Cathy's Art Diary

Fantastic exhibition at Sotheby’s of art and artefacts by the Bloomsbury Group. As you know I’m a Bloomsbury nut so made sure to see this show curated by fashion designer, Bloomsbury group collector and now vice chairman of the Charleston Trust, Kim Jones. The show has partly been organised to show case the 50 for 50 campaign which aims to have 50 new, important works donated or pledged by the 50th anniversary of the trust in 2030 and the show included one work which has been pledged. There was a room of old friends from Charleston which looked a bit disjointed here. It was very odd to see cupboard doors from the kitchen without the cupboards. However the display worked well and it was nice to be greeted by busts of Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and Virginia Woolf. It worked its magic as I overheard two ladies planning a trip down there. The second room was more of a treat as it had works from private collections with some revelations like a dressing gown by Wyndham Lewis, a fun pi...

Surprising installation at Sotheby’s of the old Real Madrid locker room. I’d come to Sotheby’s for the next blog entry which is much more me but in looking for it I discovered this! I love London for the bizarre things you find while wandering round! The locker room was laid out like an installation with photos of the players on the doors and one of their shirts above. They were arranged around a mosaic from the stadium. I’m not the right audience for this but it looked very impressive and like an artwork in its own right. Closed 26 November 2024  

Lovely loan exhibition at Sotheby’s of portraits from Chatsworth House. In a beautifully designed display just seven pictures told the story of a family and their collecting from the 17th century to 2009. There was also an excellent booklet with good commentaries on the works. The first family picture was a delightful painting of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire and her daughter by Joshua Reynolds and the latter ones were by Lucien Freud who became a friend of the family. Throw in a Rembrandt and a Canova bust and you have a tight, quality show. Closed 3 July 2023

Stunning exhibition at Sotheby’s of lots for a sale on 28 June 2023 of British art from the 20th century. I have strolled in to use the cafe and to see another small show which I’ll blog in the next post but was bowled over by the work for this sale. It’s one of my favourite genres of art and it was packed with works by old friends. There was a splattering of Bloomsbury Group including this girl reading by Duncan Grant and a lady in an interior by Roger Fry.  Add in a lovely Paul Nash surreal landscape, quite a few Sickerts, a beautiful Francis Cadell still-life and a marquette for a Charles Jagger war memorial. I was in heaven!   Closes 28 June 2023

Lovely revamp of the café at Sotheby’s in homage to the current exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of work by the photographer Yevonde. Photographed by Luc Braquet and styled by Hannah Teare for the Tatler this show features today's society ladies as a reference to an exhibition done by Yevonde in 1935. Having seen the Yevonde exhibition the day before this pit stop was very timely. No closing date given

Probing online interviews from ARTNews with the CEOs of Sotheby’s and Christie’s. Manion Maneker, president and editorial director of Art Media, was an excellent interviewer and asked some awkward and interesting questions firstly to Charles Stewart of Sotheby’s then Guillaume Cerulti of Christie’s. Both talked about the challenges of the last year and Covid-19 but also about how they saw the future of auction houses. Interestingly they took slightly different viewpoints with Stewart felling the move to online had brough big changes that wouldn’t got away such as a move away from the rigidly timed main sales. However Cerulti felt that these would return as normality returned and that there was a real desire for people to get back together in this way. He emphasised the social aspects of sales and the importance of what you might overhear when you are there and the buzz in the room. Maneker also asked about the role of luxury goods in their businesses as well as the growing import...

Fun exhibition at Sotheby’s Café of images representing the last 275 years of the auction house from its beginnings as a bookseller. It was lovely to get a great cup of coffee in this café and read through the handout which described the images around you. Make sure you get the handout of it would all just feel a bit random and confusing. I loved the fact that it included a portrait of the founder Samuel Baker as well as pictures of objects which recorded record sales. The handout was full of fascinating stories and I particularly liked the tradition of the gallery technicians who handle a sale where 100% of the lots are sold giving a pair of white gloves to the auctioneer of the sale. Closes on September 2019 Review Guardian

Colourful exhibition at Sotheby’s, the preview for a sale of 20th century Middle Eastern art. This was the first time I’d been to a sale preview and I have to admit I was only brave enough to go in as I’d spotted a rather nice coffee shop at the back of the building. I share that with you as a top tip! A great cup of coffee in a nice space and pictures from a forthcoming sale, Scottish artists, around the walls! The Middle Eastern art was a revelation to me and there were some lovely pictures although most of it you could like to a Western art movement and I didn’t feel I was seeing a unique Middle Eastern view of the world. There was a lovely seated life study of a naked woman sitting on a rock by Georges Hanna Sabbagh from 1928 which felt like a Slade school work. I loved her rounded thighs and the lovely flesh tones. I loved two still lives by Manoucher Yektai both featuring a vase of flowers and a bowl. I also liked a city on a hill by Abdulhalim Radwi with blue p...