Eileen Agar: Angel of Anarchy

Fascinating exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery on the life and work of Eileen Agar.

I hadn’t known Agar’s work before a small show a few weeks ago and was intrigued to see more. I hadn’t realised she was another product of the Slade in the 1920s but in 1925 she turned to surrealism and destroyed all her work to that date.

I’m not always a fan of surrealism but these works had a real sense of fun and joy about them. It was nice to have at least one of the works she showed at the International Surrealism Exhibition in London in the show. I loved the picture of Picasso she painted called “The Muse of Construction” based on a photograph of him on a beach.

It was interesting to see a gallery devoted to her photography, in which she recorded the shapes in the natural world and small assemblage sculptures made from found objects. I was intrigued to see that she was a friend of Lee Miller.

Her war years were interesting, staying in London, being a fire watcher and volunteering at a canteen, all while housing friends fleeing Europe or made homeless by the Blitz. It gave me a real sense of a kind person and friendship.

I loved the later acrylic works in bright colours, some of them like that shown going back to her earlier photography. She continued to learn and experiment to the end of her life.

I was very struck by one sentence in the handout on the time following the war years which had a certain resonance to this post Covid period.

“When the war ended Agar ‘felt like something new and marvellous ought to happen’ but she was ‘exhausted and humdrum, more dispirited than usual’. … Yearning for change but with travel outside the country difficult.” How true!

Closes 29 August 2021

Reviews


Times 

Guardian

Telegraph


 

 

 

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 was
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