Cathy's Art Diary

Beautiful exhibition at the Royal Academy of works on paper by Klimt and Schiele from the early 20th century. There were some stunning drawings in this show which were nicely hung and described. I thought the only shame was that it felt like a competition between the two artists won by Schiele as his works were more visceral. However it was clear that the two artists used drawing in different ways and Klimt’s, on the whole, were preparatory drawings for paintings and frescos whereas more of Schiele’s were finished works in their own right and therefore making a more purposeful statement. All the works were a lovely study of a particular time and place and gave a real sense of the people and life in Vienna in the years before the First World War. I loved Klimt’s drawings for his well-known portraits which were very freely drawn catching the stance and clothing of the sitters rather than facial likenesses. The series of self-portraits by Schiele not only gave a sense of how ...

Small exhibition at the Royal Academy of photographs by Mary Maclean who died last year.  There were two sets of pictures both looking at art education. The first set focused on small features of art schools and colleges such as a corner of a lecture hall or a white board. According to the commentary she saw these spaces as being used by generations of students who leave a sense of their presence even once they have gone and yet she also saw these as generic anonymous space. The second set showed architectural casts which were discovered behind plaster board when the Royal Academy was refurbished. These were used in drawing exercises and she treats them in a similar way but photographically. I loved these pictures which had a sense of their dilapidated state and I liked that they included the plaster board structure which had covered them. Closes on 20 February 2019.

Interesting exhibition at the PACE Gallery of work by Richard Pousette-Dart. The show consisted of 14 large abstract paintings which I’d describe as pointillist abstraction as they were made up small blobs of colour. Some of them concentrated dark colour in the centre with points of paler colour radiating out from that. Some of these works played with your eyes and were hard to focus on, like a Bridget Riley. There was a nice sense of texture and people, including me, wanted to get close to see the structure and detail which was unnerving the security staff! There was also a display of drawings from the 1940s which had not been exhibited before. These were slightly more figurative while still being abstract. They were quite dark with thick black lines. I would have guessed these were from the 1960s rather than 40s so they were quite radical. Closes on 20 February 2019.

Colourful but   strange exhibition  at the Now Gallery by fashion designer Richard Malone. The show looked both at Malone’s design process and the relationship between fashion, movement and art. At the core were three hanging fabric sculptures in bright colours. You are encouraged to put these on and experience what they are like to move in however, I must admit, a middle aged lady on her own felt a bit too self-conscious to do this, it would be fun with a group of people.   There were also big projections of people moving in the work but from the inside of the gallery these were just pale shadows. I only realised after I left that they showed up much better on the outside windows and would look very striking at night. There were also interesting displays on Malone’s design process but these felt a bit random and needed a bit more explanation. Closes on 3 February 2019

Preview evening for members at the National Portrait Gallery to show us the Gallery’s plans for their new project, Inspiring People. After a nice glass of wine there was a presentation by Director of the Gallery Nicholas Cullinan and the project’s architect, Jamie Fobert. At the heart of the project are plans to redevelop the building to create entrance at the north of the building next to Leicester Square and new galleries in the East Wing which is currently used as offices. They stressed it was not just about building work but also about building audiences and improving learning facilities. It was fascinating to see the ideas for the new entrance and the architect talked eloquently about the original designs and how this builds on and enhances them. All decisions seem to have gone back to these plans. It was interesting to hear plans for rehanging the whole collection and a relief to hear they would stick to a chronological approach. Cullinan outlined periods of hist...

Fascinating display at the National Gallery focusing on their new Artemisia Gentileschi self-portrait which they acquired in 2017 and is on show after extensive conservation work.    I’m a great Artemisia fan so was delighted to see this work which I had already read about. This picture was painted in Florence in about 1615. Show shows herself as St Catherine leaning on the wheel on which she was tortured which may be a reference to the treatment Artemisia suffered as part of the rape trial against one of her father’s friends. She shows herself as a resilient woman looking out at the viewer.   I loved the detail on the shawl over her shoulder. From March the picture will go on a pop-up tour of five unusual and unexpected venues, starting with Glasgow Women's Library on 6 March, in time for International Women's Day.

Interesting exhibition at Canada House of recent work by Barbra Rae. Inspired by her namesake, the Arctic explorer and fellow Scot Dr John Rae, who explored Canada’s Arctic during his time with the Hudson Bay Company in the 1830s, Rae has made four journeys to the area. These pictures reflect the conditions she met on these trips. There is an amazing sense of the colour blue in these works which show an abstracted version of the landscape she saw and some include ghostly figures of previous explorers. I particularly liked the smaller pictures which seemed to concentrate the image. I liked the inclusion of Rae’s sketchbook and objects from the Belle Shenkman Collection of Inuit art. Closes on 16 February 2019

Fun installation at the O2 by jewellery designer Tatty Devine, commissioned as an alternative Christmas tree by Greenwich Peninsula. This installation brightened up a dull day as it was made up of nine coloured stars in the colours of the rainbow which each represented a theme celebrated at Christmas such as love, peace and joy. The stars were being sold after the event with the proceeds going to charity. They’d each look good on someone’s wall but it seems a shame to split them up. Closed on 6 January 2019

Small display in the Icon Outlet Centre at the O2 to mark National Album Day. I must admit I saw this at the end of December and the day had been in October so I guess this was quite old! Even so it was an interesting display of iconic album covers over the last 70 years and looking at their history. It was nice that it began with a classical music album from 1949 and it would have been nice if had included a bit more from this genre. However it was great to see many records from my own collection including Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, of course, and Night Clubbing by Grace Jones but frightening to realise how few of the recent covers I recognised. A fun display to discover while shopping!