Cathy's Art Diary

Delightful exhibition at Eames Fine Art’s print gallery of work by Austin Cole. This was a lovely selection of prints and drawings of Wales, London, Venice and New York, all places I love so they had a lot of resonance. I loved the way he captured the decaying the Venice palaces, real shades of “Stones of Venice”. I was fascinated to compare the drawings and prints as the day before I’d done a show at the Courtauld on Renaissance drawings used for prints. The drawings had a lightness whereas as the prints had a dark, solidity. Both worked well. My favourites were a series of wide prints of Borough Market, which, despite being small were full of detail and had a majesty about them. Closes 11 September 2022  

Vibrant exhibition at White Cube Bermondsey of new work by Ilana Savdie. These large images seemed to be bright, surreal paintings of figures which were then over laid in thick patches of coloured beeswax. According to the commentary they “speak to an unravelling of power through performance and excessive behaviours”. I did get a sense of performance and Carnival. I loved the effect and texture of the beeswax. There were three pictures where the image underneath was different but the beeswax pattern was the same. I also loved the bold neon colours which gave a real sense of life to the white space. Closes 11 September 2022  

Dramatic exhibition at White Cube Bermondsey of new paintings by Dancia Lundy. These were amazing, large, layered images evidently painted after the death of her father who was a photographer for a local paper. “Stop Bath” refers to the last process in photography that fixes the image. She is implying a memory preserved. I loved the way the more you looked at the pictures the more you saw and the strange mix of scale in the layers of images. They had a realistic quality while being fantastical in their composition. Evidently, they also quote John Donne’s poetry. I don’t know it well enough to spot that but am off to read the full press release to find out more. Closes 11 September 2022  

Interesting exhibition at White Cube Bermondsey of new paintings by Louise Giovanelli. These were mainly large pictures apparently based on cropped photographs which reminded me of Sickert on a much larger scale. The subjects covered drinking wine, hair and theatrical curtains. According to the commentary they “reflect on new modes of devotion and iconography in the modern world”. I liked the repetition of image in different colours and sizes in the wine pictures and they did make me want a glass but I’m not sure that was the point. My favourites were the majestic pictures of theatre curtains like the attached which was about 3m wide. Closes 11 September 2022 Review Telegraph

Joyful exhibition at Eames Fine Art of new work by John Crossley. These were bright, colourful, abstracted images of real things in acrylic on paper with a few prints. Chatting to the chap on duty I learned that many of them are based on the Sussex seaside which I know well. I loved the layered effect with sharp edged blocks of paint which almost looked like collage. Some had rounds blobs of paint with gave them a feel of Bloomsbury decoration. I liked the ones that felt like looking up at the as sky such as this one called “As I Take My Morning Promenade”. Also the ones which used a strong artificial pink. I’d have like a skirt made of material printed with some of the more patterned pieces. Closes 4 September 2022    

Charming  exhibition at Somerset House looking at ideas around repair of objects and people. The show equates repair of objects with renewal of people. The first section looked at techniques and new art works made by repairing objects. I loved Georgina Maxim’s work using found garments from relatives and friends and Angela Maddock’s ceramics repaired with nurses’ uniforms using stitching techniques used on people shown here. The middle section was a repair shop commissioned by Carl Clerkin which was manned by a chatty guy. It encouraged people to bring in items for repair. At the end was also a workshop space set up by TOAST, a lifestyle brand renowned for its thoughtful, contemporary design and commitment to traditional textiles and craftsmanship, with examples of repairs to toys done at their sessions. I’m off to look up something called FORMcard, a pocket-sized card in a bioplastic which, when dropped in hot water, is pliable but hardens when cooled to be used for repairs...

Interesting exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery highlighting the Courtauld National Partners Programme. Using five loans from partner organisation they discuss the scheme which shares works from the collection with likeminded organisations working in communities to inspire learning and explore local identities. The organisations are often connected with towns which had Courtauld factories. This was all a bit convoluted but the loans were lovely. There was a nice Gwen John from the Ferens Gallery in Hull and a wonderful portrait of Seamus Heaney by Edward McGuire from National Museums NI. My favourite was this beautiful John Piper of Coventry Cathedral painted the day after its bombing in 1940 from the Herbert Art Gallery in the city. Closes 2 October 2022    

Learned exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery of drawings used by Flemish print makers in Antwerp in the 16th century. This is quite a niche show but you know me, I like niche. There are some exquisite drawings many of them shown with the final print also excellent commentaries telling you about the artist, engravers and publisher. The star of the show was the amazingly detailed Pieter Bruegel the Elder of The Fair at Hoboken from 1559. The copper plate for the print was used for 200 years. The print was clearer but more crude than the drawing. I loved a drawing by print maker Johannes Wierix from 1586 of the Pool of Bethesda and it was a nice touch there were also prints by him based on drawings by other artists. Also Jan Van def Staet’s view of the Arno with a river god from 1575 which had originally been a design for a tapestry for Grand Duke Cosimo I. The figure of the river god had been changed by cutting out the paper it was on an inserting a new version. Closes 25 Septemb...

Delightful display at the Foundling Museum looking at life of Charles Jennens, librettist off The Messiah. This was just a small display but covered his art collecting, philanthropy and writing. His father died in 1747 leaving him 34 properties in 6 countries. In an inventory of his house, Gopsall, it listed over 500 works of art. Interestingly he was a non-juror, someone who supported the legitimacy of the deposed Catholic Stuart monarchy, although he himself was a devout Protestant. As such he was barred from public office so had time to devote himself to other things. The display included his letter to Edward Holdsworth outlining his idea for Messiah saying he was going to ask Handel to set it to music as well as two portraits of him to introduce you to the display. He seemed such an interesting man that I bought the small book about him that was on sale in the shop. Closes 3 January 2023  

Interesting display at the Foundling Museum looking at the creative process between author and illustrator in producing a children’s book. “Don’t Ask the Dragon” is by Lemn Sissay and Gregg Stobbs and this display shows ideas for the book and the final illustrations along with a conversational commentary between them about the process. It was fascinating to see how ideas changed, presented in same narrative order as the book. I was particularly moved to see that Stobbs the illustrator had given Sissay one of the drawings which wasn’t used for his birthday as it reminded him of the first time they met. Closes 9 October 2022

Fascinating exhibition at the Foundling Museum looking at how and why characters in comics are often orphans or foundlings. Using great examples of old and new comic strips they took you through various themes of this phenomena. It was a much more nuanced show than I expected.   There were good modern pieces with commentaries by the artists. It started by looking at this archetypal tale which probably started with Moses and how taking parents away in a story means there is no one to say no. It then looked at superheroes who lost their parents violently who turn to protecting others like Batman and Spiderman, followed by heroes which help us explore difference and identify such as Captain Marvel Jnr who was an orphaned, disabled, newsboy. They talked about how reading a comic strip can fell like reading a diary and looked at the artists who have used it in that way such as Carlos Gimenez who used the form to explore growing up in Social Aid homes in Franco’s Spain. Finall...

Interesting exhibition at Glyndebourne marking 70 years of their production of a programme to cover the whole season of opera. The Glyndebourne programme, as the commentary said, is “an anthology of ideas on opera, art, history and place.” Over the years they have commissioned well known artists to design them. This year it is designed by Maggi Hambling and there were previous examples by David Hockney and Oliver Messel. I liked this photo print by Mark Vessey, commissioned to mark this event of the edges all the covers. Closes 28 August 2022

Unclear exhibition at the Science Gallery at King’s College exploring issues around migration and violence. The commentary says it “uses arts-based methods to explore how different types of violence at intimate, urban and national levels are experienced through the body.” This was all very worthy and probably a good representation of some research but it needed to be shown in a more engaging and accessible way. Where it was positioned, it was only going to get a short term, passing audience so it needed to have a more immediate effect. I mainly looked at the photographs which compared South London with Israeli-Palestinian areas. I’m not sure I got a sense of violence from them just of ugliness and harsh environments. There were some good pictures though. There are some videos but I didn’t have time to engage with them. From the commentary I think they were about Latin American migrants to the UK. No end date given but i would assume early September from dates when new things s...

Strangely compelling exhibition at the Design Museum on design in football. I’m not a football fan but as the commentary says the game does shape how many people organise their time, dress and relate to communities. The opening section became a history of the game via developments in design of basic events like balls and boots. There were some significant objects to demonstrate this eg two balls from the first FIFA world cup final where each team provided a ball for half the game to ensure fairness before balls were standardised. It also looked at developments in player health and different game formations. This was followed by a section on Identity looking at how kits developed and the fan culture which included a colourful display of kits and a fan made Hillsbough banner.   Next came stadiums and crowd behaviour looking at things like how chants make a crowd breath and move together. Sadly it also had to look at disasters. It moved on to spectacles including the developm...

Fascinating exhibition at the Design Museum looking at work of fashion designer Bethany Williams. Her ideas and creativity comes from working with charities and recycled material. Each collection is developed with a charity reflecting their themes and they get a cut of the profits. I was most interested in her use of materials such as fabric made from waste from the book trade, packaging tape and my favourite, shown here, old editions of the Liverpool Echo cut into strips, coated and sewn together. She makes these fabrics into clothes based on street Fashion and historic designs.   Wherever possible she uses handmade items such as buttons made from wood. She was also one of a group of designers who set up the Emergency Designer Network at start of Covid to make PPE. They had 200 volunteers making up scrubs, masks and gowns from pre-cut kits. Closes 4 September 2022

Incomprehensible exhibition at the Design Museum on the concept of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, ASMR. ASMR is a physical sensation of deep calm or euphoria sometimes with tingling. I don’t get it. I’d gone thinking it was the idea of repetitive sensation like popping bubble wrap or watching cake icing videos (yes I admit it!). The design of an exhibition is not conducive to deep calm and this one had some annoying features. As I’d got the lift down to it I missed out on the leaflet, which might have helped, and all seating in the show low beanbag like bolsters. Although it would have been good to linger on some of the videos the seating was hard to get on and off for some off their audience and no one else seemed to be using them either. Given there was a designing for age show up stairs it seemed ironic! Look to yourselves first! I’m afraid I just didn’t get the concept! There were whispering people and repetitive digital videos. The only one I lingered over was Bob Ro...

Interesting exhibition at the Design Museum focusing on six deign initiative for older people. By 2040 over a quarter of the UK population will be over 60 and this show looks at how design is reimagining products, services and environments. The Design Age Institute set up in 2020 bringing together 5 organisations and research facilities to work on this. There were some good ideas but other things feel more like what young people think older people want. I admit I have just had a significant birthday so am a bit oversensitive about age at the moment! I liked an upright mobility scooter like a chair which was narrow enough to go through doors and fits under tables and desks. It would not just good for old people. My favourite was Gita, a cargo carrying robot which adapts to a person’s walking pace and manoeuvre round objects. I want one now for shopping etc. Basically a shopping trolley you don’t have to pull! I did worry about the idea they were encouraging people to talk to ...

Interesting installation outside the Design Museum made as a result of this year’s Ardagh Young Creatives scheme. The scheme brings together 14-16 year olds from across London from under-represented groups to work with established designers. This year’s theme was Progress. They produced a seating area with white boards and mirrors for people to sit. speak, draw and reflect. There were also QR codes to hear what local people think kindness means. I’m afraid it was noticeable that no one was using it but people were sitting on nearby benches! I felt the piece reflected what young people think people want not really what they do want. When I came out of the museum a child was using it as a climbing frame. It looked good though! No end date given    

A bright temporary public sculpture outside the Design Museum as part of the Kensington and Chelsea Art Week by Sokari Douglas Camp. The piece is based on the idea that in the 19th century slaves were allowed one day a year to party which the artist saw as beginning of Carnival. The figures are African figures in sailors uniform with elaborate headdresses referencing colonial past. Tea is also there as a symbol of nourishment as well as the colonial past. The figures looked great in the space and gave a splash of colour against concrete buildings. Closes 30 August 2022    

Fabulous exhibition at the British Library looking at 500 years of news in Britain via news stories. It was arranged under a series of questions eg what makes a good story, can the news be objective and includes some fabulous items such as the earliest surviving piece of printed news in Great Britain, a report of the battle of Flodden 1513! They also had the first newspaper published in England “Corante” which only has continental news due to censorship under James II. It was great to see whole bound newspapers included as you see the context of adverts etc around them. I found yourself drawn to the salacious stories and came out with lots to look up on old murders, political scandals etc. It comes right up to date with Covid reporting and #wagathachristie. There were some great juxtaposition of stories eg Civil War opposite Brexit as each saw opposing sides using a relatively new technology to spread ideas and the Daily Worker and Blackshirt reports of Cable Street Riots. T...

Tiny one cabinet display at the British Library to mark 250 years since the birth of the poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. There were just five items in the display which seemed a shame and only three were by him, a later transcription in his own hand of a childhood poem and   two notebooks. The other two items were copies of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner with illustrations by Willy Pogany and Mervin Peake. Don’t have much knowledge of Coleridge so it would be nice to have had more. Closes 25 September 2022  

Small display at the British Library of newspapers, leaflets and ephemera from the LBGT+ Community in the 1970s and 1980s. As the commentary says it “reflects a time of consciousness raising, identity building and activism”. It is wonderful that this very temporary feeling material has been kept. It not only narrates the history of gay lives and rights in the period but also of how issue related   ideas were spread pre-internet. I liked the humour in it “Bi-Monthly” for the bi-sexual magazine. Every group seemed to have a paper or magazine. It was good to see the infamous “Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin” which partly sparked Clause 28 banning the promotion of homosexuality. Closes 30 October 2022    

Small but sumptuous exhibition at the British Library on the use of gold in books and manuscripts. It covered 17 languages, 20 countries, many religions and the period from 5th century to 1920s. I like that they left the techniques to the end and didn’t let them dominate. There were some fabulous items. I was mainly drawn to Western works as I understand what I’m looking at more. My highlight were a letter to Richard II by Philippe de Meziers including a portrait of him receiving the document, a portrait of Robert of Anjou, King of Naples, and a beautiful Virgin from an Annunciation by Jean Bourdichon for Louis XII. Of the non-Western items I loved a Lives of the Buddha in which he appeared in gold in his different guises so there were gold horses and elephants, treaties embossed on gold from India and some beautiful Qur’ans including one with the earliest known gold-tooled binding. Closes 2 October 2022 Reviews Times Telegraph Evening Standard    

Fascinating display at the British Library of infographics using data from digitised 19th century newspapers from their collection plus other data sources. The display, researched by curators and scholars but presented by three designers, allows us to reimagine Victorian history. It is arranged in seven themes looking at tea to highlight colonial trade, reactions to machines to look at railways plus work, diseases and science to look at cholera and smallpox, advocates of freedom to look at the abolition of slavery, the rise of newspapers, crime and tattoos and the Crimean war. I preferred the white boards with lots of graphics to the dark ones which tended to have one more complex image.   I would have liked to see more definition of the measures but there was some interesting use of newspaper data eg measure of how often words tea, coffee and sugar appear in each year in the papers and tracing where US African American advocates for abolition spoke in the UK.   Closes ...

Disappointing sculpture trail around Canary Wharf featuring works utilising daylight. I say disappointing because I never found two of them. One seemed to be the other side or in a building site with no signage to help you around it. Most of the works would have benefited from being larger. However it did take me around Wood Wharf which is a new area I’d not walked around before. “Love Birds” by Atelier Sisu was pretty in the trees of a park and might look better of an evening when I assume they light up. I did like “Gleammhh” by OGE design group which worked well with the buildings around it. My favourite stop though was an exhibition of glass pieces by Louis Thompson in the lobby of One Canada Square. These were strong works including examples of installations for other places eg Freud Museum. I’ll certainly look out for his work. Closes 20 August 2022  

Thin exhibition at the Visitors’ Centre at the Old Royal Naval College marking visits by the Queen to the college over the years to mark the Platinum Jubilee. Information boards described a series of visits, illustrated with good photographs and visitors books. They were also showing the Pathe newsreel of the dinner to mark 150th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar in the Painted Hall in 1955. They made good use of what they had and it brought back memories. I had a vague feeling I remembered watching the knighting of Sir Francis Chichester on tv but turns out I was only 5 so I suspect I don’t. Closes 29 August 2022

Gentle installation at the Now Gallery by Korean artist Jee Young Lee. The work was a sea of bright yellow Gingko leaves with large white origami swans and boats and ‘paper’ planes above. The idea is that it’s about childhood memories. You don’t have to understand the artist’s but we are invited to think about our own. You could write your memory on a piece of paper and make an origami boat from it. I’ve seen a lot at this gallery and this installation uses the space well. I liked that it is visible from outside to entice people in. Closes 25 September 2022  

Sensual exhibition at Saatchi Yates of work by Angela Santana. At first look I was quite turned off by these large voluptuous nudes but when you read the press release they are by a woman as a reinterpretation of the male gaze. She takes digital images and deconstructs and rebuilds them in paint. You see and yet you don’t see. I suspect the original images would feel quite sleazy but these feel joyous and free. Closes 31 August 2022

Charming exhibition at Waddington Custot of work by March Avery, the daughter of Milton Avery whose show at Royal Academy I’d been to in the morning. She’s 90 this year and still painting six days a week. Her work is similar to her father in style but more gentle. Some of the latter work of children gets a bit sentimental but then you find the wonderful “Tall Pines II” with an Expressionist background. I love her paired down figures who seem comfortable in their own skins.   Closes 17 September 2022 Review Telegraph  

Colourful exhibition at Flowers of work from throughout the career of John Bellany, a contemporary artist who died in 2013. These were big bold works many of them influenced by his childhood in a seafaring community. I loved “Silver Crest II” off two fishing boats in a harbour. Some of the works were more symbolic. My favourite, shown here, “Still Life With Mexican Vase” from 1996 was a large still life, at a metre and a half long, and full of colour and interest. Closes 27 August 2022    

Surprisingly good exhibition at the Royal Academy of work by young people aged from 4 to 18. I must admit I approach children’s art with trepidation but this show has some insightful and technical excellent work.   It was hung thickly the main Summer Exhibition. There was a good free catalogue with excellent commentaries by the artists. A lot of contemporary galleries could learn from the simplicity of the language. However annoying that catalogue and hang were in a different order so a lot of flicking back and forth however on looking again over coffee I realised the catalogue is in age order which it is interesting when you look later. My stand out works were : “Woodland Waterfall” by William aged 6. A pointillist work. “Sea Scape” by Bethany aged 10 who can’t hear or speak which is interesting but whatever her story it would be a good picture of reeds in foreground and the sea behind. A double portrait “Interpretation of Circe. A Diptych” by Leah aged 18 “Party An...

Colourful exhibition at the Royal Academy looking at the life and work of American artists, Milton Avery. Avery bridged the gap between Impressionism and Abstract Expressionism. I think of them as very different concepts so it was interesting to see it happen. He was a friend of Rothko, Gottlieb and Barnett Newman. The show began with soft Van Gogh like landscapes before he moved into thinner paint and becomes more blocky. I loved “Fox River Village” from 1938 with a swoop of a bay and sketched in houses. His portraits and domestic work again became blocky. My favourite work in the show was “Seated Girl With a Dog”” from 1944 show here. He regularly did a painting a day. Him and his wife were known as welcoming hosts and I did get a sense of friendship from the show. Almost Bloomsbury Group like! The later works were very blocked. Think Rothko but with a subject. Closes 16 October 2022 Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph    

Underwhelming installation from the Hayward Gallery outside the Royal Festival Hall by Monira Al Qadiri. The description says it “reanimates the ancient sea creatures that form today’s fossil fuels” but I wasn’t convinced. It was a series of flat tubes of fossil creatures in an iridescent finished. It was quite hard to see what they were. It does say that it is animated by light so I will try to go back and see it in other conditions but when I went it felt quite static. It was also described as towering which is stretching it a bit. It actually felt   dwarfed and hidden by the nearby stage. Closes 6 November 2022    

Charming small display at the Garden Museum to mark donation of Constance Villiers-Stuart’s archive to the museum.   Villiers-Stuart was a garden historian most known for her work on Indian/Murghal gardens. She went to India’s in 1911 with her husband where she studied gardens, did watercolours of them and   designed one of her own in Jabalpur. In later life she turned to photography and flower arranging. She wrote for Country Life and produced small calendars. The display had a selection of beautiful watercolours of English and Indian scenes plus a selection of ephemera including a palate, passport, selection of lantern slides and sketch books. Having read the statement “Constance remained drastically out of touch with the concerns and treatment of Indian people under colonial rule” but also learning she had an elite circle of friends who met at her home Beachamwell Hall I’m off to find out more. Closes 30 November 2022

Interesting exhibition at the Garden Museum looking at the book by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The show tells the story via different illustrators since its publication in 1911 from the original Charles Robinson through EH Shepherd of Winnie the Pooh fame to the latest interactive version by MinaLima. There is a little section on film versions but I’d like to have seen more and some information on the authors own gardens but again I’d have liked to see more particularly on Maytham Hall on which Misselthwaite Manor is based.   Quite a lot of space was given to an installation which would be fun to take children’s photos in but doesn’t add a lot to the show. Because it’s the school holidays it’s very geared to children although I suspect its main audience is nostalgic adults. Closes 5 September 2022

Review of a colourful and impactful installation at Woolwich Works by Margaux Carpentier. There are regular art shows in this space and this is the best one yet. It filled and used the space well and she had obviously though about where the works were going to be. I wasn’t too sure what they are about but I liked the fact the hangings are part of the work and reference the seafaring area. Closes 28 August 2022  

Simplistic online lecture from the Churches Conservation Trust looking at a selection of altarpieces. Janelle Diethelm took us on a rapid overview of altarpieces from 1400-1600 but in doing so painted a slightly confused picture. To start with she said she would look at Northern altarpieces rather than Italian who was fine but she then started with the Maesta from Sienna. She then described three or four examples with good illustrations. I get that the talk was only meant to be 45 minutes and this is a huge subject but, given the audience who I suspect come from a church architecture background, then a bit more about the function of altarpieces and the development of their structure rather than just looking at images and explaining some symbolism might have hung together better.