Cathy's Art Diary

Fascinating online lecture from ARTscapades looking at how Rodin was influenced in dancers and in particular Nijinsky. Juliet Bellow, from the American University and the author of a book of the same title, talked us through three sources of dance influence for Rodin, the Art Nouveau solo dancer Lois Fuller, the Cambodian Royal Ballet who visited Paris in 1906 and Ballet Russe and Nijinsky. For this talk she concentrated on the latter and   looked in detail at a small sculpture Rodin made of the dancer in 1912. She talked about how Rodin was influenced by the ballet “Apres Midi du Faune” and in turn how the dancer looked to sculpture for inspiration for his choreography. She speculated on how the work was made based on recent studies of two versions and concluded that it was made to be held in the hand and turned and in doing so it took on various aspects of the ballet. She also broadened the lecture out to show how Rodin was a supporter of the republican cause and positio...

Interesting online lecture from ARTscapades introducing an exhibition at the Towner Gallery in Eastbourne on Modernism in Sussex. Hope Wolf, from the University of Sussex and also the author of a book with the same title as the talk and exhibition, outlined how the show came about. The idea had started with a previous exhibition at Two Temple Place in 2017 which I had been to, and had developed from the research she did for that show. She explored how the ideal of Modernism seem to be at odds with rural life in Sussex but how a number of artists settled in the area. She also looked at the idea of “New Regionalism” introduced by Clive Bell at the opening of the Miller Gallery in Lewes. Wolf introduced us to   a number of artists I hadn’t come across despite knowing the area well however I felt there were almost too many ideas to be encompassed in one show. Sadly I didn’t get to the exhibition to know how well it worked in its display and narrative.

Disorientating exhibition at Tate Modern looking at the pioneers of electronic art. It was too much for me as I suspected it would be. Too many flashing lights and playing with perception.   The labels were quite convoluted plus hard to read with the flashing and I just couldn’t engage. I did like Jesus Rafael Soto’s “Cardinal” which hung rods in front of lines to appear 2D from the front, although 3D in reality, and Lilliane Lijn’s “Bride” however I just couldn’t stay very long in any of the installation style rooms. Oh well I tried! Closed 1 June 2025 Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard  

Interesting discussion at Charleston Farmhouse as part of the Charleston Festival examining the work of Vanessa Bell. The talk brought together Wendy Hitchmaugh, who had recently released a new biography of Bell focusing on her art as well as her life, and Kate Hessel, author of the successful "The Story of Art Without Men". The event was well chaired by Jon King, research fellow who also has a book on Bell due out in a couple of months. The all highlighted how radical Bell's art was and how she created spaces for people to gather and work together from the house whose garden we were sitting in to important art groups. They also looked at the barriers she faced to working and selling her paintings. Needless to say, if you know me, I bought the biography and got it signed.  

Interesting exhibition at White Cube Bermondsey showcasing the life and career of the sculptor Richard Hunt. I had not consciously come across Hunt’s work before which surprised me as he had been so prolific in America. The show started with an enlightening timeline of his life and I was impressed at how he broke down many barriers for a black artist. The worked looked good, if a bit sparse, in the large white space. I found it quite graphic in its style so it was interesting to see his drawings shown with the large sculptures. Closed 29 June 2025

Stunning exhibition at Eames Fine Art of the complete set of prints by Salvador Dali for Dante’s   Inferno. I think I had seen these once before in Barcelona but it was real treat to find them again on a walk along Bermondsey Street. The works have a real sense of being by Dali but respond sympathetically to the text. Sadly the planned book was never printed but the prints stand as an art work on their own. Closed 18 May 2025

Intriguing small exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery looking at a photographers’ studio in London run by women and specialising in photographing women. The studio was set up at the end of the 19th century by Lallie Charles and run with her sisters Rita and Isabella Martin until Rita set up her own studio.   Charles specialised in photographing society ladies for the magazines which were becoming popular. The show featured the photographs alongside the features they were used in. Martin concentrated on stars of the stage and screen and there was a delightful selection of her work. Needless to say my favourite was a picture of the actress Gertie Miller with her dog Chum. As well as showcasing the work of these photographers the show also reflected the changing role of women in the early 20th century. Closes 19 October 2025  

Lovely exhibition at Charleston in Lewes focusing on Vanessa Bell. As you know I’m a big Bloomsbury fan so I was so excited to see this show, which I’d not managed to get to when it was is Milton Keynes, and it didn’t disappoint. I loved that a lot of space was given to Bell’s earlier, groundbreaking work and that a big section looked at her design work. Most of the show was arranged by place, reflecting the importance of place to Bell, plus giving it a rough chronological structure. I liked the mixing of portraits and landscapes as places as are as much about the people in them as the space itself. I found lots of old friends but there was also a great selection of works from private collections and regional galleries. Closes 21 September 2025  

Interesting online lecture from the Victorian and Albert Museum introducing their exhibition on the jeweller, Cartier. Helen Molesworth, Senior Jewellery Curator and Rachel Garrahan, a project curator and writer for Vogue, did a fun double act to guide us around the themes of the show and to point out key pieces. They outlined the early history of the firm and how it was developed by the grandsons of the founder outlining the roles each of them took. Then looked at the design choices of company was well as how they worked with clients to develop new pieces. They finished by showing us some of the 18 tiaras which close the show. I haven’t manage to go to the show yet but its definitely on the list and I can’t wait!

Interesting small exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery of works on paper by Austrian and German 20th century artists. The show explained these works and the links between artists well and went into some detail on the techniques. There was also a section on the cultural anxiety of around the changing role of women. I think my favourite work was a portrait of Reinhard Piper by Peter Trumm which mimicked the effect of wood grain. I was also interesting to see a printing block made by Kandinsky. Closed 22 June 2025  

Excellent online lecture from ARTscapades looking at Vanessa Bell’s early Modernist works. I had assumed this would be a standard book talk as the speaker, Wendy Hitchmough, has recently written a biography of Bell but instead she decided to focus on Bell’s early Modernist works and to discuss how radical they were. This made it a lot more interesting and in depth that I had expected. She began by discussing how Bell encountered the Post-Impressionist via helping to organise the 1910 show of their work in London then looked at the effect this art had on her portraits, particularly of her sister, Virginia Woolf. She next focused on three major works “Studland Beach”, “Mother and Baby” (now lost)   and “Nursery Tea” all from 1912 talking about their radical composition and subject matter and how that was informed by Bell’s experience as a woman and mother. She concluded by talking about how Bell created spaces where women could meet and show art such as the Grafton Group and...

Beautiful exhibition at Charleston Farmhouse on Bloomsbury’s role in inventing Post-Impressionism. The show was mainly based on examples of pictures from after Impressionism from the Barber Institute of Fine Art including a late Renoir used to discuss the change in style and the variety of this work. It then also looked at Roger Fry’s role in organising the 1910 exhibition of the work and how he and a journalist coined the phrase. I loved the inclusion of a set of cartoons by Henry Tonks mocking the endeavour. The culmination of the show was “The Cezanne in the Hedge” the painting, infamous in Bloomsbury lore, which Maynard Keynes brought back from a buying trip to France after the First World War and left in a hedge at Charleston as he had too much luggage to carry up the path. It was lovely to see it return. I wonder if it remembers?! Closes 2 November 2026 Review Telegraph  

Surprising exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of portraits by Munch. I say surprising as it was relatively cheerful. Munch’s expressionist work can feel quite full on and miserable but I got sense of friendship and communities. The works were arranged by how he knew the sitter with sections on family, Bohemians, dealers and collectors and supporters. There was a sense of sadness though, bordering on the comical as you read the labels and many of the sitters died young or were involved in other tragedies. The bold colours struck you and in the enclosed space particularly in the end room of full length works you felt you were walking among a group of friends. I will moan though about the placement of some of the room labels and some pictures in the spaces between displays which had been created. There wasn’t enough space for people to stop and read and it created bottle necks particularly at the busy members’ preview I attended. Closes 15 June 2025 Reviews Times ...

Vibrant exhibition at the Royal Academy of art from Brazil from about 1910 to 1980 known as Brazilian Modernism. The art was bright and engaging and I liked the organisation of the layout into ten artists giving space to each which also led roughly to a chronological narrative. I love early modernism and found myself drawing parallels with other art that I know well like the Bloomsbury Group. I was interested to see that many of the earlier artists trained in or came from Europe, such as Alfredo Volpi from Lucca, whereas the later ones tended to be untrained and have started in other professions like Djanira  Da Motta e Silva who had been a seamstress. There were some beautiful portraits which punctuated the show but I think my favourite work was Tarsila do Amaral’s “Farm with Seven Piglets” from 1943. A fun picture with an engaging title. I was interested to see the 1944 show of Brazilian art held at the Royal Academy featured as I had seen an excellent exhibition about i...

Bright exhibition at Hauser and Wirth of work by Swiss artist Verena Loewensberg. I hadn’t come across Loewensberg before but I liked the geometric abstract works with a sense of the 3D. Evidently she was a leading figure within the influential Zurich school of concrete artists but these works are from later in her career break away from that genre. I’m not sure what this means so I am off to Google but funnily enough I came across the idea of concrete artists in a later show that day. Closed 17 April 2025

Fun exhibition at Woolwich Works presenting an installation of a Windrush generation living room. The work was curated by Tony Fairweather’s Windrush Collection which aims to save original artefacts from the Windrush era. It sets up a living room of the period with clashing patterns and full of objects. The installation is accompanied by various events such as book readings. It was fun seeing this in a busy arts centre and café which made it stand out more and yet feel part of the space. Being a purist I’d like to have seen an old school tv being used, to advertise events within the show, rather than a modern monitor. It’s also interesting to think about what makes it Windrush, as a lot of the artefacts would have been seen in my grandma’s house of the same era. She definitely had that carpet! Closed 16 March 2025

Exuberant exhibition at Tate Modern looking at the life and art of the performance artist Leigh Bowery. I’ve always been intrigued by Bowery’s work, focused on his own body, since discovering the wonderful portraits of him by Lucien Freud and here it was laid out in rooms designed to look like his home and the clubs he ran and frequented. There was an interesting mix of costumes, archive material and photographs and paintings of him so it represented both him as an artist and as a muse. You got a real sense of him as a person and of a group of friends. It was interesting to have already done the Outlaws show at the Fashion and Textile Museum which covered similar territory. Like that show it was also a good one for people watching as many of the punters seemed to come from a similar world. Closes 31 August 2025 Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard  

Pretentious exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery looking at the style magazine The Face. The magazine ran from 1984 to 2004 and the blurb says it "played a vital role in creating contemporary culture". I'm afraid hadn't been part of my personal culture although I did recognise a number of the iconic images from it. The show emphasised the role of the photographers for the magazine both of celebrities and fashion and most pictures were accompanied by a quote from the photographer and I quite liked that geeky aspect of it. However I would have liked to have had a bit more information on the subjects of the pictures both the people and the clothes. The show was party a reflection of the history of a twenty year period but I felt that could have been brought out more. I did go on the members' preview day so I will give it another try and might take a friend to see the reaction of someone of a similar age to me. Maybe I'm just not ready for my 20s t...

Strange exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery focusing on the drawings of Henri Michaux done under the influence of the drug Mescaline. These were abstract works affected by the taking of a psychedelic drug in 1955. Michaux considered them to be a reflection of the inner workings of the mind and continued to produce work influenced by the experience into the 1960s.   He published various books and a film on the topic. The works themselves were quite repetitive consisting of packed images of fine lines so the more interesting aspect of the show was that it told the history of the use of these drugs in therapy and by artists. Closes 4 June 2025 Review Guardian  

Interesting exhibition at the Imperial War Museum looking at how Churchill was represented in cartoons throughout his political career. This show acted as both a biography of Churchill and a history of cartoons in the 20th century. Each was clearly described with details of the cartoonist, a description of it and an outline of the context. It was mainly British cartoons but they did also look at how other countries portrayed him. The Second World War was of course the centre of the show with a range of work from the highly artistic pieces by E.F.Shepherd of Winnie the Pooh fame to an early piece by Giles for the Daily Mail. His earlier and later career were also well covered and I liked a work by Neville Colvin to mark Churchhill’s 83rd birthday and one from the First World War by Bernard Partridge of him helping Neptune by blowing ships in the Channel. Closed 23 February 2025 Reviews Times Telegraph