Cathy's Art Diary

Baffling exhibition at Compton Verney of art looking at how women and non-binary artists have approached the idea of spirit. I don’t know if I did this show backwards by accident but I didn’t find any commentary setting out its premise. I’ve only worked it out since from the webpage. I also didn’t realise the works came from just two collections The Women’s Art Collection and The Ingram Collection and would love to have known more about them. Just viewing the works I wasn’t hit by the theme and was struggling to find connections. That said I loved the way it hung contemporary and older work together and I found some a lot of work I didn’t know. Closes 1 September 2024

Beautiful exhibition at Compton Verney looking at how art has reflected the history of gardens. The show was nicely arranged with a good balance between history and art. The first section looked at the chronological story from formal gardens, through the grand landscape gardens of places like the venue to 20th century ideas of smaller flower gardens. There was a lovely mix of art including a stunning Turner and a couple of nice Stanley Spencers. The second section looked at how art has created landscape with a section on artists gardens, sculpture in landscape and finishing on land art. I loved a Tissot of ladies in his garden and some water colours of Sandy’s garden. This was the first time I’d been to Compton Verney so a big shout out for it. It had a great balance of a country house and modern art space. The reception at the visitors’ centre as we bought tickets was delightful. It’s rare to see a ticket seller showing such enthusiasm. Sadly I went on a very wet day so we didn...