Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting small exhibition at the British Library of documents on the history of animals rights from the Enlightenment to today. The first exhibit was a lovely copy of Hogarth’s “The Four Stages of Cruelty” from 1768 which set the scene. This was followed by letters from Richard Martin, an Irish politician and campaigner against animal cruelty who helped found what would later become the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). Via various 19th century books the show finished with ephemera from 20th campaigns. The website says it closed on 9 July 2023 but I saw it on 30 August.    

Disappointing exhibition at the British Library on how animals have been documented and researched through art, science and sound. I just say disappointing as the show felt like it was aimed at children and fair enough it is the summer holidays. I’d hoped it would look at the history of how we have recorded animals but instead it looked at the animals themselves via the themes of darkness, water, land and air. The history was hidden in there if you looked but on the surface, it was more about the animals. There were a number of children engaging well with the show via a good activities book. A small criticism is that this encouraged them to use the space where the labels were to lean on and write so they were often hard to read. I must admit I think I would have found it quite a dry show as a child but then I was never really that into animals. There were some amazing books and objects within the show. There was a copy of George Stubbs private publication on the anatomy of the h...

Delightful exhibition at gallery@oxo of photographs by Roger Hooper. These were stunning wildlife photographs in sharp focus seemingly catching hidden moments. My favourite pictures were off a black leopard who was so regal. At first glance you assumed it was a panther but when you looked closely you saw the leopard markings in the black fur. So beautiful. Closed 6 August 2023

Delightful exhibition at the Natural History Museum of the shortlisted entries in this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. There were 100 images arranged in broad categories. The pictures were well displayed, back lit in a large format. Some of the works were amazing studies of patience with the photographers waiting weeks or months to get the shot they want. Each picture has a good commentary telling you about how and where it was taken. There were so many good images it’d hard to pick favourites. I’d include “The Alley Cat” by Nayan Khanolkor of a leopard in an enclosed alley looking right into the camera. Also the work used on the poster of a fox peeping over a wall called “Nosey Neighbour” by Sam Hobson. I liked the gruesome picture of the aftermath of a wildebeest stampede where the dead beasts are being eaten by hyenas and I smiled at “Puddle of Procreation” by Cyril Ruoso of randy frogs as my screen saver is a picture I took of happy frogs in a pond...

Strange exhibition at the Wellcome Collection looking at how we think, feel and value animals. It wasn’t until the 18th century that we started to seek a scientific explanation of the animal world and there was a really good section on Linnaeus and his work to classify and name all the species and he was the first person to define humans as animals. It claimed that how he defined a hierarchy of species has influenced our thinking ever since. The middle room looked at how we display and look at animals. I must admit to being slightly freaked by the examples of taxidermy hidden round the display. There was a sweet fox asleep under a display case! There were good sections   on zoos and natural history museums, how they have changed and how their design has influenced our thinking. I was also very interested in cases on William Hornaday, a taxidermist for the Smithsonian who realised that in collecting some of the last bison for the museum he was contributing to them becom...

Fantastic exhibition at Marian Goodman Gallery which looked at our relationship with animals. This show combined contemporary art with older examples under some loose themes. I loved the links it made and the great use of illustration. There were 70 contributors. It won me over straight away as the first thing I looked at was the Durer print of a rhinoceros! I loved the animal and bird feet prints which took you round the show and the clever use of the old cartoon of Animal Farm alongside various editions of the book. It was all so well thought out and presented. There were some wonderful things. I liked Stephen Balkenhol’s figures carved from one block of wood particularly a man with a birds head. Also Hiroshi Sugimoto’s photographs wildlife photographs which turned out to be of museum panoramas with taxidermy animals. Other nice older pieces were some of Maria Sibylla Merian’s illustrations as they’d recently been featured in a show at the Queen’s Gallery. Also...