Cathy's Art Diary

Novel exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of photographs by Julia Margaret Cameron and Francesca Woodman. I know Cameron’s work quite well. She was an early photographer working in the 19th century. Woodman, from 100 years later, was new to me. The show compared the techniques and subjects of the two women exploring the idea that both conjure a dream state. It was an interesting comparison but I found it a bit inconclusive. I would like to have known whether Woodman knew the work of the earlier photographer and if so whether she was consciously influenced by it. It felt a bit like a more modern artist was being used to make the earlier one approachable but I’m not sure that’s necessary with Cameron’s work. It was an interesting way of discovering a photographer that was new to me but I found myself being drawn more to the familiar. Closed 16 June 2024 Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard      

Interesting exhibition at the National Gallery focusing on Caravaggio’s “The Martyrdom of St Ursula”. Painted in 1610 this is Caravaggio’s last painting which is on loan from Naples. It was shown with the gallery’s own “Beheading of John the Baptist” of a similar date as well as a letter found in the Naples archive in 1980 which authenticated the work and accounts of his death from two early biographies of the artist. When I went, quite early in the run of the show, it was very busy with a confusing queuing system up the stairs. It was all a bit of a scrum! I was pleased to see it was popular but it left little mental space to commune with the work. I had actually seen the work just a few months earlier in Naples where I had managed to spend some quiet time with it. A much better experience. Closed 24 July 2024 Review Times Guardian Evening Standard    

Enlightening exhibition at Somerset House to mark this year’s Sony World Photography Awards. The commentary said that the curatorial approach for this year underscores photography's “power to document, represent and spotlight the richness of our collective experience” but, although there were some stunning images, I did find there was a heavy emphasis on environmental issues. I’d have liked a bit more variety. While I am moaning, I’d also have liked to see larger labels. They often had a lot of complex information on them yet it was hard for more than one person at a time to read them. To be more positive shout outs for me this year go to Valery Poshtarov, who had won the professional portrait prize for these pictures of fathers and sons holding hands from all over the world, Brent Stilton’s photos of LBGTQIA refugees from Uganda now in Kenya, Federico Scarchilli’s pictures of flowers with the pills they are used to make and Siobhan Doran’s pictures of old Philippine houses

Clever installation at Tate Britain combining the old restaurant murals by Rex Whistler with a video commenting on them by Keith Piper. The murals have presented the gallery with some problems as they include some difficult images particularly stereotypical depictions of people of colour. The video, which is shown in the old restaurant space with the mural, presents an imagined conversation between Rex Whistler and a fictional modern academic in which Whistler describes the context of the painting and she challenges him on the images. It places the work within the context of the upper class Arcadian thinking of the time and introduces you to Whistler’s friends who appear in the mural. However it also points out that the offensive imagery was not a one off in his work. I found the discussion more nuanced than I expected and engaging with well-developed characters and arguments. Given the room was dark to show the video, it would have been nice if the room could be illuminated b

Sumptuous exhibition at Tate Britain looking at how John Singer Sargent used and represented clothes. I had done a talk on the show online the night before which helped me to pace the show but I got far more from the exhibition itself. The pictures were sparsely hung with good commentaries about how they were composed and the stories of the sitters. I loved the inclusion of real clothes, in some cases the actual ones in the paintings. This made it possible to compare reality with Sargent’s artistic licence. There was a clever room at the end which looked at Sargent’s later work when he moved away from portraits but continued his interest in painting people and clothing. I loved the idea of him venturing up the alps with a dressing up box. It was lovely to find old friends from the Tate but also to make new ones and well as seeing some famous faces, such as Madame X and Dr Pozzi. I loved the balance of artistic technique, fashion and biography in the show. Closed 7 July 202

Meditative exhibition at Tate Britain of new work by Zeinab Saleh. The works were very new, all being painted this year, and were soft and enigmatic. Some seemed more obvious subjects than others but they seemed to dissolve into more ethereal images. They benefited from long looking. Closed 23 June 2024  

Interesting small exhibition at the Garden Museum highlighting the “Why Women Grow” podcast by Alice Vincent. On the podcast Vincent interviews inspiring women about their relationship with their gardens and the land. It grew out of a book she developed in lock down of the same title The display consisted of photographs by Shiobham Watts of the women Vincent had interviewed in their garden or a garden space which means a lot to them alongside a commentary on their interview. I was pleased to see one, Jamaica Kincaid, had been photographed in the gardens at Charleston. Have a photo of the section on Salley Vickers, one of my favourite authors, in Kew Gardens. Closed 30 June 2024    

Charming exhibition at the Garden Museum of work by Jean-Marie Toulgouat, Monet’s step great-grandson. Toulgouat moved back to Giverny in 1964 and helped with the restoration of the gardens which was also covered in this show. He had been an architect but had always painted and on returning to the garden he started to paint full-time inspired by it. I preferred the more abstracted works but loved the bright colours of all of them. They were hung with photographs of the garden by Andrew Lawson in a nicely designed display including a wisteria arch. Closed 24 April 2024    

Useful online lecture from ARTscapades taking us through the “Sargent and Fashion” exhibition at Tate Britain. Lucrezia Walker took us through the show room by room describing the themes and picking out significant works and artefacts. She told us some details of the sitters and the clothes. I would have liked to have heard more background information such as how the show was put together or more about the fashions of the era which were being shown. I hadn’t been to the exhibition when I heard the talk but I have since and it did help me to have had this introduction.

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery introducing their small exhibition focused on Caravaggio’s “The Martyrdom of St Ursula” on loan from Naples. Francesca Whitlum-Cooper took us through the life of Caravaggio and where this picture fitted into it and then looked at the story of St Ursula pointing out this was an unusual way of showing her martyrdom as images usually focused on the thousands of virgins she travelled with. She then looked at the history of the painting and in particular a letter found in the Naples archives in 1980, which referred to a painting of the subject by Caravaggio which had been left out in the sun which made the varnish soften, which was used to identify the work. I would have liked to have less about the life of the artist, which I have frequently covered in talks, and more about how they borrowed the picture and why they chose the works to show with it. I have since been to the show so look out for my review of it.

Fascinating lecture at the British Museum introducing their Michelangelo exhibition. Co-curator of the show Sarah Vowles led us through Michelangelo’s career from 1534 when he returned to Rome and worked for the next 30 years.   From the drawings for the Last Judgement she took us through the drawings for Tommaso dei Cavalieri and Vittoria Colonna spending some time on the religious nuisances of the latter drawings. She also spent some time discussing the letters to his nephew Leonardo and his work with collaborators then finished by looking at his architectural work and late drawings which may be showing a less controlled hand. It was a great taster for the show and I can’t wait to go when it opens. I particularly want to see the conserved Epifania cartoon and a painting by Ascanio Condivi based on it. Stop press : I have been since so watch out for my review of it! Sorry I’m still very behind with blogging!    

Nice little exhibition at Abbott and Holder of work by Oliver Hill. Hill was an architect who took up painting in his 60s. The pictures for sale here were from the 1950s and were small pictures of buildings and landscapes. I loved their fresh approach and bright colours as well as how he cropped the buildings to create interesting compositions.   Closed 4 May 2024    

Interesting installation at the London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE of work by Lee Robinson. Inspired by the Temple of Mithras in the basement Robinson has “converted the space into a contemporary ritual ground through imagined cultural images and sacred objects” according to the commentary. I’m not sure I got that from it, but I’d done a lot already that day so might have been a bit jaded and brain dead! I did however like the presentation and particularly the large tapestry. Closed 29 June 2024    

Delightful exhibition at the Guildhall Art Gallery of new prints by Anne Desmet. I’d come across Desmet’s delicate, detailed prints before in various exhibitions and loved them, so I was fascinated to see new pieces where she cuts up her work and makes the pieces into the sort of symmetrical patterns you see through a kaleidoscope. These works were shown with the complete prints she had used. There was an excellent video on how she works and cases showing her tools and her wood blocks. I was amused though by the contrast between these small delicate works and the huge John Singleton Copley painting which shared the space. I think I know which I prefer! Closes 8 September 2024  

Dramatic installation at the Barbican by Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama. The work was a huge pink, handwoven covering for the top of the building with 100 ‘batakaris’, robes worn by Ghanaian kings, embroidered onto it. The pink and purple panels were made by hundreds of craftspeople from Tamale in Ghana and in the foyer is a fascinating video on the making of it and a chance to feel the material. Close up it was more nuanced than it looks at a distance. I loved the dramatic effect, particularly the way that it reflects on the buildings around it and the way it is shaped around the architecture of the building. It is also fun to see it from inside in the upper floors. Closes 18 August 2024 Reviews Times Telegraph

Thoughtful exhibition at the Barbican Art Gallery looking at the use of textile in artistic practice since the 1960s often with subversive ends. The show featured 50 artists arranged in themes starting with a series of rooms on the first floor then moving to the large space downstairs focusing on works on the theme of ancestral threads, work inspired by the artists’ heritage. I loved the large open downstairs area which showed so that they spoke to each other. I would however make a plea for larger or better placed labels! There was a lot to read and a number of the middle aged, including me, were setting off alarms when we had to move in close to read them. They were quite long and quite woke too. I loved the breadth of the show but it would have benefited from a bit more history. It mentioned quilts which were maps to enslaved people to places to access escape routes and I would have loved to see one and how can you discuss textile and politics without a union banner?! I was

Strange exhibition at the Barbican Curve Gallery of drawings by Soufiane Ababri. This was a new commission for the space called “Their mouths were full of bumblebees but it was me who was pollinated”. At the heart were a series of fairly explicit drawings of diasporic queer experience and queer nightlife. I say strange as the space was over curated to give an installation feel and yet the focus works, which weren’t that large, were rather overwhelmed by the space. I guess it was trying to represent a club but I found the bright red lit path and haze were rather disorienting and distracted from the pictures. Closed 30 June 2024 Reviews Guardian Evening Standard  

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery on the life and work of Rembrandt. Jo Walton led us though Rembrandt’s career via a selection of paintings and etchings many of them from the gallery’s own collection. She discussed how an artist’s studio would have operated in 17th century Holland and how his style changed over his lifetime. She also discussed why we see a proliferation of self-portraits from him. I would have liked a bit more about setting his work in the context of the times and a comparison to his contemporaries.

Beautiful exhibition at Contemporary Ceramics of new pieces by Matthew Chambers. These were mysterious layered works creating rounded sculptures. I really couldn’t work out how they’d been made so I loved not only their look but also their mystery. They were in lovely pale but unusual colours with a Matt finish.   Closed 27 April 2024  

Fascinating exhibition at the Royal Academy looking at the life and work of one of its two female founding members, Angelica Kauffman. At first sight the information in this show seemed sparse but if you took time to read the labels you found some charming stories which lifted the art for example a painting of “Christ and the Samarian Woman” in the show was carried at her funeral which was organised by Canova. I liked her portraits best including the numerous self-portraits. Her portrait of Joshua Reynolds showed him as a real, relatable person and I loved the detail on her portrait of a woman in Turkish dress. The allegorical and historical works felt overblown to contemporary taste however I found her comparable in style and technique to her contemporaries. It was nice that the Zoffany group portrait of the early members was included albeit that Kauffman and Mary Moser are only shown as pictures on the wall as it is set in the life drawing room where they were not allowed to

Bold, colourful exhibition at Hauser and Wirth of prints by Robert Indiana. The show consisted of 19 previously unreleased silk screen prints signed by the artist and printed between 2001 – 2011 which were on sale in aid of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Each work relates directly to a painting made by Indiana between the years 1959 and 1999 and were chosen by the artist for a limited-edition print. I loved the bright colours of these works particularly a series of numbers and this pair of Marilyn Monroe prints. They all had a slight feeling of being design for packaging.    Closed 20 April 2024    

Small gem of an exhibition at Ordovas bringing together a Gauguin landscapes with contemporary works. The Gauguin was a lovely early work of a beautifully framed farmyard which was then shown with two works by Peter Doig and two by Mamma Andersson. It was interesting to not only look at the contrast in style but also the different approaches from different countries. Not to be cliched but the large Doig was big and bold like the American landscape whereas the Swedish Andersson’s work had a Scandi melancholy to it This gallery specialise in small shows that present you with an idea and leave you to contemplate it. Closed 26 April 2024  

Beautiful exhibition at Unit Gallery of new work by Jess Allen. I loved these paintings which combined images of real objects and people with the shadows of others. I liked the mix of the real and surreal creating a narrative your brain started to fill in. Other works showed paintings within paintings in domestic settings shown alongside the original works. I felt these added an element of time and the past to the work. Closed 21 April 2024

Interesting exhibition at Unit Gallery of contemporary artists take on the Ancient Greek idea of the Three Graces. The show looked at how a selection of artists have used the idea of the Three Graces to question ideas of ideal beauty and female roles. My favourites were by Jake Wood-Evans which were a classical take on the subject in a rather ethereal form. I’m not sure I always saw the link to the Graces in some of the other work and a bit more commentary might have helped. That said I did like Radu Oriean’s layer textured pieces. Closed 21 April 2024  

Charming exhibition at Pace Gallery of new work by Yto Barrada. The bulk of the works were patchworks and appliqué work where the colours worked with each other to form geometric abstract works however I was fascinated to read that all of the material was dyed at The Mothership, a Tangier-based natural dye garden and eco-feminist research centre. This gave the pieces an added layer of meaning around time. There was a fascinating video installation downstairs on the open air dying and drying process that’s used. A quietly, meditative film. Closed 11 May 2024    

Delightful sculpture trail around Canary Wharf of guide dog sculptures decorated by various artists. The trail was to raise awareness of Guide Dogs and had been organised by them and Wild in Art. A number of the works were designed by artists with experience of sight loss and some featured tactile elements such as the black and white “Guide Lines” by Sue Guthrie where the back stripes were in a rough finish, or braille elements. I managed to see all but two of the works. I loved Becky Smith’s “Life is Golden” which looked lovely on the sunny day when I went. I think my favourite was the Sherlock Holmes dog “Baskerville” by Mik Richardson. An added bonus was chalking up my 10,000 steps, partly as I kept getting lost! Closed 17 May 2024  

Interesting outdoor exhibition at Canary Wharf looking at the importance of clean water to women’s health focusing on Malawi. The display, sponsored by WaterAid and the Wimbledon Foundation, consists of tender photographs by Laura El-Tantawy exposing the emotional toll of pregnancy, childbirth and childcare without clean water and decent toilets, each with a short commentary. I think this display is doing the rounds and has already been next to Tower Bridge last year.

Moving installation at the Wellcome Collection by Jason Wilsher-Mills. The work examined his time from the age of 11-16 when he was paralysed due to an autoimmune condition. He revisits childhood memories of the time and how he now feels this made him into an artist. The story was clearly told around the walls, matching it with facts on popular culture of the time, and with dioramas of family stories and memories. The centre of the room was dominated by a model of him in bed reflecting how he felt at the time. He likened the germs to toy soldiers. I was particularly struck that his time in hospital in 1980 was exactly when I was going to university so the memories resonated with me in a very different way. Closes 12 January 2025    

Thoughtful exhibition at the Wellcome Collection examining how ideals of beauty have existed in every age and every society. The show was in three sections and the first looked at ideals and how these vary over time. It also looked at the effect of these ideals on how we think about our faces and bodies. It was good to see a lot of early material as well as contemporary. Next it looked at the industry of beauty. I was interested to see how many things we think of as beauty aids such as corsets began as medical inventions. Seeing ancient beauty accessories such as this Egyptian slab with holes for cosmetics is always very moving. I loved an installation recreating five “Renaissance gods” from a 1562 text. Finally there was three commissions from contemporary artists to question and initiate new conversations. I liked a video by David McAlmont which used Lely’s Windsor Beauties to look at current black, queer lives. Closed 28 April 2024 Reviews Guardian Telegraph Evening

Serene exhibition at White Cube, Mason’s Yard, of new work by Darren Almond. Most of the pieces were of willow leaves and branches, painted sparsely on metallic backgrounds. In the upstairs room these hung all around the room at eye level in vertical pairs giving an installation like feel to the display. Downstairs there were four bigger works each in six panels again with willow on metal leaf backgrounds. My interest in the likes of Giotto and Duccio made me view then as secular altarpieces by the size and the gold. They also had a strong feeling of Japanese prints. They were hung with large panels showing numbers in an almost collages arrangement. These were not well explained in the commentary but worked well to break up the space and give contrast. Closed 4 May 2024  

Delightful exhibition at Messums of work by Jean-Marie Toulgouat, Monet’s great-grandson. Toulgouat lived at Monet’s garden in Giverney which he was instrumental in restoring. The works had shades of Monet but also had a distinct and independent style. It was interesting to see his style develop from a more abstract linear style, though a freer floral abstract to more realistic scenes. I had a fascinating conversation with the attendant and it was lovely to have such a friendly welcome. Closed 5 April 2024    

Interesting exhibition at Saatchi Yates of new work by Lebanese artist, Omar El Lahib. The works were large and colourful but on closer looking they had a dreamlike quality and were reminiscent of Munch. They were effective but I didn’t warm to them. I was interested in his use of sunflowers but there was no explanation of this in the commentary. Echoes of Van Gogh? Circle of life? Closed 10 April 2024