Cathy's Art Diary

Surprising exhibition at Alon Zakaim Fine Art of works by Marc Chagall. This is why I love drifting around Mayfair art galleries. You suddenly come across a show that might be a major headline piece in a museum. I could image this as a focus show at the Courtauld. The display showcased pieces from the finest collections of privately owned Chagall works in the UK dating from 1938 to 1984. Some of the more complex works had good labels explaining who was in the pictures and the symbolism of them. Shown over two floors there was a fascinating selection of works a number of which were for sale and had sold. Generously a number were shown in their extensive windows for those not brave enough to go in. I did go in but I wasn't brave enough to take a photo in the show so this is a piece in the window. Closes 16 February 2024    

A useful exhibition at Alon Zakaim Fine Art looking at the male gaze in modern art. Only the day before I’d done a study day on Berthe Morisot which discussed female modern artists and how their view was different to men so it was interesting to find this so soon after. I must admit some of the works felt very strange after the previous day’s discussions. There were some stunning pieces. I loved this Raoul Dufy of Leda and the Swan that was in the window. There was also a stunning Toulouse-Lautrec of a brothel madam. Add in there Picasso drawings and a Rodin sculpture and you can see the standard of this show. However, here comes the moan, there was another section of the show including photos to bring it up to date, but it was closed on the day I went as they had used the space for laying out other work! I will try to go back but if you’ve put on a show make sure it’s accessible.   Closes 30 June 2023    

Wonderful exhibition at Alon Zakaim Fine Art and Connaught Brown of work by Eric Tucker. These pictures grabbed me through the windows of another gallery in Cork Street and I had to go and look. They were quite naive but had a Lowry like eye for how people interact with each other. Many were of people in pubs which seemed a strange, different world in midst of Covid restrictions. I loved their vivid colours whether they were oil pictures or watercolours. I realised I had read about Tucker who was a manual labourer who painted throughout his life but didn’t really show anyone his work. When he died in 2018 over 400 art works were discovered in his small terraced house in Warrington. The work was first shown in his house over a weekend in October and then at Warrington Museum and Art Gallery and this was his first show in London. Closes 6 August 2021  

Colourful exhibition at Alon Zakaim Fine Art of work by the Soviet artist, Yakov Chernikhov. Chernikhov was an architect and a theorist on the art of drawing who organised his own Research and Experimental Laboratory of Architectural Forms and Methods where he taught drawing. This show was mainly his geometric abstract works in gouche and ink. Many of those had a structural 3D effect and were in bright colours. They are very precise works and I liked one like a brick plus his lively colour combinations. There were also some architectural works. I wasn’t sure if they were real designs or fantasy works. But I liked the shadowy backgrounds. Closes 21 January 2019