The Shadow of War: Roger Fenton’s Photographs of the Crimea 1855


Interesting exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery of Roger Fenton’s photographs of the Crimean War.

Fenton was the first photographer to document a war for public consumption. He was only at the front for four month of a two year campaign but the photographs had a lasting effect and toured the UK in over 25 exhibitions. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert bought a set of 349 the pictures for the Prince of Wales who later added to the collection.

The show included a good description of why the war was fought which I’d never quite understood and it stood in weird contrast to the Royalty and the Romanovs exhibition which had highlighted the close relationship between the families at the time so it seemed strange that Britain was at war with Russia for part of that time.

The pictures were a range of portraits of the main commanders, scenes of the countryside begin fought over and military life in camp. There is some controversy that Fenton dressed some of the scenes after battles bringing in extra cannon balls. The show also included Thomas Barker’s painting of the Battle of Sebastopol based on some of Fenton’s photographs with a key to the photos used.

The last room looked at how Victoria and Albert expressed their concern for the soldiers involved in the war and met many of them, commissioning photographs of those they spoke to.

Closes on 28 April 2019

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

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...
Read more

The Renaissance Nude

Image
Beautiful exhibition at the Royal Academy looking at the nude in Renaissance art. The show was gently themed but mainly let the pictures speak for themselves. It began by looking at the subjects, both religious and secular, which include nude figures then examined techniques and models used in these works, finishing by looking at more personal pictures. This is a period I’ve studied a lot so there were a lot of old friends and it was quite fun predicting what might appear. There were a few surprises too such as the rather surprising drawing of the Ecstatic Christ. I liked the fact the show included lots of different art forms not just paintings including sculpture, etchings, drawings and illuminated manuscripts. There were some fascinating hangs to draw comparisons particularly two sets of pictures by Giovanni Bellini and Hand Memling from almost exactly the same date. These were shown back to back in a display cabinet down the middle of one room. My favourite work was ...
Read more