Cathy's Art Diary

Fascinating exhibition at the Barbican Art Gallery looking at the Pop Art movement and particularly how it influenced design. Certain sections were like walking round my childhood and therefore I didn’t see it as cutting edge but as a bit old fashioned! The downstairs section looked at the social and visual foundations and upstairs focused on different motifs and techniques. There were some wonderful objects including Jan Hawarth’s cloth cowboy which I’d last seen in a Peter Blake exhibition at Pallant House. His stance is so relaxed and real. I also liked a sofa called Marshmallow by George Nelson and Ass Inc from 1956 (see photo). I’d also like to restart the movement to get Claes Oldenburg’s “Knees” erected on the river Thames. It s wonderful sculpture of a pair of knees looks cased on classical sculpture. The exhibition had a small model and the full scale version was never built, but how about it?! Reviews Times Evening Standard    

Interesting exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of the shortlisted photographs for this year’s Taylor Wessing photographic Portrait Prize. There were some lovely works in this year’s show and some interesting ideas but I thought there were too many of prepubescent or young looking girls which gave it a slightly odd feeling. I think a few have something to say but it just felt like too much of a theme. I did however like the running theme of twins or pairs of girls or women. I liked the work by Paul Dewitte called Elsie which was part of a series in which children dressed in their parents clothes which had a Dutch feeling. Also the picture of Mary Beard, the historian, surrounded by her books by Adrian Peach. I think my favourite was of a joyous conductor in an African school with a beaming smile despite the fact the words of “Oh God our help in ages past” were on the blackboard behind him. Review Evening Standard

Nice exhibition at Canada House in London focusing on textile art coming out of the inland Inuit community on the shore of Baker Lake where different groups come to meet and trade and which and become a centre for arts and craft. Most of the works were embroidery or applique on blanket. My favourite was one of a couple in an Igloo with friends and animals around the edge by Mary Kuutsiq. I also liked a rather classy one of owls on a navy background. This is a travelling exhibition which has been touring the world since 2002.  

Super morning workshop at the National Gallery looking in detail at Botticelli’s Mystic Nativity. The course leader, Karly Allen, began by looking at the iconography of Nativity scenes to this point and discussing how this picture fits into Botticelli’s later career when his style simplified. We then spent time with the picture itself in the gallery looking at the detail in it and discussing the colours and iconography. After coffee we talked about how the picture sat in its time and place, 1500 Florence, and how it may have been influenced by the preaching of Savonarola and the writings of Dante. Finally we looked at the history of the picture in the National Gallery collection. All in all a nice Christmas themed workshop to put you in the mood for the festivities.

Interesting exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum for this award for contemporary design inspired by Islamic tradition. The exhibition showed the work of the ten finalists and included a carpet designer, a fashion label and recycled products. I really liked the fashion label Dice Kayek which had won the prize and had produced dresses based on the architecture of Istanbul including a white organdy dressed on St Sophia. I also liked the floor tiles made of spices which had a permanent look but a temporary fragile substance. Review Guardian  

Fabulous installation at the Victoria and Albert Museum by Elmgreen and Dragset, who did the boy on a rocking horse fourth plinth, recreating an imagined person and their flat. This was such an imaginative use of the space and the attention to detail was stunning. You were unsure which items were borrowed from the collections and which they had created. The whole thing was eerie as they created the fiction that the owner was just in the shower and you were looking round. The attendants were dresses as a maid and a footman and kept up the pretence beautifully.   You gradually worked out what the owner of the flat was like from their possessions and style. I loved the way they maintained the image outside with an advert for the flat on the hoardings of some building work with a plan of the layout, agent’s particulars and web address which links to the exhibition pages. It fooled me on the way in and I was about to text a friend to tell them there was a flat in the V&...

Interesting exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum looking at how photography has been used to depict a fiction even from its earliest days. I loved a montage by Andy Weiner based on the Rake’s Progress where all the people have on a masque of his face and where Bedlam at the end is two old people sitting in front of a TV. Of course there were some lovely Julia Margaret Cameron photos and I loved a description from a girl sitting for a photo for her father who did similar work who talks about the dirty bonnet he made her wear. There were also some pictures by Lady Clementina Hawarden whose work I discovered earlier this year in an exhibition in Dublin! As you can tell I preferred the early work but I also like the work of Tom Hunter which was shown who had an exhibition at the National Gallery a few years ago. Review Evening Standard    

Stunning exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum of Chinese painting. I must admit I went along thinking it would be leave mw cold but I was entranced by the wonderful images and by the early dates when some of them were made with the earliest I spotted being 780-840! I loved a picture from 800-900 of an itinerant monk travelling with a tiger and a brazier on his back. The quality of the face was portrait like. I particularly liked the scrolls and how many of them told a story. There was fun one of dragons in swirling black brush stokes which were almost surreal.   My favourite was a long townscape called “Prosperous Suzhau” by Xu Jong which showed a city in amazing details. You just wanted to walk down the streets and look in the little shops. It is well worth getting the tape tour, if like me you know nothing about the subject, but many thanks to the guide who warned me that if you listen to all of it it takes two hours! I dipped in an out! Reviews ...

Classy exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum looking at pearls and how they have been harvested and used over the years. This was an imaginatively displayed exhibition with the main jewellery section showing the pieces in a series of safes with the doors open and glass fronts. This was a lovely effect although a bit hard to see into some of them from the angle you had to stand at when it was busy. My favourite pieces were the ones where they know who had owned them and the stories associated with them such as the single earing worn by Charles I at his execution. I also loved the art Nouveau chockers and the section at the end on modern designers. Reviews Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard

A wonderful garden/installation in the courtyard of the Victoria and Albert Museum by Xu Bing, based on a Chi8nese fable. Based on the pool in the centre of the courtyard it consists of layers of thinly cut stone built up to form mountains and different landscapes. These are complemented by waterfalls and mist coming off the water. In amongst the hills are small houses and blue and white ceramic fish in the pool. As you walk round there is a quiet soundtrack of goats! It is a really peaceful and relaxing work. I’d love to go back one evening as I get the impression it is illuminated at night and I am sure it is even more beautiful.

Sweet exhibition at the British Library looking at how ten classic children’s books have been illustrated over the years. It was fascinating to see the impact of illustrations changed how you viewed a story and how some books have such iconic pictures such as Quentin Blake’s for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and yet lovely new editions can also appear.   The display was beautiful with some cut out sections which flapped down to show an illustration underneath. It was particularly interesting as a day or do later I found out a friend’s partner is going to illustrate the new edition of Harry Potter, what a responsibility! Review Guardian    

Fascinating tour of the “ Georgian’s Revealed ” exhibition at the British Library with the curator. I had the opportunity to go on this as part of a conference I was on at the library and it was delightful. Huge thanks to Moira Goff, the curator, for showing us round and giving a real insight into what she hoped to cover with exhibition, what they had to leave out and where her particular interests lay. Check out the website for some lovely video of her dancing! I can’t wait to go round the exhibition properly in the New Year and look in more detail. I was interested to hear the themes she had picked but also how she had covered other themes which couldn’t ben fitted in in detail but which they wished to allude to. For example the show does not cover the slave trade, even though it supported the expansion of the economy which is reflected in areas of the show, but she pointed out how they had tried to make subtle notes to it throughout the show such as the Abolitionist meda...

Lovely garden installation on the forecourt of the British Library to complement their “Georgian’s Revealed” exhibition. I was at a conference at the library and it was a nice surprise to find this feature outside. It is loosely based on Sir John Vanbrugh’s unexecuted entrance gate to the forecourt at Castle Howard and the write up says it reflects the fashion at the time for temporary garden features. It marks 300 years next year since the accession of the House of Hanover as Kings of England again thanks to the write up for pointing out that the flying putto on it is an illusion to the new Prince George, sweet! I particularly liked the added sheep!

Surprisingly good exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery of the Royal Academy’s present to the Queen for her Jubilee, three portfolios of works on paper by the current Royal Academicians. I had expected to the exhibition to be a bit dull but it was fascinating to see what each artist had decided to give her and to hear the artists commentaries on some of the works. Some artists seemed to pick something they had in the studio but others created a new work for the gift. As a whole the collection is a great view of established contemporary art. I particularly liked the works where the artists had thought about what the Queen might like   or were relevant to her such as a Jaspar John like picture called “16 appearances of the Union Jack” by Tom Philips or Humphrey Ocean’s picture of Kenyan birds. My favourite was actually a flow chart style picture called “How we do it!” by Eva Juricha which tried to map the creative process. I had to stand and sketch it as it described so...

Stunning exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace of drawings by Castiglione in the 17th century. Castiglione worked in many cities in his short life and was an wonderful draftsman and print maker. He specialized in animals and hence there were a number of Noah pictures and Circe with the companions of Odysseus who she turned into animals. There was also a good scene of shepherds with sheep and wonderful cow’s bottom! He seems to be the Cuyp of sheep! There were also some wonderful large finished drawings of Old Testament scenes, which he presumably used to try to get commissions, as well as some Zuberan like Franciscan saints. He also invented a print technique called monotype which involved covering a plate with ink and then drawing in the ink or dabbing more on to create the image to print. Each plate could only be used once but they create wonderful bold images. You got the impression of a business like innovative artist but with a short temper....

Small exhibition at the Hayward Gallery looking at the history of the imagery of protest in the late 20th century. The works come from the Archive of Modern Conflict and looked at the main protest movements and why they happened from the anti-nuclear movement and women’s liberation through to the height of Margaret Thatcher’s term of office. It included posters, magazines, film and leaflets. Some of the 1980’s sections looked a bit like my pin board at University! I would however argue that the government posters on what to do in the effect of a nuclear attack are not protest works but information works. I could see how they complimented the anti-nuclear items but I didn’t feel they really fit the theme. It would have helped if I’d spotted the really good leaflet describing all the pieces as I went in because I got a bit confused by the fact everything was numbers but there seemed to be no key! Could I suggest they are put in a more prominent place?

Stylish exhibition at Somerset House about Isabella Blow, the patroness of art and fashion and designers muse. The exhibition was both a celebration of her life, cut short by her suicide in 2007, but also a history of fashion from the mid-90s to now. It looked mainly at the work of Alexander McQueen and Philip Tracey, who she encouraged and who were her friends. I think it was the most stylishly displayed exhibition I have seen this year with a wonderful use of space. I loved the section of objects displayed in televisions with legs and arms, displaying items in the screen but also holding items and wearing her shoes. There was a recreation of her round room displaying some of the more iconic outfits. There was an amazing dogs tooth checked suit with the most amazing tailoring I’d ever seen. Down each side of the long wall were outfits displayed in booths plus a series of tableau showing a theme in design such as the sea with a Philip Tracey ship hat breaking the surf...

Excellent study day at the Courtauld Institute exploring the themes of their current exhibition on the drawings of the young Durer. It began with a fascinating talk by the curator Stephanie Buck, explaining why the exhibition was hung the way it was and why she felt that Durer’s travelling years were so important. Next was Kate Heard , Curator of Prints and Drawings at The Royal Collection, looking at why Durer returned to drawing the Virgin and Child so often even though these were not works for sale at the time and whether this altered with the coming of the Reformation. After lunch Mark Evans , Senior Curator of Paintings at the Victoria and Albert Museum, talked about the relationship and cross fertilisation of ideas between Italy and Germany in this period. It seemed to be taken that we all knew the arguments for whether Durer himself had gone to Italy before 1506 but I had assumed this was the subject of the talk and would have liked a bit more about it. Ne...

Retrospective exhibition at Tate Modern of the work of Mira Schendel, a Brazilian artist. I preferred the installation work in this exhibition to the pictures. Somehow the works en mass in a thought our design worked better than they did individually. It might have helped if I could have read the words on works but a Brazilian friend assured me it didn’t make a lot of difference! I liked the installation Still Waves of Probability which a square of very thin transparent fibres which looked like rain. It was so tempting to run through it but I obeyed the notices and didn’t! The exhibition was good at explaining the philosophical theories behind the work but I felt if you needed that much explanation the pieces weren’t really speaking in their own right and maybe everything was just a   bit too clever.

Delightful exhibition at Tate Modern looking at the life and work of Paul Klee. I say delightful because you got the impression of a nice man who loved his wife and had nice friends, not what I was expecting at all! I liked the focus on the chronology of his life so telling a story and leading you to want to know what happened to him next. In some areas there was an intense focus of a room for just one year. I   also liked the fact that it was fairly sparsely hung as too many works might have clashed. I preferred the boldness of the paintings to the more ethereal nature of the oil-transfer works. I responded to his abstract style of representing things and but I also liked the magic square type paintings which seemed to be about colours reacting with each other. He seemed to be constantly experimenting throughout his life. Hats off to my fellow visitor who was wearing a cardigan in a Paul Klee type design, I do hope it was deliberate! Reviews Times Guar...

Fun evening at Greenwich Heritage Centre in Woolwich showcasing their work and that of other local businesses. This was a really nice idea and it was good to see the local café Cornerstone there as well as the new brewers at the Royal Arsenal Hop Stuff Brewery. It was the first time I’d tried Hop Stuff’s wares and I’ll certainly be looking out for some more Fusilier. I also came away with herbs to grow in a jar and some body butter! A varied selection of stalls!  

Topical exhibition at the British Museum looking at the Zoroastrian religion which is believed to be the religion of the magi of the Bible. I have a couple of Zoroastrian friends so I was pleased the exhibition looked at the religion today as well as its history. I must admit the history bit was a bit coin heavy and the most interesting bit was about the evidence for the magi being Zoroastrian and some of the religions traditions l which have come across into the iconography of the magi such as a casket where the first king had his hand covered, a mark of respect to a priest in the religion. I liked the new print which had been commissioned in the style of Persian miniatures for the exhibition, a nice touch!

Visually stunning exhibition at the British Museum looking at the cultures of Colombia before the 16th-century arrival of the Spanish focusing in particularly on their gold work. I loved the way this exhibition was arranged in small dark rooms almost giving the feel of being in a tomb and the low light made the gold really shine. I also like the fact that some items in units in the middle of the floor vibrated slightly as you walked past making any hanging items shimmer. There were good displays telling you how the gold was made and explaining the different cultures but these were all out shone by the objects themselves. It really was an exhibition to wonder at beautiful things without necessarily fully understanding them. It is hard to pick favourite objects from such a selection but there was a tiny jaguar which was really sweet and a rather abstract frog necklace which you could wear for your Christmas parties! The jewellery was fantastic but I do have a burning qu...

Fantastic exhibition at the Wallace Collection of works by contemporary artists using glass. It is a collaboration between the Berengo Glass Studio, Venice, the London College of Fashion and the Wallace Collection and features selected works from a project created for the 55th Venice Biennale entitled Glasstress: White Light/White Heat. There were some lovely works such as a glass trilby by Polly Apfelbaum, Paul Fryer’s Hydromorph #6 a glass representation of a drop of water hitting a pool and Aldo Mondio’s bronze arm supporting a glass water melon. My favourite was cross made of small blue and green glass leaves by John Fabre called Cross for the garden of delight. Such a   delicate piece. I must give a shout out to the lovely chatty guide who seemed genuinely excited about the pieces which had just been unveiled that morning. On his recommendation I hope to pop back to see the glass drum whose case hadn’t arrived yet!

Lovely   exhibition at the Wallace Collection of 18th century male nude studies from the Paris Academy. The male body was seen as the embodiment of ideal beauty and many of the models struck poses based on classical statues. At the sittings the better connected students got the better seats nearer the front and a passing lecturer pointed out to me how you could tell from the drawing how close they were. Thanks to her as well for explaining the numbers on some of the pictures which showed the terms prize winners. I loved the series of three drawings from the same sitting all from slightly different angles. I am sure a fourth one next to them is from the sitting as well. It is a picture from the front and I don’t think it is a crouching man as the title suggested but a man in the same pose as the other back views. I also liked the ones which had been dressed up as gods such as the man at an odd angel rebranded as falling Titan or the standing figure given a wreath a...

Interesting exhibition at the National Theatre to present the entrants and prize winners of this award for theatre design. Four companies each asked three designers to design a production for them from the same brief. It was fascinating to see the different idea which they came up with. My favourite were for “Time and the Conways” for Nottingham Playhouse which seemed like an very defined brief but there were three completely different ideas. I loved the way each designer set out their ideas in a different way from small models of the set, sketch books, swatches of material and mood boards.

Fascinating morning at the National Gallery looking in detail at Vigee Le Brun’s “Self-portrait in a Straw Hat”. Unfortunately the morning was slightly disrupted by the lack of IT but the course leader Jacqui Ansell managed brilliantly and we spent more time than planned in the galleries themselves. We started by looking at earlier representations of women in the gallery particularly Ruben’s picture of a women in a Black Hat which influences the Le Brun picture. We also looked at another work by a women, Judith Leyster’s picture of two children, thinking about why there are so few pictures by women artists in the collection. In the second half we sat with the self-portrait itself and talked about Le Brun’s life and why she had chosen to paint herself in this way. We looked at what she was wearing and why and how her travelling following the French Revolution enhanced her career and reputation.

Last session in a six week course at the National Gallery on the period covered by the Sainsbury Wing roughly 1260 to 1500. This week the course leader Richard Stemp looked at the books which influence the art of the time starting refreshingly with the Bible. He talked us through various pictures and how they reflect their Bible stories. He then did the same with some saints lived from the Gold Legend for example looking at why the dragon in Uccello’s St George is on a lead. We then turned to two secular works of fiction, Dante’s Divine Comedy and the Decameron and looked in particular at the story of Griselda from a Cassonne. Finally we looked at two art theory works Cennini’s Craftsman’s Handbook which take you through the craft of painting in detail and Alberti’s Della Picturra which looks at the aesthetics of painting and talks about how to compose a picture. This was a really good end to an excellent course. I’ve not done modules 1,2 and 3 so roll on the sum...