Cathy's Art Diary

Fun exhibition at the Design Museum looking at the films and archive of Wes Anderson. I have found some of these shows on film directors challenging when you don’t know the movies and again, I'm afraid I didn't know Anderson's work well but I came out desperate to see the films and impressed by the level of detail in them. The show was arranged chronologically by film and displayed as tableaus of costumes and props with designs shown around it as well as clips on screens. The commentary was clear and engaging. There were also lovely displays of the puppets from his stop motion animations. I loved the costumes and was intrigued by the production of printed material for the films such as playbills for plays which are mentioned and books by the protagonists. Closes 26 July 2026 Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard

Fabulous exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum of pieces from the costumiers Cosprop. I’d heard a talk by the founder of the company John Bright a while ago. They specialise in historic drama from the iconic tv series of the 1970s like “War and Peace” and “House of Elliott” through Merchant Ivory films to “Peaky Blinders”. The show was beautifully arranged with the pieces thickly displayed in tableaux. Instead of intrusive labelling you were given a leaflet of decorations and each work was numbered. It was wonderful to see iconic costumes such as two from “A Room with a View” and I felt very nostalgic for the television of my childhood, as it seemed to do for all the ladies around me. Closes 8 March 2026 Reviews Times Guardian

Delightful online lecture from the Victoria and Albert Museum interviewing Anna Robbins, costume designer for Downton Abbey. Robbins has designed for the last two series of Downton and the three films. One stage with her were some of the pieces from the latest film, which hadn't come out when the talk happened, and she talked us through the design process for them. She was ably interviewed by Emily Harris from the museum who got her to talk though how she gathered her ideas, how the outfits were constructed and how she used vintage pieces. She talked about how the clothes had to be historically accurate but were to be used in a world of imagination and had to reflect the narrative arch of each character. I was fascinated to hear how often one outfit then sets the palette for a whole scene with other pieces reacting to it. I now can't wait to see the film at the weekend! Stop Press: I have seen the film by the time of writing, in fact I’ve seen it twice, and loved it.

Disappointing exhibition at the Design Museum on the creative process behind Tim Burton's movies. I am not a Burton fan so I don't think I was the intended audience for this show. It did include some lovely costumes and puppets but it was quite heavy on drawings which didn't mean a lot if you didn't know the film. I also found the layout a bit confusing and I sometimes struggled to match the information board to the artefacts. I really disliked a section on creative ideas which was set in a corridor with mirrors, lights and a floor painted in an illusionary floor. I found it very hard to concentrate on the art works in such an over sensory environment.   I’ve been told since that it referenced his Alice in Wonderland film. It was definitely a show for the geek and for once I wasn't one of them. Closed 26 May 2025 Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard  

Delightful interview from the Victoria and Albert Museum with Paul Tazewell, the costume designer for Wicked. The talk was originally given the night before the premier in London but I had to listen to it as a recording however that did mean that I’d already seen the film so I was enthralled as I’d loved it. Tazewell was ably interviewed by Simon Sladen from the museum leading him through processes and characters. They sat on stage with two of the costumes. I loved the detail of the work and the thought and philosophy behind it. It makes me want to go and see the film again!

Glamorous exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum looking at the concept of the Diva from Victorian opera singers to today. The ground floor looked at stage and screen and the more open upper floor looked at the reclaiming of the Diva. That floor was spectacular but I felt I lost track of the themes and narrative because it was so visually stunning. I didn’t take the headphones for the tour as a friend said she found it distracting as in a crowd it triggered in the wrong   places. In did fine instead of that I seemed to be surrounded by shouting middle aged people who couldn’t hear each other over the music in their ears. I loved that they included a lot of opera singers particularly as I still think of the idea of the diva as an opera concept. I also liked that they included film stars not just singers. It was a good touch that the biographies of the women pointed out where they had been pioneering in their field and linked this to the different phases of feminism. All...

Charming online interview from the Victoria and Albert Museum with the costumier John Bright. Bright was interviewed by curator and film historian Keith Brodwick and they went through Bright’s career starting with BC costume dramas but with an emphasis on the work he did on Merchant Ivory films. He talked about how he uses vintage pieces where possible. He did this work via his company Cosprop which he wet up in 1965. They discussed collaboration with actors so it was fascinating that Helena Bonham-Carter joined the conversation to talk about the importance of the clothes to building a role and the process of working with Bright on a number of films including “A Room with a View”. The talk ended by looking at Bright’s recent charity work and the creation of the Bright Foundation to bring art education to young people with a theatre and museum space in Hastings.

Fun exhibition at the Cartoon Museum celebrating 30 years since the release of the animation “Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers”. The show outlined how the film was made with a large collection of the original concept drawings and story boards. There was a fascinating section, with a video, looking at how the train scene came about and was executed. Even today people were standing and laughing at it. There was also a selection of figures and props from the sets as well as a display of merchandise from the time of its release. Closes 16 April 2024    

Stylish but annoying exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum on the rise in South Korean culture and style. The show was a work of art with beautifully designed rooms and display cases all styled to match the objects they were showing. However the excessive use of light boxes and multiple video screens made some of the items hard to look at, such as a lovely screen which was impossible to see without reflections of a video of beauty products or a big screen from the previous room. It was also sometimes hard to work out which label went with which object. This was a topic I knew nothing about and felt quite old, rather than informed, when I came out. I found some aspects quite sinister like the very realistic digitally created girl group and the sheer consumerism of a lot of it. However I did love the clothes both the traditional and the contemporary take on traditions and I might need to go and look up some of the historically based K-television. Closes 25 June 2023 R...

Delightful exhibition at the Wallace Collection looking at how Disney was inspired by the Rococo. There was a lovely juxtaposition of original Rococo pieces from the collection with artwork from the Disney studios and good explanations of the creative process. The show focused on Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast but also included other examples from earlier in Disney’s career. I loved the clips from the 1934 short film “The China Shop” which featured dancing China figures and were shown next to Sevres examples on small turntables to give them movement. There were good descriptions of the artists involved and a focus on how Disney often used female artists. I loved the room at the end with examples of Rococo furniture and China in a setting designed to represent the Hall of Mirrors. A really innovative approach to a small space. Closes 16 October 2022 Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard      

Interesting exhibition at the Wallace Collection looking at how curators and objects from the museum have shaped how we view Richard III. There were only two objects in the show, plus a redirection to a third in the museum, but they came with good information boards and some interesting stories. Alongside a small version from the museum of Delaroche’s “The Princes in the Tower” there was a suit of armour made with input from curator, Tobias Copwell, for the new film “The Lost King”. You were also directed to go to look at one of their sets of armour for a man and horse in the main gallery which was reproduced in rubber for the Lawrence Olivier film of Richard III. A good use of a few items. Closes 8 January 2023 Reviews Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard

Fun exhibition at the London Film Museum of photographs from the sets of the Harry Potter films and stills from them. This was a beautifully designed show and included some props and costumes as well as excellent photographs. I’d balked slightly at the £20 entrance fee but felt it was worth it for the novel presentation. I even ended up paying more to have a bottle of Butterbeer at the end, well you had to really! The photographs were well described. I thought I knew a lot about the films, having watched them all numerous times along with any extras on the DVDs, but I learnt at lot. I particularly liked the behind-the-scenes shots, like the one attached, which showed people in costume interacting with others. They gave a real sense of what it must have been like on-set.   I’m not sure when it closes but it looks like it’s open to the end of the Summer.

Fascinating online interview from the Victoria and Albert Museum with Janty Yates, the designer of the costumes for “House of Gucci”. I was pleased I had seen and enjoyed the film a few days before the talk. Of course, being about Gucci, clothes were an important part of the styling of the film. The interviewer, Oriole Cullen, a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, started by asking Yates about her Oscar winning work on “Gladiator” and she talked about how she had factories making togas for the scenes with 3000 extras. This led her into talking about working with Ridley Scott who also directed the Gucci film. She talked about her process and how an artist, Laura Heath, draws all the outfits on the actors to share with the director and to be used in publicity by the studio. She told us how 30% of the clothes in the film were vintage rented, from costume houses and some from Lady Gaga’s own archives. I was fascinated to hear her talk about how involved Gaga was in choosing...

Fascinating streaming of an interview from the Victoria and Albert Museum with the Oscar winning costume designer Sandy Powell. Powell was interviewed by Bethan Holt, the fashion news and feature writer at the Telegraph, who started by asking how Powell began working in the industry and what got her to the top, the answer to the latter being “luck”! They discussed about how she researches her projects and I loved the quite of “there is always another way of doing something”. She talked about how she is driven to work on a film by the script and how she can’t start working on a costume until she knows who will be in the role.   The Q&A session was vibrant from questions about which actors were most involved in the design of their costumes, what it was like to see her outfits in exhibitions, about her work on Mary Poppins Returns and the difference between big and small budget films. I was fascinated to hear about her project to gather autographs on a white suit, a tuill...

Fascinating online lecture from Courtauld Research Forum comparing the imagery in a specific silent move to the fine art of the time. Katherine Manthorne, of City University of New York, took Lois Weber’s “Shoes” from 1916 and compared the imagery and story telling to the work of painters of the time such as the Ashcan School. She looked at four themes shop girls, shoes, street life and how the film engaged all the s enses. The film followed Eve, a shop girl, whose shoes are worn out. She walks past new shoes in the shop window each day while stuffing her own with cardboard to try to keep them watertight. She eventually turn to Charlie, a night club singer, to provide the money for the shoes in turn for services rendered. Weber use movies as social commentary and to try to bring about social change. I loved the way Manthorne also looked at the fine art of the time and how the painters were picking up on similar subjects. She introduced me to some artists I’d not come across befo...

Lovely display at Kensington Palace of costumes from the film The Favourite. I loved the film and had though the costumes played a major part in the style of it. I liked the way they stuck to a black and white palette for the court and yet felt very varied. It was great to see a selection of them in a space that was used in the film. I liked Sarah Churchill’s wonderful shooting outfit complete with fake blood still splattered on it. Also the dress and cloak from when Queen Anne addressed Parliament. I was amused to see that the lace on three costumes for a group scene at court was just printed yet looked really effective. The politician’s parties were shown by the different colours they wore with the Tories in blue with white wigs and the Whigs in red with dark wigs. Can we bring that idea back please! The servants costumes were made from old jeans bought from charity shops. Up close you could tell and yet they are beautifully made. Closed on 10 March 2019

Fun exhibition at the O2 using costumes, props and art works from the Star Wars films to explore the idea of where our identity comes from. The identity bit was fun as you go round with a clever bracelet on and making choices and recording the answers which then creates a character for you at the end. I went round being fairly true to how I am an felt quite pleased with the outcome. If it hadn’t been so expensive it would have been fun to go round as an evil character to see what happened! There were interesting videos at each stage looking at nature, nurture, place values etc as elements which help to make up our personalities. However it has to be said most people, including me, were there to see the artefacts. The identity idea gave the show a good narrative but a storm trooper uniform is exciting whatever the context! I think the costumes were my favourite things and It was exciting to see the famous Princess Leia bikini. There was a good mix form the old and new films...