Cathy's Art Diary

Small exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum of drawings by the 18th century artist Sir James Thornhill. I mainly know Thornhill as the artist behind The Painted Hall in Greenwich so it was nice to learn a bit more about him and see more of his work. He specialised in murals and was the only British artist to challenge the Europeans for such commissions. I was interested to read the story of his designs for Moor Park in Hertfordshire and to see the drawings for his inset paintings. He fell out with the patron who removed Thornhills pictures and replaced them with new ones by an Italian artist. The show included designs for a lunette in St Paul’s Cathedral, Chatsworth House and the Great   Hall at Blenheim Palace and pointed out that he also designed stage sets. I guess the murals were actually stage sets for living in. Closes 22 July 2022

Interesting exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum of photographs of industry by Maurice Bloomfield. Bloomfield photographed the changing face of industry in the 1960s and 70s in style which made it look dramatic, romantic and sublime. I’ve recently done a course on The Sublime so I was particularly interested to see if he captured those ideas and he did. Most of the work was done on commission by the companies for brochures, magazines and trade fairs so you have to remember that he was obliged to show his clients in a good light. He often asked the workers to return to the factory of an evening so he could enhance the light effects. His archive was donated to the museum in 2010. Many of the images were dramatic focusing on the vastness of factories or on a detail of them take so close up that it almost became an abstract image. There were nods to the work of Wright of Derby, an 18th century artist that I love. Closes 6 November 2022 Review Evening Standard

Delightful small exhibition at the Science Museum marking their acquisition of the contents of Stephen Hawking’s Cambridge office. The show consisted of a small recreation of the space plus some of the artefacts and mementos from it. You got a real impression of Hawking’s character and sense of fun and friendship. I loved a black broad from an international conference in 1980 which was covered in equations, jokes and cartoons by the delegates. There was also an invitation for an event to time travellers from the future which Hawking issued after the day of the event which he attended alone t show that time travel wasn’t possible. As well as these fun items there were mementos from his career and a fascinating section of the development of the technology he needed for his speech software. Closes March 2023  

Eye opening exhibition at the Science Museum looking at ways to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. I have to admit it had never struck me that removing CO2 could be a solution to climate change but this show introduced me to many way in which that can be done. I’m not sure how practical some of the ideas were for mass use but it was fascinating to see the innovative approaches being taken. I’m not sure I went round the show the right way but I started with a section on the Carbon XPRIZE, a competition for projects to turn CO2 emissions into usable products, with a prize of $20m for the team what turn the most CO2 into the product with the highest commercial value. On show were crayons, cutlery, sandals and lots more. I was interested in the use of Basaltic rock dust from the construction industry which is spread on field to absorb CO2 from rain water which it turns to a solid which they washes off into the ocean. Also a project to trap the CO2 and store it deep under the...

Disappointing exhibition at the Science Museum looking at how the Greeks sought to understand the world around them. I say disappointing because it was a small show and the subject deserved a lot more space and objects. It was cleverly laid out with the subject areas based on the muses and the first object was a rather beautiful sarcophagus with the nine muses one which was projected a clever AV introduction to the show, however it all felt a bit thin. The picture comes from a section on how Aristotle classified animals and sea creatures and comes from a wonderful selection of platters with accurate sea creatures on them. Another section looked at the idea of the ideal body   and how sculptors generated the proportions for a statute based on multiplications of the smallest joint in the little finger. I was most interested in the section of music and how they studied the mathematics of it. It was interesting to see a pair of pipes which would have been blown simultaneously. ...

Fun art fair at the Mall Galleries combining contemporary and fine art in a friendly environment. This show bills itself as “the art fair staged by dealers for art lovers” and it was a great chance to get to know some new galleries and artists. A number of the galleries were from outside London so I had not come across them before. A lot of prices were quite reasonable but there was some more high end prices. The most expensive piece I spotted was a David Hockney print at £60,000.   I loved Elizabeth Harvey-Lees lovely display of prints including some Old Master works and had an interesting conversation on Stephen Lacey Modern and Contemporaries stall about Patricia Preece, Stanley Spencer’s second wife. I discovered lots of artists who were new to me too from Colin Willey’s seascapes, one of which illustrates this story, Anne Songhurst’s hyper-real still lives and Melissa Scott Miller’s urban landscapes. I’ll definitely look out for this show again next year. Closed 27 ...

Fascinating installation at the National Gallery by their artist in residence Ali Cherri. The show consisted of displays in vitrines amongst the pictures in the Sainsbury Wing examining works in the collection which have been deliberately damaged. The trauma suffered by these works is meant to mirror the trauma of the saints in the pictures.   I could have done without the deformed stuffed lamb but loved   the idea of using contemporary newspapers to the shooting of the Da Vinci cartoon as a response and the classical head on a mirror for Rokeby Venus. Definitely one to revisit. Closes 12 June 2022 Review Evening Standard    

Innovative installation at the National Gallery using virtual reality to set a painting by Veronese into context. As you may know I don’t like virtually reality exhibits but having heard a talk on this one I decided to give it a try and it is one of the best I’ve done. It placed the painting back in the chapel for which it was painted and as it would have appeared at the date it was unveiled. You felt as if you were in that space with a soundtrack of monks chanting and the ambient noise of the space. You could choose from being introduced to the work by an avatar of the curator or a dialogue between the abbot who commissioned it and a monk from the order. It only lasted about ten minutes which is probably long enough to be in a virtually created world. The experience was nicely managed by the staff with good explanations of how the head set worked and good advice to glasses wearers like me. Once in the room there was a one to one ratio of staff to punters to keep it safe. It ...

Excellent three week online course from the Wallace Collection on Gainsborough. In the first week Karly Allen took two portraits in the Wallace Collection, Miss Elizabeth Haverfield and Mrs Mary Robinson (Perdita) to look in general at Gainsborough’s portrait work and to place them in the context of the time. She discussed how they became the main source of income which kept him away from the landscape work he loved. Week two with Aliki Braine turned to landscape and again placed Gainsborough’s work in context as well as looking at how he succeeded in elevating the genre combining the accuracy of Dutch 17th century work and the imagination of Claude. She included an interesting section of optical devises from Claude mirrors to camera obscurer. Finally Jo Ryhmer looked at the legacy of Gainsborough and using examples from the Wallace Collection putting him in a line of artists who admired the work of the Dutch artist Jacob Von Ruisdael from Gainsborough himself to Constable, thro...

Delightful exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery showcasing their prints and drawings by the 16th century artists Parmigianino. There was a lovely selection of work which showed how Parmigianino worked out ideas for his paintings and frescos on paper as well as including some more finished works. There was also a number of his prints including a beautiful etching of a woman sitting on the ground. I loved this charming finished head of a girl which show real tenderness as well as an almost Daliesque crayfish. I was pleased that I had done an earlier study afternoon on the exhibition as I felt that gave me a better depth of understanding of his technique and how ground breaking his prints were than just a viewing of the show itself would have done. Closes 5 June 2022

Interesting talk from the National Portrait Gallery to mark Women’s History Month. Gaynor Pelham from the gallery took us though images of women in the collection and talked about how they are hoping to fill some of the gaps of women they feel should be represented and who aren’t at present plus how they plan to display more pictures of women. Most of the talk was the guide though the collection starting with the self-portrait of Angelica Kauffman, the 18th century artist, as well as a portrait of her by George Romney. With each example Gaynor told us a bit about the sitter as well as showing us their portraits. She covered a wide selection of women however I was familiar with most of those mentioned. It might have been nice to hear a bit more about the gaps they want to fill, particularly of historic figures.

Excellent online three week course from Paula Nuttall on Raphael to compliment the National Gallery exhibition. Paula split the course into three useful sections the road to fame, which looked at his years in Urbino and Florence; the achievement of fame, looking at his arrival in Rome and early work for Pope Julius II; and finally the triumph of fame looking at the vast amount of work he did in the last five years of his life. We of course covered his paintings and fresco work but also looked at him a print maker, architect, stucco artists and designer of sculpture. She also looked at the influences on his work and how he studies and borrowed from other artists without copying. I was particularly interested to learn about works he quoted which would have been in Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo’s studios when he was in Florence but were not yet on public view. Paula had wonderful illustrations and led us though a huge amount of information in a clear and engaging fashion. I cam...

Small display at the Royal Festival Hall looking at the life and music of Ravi Shankar, the Indian musician. This display curated by Shankar’s biographer Oliver Craske selected rare archive pieces to highlight key moments from the musicians life to mark 100 years since his birth in 2020 but delayed due to the pandemic. Because the display was small the narrative felt a bit random to make it fit   and it was sometime difficult to match the label and the object particular as the labels were also hard to read a black typeface on green. However I did learn a lot including that he first appeared on stage in 1931 at Theatre des Champs Elysees with his brother’s dance troupe.   There were some nice objects including a letter from George Harrison and the outfit he wore at his last concert. Closes 15 May 2022

Intriguing exhibition at Tate Modern of work by people who work at or volunteer at their galleries. The show was a wonderful mix of objects and paintings and a selection of video pieces were also being shown on old television sets. The pieces were nicely curated, which was not easy as many of them were quite small, and shown in display cases and on room dividers on one of the upper floors of the Blavatnik building. I admit I went because a friend, Alexandra Abraham, had work in the show including this small sculpture made from mud larked finds and old beads. Her work is so delicate. I also liked a stone with words on it by Mhairi Vari, I think looking again they are the texts of emails and this sweet figure made up of pieces of broken china but I’m afraid I didn’t make a note of the artist. I’ll certainly look out for this show again in two years’ time. Closed 23 March 2022

Comprehensive exhibition at Tate Modern looking at Surrealism around the world from the 1920s to the 1970s. The show was themed by subjects which brought together art from many countries such as the uncanny, revolution, dreams and bodies. In addition there were three convergence points including the Bureau of Surrealists Research in Paris, the Caribbean and a period of vocal resistance in Cairo just before the Second World War. I must admit I’m not a great Surrealism fan but there were some striking works my favourite, shown here, being “Armoire Surrealiste” by Marcel Jean from 1941 which was described as a “Portal to freedom on the doors of a wardrobe”. I loved it’s combination of read doors and painting. Picasso’s “Three Dancers” looked striking against a dark blue back ground and I loved a couple of works which works like the child’s game Consequences with different people adding new images to form one long image without seeing the image before theirs except to where it creat...

Fascinating and fun online lecture from ARTscapades looking at the work of Donatello taking Vasari’s biography of him as a starting point. Richard Stemp guided us chronologically through Donatello’s work in Florence as a preview of the upcoming exhibition on the artist at Palazzo Strozzi. I spent a lot of time in the city a few years ago and this was a lovely way of revisiting familiar works. It was a nice idea to tie this into Vasari’s biography to show how the author worked and made mistakes. Stemp had some great illustrations and talked us through the works clearly pointing out how innovative they were. It was particularly interesting to think about how the works would have been originally seen as so many of them are now out of their original context.  

Excellent online seminar from the Courtauld Gallery to compliment their exhibition of Parmigianino drawings and prints. Five talks took us through various aspects of Parmigianino’s work on paper from an analysis of the handwriting on the drawings, his use of reversal in images and the drawings in Vienna. Catherine Jenkin’s an independent researcher and Naoko Takahatake from the Getty Research Institute took us though Parmigianino’s innovative print production looking at both his woodcuts and etchings. They speculated that he had learnt his techniques in Rome and discussed how he advanced the use of this relatively new technology. My favourite talk used the baptismal records in Parma to trace the links between artists in the city in the last ten years of Parmigianino’s life. Mary Vaccaro found the artist as godfather to four children of other artists and talked about how this honour implied a close link between people and families. I thought this was an innovative approach and as...

Enlightening online interview from the Art Fund with contemporary artists Lubaina Himid. Himid was interviewed by Zoe Whitney, director of the Chisham Hill Gallery and former phd student of Himid to mark the current exhibition of her work at Tate Modern. They discussed her work in detail including the current show and a work for the New York High Line in 2019. It was fascinating to hear Himid say how she doesn’t fee a piece of work has been finished until it’s been seen by an audience and how she likes to revisit shows to see how people are interacting with the work. They talked about HImid’s early life and how she was influenced by her textile designing mother who took her around art galleries, museums and department stores looking for inspiration for her work but also discussing what they were looking at. The Q&A session was lively with good questions which widened the discussion through what effect winning the Turner Prize had had, what responses to her art had she had wh...

Wonderful exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery examining how artists studios have developed and been used over the last 100 years. The show looked at studios as private and public space and was then divided into interesting topics such as the studio as performance space, as a collective space, as a place for research and experimentation and as a sanctuary. There was a wonderful selection of paintings and I am a sucker for a picture of a studio. There were also good photos and archive material. An amazing array of artists were represented from some of the greats of the 20th century such as Picasso, Lucien Freud and Francis Bacon as well as some lesser known ones who I will now look out for and a good selection of contemporary artists. There were a number of recreations of studios and this was good way of bringing the idea alive. Imagine my surprise at turning a corner and finding the fireplace of the Charleston studio,. The painted surround was there along with the objects from ...

Dense exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery by their archive department looking at three commercial galleries from the 1960s and 1970s which helped to transform the art scene. I wish I had known more about these galleries before I saw the show then I might have been more excited. It was quite text heavy with invitations, press reports etc and thickly displayed. The labels were often quite a long way from the objects so I found it quite hard to follow their stories. The galleries were the Robert Fraser Gallery which Bridget Riley premiered in the UK and where private views often became happenings, Wide White Space which transformed a domestic space into a hub for conceptual artists and Just Above Midtwon (JAM) in New York which represented African American artists and offered a community space for them. C loses 22 August 2022

Eclectic exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery of a selection of work from the Christen Sveaas Art Foundation. Paulina Olowska, a Polish contemporary artist, had selected these works from the collection of Christen Sveaas who has collected painting by Norwegian and international artists as well as antique silver and glass. Olowska was inspired by the largest travel agency in Poland, Orbis, which is known for its iconic travel posters, to look at how the collection reflects travel. I’m not sure I always saw the link with travel in the works but it was a bright, colourful selection of work. I’m afraid I don’t remember a lot of it now and my notes are a bit illegible and don’t give me much a clue but I do remember some vibrant works including that shown here by the curator of the show. Closes 8 May 2022

Interesting online seminar from the National Gallery looking at women artists and the gallery. There was a good blend of looking at what is in the collection, how the collection has been used by women and how contemporary artists are interacting with it all delivered with an interesting range of speakers. The afternoon opened with a look at the roles of women hidden behind male artists such as sisters, daughters and mothers. Some like Marietta Robusti, daughter of Tinteretto, were artists themselves but others like Agnes Durer and Margaret Van Eyck ran their husband’s studios. They mused on how many similar women in the art world had been forgotten. The meat of the event was looking at copying work in the gallery and the role this played in women’s art studies. We also discussed women who used these copies as a way of earning money. This included a fascinating examination of the gallery’s own registers tracing women who appeared in them from 1900-1910. There were also intervi...