Gifted: Works from the Charleston Collection


Interesting exhibition at Charleston Farmhouse of works donated to the trust in recent years.

This was a great opportunity to see works not usually on show and to find out the stories of the people who had given them. As well as paintings it included drawings and ceramics. It was lovely to see a lovely portrait of Mary Hutchison which used Omega plates as a backdrop shown alongside actual plates donated by her son Jeremy Hutchison.

I loved the hanging of these two portraits of Paul Roche, one by Vanessa Bell and the other by Duncan Grant, as the two artists take such a different approach to their pictures. Vanessa seems to paint the person whereas Duncan, Paul’s lover, paints the body.

I was fascinated by cartoons drawn by Henry Tonks, the head of the Slade, of some the Bloomsbury Group and a selection of sketchbooks from Duncan and Vanessa, bequeathed by their daughter Angelica Bell.

Definitely a show that will merit a second visit.

Closes 19 April 2020

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