Cathy's Art Diary

Disappointing discussion at the National Gallery examining what makes a painting iconic. The event marked the publication of "Icons: 100 Extraordinary Objects from Sotheby's History" and brought together Patrick Elliott, curator of modern paintings at the gallery, a recently created role; Will Gompertz, director of the Sir John Soane Museum and Chloe Stead, Global Head of Private Sales in the Old Master's department at Sotheby's. Sadly the author, Elif Shafak, was billed to attend but had a family emergency and had to pull out. She might have brought a non-art world voice to the platform. They discussed what makes a painting an icon then each nominated contenders for the title from the galleries collection or from works which had passed though Sotheby's auction house. I would have liked them to pick more from the Sotheby's category as the galleries own works were well known and their stories very familiar to the audience. It was fun however to have ...

Charming exhibition at the National Gallery of landscapes by 19th century Viennese artist, Ferdinand Georg Waldmuller. I had done an online curator's introduction to this show, but you didn't really need to know a lot to appreciate these exquisite, jewel like paintings. The finish on them was beautiful and they had a shiny quality. They were small and drew you into the detail. I think the pictures of trees were my favourite and reminded me of Constables studies of trees. Closes 20 September 2026 Review Guardian

Fun exhibition at the National Gallery of children's work reacting to a painting in the galleries collection. This is an annual exercise which I always enjoy and this year the work chosen was Canaletto’s painting of the Venice regatta. Each school's children pick an aspect of the picture to explore so this year they looked at boats, the idea of a vista, masques and much more. I loved St Michael's C & E Primary Academy's take on the vista relating Venice to their home city of Birmingham. I also liked King's Meadow Primary School who spotted gold spikes on an emblem on a building which they echoed as wands. The objects they were made were beautiful and I've just realised from looking at my photos that there are just 3-4.   Closed 31 August 2026

Stolid exhibition at the Photographers' Gallery looking at Japanese women photographers since the 1950s. The show was well presented under the themes of pioneers, elevating the day, self, gender and society and experiments but it was large, taking over all three floors of their galleries. I liked that it was shown in groups by individual photographers with good information boards including quotes by the artists. However the work lacked a sense of lightness and it all felt quite serious and worthy. I met a friend after and told her where I'd been and as she said "That's a bit niche". I think the “Elevating the Everyday” section was my favourite with street and diary photography. I loved Ushioda Tokuko's pictures of the inside and outside of her fridge as a commentary on her life. I was intrigued by Yanagi Miwa's staged pictures commenting on Japanese elevator girls (although I thought they were air hostesses from the image). The one shown here was us...

Poor exhibition at the National Maritime Museum looking at the food culture brought to the UK by the Windrush generation and its legacy. The show had good commentary boards but not many objects and some that were billed seemed to have disappeared as there was an empty case. They pointed out how people set up markets to provide the ingredients people wanted and how the food has moved from the margins to the mainstream with a good info board on taste makers from Rusty Lee to Andi Oliver. There were a couple of videos alongside the info boards but that was it. It felt like a big story to tell and it deserved more depth. It was presented by the National Windrush Museum in residence at the National Maritime Museum. I felt they needed a bit more mentoring about how to curate an exhibition. Closed 30 July 2026

Interesting exhibition at the National Maritime Museum of the winners of the Astronomy Photography of the Year awards. As ever in this annual show the works were shown on light boxes with details of where, when and how the image was taken or constructed. I preferred the works which showed some aspect of the earth in the picture to give a sense of the known. There were some beautiful images but as I go to this show every year, it is getting quite samey. I like the display but it is getting repetitive.   I also think it is quote expensive for what it is at £12. Closed 3 August 2026

Intriguing exhibition at the National Maritime Museum showing the work of ten artists who took part in an expedition to the Marshall Islands in 2023 which were affected by the testing of nuclear weapons in the 50s and 60s. The show included some interesting work but more importantly highlighted the story of the islands and the issues they face from the testing and climate change. I was amazed to learn in one explosion in 1954 three islands were obliterated. I liked these imagined machines by Solomon Ends which were painted on the beaches on the island. They are imagined devices which would draw radiation and poison out of the sand and transform it into clean air. Closes 4 October 2026

Beautiful exhibition at the Royal Academy featuring work by young artists aged from 4 to 18. I always try to go to see this show which is only on for a few weeks as you often see work of a surprisingly high quality. This year I made a special point of going as a friend's son had a piece in it, so a big shout out to Chip aged 11 and his zine about AI in art. It was a shame it was shown quite low down as it was all about the detail which was hard to see. Works which stood out for me this year with the hyperreal "Granny's Glassware" by Ella aged 16, a dark portrait of a couple called "Marriage" by Fimi aged 17 which wouldn't have looked out of place on Sky Portrait Artist of the Year and the cleverly composed urban landscape by Natalie aged 18. A special shout out to Inaya aged 16 for their "Political 'Sauces' Sources" a series of ketchup bottles each filled with a censored newspaper article about the world leader who was then refer...

Vibrant exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery South of new work by Cecily Brown. These big, bold, expressive paintings were inspired by the area around the gallery and showed abstracted vegetation and were shown with previous works dating back to 2001 covering similar themes. I loved how bright and lively they were and how they dominated the white space. They were shown with some of her drawing showcasing that she draws everyday often responding to illustrations in children's books. There was a useful leaflet which included interesting quotes from the artist making it fell like she was showing you around such as "I don’t have a central message to get across, so the subject is always just painting and how to push painting. I'm thoroughly absorbed by that". I will certainly look out for her work in the future. Checking this blog I've realised she did the wonderful new paintings around the top of the staircase at the Courtauld Gallery   Closes 6 September 2...

An excellent iteration of this annual pavilion at the Serpentine Gallery by LANZA atelier. This year's pavilion was built of brick with a glass roof, shaded by blinds. The central rounded space had a long curving wall down one side with a path along it which made me think the construction had a tail. The i nside had a small stage and the usual expensive café but otherwise the space was quite empty which I liked. Some years the space is cluttered by suggestions of things you should do there. Reading the blurb I loved the layers to the work. LANZA atelier, founded by Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo described the work as a serpentine partly as a pun on the gallery's name and the nearby lake but also referencing the architectural feature called a serpentine or crinkle-crankle wall which originated in ancient Egypt. The shape provides stability via lateral support and requires fewer bricks than a straight wall. As ever it was a peaceful space to have a coffee and read f...

Interesting sculpture/installation outside the Serpentine Gallery of a work by Jesús Rafael Soto. As you walked towards this work it appeared to be a yellow box but as you got close you realised the yellow was closely hung soft plastic tubes which swayed in the breeze and enveloped you as you walked through it. As I was there a child was enjoying the sensation and running thought the space. I found it played with my eyes like a Bridget Riley painting and reading the blurb now I realise Soto was classed as a kinetic artist like her. It also says that the work is completed by the presence of the viewer. I would widen that to be the participant. I was interest to see this work was a relaunch by the artists estate since their death of a work originally made in 1999. Closes 25 October 2026

Vibrant exhibition at Eames Fine Art of drawings, prints and paintings by Andrew Marr and Gillian Ayres. The works were mainly abstracts in bright colours with the artists using a similar palette. It was only later that it dawned on me that Andrew Marr is THE Andrew Marr off the telly who has turned to painting following a stroke. I liked his expressive mark making. Closed 12 July 2026

Colourful and surprising exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum looking at the textile designs of the sisters Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell. I say surprising because I hadn't realised how popular their work was and how much of it I had owned or remembered. I had bought a painting by them at an exhibition at the National Theatre a number of years ago without really knowing that much about them. The show highlighted how they not only designed the patterns but oversaw how these designs were transferred to the textile allowing them to control the colours and retain the copyright of the design. The designs were hand painted and in many cases the show had the original painting and examples of the textile in different colour way. The sisters worked for Liberty in the 1970s and designed Bauhaus for them which I recognised. Later in the decade they worked for Terence Conran at Habitat and those designed were so familiar to me. The show looked at how they adapted to the mar...

Charming small exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum of decorated pin-stuck cushions. The works were from two collectors, Simon Costin and Alessandra Curtis, and were well explained but didn’t get bogged down in the detail of each one. The blurb explained how cushions were often made from a kit although others were designed by the maker. The larger display featured pieces made in the First World War and shortly afterwards by soldiers with kits being available to purchase on the front line and the Post Office delivering the finished works back home free of charge. I am a bit of a First World War nerd, and I had not come across this phenomena before. Closed 13 September 2026

Moving exhibition at White Cube Bermondsey of recent work by the late Georg Baselitz who died in April. I love Baselitz's work and the way he paints images upside down to concentrate the idea of looking so was moved to see these recent works. These were such ambitious, physical works for a man who was 88 when he died. I think my favourites were the black and gold works because of the contrast they set up and the nod back to icons and medieval pieces. These large works looked commanding in the vast white space. Closed 30 August 2026

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery introducing a new book for the gallery on how to read clothing in paintings. The author, Jacqui Ansell, talked us through the development process of the book explaining how, to fit the series of books, it had to have six chapters with rich illustrations. She told us how she knew the artists she wanted to include and how she wanted to theme the work rather than writing chronologically. She wanted to include social history and practical knowledge with descriptions of the paintings and clothes. She told us how she used paired images where possible, a full picture of the painting and a detail. She then led us through some of the images she had chosen but I found the talk got a bit fragmented at this point as she was trying to cover too much in a short time.

An unbalanced online lecture from the Wallace Collection on two artists who mentored Winston Churchill’s painting. This lecture complimented the exhibition at the museum of Churchill’s art and Frances Fowle from the University of Edinburgh led us though the subject. I say unbalanced as it was a good lecture on Lavery with a bit on Sickert tacked on at the end. I didn’t know a lot about Lavery so it was useful, and it did explain how he was one of the Glasgow Boys yet is considered an Irish artist which has confused me. It might have worked better as two lectures

Small exhibition at the National Theatre of photographs documenting Queer life in Britain. The works are on loan from Queer Britain to mark the theatre’s production of “Pride” which incidentally I saw a few days earlier and loved.   I managed to see the exhibition on the day of London Pride by chance so it had an extra poignance. I loved this picture of Ian McKellan and Michael Cashman leading a Pride march and this portrait of the out footballer, Justin Fashanu. Closes September 2026

Fascinating exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery looking at the output of Studio Prints, a leading printmaking workshop founded in 1968 and active until 2011. The workshop was run by Dorthea Wright and Marc Balakjian who had long term collaborations with many of the post war London artists include Lucien Freud, Frank Auerback and Leon Kossoff as well as maintaining artistic careers of their own. The show had some beautiful examples of the work they produced shown around a display of archive material. Who can resist this print of Freud's dog Pluto, but I think my favourite work was this lovely window by Wright herself. Closes 13 September 2026    

Charming exhibition at the Courtauld of photographs of Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson's studio from the early 1930s. The show compliments the main exhibition in the gallery of Hepworth's sculptures in colour from a few years later. The photographs were taken by Paul Liab during a period of intense collaboration and experimentation by the two artists. They included pictures of individual works and ones evoking the artists working in the studio. Liab photographed the work of many artists and his archive was donated to the Courtauld in 1974. Closes 4 October 2026.

Interesting exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery looking at Barbara Hepworth's use of colour in her sculpture and drawings. There was a good blend of sculpture and the drawings which Hepworth referred to as sculptures in disguise. The works were beautifully displayed with a good narrative. A shoutout as ever for the Courtauld for the excellent booklet with the label descriptions in which stops bottle necks in the show and is a useful reference to bring home. I think my favourite piece was this wooden version of "(Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red" which to me evokes the sun breaking though a blue sky. I hadn’t realised before that the strings in these works are in a contrasting colour to the paint. I also loved some pieces which I assume were coloured stone but now realise form reading the booklet again that they are painted marble. Closes 6 September 2026 Review Times

Intriguing exhibition at Somerset House investigating how people create public and personal shrines to pop stars and cult icons. The first room looked at public expressions of grief from the flowers for Princess Diana to part of the tree trunk which Marc Bolan crashed into. It would have been interesting to look a further back in this section and maybe look at the idea of leaving objects at the shrines of saints as an investigation of the origins of the idea. The next room looked at personal shrines and people's collections of memorabilia and how they display them. I loved an altar to George Michael by Dot Alma which travels to events in the UK and the idea from Molly Soda that a kitchen fridge can become a shrine to family life. The last room just presented one object, a piece of chewing gum left on her towel before a performance by Nina Simone, rescued and presented as an installation by Warren Ellis. The show did make we think about things which I have kept and how they...

Strange but beautiful installation at Somerset House by Sian Fan. The work consisted of three hanging figures in a dark space who appeared like dancers. It was only from reading the accompanying leaflet that I got the finer detail that the clothing was handmade and they were set against the illusion of the night sky. The heads of the figures are 3D images of the artist. Evidently, they reference the idea of internet folklore, a new concept to me. Evidently on 28 May the work included a performance by the artist. I did feel the work needed some movement in it either possibly a breeze to make the figures sway and move. Closed 12 July 2026

Novel online lecture from the Victoria and Albert Musuem introducing their exhibition on lost music venues. Curator Harriet Reed talked us though the inspiration for the show growing from her own passion for gigs and concern in the pandemic that a lot of venues were at risk of closing. She talked about their importance, not just as places for performance but also as communities of people. She explained how the show is designed like a venue opening with an exterior wall of posters and signs and guided us around the four sections, what they cover and featuring a few of the key exhibits. She also talked about how they put the show together from the museum’s own collection but also put out a call out for new material from venues and the public. They had over 500 submissions of objects and documents. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get to the exhibition as it was closed due to the hot weather and lack on aircon on the day I tried.

Interesting public installation at the Royal Festival Hall setting poetry by school children against the Brutalist architecture of the buildings. The work was part of their celebration of 75 years since the Festival of Britain. They worked with the poet Lemn Sissay and children from Manchester, Birmingham and London and asked them to think about their hopes and dreams for the future. The words were set in huge neon letters on the side of the building which brighten up the site and gave pockets of ideas to think about. I gather there is also a newspaper of all the work and I must go back and l ook for a copy. Closes 27 September 2026

Interesting online lecture from ARTscapades on the James McNeill Whistler exhibition at Tate Britain. I had already seen the show when I listened to the talk so I found it interesting to learn more about how it was put together and the research which went into it. Carol Jacobi, lead curator of the show, gave us a sense of her excitement about the project, even to the point of describing her favourite brushstroke in the show! As the show is arranged chronologically she took us through the artists life and the main works on display. She was particularly good on the influences on his work and how this changed over time.

Useful online lecture from the National Gallery introducing their exhibition of landscapes by Ferdinand Georg Waldmuller. As I knew nothing about this 19th century Austrian artist it was very good to get an introduction to him and his art particularly as he didn’t only do landscapes. Sarah Herring, the curator of the show, led us through his life and the role of landscape in his oeuvre. As we came across them she showed us the works in the show on loan from the Belvedere in Vienna. She explained his love for detail and how this may have come from his training as a miniaturist and compared his work to other landscape painters of the era including Constable, the Barbizon School and the Pre-Raphaelites.  

Excellent exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery showcasing the shortlisted submissions in this year's Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award. This year's show had many striking naturalistic works in contrast to a few years which have had more abstract works. The concentration seemed to be on capturing an image and the character of the person and telling their story. Often probably unplanned themes seem to come through and this year it seemed to be stunning portraits of men of colour. Shout outs to Louise Pagnell's portrait of Pops Mensah-Bonsu the basketball player and founder of a youth basketball charity, Niall MacArthur's portrait of his friend Ronnie with an exquisitely painted glass vase in front of her, "Genealogical Deformation" by Algirdas and Remigijus Gataveckas a joint self-portrait by identical twins with contrast of textures and my favourite this year, Karin Neijenhuis's self-portrait seen from the underside of an ironing boa...

Thin exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery exploring the results of a partnership project with six universities from across England and Wales exploring contemporary portrait photography. The gallery offers a series of talks, workshops and tours to which the students respond producing works reacting to the previous year's Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize. I say it is a thin show as there are only a few works shown with minimal explanation. The majority of the work was shown in rolling av display which was quite long to watch in a space with no seating. This intriguing show deserves a better presentation. Closes 18 September 2026

Thoughtful exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery looking at Marilyn Monroe. The show concentrated on how Marilyn and others used images of her and gave her more agency than you usually see her credited for. At the core it looked at the photographers she worked with, their relationships and how the images were used. I loved the way the displays didn't just pick the one famous image from a shoot but a number to show why the one that was used was chosen plus to build more of a story of the event. I also liked the way they often showed an original photograph with the magazine cover it was used for. In response to this it also looked at how artists have represented her both in her lifetime and since. Of course, there were Andy Warhol's but it was good to see a number of Pauline Boty works as well as others by British Pop Artists. The show outlined her life story via the images and included a few artefacts such as a dress from "The Prince and the Showgirl" and ...