Cathy's Art Diary

Excellent exhibition at the Science Museum looking at scientific discovery at the Court of Versailles. This was a clearly described show, cleverly laid out and with some stunning objects and paintings. It’s not a period I’ve ever studied but I am increasingly drawn to it. From realising that the three Louis’s of the period ruled for 149 years I was hooked. The show was full of intriguing stories and people and lead to a lot of Googling, both in the show to check links my brain was making and since. I give you Antoine-Augustin Parmentier who argued that potatoes were the answer to famines caused by bread shortages and declared them edible in 1772 or Madame de Genlis, tutor to the royal children who commissioned this model of a chemistry lab. Throw in a stuffed Rhinoceros killed in the Revolution, some wonderful paintings, including a portrait of the first pineapple grown in France, and the knife used to operate on the kings anal fissure, then there was something for everyone! C...

Useful exhibition at the British Museum looking at how Picasso used prints throughout his career. The show was laid out clearly and chronically with good explanations of the different print techniques. I knew some of the prints well but hadn’t realised how many different types of print production Picasso had mastered. I loved that they also showed prints by artists who had influenced him amongst his work which included some beautiful Rembrandts and a Goya. The show also gave a good outline of his career in general including portraits of his wives, girlfriends and art dealers. Closed 30 March 2025 Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard

Interesting exhibition at the British Museum introducing five possible redesigns of their west wing. The show was held in the Reading Room, which it is always magical to enter, and consisted of architects’ models of the five ideas. The space under review represents over a third of their displays, and currently includes the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon Sculptures and the Assyrian Lion Hunt. I’m not convinced that some of the designs would give more and better space for display they seemed to concentrate more on providing prestige public space which seems a common theme of museum refurbishment. It’s great to get more people to come but surely you want to entice them to look at the objects and research. I think I would have found it useful to have a model of what the space is like now to make more direct comparisons. There was a plan but I found it hard to visualise how that related to the new ideas. Closed 2 March 2025    

Magical lecture at the National Portrait Gallery with Rose Boyt, daughter of Lucien Freud, talking about her memoir inspire by sitting for him. Boyt was sympathetically interviewed by curator and writer Hettie Judah and the event started and finished with a beautiful reading from the start of the book. Boyt explained that the book came about after she found a diary from the period of one of the sittings but realised her memory of the time, due to subsequent events, was very different. She talked about what it was like to sit for long periods and the commitment that took and highlighted conversations she’d had with her father while he painted. Most magical though was the number of people in the audience she knew and referred to which made it a charmingly interactive event.

Thin exhibition at the Wellcome Collection looking at the Kola Nut and its global significance and properties. The commentary said this was an “evolving   display” but other than an interactive table at the centre, which I didn’t have time to explore, I’m not sure what they meant by that. There were some interesting facts around about how the fruit had spread across the world via the slave trade and colonialism, as well as how it was used in products for its caffeine properties, however a lot of the display was in the form of av presentations and therefore time consuming to absorb. Closed 2 February 2025

Thought provoking exhibition at the Wellcome Collection examining the impact of work on health. The show cleverly interwove historical and contemporary ideas and organised objects under three themes of work on plantations, in the street and in the home, picked as they are sites of work that is undervalued by society. I would like to have seen it broadened out to factories, service industries and offices. I spent a long time watching a video on how chemical factories have ground up on old plantations sites along the Mississippi surrounding the towns which were based around the original slave houses. There was also had a frightening section likening prison work to slavery with the astonishing statistic from 2013 that there were more black men in jail in America than would have been slaves in the past. The street section covered people who sell on the street, people who clean urban areas and prostitution. The space was dominated by an installation from Lindsey Mendick inspired by t...

Interesting online lecture from ARTscapades looking at artists’ palettes. Alexandra Loske, director of the Royal Pavillion in Brighton and author of books on colour, introduced her book on palettes starting by telling us how it came about. She saw palettes as a way that artists organise colour. Her aim had been to find 50 real palettes and use these as route into talking about the artist and where possible identifying the painting for which it might have been used. She talked us through as selection of these. However as she struggled to find 50 real palettes, she broadened this into looking at them in paintings. She talked about how artists use palettes as a symbol of their art in self-portraits. I’ve used a photo of a palette converted into a clock that I bought a few years ago to illustrate this post and at the end of the talk it was fun for the artist, Maria Bell-Salter, who moderates the ARTscapades events and is always surrounded by her paintings on Zoom, to show us her p...

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery discussing last year’s Artist in Residence Katrina Palmer. Priyesh Mistry, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Projects, took us through Palmer’s previous work and discussed the problem of displaying work in a gallery which is based on the idea of absence. He talked us through the book Palmer produced as part of the project which is called “The Touch Report” after the informal name for an internal gallery report on incidences where the public touch an artwork. In the book she describes acts of violence in paintings in the gallery without naming the picture. To make this into a installation for the gallery it was put in an empty room, with the shadow of a missing painting, and a purpose-built bookcase. As you know I will go to anything at the National Gallery, well to be honest at most galleries, but I never saw any communications about this installation or book so I missed the chance to go. I am a member there so you’...

Strange exhibition at the Royal Festival Hall by their archive studio looking at the Festival of Britain and what it might look like now. Developed by the Southbank Centre Future Exhibition Makers over the course of a month they looked at stories of the festival and picture pavilions for today. In a small space this was a lot to unpack and I didn’t think the new ideas for pavilions were well demonstrated. Also a huge moan was that the display cabinets had been overlaid with an opaque version of the original logo which made it almost impossible to see what was behind it. Closes 28 November 2025  

Dense exhibition at Tate Britain looking at this artists’ organisation from its foundation in 1933 to the mid-point of the Second World War. The show focused on two key exhibitions Artists against Fascism and War in 1935 and For Liberty in 1943 on the bombed site of John Lewis. It also discussed the First British Artists Congress in 1937, an event that foreshadowed many elements of official post-war arts policy. I say dense as there was a lot of information, with fascinating biographies of the artists involved and lots of archive material, as well as examples of their work. I thought I knew this period of art well, but there were lots of new names to investigate and links to people I did know, like Vanessa Bell, who was an advisory council member. I’m off to Google Felicia Browne who did these sketches and was killed in the Spanish Civil War. I wish I’d had more time for this show and will try to go back and read more of the labels. What looked at first like a slightly dull arch...

Interesting exhibition at Tate Britain marking this year’s Turner Prize for contemporary art. It showcased the four quite different finalists and yet I felt they were looking at quite similar themes. The show started with Pio Abad who had investigated and reacted to items in Oxford museums acquired during the colonial era. The work was beautiful and layered in meaning.   I was intrigued to find one work was inspired by the fact he lives in the Grand Stores of the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich which served as the primary storage facility for the military equipment of the British Army and Navy. My flat overlooks them!   Next was Jasleen Kaur’s installations using objects with reflect her multicultural childhood in Glasgow. Who can resist an oversized doillie on a Ford Escort. Then came another installation artist, Delaine Le Bas, exploring their culture, in this case Roma people, with ethereal crepe and a silver room. I’m not sure I really understood it. Finally there were ...

Nostalgic exhibition at Tate Britain looking at photography in the 1980s. The show began with photographs documenting the era which they took to begin with the Grunwick Strike in 1976 which I thought was clever as it established the idea of collective action it was also based around a film processing laboratory. These were my formative years of university and early career so it all seemed horribly familiar. As well as photographs as documents I also got a sense of them as an art medium, with some interesting collage work and a room dedicated to pictures with words added, and as a process in a study or campaign. Other themes investigated were the cost of living, landscape, remodelling history, community and self-portraits. The show included one of my favourite photographs by Martin Parr shown here. There is something so British but weird about it. Closes 5 May 2025 Reviews Times Telegraph Evening Standard

Beautiful exhibition at the Fitzrovia Chapel of contemporary art works relating to contemplation, compassion and wonder. All the works were from the collections of David and Indre Roberts. I’m not sure I understood the theme but there were some beautiful pieces which looked fabulous in the ornate space. My favourite piece was a ceramic triptych by Rachel Kneebone. I love her work so I came to the show specifically to see this piece. Berlinde De Bruyckere’s sculpture made of the skin of a horse placed in the altar space was haunting and I was drawn into Gabriella Boyd’s ambiguous painting trying to work out what it showed if anything. I’ve only just noticed from reading the handy leaflet again that only one of the art works was by a man which was refreshing. Closed 9 February 2025 Review Guardian

Annoying exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of some of their recent drawing acquisitions. Prepare for more moaning! Why hold an exhibition, even if it’s quite small, in what is basically a corridor? It was hard to step back and look at the works without people walking past or to use the av presentation with more information without being bumped into. That said there were some nice works including one of the Tracey Emin drawings for the new gallery doors, a touching drawing of designer Richard Nicoll by Howard Tangye and Eileen Cooper’s pair of her portraits of herself and Cathie Pilkington. Closes 6 January 2026  

Interesting lecture at the National Portrait Gallery introducing the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Award exhibition. Claire Freestone, curator and one of the judges, lead us through the history of the award and its exhibitions and talked about works which some of the winners had gone on to do. She then took us through the main themes which emerged in this year’s shortlist. These come about unconsciously but she did say that the show reflects events of the previous year so some of the themes are almost inevitable. Finally she talked about the prize winners this year and why they were chosen. I had seen the show before Christmas and enjoyed it but it was good to get an overview of it and to learn more about how it’s put together.  

Thin exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery visiting a photographic series by Zoe Law. I’m afraid I am about to get moany! These were lovely images of people who have influenced Law’s life and career but they came with very little explanation. They were also spread over two spaces but this wasn’t made clear so I could easily have missed the upstairs one which was actually the better presentation. The idea was that you could download a guide so the pictures themselves had no physical labels. However I always find this gallery’s wifi difficult to use and yet again I couldn’t link to it. As both shows were in the basement it was impossible to use that guide in the space. I would also have liked some explanation of why these people were important to the artist and why we should care. I’m sure it’s my ignorance as I’d not come across Law before but I suspect I’m not the only one. Closed 2 March 2025

Disappointing art fair at the Business Design Centre. I say disappointing partly because I found it a very confusing building! Google maps took me to the wrong entrance then once inside there was an odd plan that covered three levels on one diagram. I never found the coffee bar. There was some interesting art and it seemed to be a mix of 20th century and contemporary. Having been to the Affordable Art Show before Christmas I didn’t feel there was much contemporary art that was different here. There were however some lovely older works including a lot Keith Vaughan’s and Scottish Colourists. Shout outs go to this lovely John Piper, some super heavy impasto paintings of London by Ralph Fleck, hyper real small sculptures by Sean Henry and tiny paintings of people in art galleries by Gro Thorsen. I wonder if I’m in there?!

Useful online lecture from ARTscapades introducing an exhibition on drawing in the Italian Renaissance at the King’s Gallery. Martin Clayton, from the Royal Collection Trust, guided us through the themes of the show highlighting key works. He started with an aspect which isn’t in the show, which I have since been to, talking about how the drawings entered the collection from Charles II acquiring the collection of the Earl of Arundel to George III’s purchase of the Joseph Smith library. Clayton talked about the different types of drawings and how they were used and I was particularly interested in the section on drawing for the applied arts as I had not expected to see this reflected in the show. The talk gave me a good grounding for going to the exhibition which was extensive to   the point of being overwhelming.

Excellent live online visit to the National Gallery framing studio. Alyss Chafee, online events producer at the gallery, interviewed Peter Schade, head of the framing department focusing on two frames they are currently making for paintings for the refurbished Sainsbury Wing. He stated by looking at a huge frame for Cione’s multi part Coronation of the Virgin. The picture is so huge it has rarely been seen in its original formation and has been shown unframed recently. I can’t wait to see it in situ in a new gilded frame. He talked about how it was based on frames which are still in situ in Italy probably made by the same craftsman as this works original frame. They then moved onto a new frame for the Pollaiulo brothers St Sebastian. In fact they were standing in the middle of it for most of the talk. Again Schade talked about how it was based on original frames used by the brothers. I was fascinated by how they use the same tools as in the Renaissance. I can’t wait to see bot...

Disappointing online lecture from the National Gallery looking back at their Van Gogh exhibition as it drew to a close. These ‘reflecting’ events seem to vary in what they are trying to do. Others I’ve attended look at what the galley and curators have learnt from the show and its reception. However in this case Sheyamali Sudesh, art educator and artist, reflected on what the works in the show had meant to her. She paused on some works for feedback from the audience to give one-word responses to how the paintings made them feel. It was all very nice and reflective but to me I look to these talks to educate and inform rather than to share responses to the art. However it was a good opportunity to revisit the works particularly as I’d failed to revisit the previous day as it was so busy but I’d have liked more from it.  

Weird exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery of new work by Philip Colbert. I keep seeing Colbert’s work around London but have not quite grasped it yet. He uses an alter ego of a cartoon lobster and produces highly finished models (I hesitate to call them sculptures) of said lobster in various guises as well as grand paintings putting him in reimagined art historical contexts. In this show the context was historical battle scenes with the lobster fighting technology. I, of course, loved the nod to Uccello’s “Battle of Romano” but once that mental link had been made I’m not sure that took me any further. It was a nice touch to include some of his models in the square outside the gallery. It felt like they’d escaped and they always brighten up a space. Closed 19 January 2024  

Interesting exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery of photographs in which Black subjects are depicted by Black photographers. The works come from the Wedge Collection, established by Dr. Kenneth Montague, Canada's largest privately owned collection committed to championing Black artists and dated from the 1990s until today. The show was gently themed starting with families and moving through identity and history. The overall impression was a sense of community. I was quite impressed by how many photographers I recognised from other exhibitions so rather than this being a forgotten aspect of photographic history it is becoming more mainstream, particularly in terms of exhibitions. Stand out pieces include this beautiful nude by Texas Isiah called “My Name Is My Name I”; Ayana V. Jackson’s series Dear Sarah, inspired by the story of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, an African woman of Yoruba origin presented as a gift to Queen Victoria, where she represents her as a Victorian lady with the...

Stunning exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery of work by American photographer Anastasia Samoylova. This Russian born photographer looks at America with a critical but loving eye. She often captures a strange almost abstract view of a subject. The show was gently themed with good explanations of her work particularly the slightly hard to grasp collages where she groups found images then photographs the composition to represent a landscape. I think my favourite photographs were those incorporating bill boards which fooled the eye and often looked like collage but were real. I also liked her pictures of water particularly in Florida which commented on climate change. Closes 20 January 2025  

Eclectic exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery showing work by the six finalists in this global award celebrating the power of emerging artists to inspire positive change. This year’s theme was “Tomorrowing: Visions of a Better Future” and I was impressed by the array of responses. My favourite was the UK winner, Lulu Harrison, a glass artist who collaborated with Thames Water to discover a way to incorporate shell powder of quagga mussels, that routinely block water pipes and cost millions of pounds to remove, into unique glass   as well as working with locally sourced river materials, including sands and waste wood ash. I loved the pieces but also responded to them as I grew up in Oxfordshire, near the Thames, where she is working. I also liked Wincy Kung, the Asia winner, and her ideas for a Bamboo Craft Festival, an imagined festival that would explore heritage and storytelling integrated with architecture, culture, and design. Closed 26 January 2025    

Beautiful exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in collaboration with Beers London of new work by Nigerian born Deborah Segun. These were smooth pastel coloured works, part figurative and part abstract, where bodies morphed into landscape. I loved their decorative quality. I liked how the artist talked about painting from a place of joy in the accompanying video as they certainly gave me a sense of calm. Closed 2 February 2025    

Strange exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in collaboration with Beers London of new work by Danish/African artist Jack Kabang. I’m afraid I found this work quite ugly. It seems quite repetitive and felt crudely, if expressively painted. The blurb says it “is meant to speak to inexpressible desires and primordial human emotions”. I’m not sure it speaks to mine or maybe I don’t have any. Closed 2 February 2025  

Excellent online lecture from the National Gallery looking at the rivalry of the landscape artists Turner and Constable. Matthew Morgan, who had been the director of Turner’s House clearly outlined the difference between the artists both in their art works and characters. He looked sat each in turn discussing their lives and influences. He then went on to compare and contrast their work taking moments when they painted the same subject such as Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral and the Chain Pier in Brighton. he described how Constable created a sense of calm but Turner looked to heightened emotions. He ended by look at the famous Royal Academy show where they were showing side by side and Turner added a red buoy to a seascape on varnishing day. There were insightful Q&A sessions and I suspect more than one of the audience had recently done the National Gallery course on the artist out of doors which I had also done. This talk made an interesting postscript to the course. ...

Fascinating online lecture from the London Art History Society looking in detail at Hogarth’s series of paintings and prints on an 18th century election. Former BBC journalist, Rupert Dickens, took us though the four images taking as a premise Ian Hislop’s premise that each work had one big joke and many little ones. Dickens talked us through those jokes an explained where Hogarth was quoting other paintings from Leonardo to Charles le Brun. He also explained the election which had inspired the series and the process by which Hogarth produced and circulated the images He finished by looking at how these works became a template for political satire even to the present day and how that differs from the approach of the 18th century cartoonist Gilray and Rowlandson who relied more on caricature.

Interesting online discussion from the Victoria and Albert Museum on Jewish country houses. The group brought together the editors of a new book on the topic, Natalie Livingstone and Juliet Carey, with the photographer for the work, Helene Binet, as well as biographer of the Rotheschild women, Abigail Green, all ably chaired by Ollie Cox, head of academic partnerships at the museum. Livingstone and Carey began by outlining the reasons for the book and how it came about with 17 authors each writing a chapter on a house from England and around Europe. They outlined the main themes and introduced us to some of the houses. Binet then explained her working practices and how she looked for aspects of a house that were less well known and reflected the people who owned it, rather than the architecture, in her photographs. Green talked about the roles of two Rothschild women, Hannah and Charlotte, in developing and using the houses. There was a good discussion with an insightful Q...

Delightful and colourful exhibition at Charleston Farmhouse looking at the lives and art of Cedric Morris and Arthur Lett-Haines. The show looks at Morris and Lett-Haines's time founding and running the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing and examines their radical approach to creating and teaching art. The first room sets the scene explaining how, once the school was established, Lett-Haines spent less time painting to run the school and teach. Morris continued to paint as well as being a leading horticulturalist. Comparisons are made with their contemporaries in the Bloomsbury group based at the venue. The second room looks at their time before Suffolk in Paris and traveling in Europe. I think these were my favourite works in the show particularly two landscapes. The next room concentrated on Lett-Haines work mainly surreal paintings and small sculpture made from found materials. The show ended by looking at their protest work from environmental to political is...

Poignant exhibition at Somerset House of a reworking of a piece by Es Devlin. This was   a new iteration of Devlin's piece called   “Congregation” which she talked about at Charleston and I saw at the church on the Strand. This version had a recreation of her studio, a smaller version of the installation and some new ways of showing the drawings. I do find it very moving as a piece. It is well drawn then cleverly used with compassion. I hope to keep seeing it in different forms. Closed 12 January 2025 Review Times