Cathy's Art Diary

Fascinating exhibition at the Bodleian Library looking at unexpected aspects of Jane Austen’s life and work. Arranged around various themes the show looked at the myths and the reality of Austen. The first case looked at the myths and had great examples of books written about her soon after she died which helped to build the image we have of her. I was interested in the Constance and Ellen Hill biography from 1900 which included interviews with people who remembered Austen. The case also looked at modern interpretations such as Jane in Space and of course Pride and Prejudice with Zombies. There were sections on Austen as a business woman looking at how she dealt with her publishers. I was surprised to find she had spent two months in London while each of her books was being published to correct the proof sheets herself. And of course when in London you go shopping and there was another lovely section looking at the shops she had mentioned in letters home and plays she ...

Slightly disappointing exhibition at Berrington Hall, the National Trust property near Leominster, of clothes from various film and television adaptations of Jane Austen novels. It was disappointing because the advertising as you drove up made it sound like quite a big exhibition and let’s be honest there were pictures of Colin Firth in “the shirt” which caught my interest, but in fact there were only about 10-12 outfits and none from that particular production.   However it was nice to see outfits you remembered from on screen and to see them in the context within which the originals would have been worn. They did add interest to the interiors. What was not mentioned in the advertising was a really interesting room of original clothes and material used to show different material types and styles. I was amazed at how gaudy some of the fabric looked. There was also a room of original agricultural labourer’s smocks. The different parts of this exhibition could have ...