Cathy's Art Diary

Fabulous exhibition at the Towner Gallery in Eastbourne looking at the life and work of Eric Ravilious and the group of friends who grew up around him As the title of show suggests this was as much a show about friendship and loyalty as art although there were some fantastic pictures. The first room was a bit confusing as you seemed to be thrown into the middle of a group of people and ideas but it was enticing and got you asking questions which were then answered in subsequent rooms. I loved the section on Ravilious’s student years and the people he met at the Royal College of Art many of whom stayed with him throughout his life like Edward Bawden and Enid Marx. Other characters had fascinating stories such as Percy Horton who married Lydia Smith a suffrage who had been the fiancé of his best friend and fellow conscientious objector who died in prison. There was a charming section on life in a shared house in London with lovely portraits of many of the characters by P...

Touching exhibition at the British Library marking the 50th anniversary since the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in Britain and how life has changed since. There was a good section on life before the Act and the events which were starting to lead to it including the Oscar Wilde trail and the Wolfenden report. I was delighted to see a lot of material from the Bloomsbury Group including a touching recording of Vita Sackville-West reading a letter to her from the author Virginia Woolf explaining that her book Orlando is based on Vita and grew out of their relationship. I’d not realised before that Orlando was published in the same year as “The Well of Loneliness” which was banned. There was a touching section on prosecutions including a photograph of John Gielgud in the play he was in at the time of his arrest. He had been frightened of appearing but the audience cheered him at the end. The show was strong on how literature and popular culture have influe...

Fascinating exhibition at the British Library marking the centenary of the Russian Revolution and looking at its causes and consequences. The show told the story really well using the objects and books to illustrate it rather than letting the story be driven by the objects. The commentary was clear and interesting. It felt a bit wordy in places but this was needed as so many of the books and posters were in Russian so they couldn’t explain themselves. I loved the entrance hall with opulent red velvet curtains and chandeliers but with a copy of the Communist Manifesto displayed in it. The section on the Tsar and the period before the Revolution was wonderful and packed full of stories. There was a good section on the coronation and the stampede following it to get free souvenirs which was rumoured to have killed 1389 people. They had one of the original tin souvenir mugs nicknamed since the “Cup of Sorrows”. It was a lovely touch to include Lenin’s application form for the ...

Fun installation at the Festival Hall by Kalle Mustonen as part of the Nordic Matters festival. Yes this is a giant wooden gnome lying on the floor of the Festival Hall. What more can I say?! I saw it in the early evening so it was shut but I got the impression that earlier in the day you could go inside it to a small hut representing his house. His house in his stomach, a bit odd! I loved the description on the web site which says it all “The Gnome King is both based on a story from Finnish folklore and reminiscent of a certain variety of garden ornament.” Closes on 30 August 2017  

Small exhibition at the Imperial War Museum looking at the story of the British presence in Helmand province in Afghanistan from the soldier’s viewpoint. There were some interesting objects and good use was made of videos and personal testaments. In the worst year of fighting, 2009, 108 British soldiers were killed and 157 seriously injured. There was a section on the main British base, Camp Bastion, the largest operation UK military base to be built since the Second World War which housed 28,000 people. Closes on 26 November 2017  

Interesting exhibition at the Imperial War Museum looking at the conflict in Syria. The show was in two parts. The first had a few objects and an excellent video outlining how the conflict had come about and the various sides involved. For a brief moment I understood it although I’m not sure the nuances have stuck with me. The video was shown on a great screen with an edging like a smashed window. The second part two wonderful sets of photographs by Russian photographer Sergey Ponomarev looking at the human consequences of the fighting. The series were called Assad’s Syria and The Exodus. The latter was shown on a rolling screen in a room at the end whereas the former were displayed in the gallery. There were some beautiful pictures. I loved one of a street scene though a strained glass window. Splitting the scene in three with the plain and coloured glass made it seem like three perspectives on a scene. Also one of a Syrian army officer in front of statues in Palmyra...

Fascinating exhibition at the Imperial War Museum looking at the history of the peace movement and its protests. I went along thinking this would be quite a dry show and just the history of CND but in fact it went back to the First World War and told the story though to the Iraq protests. Throughout the show it told fascinating stories and many of these were illustrated with personal archives. It also made nice use of the museum’s art collection. I loved the First World War section. It was nice to see the Bloomsbury Group mentioned and I was touched to see a white feather with accompanying anonymous letter. I was entranced by the story of Rachel Wilson and Paul Cadbury who were both Quakers serving in the Friends’ Ambulance Unit who met during the war and married after it. There was a very similar story from the same unit in the Second World War. I have to mention the medical case sheet on Siegfried Sassoon by Rivers, one for Pat Barker fans. The section on Hiroshima ...

Small exhibition at the Bodleian Library for this annual book binding competition. The theme this year was heroic works and there were some lovely examples. Quite often the binding picked up the story in the book others were just beautiful covers. I loved Tom McEwan’s binding in purple goatskin with gold patterning. Also Troy Moore’s “Alice in Wonderland” which was a bottle with a copy of the book on a tiny scroll inside and of course a label saying “Drink me”. My favourite though was Sylvester Pacura’s cover for “The Golden Legend” which had a tooled stained glass window in the leather binding. Closed on 20 August 2017

Fascinating exhibition at the Bodleian Library looking at unexpected aspects of Jane Austen’s life and work. Arranged around various themes the show looked at the myths and the reality of Austen. The first case looked at the myths and had great examples of books written about her soon after she died which helped to build the image we have of her. I was interested in the Constance and Ellen Hill biography from 1900 which included interviews with people who remembered Austen. The case also looked at modern interpretations such as Jane in Space and of course Pride and Prejudice with Zombies. There were sections on Austen as a business woman looking at how she dealt with her publishers. I was surprised to find she had spent two months in London while each of her books was being published to correct the proof sheets herself. And of course when in London you go shopping and there was another lovely section looking at the shops she had mentioned in letters home and plays she ...

Fantastic exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum looking at drawings by Raphael. The show was well themed taking you through different subject matter then into some Raphael’s later projects so there was a chronological feel as well. The commentaries were excellent and were good at pointing out the purpose of the picture whether it was a finished work, a study for a project or a working sketch. The show was beautifully displayed with nice central units with deep wooden frames set into them in places. These were particularly useful for double sided drawings. However the works themselves were so lovely you could have put them in any order or context and they would still have shone. I particularly liked the rougher drawings where he was obviously working through an idea and you could see changes and though patterns. I loved the section on his work in Rome as I have studied the Vatican frescos so often on courses plus fell in love with the Palazzo Farnese on a trip last year. ...

Interesting exhibition at Somerset House presenting the prize winners in the World Illustration Awards organised by the Association of Illustrators. I have been to the show before and am always amazed by the range of work on show through books, posters, information boards, stamps and wine labels. The works are arranged in the eight categories of the competition. I liked the way the exhibition showed the illustrations and then showed how they had been used in cases in the centre of the rooms. I loved a picture by Lisk Feng of a woman in a boat wearing a big hat pictured from above and Neil Webb’s design for Agatha Christie stamps. I was integrated by Joast Swarte’s pictures for a children’s book on artists related to the De Stiyl movement which seemed an odd idea. My favourite was Peter Greenwood’s poster for the Great Western Railway V150 train with its carriages made up of London landmarks. Closes on 28 August 2017  

Weird but fun exhibition at Somerset House by designers Clarke and Clerkin. The premise of this show was that the Learned Society of Extra Ordinary Objects had been based in Somerset House until it went bankrupt and its collection was seized in 1973. The society had believed that ordinary objects have value if we know their story. The whole thing was presented as if real so it was hard to distinguish what was real and what was made up. The first rooms of the show reflected the history of the society with recreations of possible portraits of members, and a reproduction of the Gin Bar which had started as a floating bar on the river serving various organisations in Somerset House. I loved a story about the India Club Courtyard Cricket Competition played between societies where the aim wasn’t to score runs but to break the windows of the other societies. All very imaginative. I loved a pool table of coloured objects arranged in like colour to produce a wonderful rainbow ...

Nice exhibition at Somerset House organised by the Print Club London   who asked artists to respond to their favourite film in the Film4 Summer Screen programme and produce a poster for it. These were fun bright images but I must admit I didn’t know a lot of the films so found posters for those a bit difficult to interpret. My favourite image was a quote from Jaws “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” by RYCA with the words arranged like a shark’s mouth. There was a clever one for In Bruges by Rozalina Burkova in just three colours and I liked Steve Wilson’s for All the President’s Men with the stripes of the stars and stripes morphing into film feeding onto a reel. Closed on 23 August 2017  

Charming exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery of Victorian rural figures by William Henry Hunt. Hunt was better known for intricate watercolour still lives but he branched out to paint these figures at a time of agricultural development and social change. They are painted for a low view point as Hunt was disabled and painted sitting down. These were very engaging pictures. I loved one of a maltster resting with his cat and another of a head gardener surrounded by his produce including a pineapple. There were some beautifully painted interiors. I was a bit disappointed to find that some of the pictures were types with his friends posing for them rather than the real craftsmen. All very Thomas Hardy! Closes on 17 September 2017 Review Times  

Lovely exhibition at the Devonshire Collective in Eastbourne of photographs by Axel Hesslenberg and Mark Nelson. Mark Nelson’s photographs were downstairs and were lovely views from various European cities. I loved a picture of dancers in an old Berlin Ballroom alsothe montage photographs were he had taken a number of images from the same angel and merged them together keeping the best sections from each one to create a idealised view. Upstairs was work by Axel Hesslenberg looking at people going about life on Eastbourne Pier. These were lovely sharp images displayed nicely without frames and hanging from bull dog clips. They had a quality of spying on different stories all playing out in a common space. They reminded me of Martin Parr’s seaside pictures with the same feeling of affectionate voyeurism. Closed on 21 August 2017  

Lovely pavilion at the Serpentine Gallery designed this year by Francis Kere. It’s an annual event to have a pavilion at the Serpentine. I particularly like this years although it appears simpler than some years have been.   It looks like a large wooden spaceship has landed on a blue stand. I like way the red and the navy blue wood work together. The stand looks simple but is made up of pyramids of stepped wood blocks with light coming through. The space inside is more open that in other years and easier to walk around. The light comes thought the slatted roof and there is a space in the centre set on upside down pylons which is open to the elements with shingle and concrete stools. As usual there is a café in there and my only criticism is that they need more seats and tables. Closes on 8 October 2017 Reviews Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard

Wonderful exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery of new work by Grayson Perry. OK I admit, like most of middle class England, I am a huge fan of Grayson Perry and this show didn’t disappoint. Just as the other show at the Serpentine was not about my tribe this one definitely was. The show looked at how we can widen the audience for art without dumbing down and what makes art and the idea of an artist popular. The first room did this most directly and I loved a vase called “Visitor Figures” which looked at the most popular exhibitions in recent times. I was pleased I’d been to quite a few but picking the list of the vase did make you think about how shows influence taste and thinking.   I loved the large woodcut “Reclining Artist” with a naked self-portrait with him surrounded by his possessions including piles of books. In the next room I loved “Death of a Working Hero” a tapestry in the style of a miners union using the funeral of a miner to represent the death of ...

Strange exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery of work by the artist and filmmaker Arthur Jaffa. The works were described as assemblages and were a mix of photographs and films. I think they were about finding a visual identity for black life similar to the main stream musical identity that has been established, but don’t hold me to that. The commentary had a lot of convoluted language which I didn’t understand and I’m not sure I got any of it from the images. I guess I may not have been the audience it was aimed at and I must admit the whole thing went whooshing over my head. I did like the way the gallery was used to create lovely framing of an old photo of children pledging allegiance to the flag. I was slightly sucked into a video of a couple of arguing but didn’t feel included to give it a lot of time. The photographs by Ming Smith of black cultural figures were interesting but I wanted them to be in focus! Closes on 10 September 2017    

Fascinating exhibition at Kensington Palace looking at the lives of three Georgian princesses, Caroline, wife of George II, Augusta, wife of Frederick Prince of Wales and Charlotte who married George III. All of these women were involved in Enlightenment thinking both in the arts and the sciences. Starting with   the sciences and there was a fascinating section on how Caroline helped to pioneer the use of smallpox vaccinations as two of her sons had died following the previous inoculation. It also looked at how she helped Coram set up the Foundling Hospital as she had known of charitable hospitals in Europe. There was a good section on the education of their children including a drawing of a cottage by one of the Duke of York’s. The boys and girls got the same education. Augusta designed a robe which the children could wear for formal occasions but which they could be got out of quickly so they could go back to playing and learning quickly. There was an example of this...

Nice little exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery looking at the Reformation in England 500 years since Martin Luther nailed the Ninety-Five Articles to the door of a church in Wittenberg. The show included the gallery’s lovely picture of Cranmer who wrote the Book of Common Prayer and was executed under Mary I. There were also crude portraits of Latimer and Ridley, two of the Oxford Martyrs, painted in the reign of Elizabeth I after the publication of Foxes Martyrs. Other aspects of the story were represented by engravings looking at the Wycliffe, Tyndale and Coverdale bibles, the first part and full transcripts of the bible to be printed in English and engraved portraits of Luther and Thomas Cromwell. Closes on 2 December 2017  

Touching exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of Renaissance and Baroque portrait drawings focusing on drawings done from life. The show was gently themed looking at the purpose of the pictures and subjects but the pictures were just so stunning that they didn’t really need a narrative. I loved two sections on specific artists, the Carracci studio looking at how the three artist cousins used each other and visitors to the studio as subjects and Holbein the Younger as a court artist. I was fascinated by the pictures of women in what may have been court livery. There were many stars of the show. I think my favourite was a wonderful study of a nude youth and child by Pontormo where the model is the same as used for the young man supporting the body of Christ in the Deposition who looks out at the viewer. I wonder who he was. There was also a beautiful young man by Clouet, the Holbein of the French court. In any age he has a stunning face. The best story was with a...

Interesting exhibition at the National Gallery which is the result of a project to get primary school children looking at and responding to a picture. This year’s picture was “A Roman Triumph” by Rubens, a picture which is full of action and a wonderful variety of people and animals. Each school responded in a different one made instruments out of clay, another made a rag rug based on the rug the elephant wore and another recreated the procession with puppets. My favourite two were a school who made ceramic elephant footprints and Clapham Manor School which painted classical style building on recycled cardboard. I always find this annual show makes you go back to the original picture and look at it more closely after you have seen in through other people’s eyes. Closes on 24 September 2017  

Fascinating exhibition at the Design Museum tracing the invention of the wrist watch by Cartier and the subsequent designs by the company. The exhibition itself was designed by the architect Norman Foster. I loved the first section of the show which looked at Paris at start of the 20th century when Cartier began working there and how it influenced his designs. It then talked about his friend Alberto Santos-Dumont, an aviator who won a competition to complete a round trip from the Parc Saint Cloud, round the Eifel Tower, and back again in less than half an hour in an airship. Santos-Dumont, who moved into aircraft design, talked to Cartier about how difficult it was to consult a pocket watch while flying a plane so Cartier designed a watch to wear on his wrist for him and named his first design after his friend. The show then took you through the various designs of the classic watches. I must admit I struggled to tell the different between some of the designs. I pr...

Confusing exhibition at the Design Museum looking at how California has become the home of Silicon Valley and at how the personal computers, smart phones and social media which it has developed have changed our lives. I say confusing because it took me a while to realise this was the narrative of the show as it seemed to begin with the 1960s and the alternative cultures which grew up in the state. It was a fascinating section looking at the changing politics and the use of graphic design in this. It was particularly nice to see the original eight –stripe Gay Pride flag designed by Gilbert Baker. It took me a while to grasp that the idea was that Silicon Valley grew out of this counter culture and ideas of freedom and creativity. The show was themed and this progression worked better with some of the themes than others. I loved a section tracing the design process of personal computers and then threw to smart phones. I was astonished to realise we’d had the ip...

Thoughtful exhibition at the Design Museum by designer, Hella Jongerius, looking at how colour behaves. The show is divided into sections which look at how light affects colour at different times of day morning, noon and evening and consists of objects in installations to demonstrate the effect these condition have on our perception of colour and shape.   There was a fascinating light box to demonstrate metamerism, the idea of colours looking different in different light conditions. It had various painted shapes in different colours which you could move the objects around under different light effects. Your perception was that the objects had changed colour dramatically. My favourite installation was a circle of large ceramic vases with samples of various natural glazes on them looking like a giant physical colour wheel. Closes on 24 September 2017 Review Times