Cathy's Art Diary

Fantastic exhibition at the Museum of London marking the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London. This show conjured up the atmosphere in London before, during and after the fire brilliantly. It was perfectly pitched to be engaging and entertaining but also informative. It was helped by the amazing objects they had to use. I loved the way in which a recreation of Pudding Lane with ghostly silhouettes at the windows but also including real objects from the time including a portable bread oven. In one section on the fire they talked about what people tried to save. Although they couldn’t guarantee all the objects shown had been in the fire they all dated from before the event and represented objects which Pepys had recording seeing people saving. There were also the remains from a shop two doors down from the bakery where it started which showed the fire damage. The section of the aftermath was fascinating too. I had not realised that the ruined buildings smoulder...

Nice exhibition at All Hallows by the Tower of work by people living and working in the City of London to represent their daily experience of the buildings around them. There were some great images, many from people’s offices of views you can’t see from the street. The commentary on each picture gave the name of the person who had taken it and who they were. My favourite two were a view by Linda Wadkin of a view through a door where the sky is replaced by a view of the Gherkin and one by Robert Gray called “Two Towers” of the Tower of London and the Shard. Some of the images had been printed onto cotton sheets and put together as a ships sail in an installation by Victoria Burgher, which gave some shape and height to the exhibition. A really nice touch. Closes on 2 October 2016