Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting online discussion from the Victoria and Albert Museum on Jewish country houses. The group brought together the editors of a new book on the topic, Natalie Livingstone and Juliet Carey, with the photographer for the work, Helene Binet, as well as biographer of the Rotheschild women, Abigail Green, all ably chaired by Ollie Cox, head of academic partnerships at the museum. Livingstone and Carey began by outlining the reasons for the book and how it came about with 17 authors each writing a chapter on a house from England and around Europe. They outlined the main themes and introduced us to some of the houses. Binet then explained her working practices and how she looked for aspects of a house that were less well known and reflected the people who owned it, rather than the architecture, in her photographs. Green talked about the roles of two Rothschild women, Hannah and Charlotte, in developing and using the houses. There was a good discussion with an insightful Q...

Stylish exhibition at the Royal Academy of the architectural work of Swiss photographer Hélène Binet. I loved these large almost abstract pictures, observing he way light works with buildings. The show was arranged by architect. There was a useful leaflet explaining the buildings but I found there was too much reading which stopped you looking. I’d rather have had a bit more commentary on the walls. Most of the buildings were modern ones but there were some lovely images of Hawksmoor’s Christ Church Spitalfields and it was interesting to compare he approach to the different styles. Closed 23 January 2022 Review Guardian