Cathy's Art Diary

Fascinating small exhibition at the Old Royal Naval College Visitors’ Centre looking at black sailors who had passed through the Royal Hospital for Seamen and the effect they had had on the area. This show was mainly information boards with just a few artefacts from the family of John Simmons who served at Trafalgar and is shown in this picture with his Trafalgar medal. However it was packed with stories and insight into the area in the 18th and 19th century. What a fantastic piece of research! The Royal Navy was the largest employer of free black labour at the time in Britain however the hospital did not record the race of new pensioners just their county of origin so it isn’t clear how many of them were black. It is likely that many registered as American were black former slaves. The show pointed out that in the navy all the sailors lived equally on board ship and probably at the hospital, rank was more important than race. As pensioners could live in or out of the hospital in ...

Lovely exhibition at the Queen’s House of pictures and artefacts from Woburn Abbey on loan while the Abbey is being refurbished. The stunning loans are scattered around the Queen’s House’s own collection so you do have to play spot the exhibit at bit but they are all marked with a label with the Abbey’s symbol on it and there is a handy guide to   tell you what is in each room. Highlight’s must be a Rembrandt and a possible self portrait of Frans Hals. I missed a Claude and had to go back and find it along with a Gainsborough landscape. The stars were the portraits and the stories that went with them. In the first room you are introduced to the son of the 4th Earl of Bedford via is portrait by Reynolds, who did the Grand Tour but died just two years later before he had unpacked all of his purchases. These were found 40 years later, still in their crates, by his son. I also loved a portrait of the same man’s wife by Reynolds in the outfit she wore as a bridesmaid to Queen Cha...

Small exhibition at the Queen’s House focusing on the Armada Portraits of Elizabeth I. Unfortunately one of the original three pictures, the National Portrait Gallery one, has gone on tour to Japan but it will be back again in the Spring so I’ll have to go again. It was still interesting to see the other two, from the National Maritime Gallery’s own collection and from Woburn, together to make comparisons. There were good information boards which highlighted who probably owned the pictures and the symbolism in them. It is now known who painted them but they are all based on an approved miniature by Hilliard. They were nicely displayed in an installation style room with a soundscape called “A Proposal for Radical Hospitality” by Peter Adajye based on African call and response which used the acoustics of the room and created a good ambiance for viewing the pictures. Reviews Times Guardian Evening Standard Closes 2021

Fascinating online interview from the Art Newspaper with Clare McAndrew of Arts Economics analysing how the art market has been affected by the Covid crisis. This was the last session in a series on the art market "New Models for New Times: Rethinking the Art Market in a Changing World" in which McAndrew was interviewed by Georgina Adam, editor-at-large of the Arts Newspaper. McAndrew took us through various charts and graphs of how the marker has reacted to the crisis. She felt the worse performers were the mid-range galleries selling at $250-500K with all galleries sales being down an average of 30%. Auction sales were down 50% in value compared to the previous year but partly because the number of lots were down. She compared the real and online markets, with online obviously increasing with online sales making up 37% of sales this year as opposed to 10% the year before. They then discussed how the galleries and auction houses had adapted to the issues and reflected ...

Fun online lecture from the National Gallery looking at how artists tell stories in paintings. Ed Dickenson used example from the gallery to analyse different ways to tell a story in a painting. We started with artists who chose to paint a moment in time, hinting at what had gone before and was to come. We spent most time on Ruben’s “Judgement of Paris” from the 1630s and he made us look at it afresh and define where and when it was set, why the people were and what was happening. He showed us how to decode the people and the narrative then to think about the moment in the story the artist had chosen to show. We then looked at two types of picture which tried to show a tale over time. Using Ugolino di Nerio’s “The Betrayal of Christ” from the 1320s to think about how an artist could use the predella at the bottom of an altarpiece to tell as story over a series of pictures like a cartoon. We then looked at Pontormo’s “Joseph with Jacob in Egypt” from 1518 as an example of a continu...

Joyful exhibition at Eames Fine Art of new work by Anita Klein. The power of the colour in these pictures pulls you into the gallery and you can’t help but smile at these joyful pictures of women swimming or getting ready to swim. The ripples on the water have shades of 1960s Hockney swimming pools but instead of beautiful young men these contented women in bright costumes bob happily in the water and smile at you as they get ready to dive in.  I can’t swim but they make me want to join them, maybe just for the cup of tea afterwards! Closes 1 November 2020  

Beautiful exhibition at White Cube Bermondsey of new work by Danh Vo. The exhibition had made the whole gallery and the square outside into a calming installation merging ecclesiastical salvage with planting and working wood burning stoves. That description doesn’t do it justice. I love the way, from the dark entrance on, you had a sense of wondering what you were going to find. From there you cold smell the wood burners and you could also feel the heat from one as you walked up the central corridor towards a room with a tree in it. What’s not to love!  My favourite room, shown here, you peer into over a pile of logs, which turn out to be an American flag which has collapsed. Once in the room there are artfully arranged fragments of statutes lit from above, often incorporating live and dead plants alongside larger rounds beds of plants. One wall was made up old architectural features presumably. from their ornateness, from a church. I have no idea what it meant even after wat...

Excellent three week online course from the London Art History Society looking at 20th century American art. Over three weekly lectures Ben Street built an argument about how American art in the last century was focused on defining and questioning what it is to be America. Rather than going chronologically through the period he picked three themes to discuss making interesting links between artists and pictures. He also used photographs, sculpture, land art, installations and even memorials as well as paintings as his examples. In week one he looked at landscape in particular rural art to show how “The Real America” has often been defined as the Mid-West agricultural areas and in week two he contrasted this to images of the city which embody ideas of immigration and industry. In the last week he brought these themes together by taking identity as his theme and looking at figurative art, I discovered lots of artists I hadn’t come across before including Jacob Lawrence, shown here...

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery looking at picture in their collection by artists at the start of their careers. Nick Pace, gallery educator, took us through six artists from Masaccio in the 15th century to Sir Thomas Lawrence in the 18th. I must admit I got a phone call during his section on Van Dyck so I am am still a bit hazy on his early work except that I know he famously trained under Rubens. I hadn’t realised that Velazquez was only 19 when he painted the kitchen scene with an image of Christ in the House of Martha and Mary in one corner. Pace talked us through the complexity of the work which is astonishing for someone so young. Similarly, Raphael’s “An Allegory (Vision of a Knight)” painted when he was 21 shows a remarkably complex symbolism. I am enjoying these themes talks which take you across a chronological cross section of the collection and make you look at familiar pictures from different viewpoints.

Enlightening online discussion from the Art Newspaper looking at how the Covid crisis has affected commercial galleries and asking if it has made them turn to their local markets more. This was the second session in a series on the art market "New Models for New Times: Rethinking the Art Market in a Changing World" chaired by Anny Shaw from the Art Newspaper including Rachel Lehmann, from Lehmann Maupin in New York; Sundaram Tagore, from Sundaram Tangore Gallery in Hong Kong, Singapore and New York; Rakeb Sile from Addis Fine Art in Ethiopia and Ayo Adeyinka, from Tafeta in London and Nigeria. All of them described things they had done locally during Covid from reconnecting with artists they represent to moving their galleries to more conducive spaces however they also stressed that they had continued to operate globally, albeit in different ways such as via online fairs. They all felt the art market would not return to the travelling frenzy it had been before the pandem...

Fun online lecture from the National Gallery picking examples of pictures in their collection depicting each of the Seven Deadly Sins. Caroline Smith and Carlo Corsato, educators at the gallery took it in turns to pick a picture which represented one of the sins and defined why what that sin meant. This was a fun way to look at a group of disparate pictures. Unfortunately, I missed the start of the talk which put the Seven Deadly Sins in their religious and literary context. Some of the choices were fairly obvious such as “Two Tax-Gatherers” by the workshop of Marinus van Reymerswale from the 1540s to represent greed and a “Susannah and the Elders” by Guido Reni from 1600-5 for lust. However “The Good Samaritan” by Jacapo Bassano from 1562-3 felt an odd choice for sloth, but as they said it’s hard to find a picture of someone not doing something! In this case the two men who walked past didn’t help. I thought “Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple” by Bernado Cavallino from 1...

Interesting online talk to mark a partnership between Schroders Personal Wealth and the Royal West of England Academy of Art (RWA) on “The Death of Chatterton” by Henry Wallis which is currently on loan to the galley from The Tate. Nathalie Levi from the RWA talked eloquently about the picture taking us through the symbolism pointing out interesting details such as the fact that Chatterton holds onto the paper packaging of the poison he has just taken. She also talked about the history of the picture which was a hit at the Royal Academy show of 1956 and subsequently toured the country. She also looked at the life of Chatterton who was born in Bristol where the gallery is and how it is likely that his death was actually an accidental overdose rather than the suicide depicted.

Beautiful exhibition at Victoria Miro Wharf Road of new work by Columbian artist Maria Berrio. These were large scale figurative works in radiant colours. When you got close you realise they are made up like a collage made of painted pieces of paper which at times seem to sculpt the contours of the figures. Reading the press release you learn they imagine the people of a Columbian village after a tragedy but you don’t need to know this to see the beauty and poignancy of the work. Closes 27 November 2020

Stunning exhibition at Victoria Miro Wharf Road of work by Grayson Perry inspired by his three-part Channel 4 documentary “Grayson Perry’s Big American Roadtrip”. I’d watched the tv programme and really enjoyed it but you don’t need to have seen it to appreciate the exhibition which consisted of a large tapestry, a map, five vases and six slipware platters. I loved the detail of the pieces. The longer you look at them the more you see. The tapestry, called “Very Large Very Expensive Abstract Painting”, is a layered map of New York with words about the city over a map over what appears an intricate background which looked to me like rugs. I loved the texture of it. There was a stunning vase called “War Head” which was shaped like a missile then had the silhouettes of missiles on it which were set up like the diagrams of slave ships and there were ghostly images of   Donald Trump in the background. A really haunting piece. I liked the slipware platters and their nod to ...

Excellent online lecture from Stella Grace-Lyons on Artemisia Gentileschi. I realise I’ve booked quite a number of talks on Artemisia! This is my second and I think there are two more to come. Stella took us clearly through Artemisia’s life and work with a few well-chosen images. I won’t go over the ground again, but she came up with two interesting facts I’d not heard before. Artemisia went to church at Santa Maria del Popola and her mother is buried there. It is also the church with Caravaggio’s “Crucifixion of St Peter” and “Conversion of St Paul” so, as well as Caravaggio being a friend of her father, she must have known every detail of these paintings from seeing them whenever she went to church. Fact two was that her father in law in Florence was a tailor who may well have lent her or acquired for her the lush and colourful clothes she paints.

Eclectic online version of this annual London art fair. I’ve spent a fun afternoon wandering though the galleries in this online version of the prestigious London Art fair. Some of the galleries have physical shows in their galleries as well but it was a bit unclear which these were. Not all works lend themselves to the online presentation so it doesn’t replace seeing art in person, but it is a great way of getting an overview of the market.   I’ve never been brave enough to go through the real show so this was a good introduction and maybe next year I’ll pluck up the courage to go. The show was split into two, Frieze itself for contemporary art and Frieze Masters which covered pieces from Ancient Greece to the end of the 20 th  century. I thought a fun approach to blogging the show would be to pick my favourite five items from each section. Let’s start with the contemporary show. Oddly when I checked back on my list four were sculptures and one was a video installation....

Thought provoking online discussion at the Cheltenham Literature Festival on the female view in various cultural areas. Aindrea Emelfie chaired the event with Kenya Hunt, Fashion Director of Grazia Magazine; Charlotte Jansen, Editor at Large of Elephant Magazine and contemporary artist and founder of Big Art Hertstory, Luisa-Maria MacCormack. I would have liked to have heard more about the female gaze in art but Jansen did talk about her study of female photographers for her book “Girl on Girl” and MacCormack talked about forgotten women in art, such as Adelaide Labille-Guiard, who started an art school in 18th century France. Other interesting conversations were around how fashion magazines are changing to represent a more diverse range of customers and are employing more female photographers.  

Interesting online discussion from the Art Newspaper looking at how the art market reacted to the Covid crisis and the increased collaboration in the industry. This was the first session in a series on the art market "New Models for New Times: Rethinking the Art Market in a Changing World" well chaired by Anna Brady from the Art newspaper and included Pilar Corrias, Pilar Corria Gallery; Caroline Douglas, Contemporary Art Society; Sunny Rahbar, Third Line and Neil Weman, Hauser and Wirth. They highlighted some interesting initiatives from an initial Whats App Group for commercial galleries in London, though online art fairs and changes to the Contemporary Art Society’s purchase award at Frieze to benefit more artists rather than one large purchase. They all highlighted some changes which they think will be permanent as they have brought sustainability benefits and increased engagement. They did however also acknowledge than not all art is online friendly so we might see ...

Clear lecture online from National Gallery putting their Holbein portraits into context. Gallery Educator Katy Tarbard took us though Holbein’s life then focused on the paintings in their own collection and where they fit into Tudor history. She also looked at a portrait of Erasmus which is currently on loan from Longford Castle so it is worth a National Gallery revisit to see it. She took us though some of the symbolism in The Ambassadors and told us how the two sitters were in England for the marriage of Anne Boleyn then had to stay for the birth of the child she was carrying. She also talked about Henry’s quest to find a new wife following Jane Seymour’s death leading to the painting of the wonderful full length picture of Christina of Denmark.

Fascinating  online discussion from London Art Week Digital talking about wat a frame can tell us about a picture and how frames can effect how we look at a work. Matthew Reeves, of Sam Fogg London, led a lively conversation with Peter Scade, Head of Framing at the National Gallery on frames by showing an interesting array of original pre-1520 examples as well as example of reframing of works from the National Gallery to a frame that is more contemporary to the painting. I was most interested in the examples which with included architectural details like a Dieric Bouts which had an applied frame of the same tracery as in the picture and those which incorporated the architectural surround of the work in the composition like my favourite Bellini altarpiece from San Giobbe in Venice now in the Academia. I loved the work shown here by Memling which has a sill effect at the bottom of the frame which is made more illusionistic by the Virgin’s robe being painted over it to pull us i...

Two fun installations in Covent Garden as part of Westminster Council’s Inside Out Festival. The main festival has moved to January next year due to Covid but a few of planned outside activities have gone ahead. The first one I spotted was Anthony Burrill’s huge poster on a building on Henrietta Street overlooking the plaza saying Love, Hope and Joy in bright colours. It is very striking and brings colour and joy to the square outside St Paul’s Church. The second, facing James Street, is a reflective sphere by Ben Cullen which is lit by the sun and artificial lights on one side. It reflects the people and architecture around it so is ever changing. Both add a bit of fun and life to a slightly sad, quiet Covent Garden where a number of shops haven’t reopened yet. It was also wonderful when I was there to listen to a string quartet in the atrium area. Nothing to do with the art work but worth mentioning! It was so moving to hear live music again.    

Novel small exhibition at the National Gallery looking at sin and redemption. It was just one room with two black walls for sin and two white for redemption broken up with a diagonal stand across the centre of the room. There was some interesting works and nowt just items from the galleries own collection which is what I’d expected as their strange Bronzino is the poster picture. There were some interesting dialogues set up between pictures such as using a Pieter Bruegel the Elder in both sections, a Garden of Eden and a Woman Taken in Adultery and a Jan Steen next to a Hogarth. It was nice to have added some contemporary works including a Tracey Emin neon words piece and this stunning small hyper-real sculpture by Rom Mueck called “Youth”, a figure of a stabbed black youth but with resonances of a Man of Sorrows style picture of Christ. Closes 3 January 2021 Review Times Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard

Fabulous exhibition at the National Gallery looking at the life and work of Artemisia Gentileschi. I have so looked forward to this show. I discovered Artemisia when I spent time in Florence and read a couple of books about her and have hoped for a show of her work since then. I was already to go pre-lockdown but the exhibition was an early cancellation as it was proving difficult to get the works to the UK. I have to say it was worth the wait! Artemisia was a 17th century female artist who was well know in her day but fell out of favour and was virtually unknown until the 1970s. Her art is often overshadowed by her life story from the trial for her rape trail when she was 17, it was very moving to see the transcription of that trial in the exhibition, though to her independent life as a sought after artist and friend of contemporary intellectuals. However, this show puts her art centre stage. I found the earlier work most powerful and there were some wonderful juxtaposing of pi...

Thought provoking online discussion as part of the Cheltenham Literature Festival looking at how we view history from a Western European viewpoint. The talked brought together the author of a recent book on African European though history, Olivette Otele and art critic and historian, Aindrea Emelife to discuss how to ensure accounts of history and culture reflect the whole of society and how to move from away from a singular narrative to one that belongs to everyone. All aspects of this talk were interesting but I include it in my art blog as Emelife had a fascinating presentation in the light of the removal of the Coulston statue in Bristol showing examples of new public art reflecting a more diverse society. Examples included a wonderful statue in New York, mimicking the controversial Confederate statues, of a African-American in urban clothes on horseback by Fehinde Wiley from 2019 and a Nazi era building in Italy which, rather than demolishing it, has a line from a Jewish ...

Interesting online talk from the National Gallery looking at the fashion for ebony frames in 17th century Holland. Clara Davarpanagh took us though the different styles of frame and how the ripple effect was added using one of the first pieces of mechanisation. She talked about how Holland favoured plainer frames but how Flemish and German artists favoured a more all over design as well as looking at other styles of frame that were is use. She gave us a brief over view of the East India Company to show how the Netherlands gained a monopoly on ebony when some of their ships washed up on the shores of Mauritius and how this also added to their popularity.    

Excellent online talk from the National Gallery by Lietizia Treves, the curator of the current show at the gallery on Artemisia Gentileschi. I am so excited about the show and have a ticket to go next week, so it was   good to hear this talk before I went and it left me even more excited. Treves talked us though Artemisia’s artistic career emphasising that the show to let her   art take centre stage and not been overshadowed by her life story in particular the rape trail of 1611. Treves talked about how Artemisia travelled around Italy and to England and how that affected her style as well as how she used her own image to promote her work. She also looked at some new discoveries about pictures as a result of putting on this show such as demonstrating that some of the self-portraits as saints with martyr’s palms used a transfer to copy the composition. This was a fascinating hour’s talk and roll on next Wednesday when I hope to see it for real.  

Delightful talk   from the Victoria and Albert Museum on the life of Audrey Withers, editor of Vogue in the Second World War.   Withers biographer, Julie Summers, gave an affectionate outline of her life bringing out many fascinating anecdotes such as the fact she had a long correspondence with the artist Paul Nash, despite a 16 year age difference and worked as the membership secretary of the SDP for 10 years at the end of her life.   The bulk of the talk focused on the war years and talked about how she employed some of the most influential photographers of the time to bring the war into the pages of Vogue including Cecil Beaton, Normal Parkinson and Lee Miller. She also talked about her work on the post-war Britain Can Make It exhibition at the V&A, the Festival of Britain and the Coronation Committee.   Summers talked with affection for her subject as well as being knowledgeable and addressing the questions in a lovely and open way .