. I was not so sure about the pictures which people had woven as they were often quite course but all in all an interesting little display.

Wonderful exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of work by the contemporary portrait artist, Jonathons Yeo. The first room had recent large pictures beautifully displayed against a chocolate brown wall. The technique of each picture feels different but each one reflects the sitter. I loved the Grayson Perry with a lovely detailed face but an unfinished quality to the dress as if to imply that the clothes don’t matter just the person. I also loved the Helena Bonham Carter which made her look a bit like the artful dodger! The second room had smaller pictures arranged in a huge display. I loved a jewel like Klimpt type picture of Erin O’Connor and the nice picture of David Walliams. There was also one from a series on women seeking the perfect face and undergoing plastic surgery. A super display. Reviews Guardian Telegraph    

A nice selling exhibition at Abbott and Holder of 20th watercolours and drawings. There were some lovely pieces and it seems like name a 20th artists and there is a piece by them! The works are beautifully display in not too thick a hang so the pictures have room to breathe. I am particularly lusting after the Carrington of Ralph Partridge and a lovely Gertler of woman on a coach. Come on tonight’s lottery!

Nice exhibition of the work of five contemporary potters who have excelled at throwing pots on the wheel at the Contemporary Ceramics Centre. The artists were Lisa Hammond, Ashley Howard, David Jones, Dan Kelly and Phil Rogers. I particularly liked Phil Rogers chunky barrel and Lisa Hammonds great thick dripping glazes.

Nice display at the British Library marking the Benjamin Britten centenary year looking at his poetic and literary influences. It was lovely to see scores in Britten’s own hand next to the poems which inspired it. There was also a nice section on his work with Auden and displays on specific operas. I got quite nostalgic at the section on the Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. I was also interested to find out the Britten and Menuhin played two concerts at Belsen shortly after its liberation.

I nteresting exhibition at the British Library investigating propaganda in all its forms. This was an amazingly varied exhibition but managed to hold together by picking themes and pulling historic events which demonstrated that theme rather than attempting anything chronological. For example there was a fascinating section on the London Olympics in the section on how nations use propaganda to build identify. It did strongly point out that not all propaganda is bad but does depend on your view point. It was interested in sections where both side in a dispute had used propaganda to get their ideas across such as the display on Northern Ireland. There were some wonderful Second World War objects such as scarves, the super Norman Rockwell posters and a display of leaflets dropped into Germany. I also liked the idea that the last two sections looked at propaganda on health issues and then propaganda in cyberspace. Reviews Times Independent   ...

Small display at the National Portrait Gallery to mark the 50th anniversary of the Profumo Affair, the great political scandal Britain in the 1960s. The works were mainly press photographs so they gave a nice view of how the country saw the story unfold. There was a frame of pictures on each of the main protagonists and of course the famous picture of Christine Keeler sitting on a turned round chair. One of the few art works was a lovely portrait of Keeler drawn by Stephen Ward.

Fascinating display at the National Portrait Gallery exploring the creative process of behind Patrick Heron’s portrait of T.S. Elliott, one of the Gallery’s most celebrated modernist paintings. The display included drawings from life plus from memory and preparatory paint works. The studies were done over three years   and between the commission and the finished work Elliott won the Nobel Prize. There were three wonderful sketches which started with a distinct lovely drawing which Heron proceeded to abstract and cube. I also liked seeing the finished work and a cubist style version side by side.

Display of work by the fashion and society photographer Francis Goodman at the National Portrait Gallery. This was an exhibition which showed the end of one era, the 1930s and 1940s, and the start of the next the 1960s so it included people like Gertrude Lawrence and Oliver Messell but also had Francis Bacon and Lucien Freud. I think my favourite was the one of the beautiful young Lucien Freud. I was also fascinated to see that he’d become a travel photographer and worked extensively for the Barbados Tourist Board. There were some great quotes from the photographer in the exhibition such as that a fashion photographer needed “a dressmaker’s qualities to understand the dress” and of his travel work “I want to finish the world before it finishes me?”    

Small exhibition of works by Bob Dylan at the National Portrait Gallery. There were 12 pictures of people representing an amalgam of features real and imagined and given both a figurative title and a made up name. Although you know they are made up you start to identify with them and see people you know in them. However I am not sure I see them as portraits and I think they do stretch the definition. Reviews Guardian Telegraph Independent  

Nice exhibition at White Cube Bermondsey of work by Marcius Galan. These were mainly sculptural works and installations. I loved two frames of India rubbers which had been gradually rubbed down to smaller and smaller sizes and included the debris at the bottom. It reminded me of how I liked to draw on rubbers as a child and was fascinated by the way they changed shape as you used them. My favourite piece though was the room installation “Three Sections” which uses paint, floor wax and lighting effects to create three green planes in the room within narrow frames. The frames were made in such a way that your eye couldn’t decide if there was glass in frames and you had to walk up to see if your hand would go through. A very peaceful piece.

Exhibition of new work by Sarah Morris at White Cube Bermondsey looking at Brazil as a country on the verge of change. The paintings were big bold abstract works which worked really well in the large white space and gave a sense of the colour and vibrancy of the country. There was also a video installation looking at everyday life in Rio. I just watched for a few minutes but enjoyed the section on horse racing and liked the clarity of the work.

Interesting exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum exploring the archive, studio and creative process of the designer Zandra Rhodes. As the museum holds the Zandra Rhodes archive this was inevitably just a snap shop of some aspects of her work and focused on bead work, the Conceptual Chic collection of 1977, her post punk collection and her most recent work. The bead work was spectacular and it was interesting to see the process behind it of printing the fabric, sending it to India for the beading to be done and then making up the garments in the studio. I was also interested to see that the design of fabric helps to create the shape of the finished garment. The Conceptual Chic collection was her punk collection although she says she was never a punk she was looking more at Surrealism and the work of Elsa Schiaparelli. Her latest work has seen her starting to work with digital rather than hand printing and using her won sketches to create a fabric and dres...

Lovely exhibition at the Imperial War Museum of portraits from the World War II   and looking at the work of the War Artists Advisory Committee which sent artists all over the country to record a cross section of people on the home front. You entered the exhibition to a wonderful wall of 8 portraits including a lovely one of a wireless operator by Keith Henderson. The rooms were then themed gently with my favourite room being the forces room with the walls representing the army, navy, air force and women. I particularly liked Henry Carr’s portrait of Sergeant Montague, a desert rat leaning forward with a cigarette who looks you directly in the eye. The last room looked at pictures produced in prison, concentration camps and occupied Europe and was very moving. I was particularly moved by the pictures from the Japanese POW camps due tot eh risks the men had run to create and keep them. However my favourite picture was one of Norwegian airman, Sergeant M Eriksen, by...

Nice exhibition at the Imperial War Museum using its collection of painting to explore the theme of how modern warfare impacts on buildings and landscapes. The rooms were well themed looking at building for war, destruction, the effect of war on cities and interiors and it was a chance to show some amazing works. I was pleased to see a number of Nevisnson’s, always a favourite with me. I liked the interiors section best with the idea of how interiors reflect the threat from outside. I loved a John Piper of a passageway giving a sense of mazes and options as well as threat. However my favourite picture was a drawing of the interior of St Stephen’s Walbrook looking up through the dome which half blown away.