Cathy's Art Diary

Strange exhibition at Tate Modern looking at the career of Joan Jonas, a pioneer of performance art.   I say strange because it’s quite hard to represent performance art in a static show without the artist. This gave a good flavour but felt a bit quiet and clinical. Also I don’t really get performance art and lose patience with it quite quickly. I did like the theatre boxes, long boxes showing video at the far end and with objects in the foregrounds. They were a novel way of showing video art and reminded me of Dutch illusion boxes. I also liked the wall of objects and masks Jonas uses in her work. It’s a couple of weeks since I saw the show and not a lot of it has stayed with me. I was amused by a video of Jonas dancing alone in her studio expect for the rather quizzical dog.   Closes on 5 August 2018   Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard

Fascinating exhibition at Tate Modern focusing on one pivotal year in Picasso’s life.   I loved that this show was arranged roughly chronologically so it opened with two pictures painted on Christmas Day 1931 throwing you straight into the story of the strains in his marriage to Olga Khokhlova and his secret relationship with Marie-Therese Walter who comes to dominate the show.   I was going to do the exhibition without the audio tour as I am starting to find them distracting however I went back to get one as in this show you need it to tell you the story.     I loved the section on his chateau in Normandy, Boisgeloup. It was nice to show works made there alongside a huge photograph by Brassai of the entrance to the studio as well as more works by the photographer which were the main way that these sculptures were known.   I also liked the large room bringing together works that were shown in Picasso’s major exhibition in June of that year. It was a clever way of bri

Interesting evening at the Royal Institution organised by the Art Fund to launch an appeal to raise money to conserve the paintings by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant in Berwick Church. The evening consisted of Deborah Gage interviewing Julian Fellowes about his childhood in Sussex and what the art of the area meant to him. This was followed by a lovely presentation looking at how the pictures were commissioned and talking you through the iconography using quotes from letters and accompanied by lovely pieces sung by baritone, Michael Bunting. It brought the pictures to life but I felt was a bit heavy on the symbolism given that the artists were not religious.   This event had two added bonus’s, firstly that is was held in the iconic lecture theatre at the Royal Institution and secondly that there was a nice drinks reception afterwards and a chance to meet up with friends and fellow Bloomsbury nuts.  

Small but glittery exhibition at Kensington Palace looking at jewellery belonging to Queen Victoria and her daughter Louise. There were just three tiara sets on show as part of the Victoria Revealed section of the palace but they looked magnificent and were really well descripted. The star was an emerald and diamond set designed by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria, a beautiful personal gift. She is seen wearing it in some of the Winterhalter portraits.   The other two pieces were made for Victoria’s daughter Louise. One was a wedding gift from her husband the Duke of Fife and both were lovely diamond set pieces. Oh to go to the sort of occasion where you’d wear one!   Closes November 2018

Delightful exhibition at the Piano Nobile Gallery looking at the art and design of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. As any of you who read this know I am a huge Bloomsbury fan so needless to say I loved this show. The centre piece was the newly rediscovered Famous Women Dinner Service made for Kenneth Clark in the early 1930s. It was believed that this had been lost and Charleston Farmhouse is in the process of raising money to buy it to display in their new gallery. There are a few test pieces at Charleston which I had always felt looked a bit messy but the set looks much more impressive when seen together. I loved the eclectic mix of women represented from Pocahontas  to Greta Garbo. It was also lovely to see that plates of Vanessa and Duncan at the centre of it as a quirky signature. The plates were shown with some other lovely items including pieces from Charleston Farmhouse so it was like seeing old friends. There were also some pictures I’d not seen before and I loved the

Fascinating exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery looking at the art collection of Charles II. I managed to do this on the same day as the Charles I show at the Royal Academy which filled the slight gap, in turn created by that exhibition, of how Charles II regathered his father’s collection. It was mentioned and it was lovely to see some of the proclamations asking for it back, however there were few examples of what he reacquired because they were on the other side of Green Park! Instead this show focused on what Charles II collected for himself dividing the two main rooms into contemporary art and older works. It was nice to see Dutch art entering the collection following his exile there during the Commonwealth. I loved the room of contemporary work with not only some of Lely’s Windsor Beauties but also their complimentary set of sea captains and admirals commissioned by the Duke of York.   The first section looking at Charles flight from England and restoration was fascinat

Fabulous exhibition at the Royal Academy looking at the art collection of Charles I. From the first room of portraits of the main protagonists this was such a sumptuous show. For a long time I’ve been seeing things marked as having been part of Charles I collection so it was wonderful to see so much of it brought back together. I loved the labelling which not only told you about the item but also detailed where the work had hung when it was in the collection and what happened to it at the sale of work by Cromwell and on the Restoration. It was interesting to see how he collected older works and it was great to see so many Titian’s and in particular to see those which are now in the Louvre and the Prado. It was also good to see the wonderful Mantegna fresco which he acquired as part of the Gonzaga collection from Milan. However it was also interesting to compare that to the contemporary art he commissioned such as the lovely royal portraits by Van Dyck and the tapestries from th