Fortnums x Frank

Wonderful exhibition at Fortnum & Mason of art from the collection of Frank Cohen, described in the excellent brochure as “one of the most important private collections of Modern British art in the world”.

This was a great opportunity to see some rarely shown works and to see them in such an innovative setting. Most works were on the main staircase but others sat on the shop floor. Trying to see them all took me to areas of the shop I’d not seen before.

There were some amazing works. As any regular readers may have realised I love British art from the early 20th century and there were some great examples I didn’t know such as three pictures by William Roberts “Discussion in a Café”, “The Boxing Match” and “Snooker”. All of these were studies of people at leisure in groups and I loved the way the figures fitted together in a flat pattern.

There were some great late 20th century work as well. I loved a Maggi Hambling in the 5th floor foyer of a bar with a mirrored ceiling so you saw the people below and their reflections above. Also great to find a Paula Rego on the back stairs!

Contemporary art was represented too with a lovely set of small heads with gold animal masks with witty titles all beginning “All I need is ….” My favourite being “All I want is to remain ignorant of all the good I’ll never do”.

My favourite picture was a Charles Ginner of Covent Garden on the 3rd floor staircase from 1932. I love the way Ginner uses paint almost sculpt a picture and makes the texture mirror the materials it represents, You to see a Ginner in the flesh to really understand it. Also who could resist Nicholas Monro’s “Dude Cowboy” fibre glass sculpture lurking in men’s wear!

Closed on 15 October 2016

Review
Telegraph


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year Exhibition 2019

Image
Delightful exhibition at Clarendon Fine Art showing pictures from the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year TV series. I had loved the series which had set nine artists, both professional and amateur, to paint one of three celebrities. It then had a semi-final and final with them all looking at one sitter and in the final they also took on a commission. I loved the way you watched a picture build and how some were then made or spoiled by one stroke of paint.   Finding these pictures I knew so well in the flesh was therefore fascinating. None of them disappointed. My favourite artist from the final, Tom Mead, works looked just as good in real life if not better as you could see the detail. The show included his impressive self-portrait which he submitted to enter the competition, a wonderful fragmented picture of his reflection in a mirror giving a sense of movement. I loved that it included a large version of him and a miniature. His commission for the final of Jazzie B was
Read more

Thomas Becket: Murder and Making of a Saint

Image
Stunning exhibition at the British Museum on the life and afterlife of Thomas Becket. I studied Becket both at A Level and at university so I was really looking forward to this show and it did not disappoint. From walking in to see an old friend, the early Limoges casket showing the murder from the Victoria and Albert Museum, I was gripped. The show told the story well using fantastic objects and led you through his life, the murder, the political aftermath, his sainthood and miracles, and how Canterbury became a major pilgrimage site. It is hard to pick out the best objects as so many were wonderful. I loved that they had early copies of some of the five eyewitness accounts of the murder which made you fell you were almost touching the event. I liked the manuscript on his time in exile which was almost like a comic strip. How wonderful to get a 13th century font from Sweden which shows how far and how quickly the news that Henry II had integrated the murder spread. I think my
Read more

Courtauld summer school day 1

Image
Today has been my first day of this year’s week at the Courtauld Institute’s summer schools. This year I am doing “Painting in Renaissance Venice” which is being led by Michael Douglas-Scott. It was nice to see some familiar faces and there are at least five of us who did Michael’s course last year. Today has been two lectures. Firstly setting out the background of Venice in this period looking at how the city had set up a myth of itself, the role of the Doge. the nature of the Republic and the role of citizens. The second lecture looked at why the nature of Renaissance was different in Venice. There was still a sense of the coming of antiquity and humanism but in Venice it fused with the Gothic and Byzantine rather than replacing it. The day ended with a choice of gallery talks. I went to one on the second floor of the Courtauld on the coming of Modernism. In essence it looked at the Impressionists and discussed what they were reacting against and what themes they portrayed. All in a
Read more