Cathy's Art Diary

Strange exhibition at the Royal Festival Hall by their archive studio looking at the Festival of Britain and what it might look like now. Developed by the Southbank Centre Future Exhibition Makers over the course of a month they looked at stories of the festival and picture pavilions for today. In a small space this was a lot to unpack and I didn’t think the new ideas for pavilions were well demonstrated. Also a huge moan was that the display cabinets had been overlaid with an opaque version of the original logo which made it almost impossible to see what was behind it. Closes 28 November 2025  

Charming small exhibition at the Royal Festival Hall looking at its foyers and how they have been used over the years. It described how the foyers were designed to give a sense of space and a connection to the river but also how they act as sound insulation for the concert hall within them. I was amazed to learn that until 1983 you had to have a ticket to an event to go into the building and it was only with Red Ken and the GLC that they started to be used as public spaces. I realised I must have started using the building as a coffee/bar stop shortly afterwards but I’d assumed they’d always been open. See you can always learn something! Stop press : I found out over the Easter weekend that the foyers were being refurbished which was probably the excuse for this display. Can’t wait to see what they have planned. Closed 17 February 2024  

Interesting little exhibition at the Barbican celebrating the creation of an archive of the building. The show was a bit hidden away and small but it had some interesting pieces and an av display of the work they have done with Google Arts and   Culture to put the collection online, but I must admit I found it a bit clunky to use. I learnt that the rusticated effect on the concrete wasn’t the result of a poured mould but of workers pick hammering regular patterns on what had been planned to be a flat polished surface. You certainly looked at the piece of wall next to you differently. I also loved looking at a pair of builder’s shoes and the remains of his lunch which had been found at the lowest level of the building like an archaeological find which in guess it was. Evidently the display will keep changing, highlighting different stories and showcasing different objects so it’s well worth popping back. Closes 5 April 2024    

Small display at the Royal Festival Hall looking at the life and music of Ravi Shankar, the Indian musician. This display curated by Shankar’s biographer Oliver Craske selected rare archive pieces to highlight key moments from the musicians life to mark 100 years since his birth in 2020 but delayed due to the pandemic. Because the display was small the narrative felt a bit random to make it fit   and it was sometime difficult to match the label and the object particular as the labels were also hard to read a black typeface on green. However I did learn a lot including that he first appeared on stage in 1931 at Theatre des Champs Elysees with his brother’s dance troupe.   There were some nice objects including a letter from George Harrison and the outfit he wore at his last concert. Closes 15 May 2022

Eclectic and fun day from the BBC highlighting the work of museums and galleries through live streams and an interactive website. Dan Vo and Sacha Coward, freelance curators, lead the day via a series of live streams where they talk to museum staff and cultural commentators about what galleries and museums are doing during lock down from checking items in store to creating online material and running archive projects to collect stories and objects from this time. They define galleries, libraries, archives and museums as the GLAM sector and, as a librarian, I am happy to be part of that! The written live feed includes links to some fascinating videos on exhibitions which were on when lockdown made by the BBC started including “London Calling: The Clash” at the Museum of London and “Art Deco by the Sea” from Norwich. Also, great pointers to short pieces on museum websites about their exhibitions and fun content they are putting out. I am spending some time during the day fol...

Interesting archival project from the Museum of the Home, formerly the Geffrye  Museum, to record and document how our home lives are changing during the coronavirus pandemic. As part of their Documenting Homes archive. I’ve taken part and it’s easy to do. There are seven open questions around how you feel about your home at the moment while you are spending so much time in it, then you can also upload up to five photographs which you feel sum up your experience. It just took me a few minutes to do and made me reflect on the here and now and what had changed. You can also read other people’s stories which does give a sense of all being in this together if apart. In one talk I listened to last week online someone said we need to remember that everyone’s experience of lockdown will be different and once we emerge not to assume we have all been doing the same thing, Reading these stories really brings this home. Personally, as I’m furloughed, I’m treating it like a sabbat...

Fascinating exhibition at the National Theatre celebrating 25 years since their archive was founded. The show had invited theatre makers, academics and artists to choose an item from the archive and to describe why it mattered to them. It was an interesting way to showcase this wonderful collection. I loved the striking display in black and pink. As a librarian I loved a poem written in in praise of the archive with the wonderful line “However archives are not places where history is boxed away never to be seen by the wandering eye again. They are treasure troves waiting to be uncovered.”   I’ve used the poster of Equus as my picture on this entry which was shown with a new puzzle version of it made by one of the graphic designers at the theatre.

Lovely trip to the archives of the National Portrait Gallery to look the material they have on the gallery during the First World War organised for friends of the gallery. This event was made by the wonderful story telling of the lady who showed us around. I am so sorry I didn’t get her name. She’d picked fascinating documents from the archive then wove them together to tell us a story and paint a picture of some fascinating characters. She looked at the two directors of the gallery during the period but more interesting were the glimpses into the lives of the guards who became special constables for the duration of the war. You always think of war as a time of great events and grand behaviour but she included wonderful tales of catching a petty thief and of arguments between the guards and the typists of the government department that moved in. She was also good at answering questions and had researched what happened to the characters that she was talking about. The event...

Inspiring visit to the National Theatre Archive arranged by the Association of Pall Mall Libraries. I am such a fan of the National Theatre so found it magical to get a chance to visit their archive. The archivist, Erin Lee, was very welcoming and talked with such enthusiasm about the archive and her role there. She talked us through the various collections and how they promote and use them. From the amount of projects she mentioned I assumed she had a large staff but it turned out to be her and a couple of trainees and project related people. I was so impressed by her energy. We had a look in the basement at how the archive was organised and she opened a few of the production boxes to show us programmes, notes and sketches. She had open a prompt book and there was a set model on show. She then took us over to the theatre itself to show us her current exhibition (which I’ll review next) and talked about how she calls on other departments at the theatre to help her put thes...

Small exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery to mark the donation of the Lucien Freud archive to the gallery. It’s fascinating to start to see where donations in lieu of tax from the Freud estate are appearing with the current National Gallery show being based on a donation and to think about how these might change and develop collections. This show included an unfinished painting, sketches, letters and childhood drawings. The donation includes 47 sketchbooks which contain everyday notes as well as sketches such as betting tips and phone numbers. They give a real sense of working sketch books as a place to jot and develop ideas as you live not as a sterile standalone thing. The unfinished self-portrait is fascinating as you can see the artists method of working out from the centre of the work. In this case most of the face is there but not the chin. The areas that are done are very complete. It feels like an everything or nothing approach. Closes 6 September...

Really interesting small exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery looking at seven public sculptures in London from conception to public reception, through the artists papers taken from the Henry Moore Institute Archive. I had never heard the story of the Epstein figures for the old BMA building on the Strand which were controversial when they were unveiled and which were deliberately damaged when the Rhodesian High Commission took over the building in the 1930s. The display looked at this controversy and at more recent campaigns to get hem restored. I had not imagined that the statue of the First World War general Haig on horseback on Whitehall which I pass nearly every day had been controversial or that it was the last equestrian monument in the UK. There was also a section on the Karl Marx memorial in Highgate Cemetery which has become an icon and rallying point. All in all a fascinating little show.

Lovely trip to the archives of the National Gallery organised as part of a departmental day out. We had a nice introduction to the collection from the curator, Alan, who had got out some lovely pieces. I found it so exciting to hold one of Eastlake’s notebooks from his buying trips with his lovely neat handwriting. He also had out some of the designs for what is now the Sainsbury Wing from the 1950s. He then showed us their rolling stack with some other gems such as early minute books and an invitation from Dickens. This was lovely chance for me to link my hobby and work! Many thanks to Holly and Andy for organising it.