Cathy's Art Diary

A photographic exhibition at the National Museum of Wales examining photography in Britain from 1967 to 1987. Taken from the collections of the British Council and Arts Council the pictures from the 70s looked at the public world whereas those from the 80s examined commercialism and individualism. I loved a set called The Visitors which were portraits of visitors to Tintern Abbey in the 70s. They seem to have mainly been women in hats! I must say though that the photographs made Britain look a much gloomier place than I remembered. How did we not all cut our throats? I obviously wore rose tinted spectacles!

Retrospective of the work of New York photographer Diane Arbus at the National Museum of Wales . These were rather intense photographs of people described by the blurb as “a self conscious encounter between sitter and photographer”. Most were slightly odd and not what they seemed at first glance. One featured a giant, another a dwarf. There was picture of a crying baby which could not fail to move. You really felt the old cliché of “every picture tells a story” was correct in this case.

Small exhibition at the National Museum of Wales looking at artists who fought against the academic artistic traditions in 19th century France. There were some beautiful pictures in the exhibition such as a Cezanne still life of apples and a teapot and a Monet water lilies however I found the theme got a bit lost. I wasn’t too sure if this was an exhibition or just their Impressionist gallery so probably did not pay enough attention to the labels! The write up on the website was really interesting but it all passed me by in the room.

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.