Cathy's Art Diary

Nice exhibition at the Royal College of Art in Kensington of work by Ian Dury done between 1961 and 1972. I had come across Ian Dury as an artists in the Peter Blake exhibition at Pallant House and wanted to see more so I was delighted to see this exhibition advertised and even more delighted to fall on it by accident after a trip to the Serpentine Gallery! I was struck by the quality of the drawing in the worked and loved a portrait of his wife from 1971. The pop art aspect of the work seemed to be parodying   1960s soft porn. I loved the use of sequins to provide a texture and glitter in the background of the work. A slightly Klimt like effect. I was interested to see that he had done a lot of illustration work for magazines and I loved his William the Conqueror and Harold from 1966! Review Guardian

Second plenary lecture for the Courtauld Summer School given by Professor Eric Fernie who is a previous director of the Courtauld and architectural historian. It traced the geographical boundaries of the Latin Church in this period and how external factors influenced the architecture on the North. South, East and West edges. Must admit after a week of the school I found this possibly one lecture too far. I think it is something which might be quite interesting to go back and read at a later date. As I was tired I was getting my Eastern and Western influences a bit muddled.