Cathy's Art Diary

Dense exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery by their archive department looking at three commercial galleries from the 1960s and 1970s which helped to transform the art scene. I wish I had known more about these galleries before I saw the show then I might have been more excited. It was quite text heavy with invitations, press reports etc and thickly displayed. The labels were often quite a long way from the objects so I found it quite hard to follow their stories. The galleries were the Robert Fraser Gallery which Bridget Riley premiered in the UK and where private views often became happenings, Wide White Space which transformed a domestic space into a hub for conceptual artists and Just Above Midtwon (JAM) in New York which represented African American artists and offered a community space for them. C loses 22 August 2022

Fascinating online debate as part of the York Festival of Ideas looking at the challenges and opportunities of the current pandemic for museums and art galleries. This was a live Zoom discussion, but I watched the recording on YouTube later. It was well chaired by Jonathon Derbyshire, Deputy News Editor of The Times, and brought together four panellists from the sector. It was a imaginative range of speakers including Frances Morris, Direct or Tate Modern; Reyahn King, Chief Executive of York Museums’ Trust; Brendon Corrier, Senior Design Curator, V&A and Michael White, Head of History of Art at the University of York. The chair set each speaker three initial questions, how are they coping, how galleries help community cohesion and how will the pandemic change how they operate long term? These were answered eloquently from Corrier using the example of a blog focusing on objects which have become important during the pandemic to Morris discussing Tate Moderns work with their loc...

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...

Fascinating exhibition at Tate Britain looking at the ground breaking Kasmin Gallery, the first architect designed private gallery showing painting and sculpture together in a white space. At the core of the show was a British Library oral history project with the people who ran the gallery and the artists who showed there which gave an insight into the relationships that shaped this period. Most of the works shown around the walls had been shown at the Kasmin Gallery and a lot of the ephemera in the cases showed the same works in catalogue and on invitations. The show also talked about how Tate itself had bought from the Kasmin Gallery and it was interesting to see the Tate’s purchasing policy and procedure in action. Closes on 4 February 2017

Stimulating new galleries at the Imperial War Museum to mark the centenary of the First World War. These galleries really had everything you might want if you are, like me, a First World War geek! They go through the war chronologically but use certain events to pick up themes, for example grouping pieces about medicine in the war at the point of a battle with large numbers of casualties. Many of the sections had a feeling of being not just a museum gallery but an installation such as the almost futurist cut out of marching me onto which was projects poppies and men falling in battle. Also the recreation of a trench with a real tank poised above it. I liked the way they often used reproduction of items but put them in your space not in a cabinet which gave a feeling of immediacy and also the fact that there were sometimes flip boxes of photographs so you could discover more or the odd pull out draw. Although it was too crowded when I went to pull the draws out! T...

Exhibition at the Royal Academy which looked at the achievement of the Galerie Maeght. The gallery was founded by Aimé and Marguerite Maeght and opened in Paris in 1945. It was to become one of the most influential and creative galleries of the twentieth century. In particular this exhibition focused the work of four artists Miro, Calder, Giametti and Braque who formed close links with the family. It also looked at their early relationship with Bonnard and Matisse. My favorite pieces were some stunning un-Braque like landscapes by Braque. There were about 7 of them put closely together and reminded me of the arrangement in my lounge! I found the film the family had taken of the artists particularly touching especially that of Matisse painting Margarite Maeght just underneath the picture he was drawing. Reviews Metro