Cathy's Art Diary

Beautiful new galleries at the Imperial War Museum to highlight their art, photography and film collections. Previously these had been shown separately but it was nice to see them brought together to tell a consistent story of how visual practitioners have represented conflicts and the issues surrounding it. The displays started with a general introduction then a focus on the methods of some of the practitioners. It was nice to see one of Ronald Searle’s sketchbooks from Changi there. This room was then surrounded by three themed rooms on the power of the image, mind and body, and perspectives and frontier. It was good to find old friends in a new context and to meet new ones. I was interested in how it looked at the reasons behind the work such as photography and film for gathering evidence, propaganda and art as therapy. Reviews Times Telegraph Evening Standard

Exciting new gallery in Jermyn Street showcasing British photography. The gallery has been set up to host exhibitions as well as to provide access to the Hyman Collection, the private collection of Claire and James Hyman and one of the world's major collections of British photography. I was interested to see from the exhibits that they not only collect work but also commission new projects. It is a flexible space over three floors and had six small exhibitions and displays when I was there, so yes, you can guess what the next few blog posts are going to be! It also has a good shop selling photography books and high-quality prints of featured artists. Each of those was displayed like a small exhibition but I’m afraid I’ll be here forever if I try to blog those as well. Some of them however did mirror work in the exhibitions. I’ll definitely make a point of going to all the shows here. The space is seed funded by the Hyman’s for two years to develop relationships with other ...

Beautiful new gallery at the British Museum telling the story of Islamic art. The gallery consists of two large rooms both beautifully designed with cases round the edge and in the centre and had a dark modern look within a classical room. I loved window screens by Ahmad Angawi based on designs from Mecca, Jeddah and Morocco. The cases have very clear glass which made the objects feel like they were in your space. The displays highlighted the diversity of the people and traditions of the Islamic faith arranging them by country and chronology. There was a nice use of contemporary work to highlight some of the themes and a lovely mix of clothes, books, puppets, domestic objects and interior decoration. I look forward to going back and looking at the objects in more detail. Reviews Times Telegraph Evening Standard

Stunning new gallery at Brighton Museum to showcase their archaeological collection. The gallery is designed in an imaginative way blending objects and stories really well. It is centred around seven 3D face reconstructions of skeletons which have been found in the area which were shown next to the heads. I found it very moving to see the faces of previous Brighton residents and liked the way they were named after where they were found so the photo is of Whitehawk Woman. The gallery was surrounded by a panorama of forests to show what the land would have been like. The display was chronological and each era, as well as having a reconstructed head, had models of how people would have been living and real objects which had been found from time including the a Bronze Age amber cup. At the centre of the room was an education area for children including clothes to dress up in and children could follow the story of time traveller Elva round the show in a set of specially com...

Four new galleries at the National Maritime Museum looking at Polar exploration, the Tudor and Stuarts, Pacific Exploration and a gallery on our relationship with the sea. Given these galleries were all developed and opened at the same time they all have a different feel about them. All were well styled and made really good use of audio visual material. The Tudor and Stuart gallery included a small scene showing Woolwich dockyard including tiny moving figures. It’s hard to describe but it’s the first time I’d seen this used in a gallery and it was really effective. I also liked the av displays of their map and atlas collection. I loved the Polar gallery as I am a bit of a Shackleton and Scott geek. I did get a bit confused by going round the gallery backwards but all the objects I knew the museum held were there and I liked the fact it came up to date and looked at current scientific work going on in the area. I particularly liked an av display listing all the men on Shack...

New temporary space for the Migration Museum, as they work towards getting a permanent home to tell the story of how the movement of people has shaped Britain across the ages. The space is based in Lambeth and it feels a bit unlikely as you walk towards it that there might be a museum there. Even once inside the rather industrial looking space it took a moment to realise that the museum was up a flight of stairs. Once there it had been set out nicely and is currently being used for   series of exhibitions, events and workshops. The staff were friendly and there were conversations going on with people from possible new projects giving the space quite an active feel. I wish the project good luck and look forward to seeing where it might find a permanent home. Closes Spring 2018. Review Evening Standard    

Imaginative new gallery at the National Maritime Museum looking at the life and death of Nelson and putting him into the context of the history of the time and life in the navy. I was fond of the old Nelson gallery and was a bit worried that the new one might be too themed and loose the story of Nelson himself but it strikes a really good balance. It takes you through his life explaining the political situation at the time and what life would have been like for officers and men in the navy at the time. The gallery had a logical way through but felt slightly meandering with vistas through the exhibits as if you were discovering things for yourself. I loved the fact the floor was planked like a ship and that pride of place was given to Nelson’s uniform complete with bullet hole.