Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting online discussion from Fitzwilliam Museum to mark on LBGTQ+ history month looking at how queer and female artists in the 19th and 20th centuries addressed and reacted to the Christian religion. Rebecca Burrell, co-curator of the “Women: Makers and Muses” at the museum was interviewed by Emma Torrens also from the museum. They started by discussing how St Sebastian became a queer icon both due to the muscled images of him but also as they were images of suffering and linked to plague at a time when homosexuality was seen by many an illness. The saint survived the act of being show by arrows which is usually depicted so he is seen as a someone who survived and flourished, despite being martyred later. The philosophy of this was discussed but I would have been interested to see more 19th century images of the subject to illustrate the point. They then went on to discuss women artists use of religious imagery in their work concentrating on Gwen John. I had never realised b...

Good online lecture from the National Gallery looking at three new portraits bought by or on loan to the gallery. Christine Bradstreet introduced us to the three works. Portrait of a Girl by Isaack Luttichuys from about 1650, shown here, joins the other earlier Dutch portraits in the collection. It is a lighter palette to them and shows a young girl in rich, fashionable clothes of the era. Bradstreet got us to look carefully at the image and think about what the picture was trying to tell us. Dr Ferdinand Mainzer by Lovis Corinth from 1899 has been acquired jointly with the Barber Institute and it is currently on show there until 2024. She used it to tell the interesting stories of both the artist and the sitter. The latter, having been part of the Berlin avant gard, was a member of an anti-Nazi group who smuggled Jews out of the country. In his turn he too was smuggled to England. Finally we looked at a Gwen John self-portrait from around 1900 which is on loan from the National...

Nice small display at Tate Britain of work in their collection by Gwen John. A small selection of work was used to talk about the change in John’s technique over her career from a smooth to a rough finish on her work. It also talked about how she often painted series of works. The show included her lovely self-portrait in a red dress, three of her cat drawings, this lovely picture of Chloe Broughton Leigh and a couple of her delicate portraits of nuns which she sold to raise money for the orphans in their care. It was nice to see her brother Augusts downplayed however I’m sure they could have mentioned him once, particular in the context of a portrait of his wife Dorelia! Close 3 January 2021

Nice little exhibition at the National Museum of Wales looking at the time Gwen John spent in Paris as Rodin’s lover. It featured sketches and paintings by Gwen John alongside sculptures by Rodin. There was a lovely contrast between her subtle delicate pictures and the more passionate sculpture. As ever I loved the pictures she did of aspects of her room and studio. They have a Vermeer like quality of tranquillity and repetition.