Nina Hamnett

Colourful exhibition at Charleston Farmhouse of work by Nina Hamnett.

As you walked into the gallery you were hit by these startlingly good, colourful pictures from still-lives to portraits with a fascinating room of drawings. I liked the way the show concentrated Hamnet’s art rather than her also colourful life often defined by her relationships with other people rather than her work. However a bit more background information would have been useful to cut down on the Googling later.

I loved her striking portraits particularly those of her landladies including this one. The labels were nicely written and I liked one for one landlady picture which described their relationship as “a gentile war zone”! The middle room was dominated by a wonderful full-length picture of a man in a top hat from 1920.

Including the drawings added insight to the paintings. My favourites were portraits of Lytton Strachey achieved in just a few lines.

Most surprising were the lovely still lives with cropped compositions including a striking one of a book on the edge of a table with a wine glass that seems to be on the floor. It had a slightly surreal quality.

It was a nice touch to also have a separate room which recognised Hamnett's role as an artists model and muse with paintings of her by Roger Fry and a sculpture of her as a dancer by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska. 

Closes 30 August 2021

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