British Folk Art

Quirky exhibition at Tate Britain looking at folk or naïve art from around Britain.

My only argument with the show would be that some of the work shown was not produced as art but as trade signs, notices etc therefore to judge them in artistic terms seems strange. However they are beautiful objects with a social interest. I did however love the display of trade signs as you came in against a bright yellow background.

I also like the way the show featured three artists, George Smart, a tailor who produced numerous textile pictures which he sold in Tunbridge Wells, Alfred Wallis, the St Ives artist much feted by the artists who settled in the town, and Mary Linwood who produced copies of the old master in needlepoint which were amazingly successful in their day. 

Favourite pieces included the quilt made by a couple in the year before they married in which each of them showed things that meant a lot to them. It was like a conversation in textile. I also liked the picture of Hammersmith Bridge on boat race day by Walter Greaves. He was taken up by Whistler but I found his Whisltleresque nocturne less successful and stripped of life.

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