Cathy's Art Diary

Charming discussion at Charleston Farmhouse as part of their garden festival focusing on the gardens of four iconic female gardeners Annie Guilfoyle ably chaired the event and was   joined by Rebecca Lemonius, custodian of Long Barn (where Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson created their first garden); Julia Boulton, Beth Chatto’s granddaughter and CEO of Beth Chatto Plants and Garden and Claire Greenslade, former Head Gardener at Hestercombe Gardens designed by Gertrude Jekyll. Amongst the exchange of ideas they discussed what it was like to manage a historic garden and how they felt the influence of their predecessors. Lemonius said the wonderful quote of Vita “I hear her words but they are written”. Greenslade remarked on bad decisions made by Jeykll which they have to live with like planting in walls which breaks them. As ever the questions at Charleston were insightful and fun.  

Disappointing exhibition at the Garden Museum looking at London gardens which are now lost. There were some fascinating stories but it all felt quite random. The show needed more structure and a stronger narrative. This could have been done with chronology or geography. It was also a shame that a disproportionate number of the exhibits were reproduced images. I felt the broad overview meant that a number of more obvious lost gardens were missed such as Tradescant’s Ark which was on the site of this museum and I didn’t spot Vauxhall gardens. Chatting to a friend after he mentioned monastery gardens which were also missing. It might have worked better as a series of shows on areas of London or dates rather than trying to cover everything in one hit. Have a picture of Smith’s Dust Heap. Not a garden as such but a notable landscape feature of Regency London it was eventually removed in 1848 'bought in its entirety by the Russians to help make bricks to rebuild Moscow”. Close...

Beautiful small exhibition at the Garden Museum looking at the role of garden to the women of the Bloomsbury Group. If you read this blog you’ll know I’m a great Bloomsbury fan so I was excited to see this show and it delivered. It’s only a small exhibition space but it was used well to look at Ottoline Morrell, Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West. It made good use of paintings, particularly in the section on Ottoline where it featured many of the artists who had stayed with her at Garsington. There was also lots of archive material and good use made of books and book covers in Virginia’s section. It would have been nice to have had a small section on the gardens as they are today as at least three of them can still be visited however I think they may have videos online to cover this. If you don’t know the group this would be a nice gentle introduction. Closes 29 September 2024 Review Telegraph

Beautiful exhibition at Compton Verney looking at how art has reflected the history of gardens. The show was nicely arranged with a good balance between history and art. The first section looked at the chronological story from formal gardens, through the grand landscape gardens of places like the venue to 20th century ideas of smaller flower gardens. There was a lovely mix of art including a stunning Turner and a couple of nice Stanley Spencers. The second section looked at how art has created landscape with a section on artists gardens, sculpture in landscape and finishing on land art. I loved a Tissot of ladies in his garden and some water colours of Sandy’s garden. This was the first time I’d been to Compton Verney so a big shout out for it. It had a great balance of a country house and modern art space. The reception at the visitors’ centre as we bought tickets was delightful. It’s rare to see a ticket seller showing such enthusiasm. Sadly I went on a very wet day so we didn...