Cathy's Art Diary

Exquisite small exhibition at the British Museum putting their new acquisition of a drawing by Rembrandt of a sleeping child in context. The show looked at pictures of children in Dutch and Flemish 6th and 17th centuries works in the context of art and social history. They ran chronologically placing Rembrandt in the centre of the timeline. I loved the early drawings by Henrick Goltzius as well as his engraving of Frederick de Vries who was his apprentice while the boys artist father was in Venice. It was done to send to his father to Sue him there but was well! There was a good selection of Rembrandt drawings from the collection featuring children and the commentary talked about how he often saved drawings of everyday life to reuse the images in religious works. The focal drawing, shown here, was so delicate. Finally the show looked at followers of Rembrandt and a new find for me were some beautiful, coloured interiors by Adriaen Van Ostade. Closed 6 October 2024   ...

Interesting  exhibition at the British Library on the children and young persons’ author Malorie Blackman. I must admit I don’t know her work, as I was a bit old to be her target market, but I still found the show fascinating. In telling her story it told the history of writing and publishing by black authors since the 1960s. I liked the section on her motivation and how, as an avid reader as a child, she realised that there were few books in which she saw people like her. It also explained how she went into scriptwriting after a poor adaptation of one of her books. There was another section on her Noughts and Crosses series discussing different editions and the tv adaptation. I was intrigued and it made me want to go back and watch the show. Closed 25 February 2024  

Second part of an exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum looking at the history of boys clothing. I’d done the first part on breeching a couple of months ago so was pleased to manage to see the second part on sailor suits. Thank you to the lady in reception who let me pop in without paying again as I just wanted to see that one   gallery. Have a look at the detail of the show on my first blog post .  This part looked at the fashion for sailor suits started by Queen Victoria. There were two nicely displayed cabinets one of leisure suits with the traditional sailor collars and one of outfits mimicking officers, possibly made as page boy outfits. I was touched by the story of one suit which had been made by the men on the ship the boy’s father, who was an admiral, was on. Closed 3 March 2024  

Surprising good  exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery by 14-18 year olds in response to Édouard Manet’s painting A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882) in gallery’s collection. I say surprising as, often when a gallery showcases art by young people, it can feel a bit shallow but this included some beautiful pieces and illuminated aspects of the painting I’d not thought about before. The project brief was developed by The Courtauld’s learning team in collaboration with a group of young people and Turner Prize-winning artist and Courtauld alumnus, Jeremy Deller, and was open to UK wide submissions. I was immediately drawn to a stunning painting of a pub interior by Mariel aged 17. I’d happily have it on my wall. I also liked two pieces focusing on the mandarins on the bar which I’d not realised were luxury items at the time. An innovative piece analysed the scents which might have been in the scene and there were a series of tins reproducing them. Surprisingly effective once you ...

Moving exhibition at the Oxo Tower Gallery of photographs by teenagers from around the world. The show was a pop up from the charity Street Child who hosted photography workshops in five countries with 15-year-olds complimenting the charity’s education programmes in those countries. Most of the work followed that same theme of the role of education and what it meant to the teenagers. The participants mainly photographed their friends and family but I found the commentaries by the teenagers interesting. I was brought up short by a comment from a girl in Nepal “Those who haven’t received education are often victims of dowry.” Closed 29 October 2023  

Charming exhibition   at the Fashion and Textile Museum looking at the history of clothing for boys. It’s a topic which doesn’t get covered very often and this show will be in two parts. The first looked at fashion until the 1920s for boys to wear dresses into the age of 3-6 and then to wear trousers or skeleton suits even though trousers were only worn by manual workers until the 1820s. The second part, which I’ll will definitely be going back to, will look at sailor suits. (21 December 2023 – 3 March 2024) The show was based on the collection of Alasdair Peebles which comprises over 1000 items. The suits were beautifully displayed with a background designed by Peebles and the main display was shown like a group of boys playing. All the outfits were in sepia colours which made it look like an artwork in its own right. There was also a smaller display with a boys, a suit for court dress and an ornate skeleton suit. Closed 16 December 2023

Charming exhibition at the Garden Museum, aimed at children, looking at the science of gardening. Based on books by zoologist and author, Nicola Davies, illustrated by Emily Sutton and Mark Hearld the show combined original artwork and simply written explanations of scientific phenomena like microbes. It felt a bit wordy for children but the text was clear and interesting. I loved the delicate illustrations. Closed 14 September 2023    

Interesting display at the Foundling Museum looking at the creative process between author and illustrator in producing a children’s book. “Don’t Ask the Dragon” is by Lemn Sissay and Gregg Stobbs and this display shows ideas for the book and the final illustrations along with a conversational commentary between them about the process. It was fascinating to see how ideas changed, presented in same narrative order as the book. I was particularly moved to see that Stobbs the illustrator had given Sissay one of the drawings which wasn’t used for his birthday as it reminded him of the first time they met. Closes 9 October 2022

Surprisingly good exhibition at the Royal Academy of work by young people aged from 4 to 18. I must admit I approach children’s art with trepidation but this show has some insightful and technical excellent work.   It was hung thickly the main Summer Exhibition. There was a good free catalogue with excellent commentaries by the artists. A lot of contemporary galleries could learn from the simplicity of the language. However annoying that catalogue and hang were in a different order so a lot of flicking back and forth however on looking again over coffee I realised the catalogue is in age order which it is interesting when you look later. My stand out works were : “Woodland Waterfall” by William aged 6. A pointillist work. “Sea Scape” by Bethany aged 10 who can’t hear or speak which is interesting but whatever her story it would be a good picture of reeds in foreground and the sea behind. A double portrait “Interpretation of Circe. A Diptych” by Leah aged 18 “Party An...

Fascinating exhibition at the Guildhall Art Gallery looking at the representation of children in Victorian art. I must admit I thought this show might be a bit saccharine but it was saved by good commentaries and an excellent timeline of changes to legislation in the period to help children. It was shocking to see that a law was passed in 1847 to restrict children’s working hours in textile factories to 63 hours a week. What were they working before?! The show had nice themes such as at play, at work, in poverty, at school etc and there were some lovely pictures. It’s always nice to see Millais “First Sermon” and “Second Sermon” featuring his daughter pristine in the first and asleep in the second. Also to read again the story of the child model in Leighton’s “The Music Lesson” who was a circus performer turned actress who married an aristocrat. There must be a novel in that! New finds included “Sympathy” by Briton Riviere of a dog sitting on the stairs with a little g...

Delightful but busy exhibition at Buckingham Palace looking at the life of royal children who had grown up there. The exhibition was part of the general entrance and was therefore very busy! Some sections of it were scattered about the royal apartments but the bulk was in an exhibition space which was heaving with people! There were some delightful items such as nursery chair made for William, Harry, Beatrix and Eugene, a baby blanket given to Prince George by President Obama and some of the dolls made by Queen Victoria. There was a charming section of clothes including Prince William’s blue shorts and white shirt and a fairy dress worn by Princess Anne. Sweetest of all though was Prince Harry’s dressing gown made like a guard’s uniform! I loved the section on outdoor toys and I wanted the miniature caravan! Review Telegraph    

Small exhibition at the National Gallery of Scotland pairing shortlisted entrants to the Picture Books Scottish Illustrator 2013 award with established illustrators as mentors. It was interesting to read what the pairings had learnt from each other and to see the works of both of them. I loved work by Lesley Barnes for a book called Jill and Dragon with lovely slightly medieval illustrations especially one in pinks and purples of birds invading a castle.

Interesting exhibition at the National Gallery of childrens’ reactions to a work in the gallery a still life by Willem Kalf. I don’t usually like this sort of exhibition but this one was really good. It included work from a number of schools and concentrated on 3D transformations of the work. My favourites were a school in Folkestone who had done a lobster hunt around the town because of the lobster in the picture! Also the school in Hertfordshire which did table settings with each child making cutlery and a goblet for a guild. It did leave me wanting to see the picture but I’d run out to time!

An exhibition at Somerset House of work by 100 young people aged 14-16 attending Saturday morning art and design classes at Cleveland College of Art and Design, Hereford College of Art, Leeds College of Art and Plymouth College of art. It was just a small exhibition but I felt a buzz for the children that they had a show at a prestigious venue. In particular I liked the groups which had made plaster casts of their torsos and decorated them.