Cathy's Art Diary

Fascinating online course from the London Art History Society on James Whistler and Walter Sickert and their role in introducing avant-garde art to England. Via 10 lectures over five weeks Jo Rymer led us through aspects of the two artists careers and set them in the context of European art at the time using a small selection of their work to guide us through the main themes. I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t start with a broad overview of each artists’ work but did also appreciate the more academic concentrated look at themes from Whistler’s “Symphony in White” and “Nocturne” series to Sickert’s work in Dieppe and Camden Town. However since I’ve found myself wondering about other themes such as Sickert in Venice and Whistler’s more general portraiture. I guess it’s good to leave us wanting more! One little gripe was that there were a few mentions of aspects of how Degas influenced Sickert which were glossed over as there had been a previous course on the subject. I unders...

Excellent three week online course from the Wallace Collection on Gainsborough. In the first week Karly Allen took two portraits in the Wallace Collection, Miss Elizabeth Haverfield and Mrs Mary Robinson (Perdita) to look in general at Gainsborough’s portrait work and to place them in the context of the time. She discussed how they became the main source of income which kept him away from the landscape work he loved. Week two with Aliki Braine turned to landscape and again placed Gainsborough’s work in context as well as looking at how he succeeded in elevating the genre combining the accuracy of Dutch 17th century work and the imagination of Claude. She included an interesting section of optical devises from Claude mirrors to camera obscurer. Finally Jo Ryhmer looked at the legacy of Gainsborough and using examples from the Wallace Collection putting him in a line of artists who admired the work of the Dutch artist Jacob Von Ruisdael from Gainsborough himself to Constable, thro...