Cathy's Art Diary

Disappointing yet beautiful exhibition at Palazzo Fortuny in Venice telling the story of Mario Fortuny Y Madrazo, the fashion designer, and his father, the artist, Mario Fortuny Y Marsal. I say disappointing because there was no narrative or labels, in fact if I’d not picked up a leaflet I’d have been none the wiser to it even being an exhibition. The leaflet told you about the father and son in quite a dense way and wasn’t something you’d read as you walked round. I guess the idea was for the space to speak for itself but I’d not sure it was telling the story. However I say beautiful because the main room was set out with lots of Fortuny dresses. I’ve been to Palazzo Fortuny before a couple of times and oddly enough this is what I’d hoped it would look like. On the other occasions this original room had been shown with contemporary art but this gives the best view of what it might have looked like when Fortunty was living and working there.   I love the cut and co...

Calm exhibition at Palazzo Fortuny in Venice looking at the life and work of Korean artists Yun Hyong-keun. There was a good section on his life and how he was repeatedly imprisoned for his freedom of expression but the majority of the exhibition was given over to his art. The paintings were large abstract dark works where the dark pigment was made up of ultramarine blue and burnt umber which he explained represented the colour of sky and earth. Often areas of the canvas were left bare to give the contrasting beige tone. I thought the pieces had a feel of Rothko. The work looked beautiful in this space. Closes 24 November 2019

Mixed exhibition at Pallazzo Fortuny in Venice of work from the contemporary art collection of Enea Righi. Righi is a Bolognese business man. It is always interesting to see what appeals to a person and what their eye sees but I found a lot of this work quite depressing. He seemed to have chosen a number of pieces looking at disfigurement.   The commentary said each floor of the show was “a step forward in finding the meaning of existence” but I’m afraid I did not get that from the show.   My favourite two pieces were both series of photographs of people. The first by Jonathas de Andrade called “Looking for Jesus” explored what the real face of Jesus would have looked like and consisted of portraits of middle eastern men quietly going about their business. The other by Petere Feldman was 101 black and white portraits of people aged from 1 to 100, one for every year. It was lovely to see a gradual picture of how people mature and age. It was sometimes hard to ...

Exhibition on the life and work of George Barbier artist and fashion illustrator, theatre designer and protagonist of the Art deco movement, at the Museo Fortuny in Venice. One of those exhibitions that you look at and think “Oh how twee” and derivative because you’d collected illustrations like this in the 70s but then you realised this is the man who invented this style so he is ground breaking. Here was someone who set the style for a generation. The exhibition was arranged in themes looking at his theatrical work, cinema work and fashion and book illustration. The theatre designs were wonderfully silly and grand but I think the fashion illustrations were my favourite.

Stunning exhibition by Isabelle de Borchgrave of paper versions of Fortuny dresses at the Museo Fortuny in Venice. This Belgium artist has made over 80 dresses and accessories from paper and arranged them round Fortuny’s palazzo-museum to illustrate episodes in his life and reflect the significance of his work. The works gave an amazing sense of colour as well as being masterpieces of detail. Seeing them next to three real dresses it was hard to tell them apart. The exhibition gave an amazing sense of the vibrancy of the place and really brought it to life.

Exhibition at the Palazzo Fortuny in Venice which examines the relationship between art, time and the power of display, representing a breadth of cultures and periods and featuring over 300 objects ranging from rare archaeological materials to contemporary installations. This was exhibition was like entering a cabinet of curiosities drawing subtle parallels between the art and objects of different times and places. It left you to make your own links and to have your own ideas. Works included those by Picasso, Man Ray, Francis Bacon and many others as well as ancient objects with unknown artists. I must admit I found it really mind blowing. The venue itself was stunning too. It was the home and workshop of the fashion designer Mariano Fortuny who also designed theatre sets and lighting and had his own printing press. The whole place was sumptuous giving a picture of a life and interests. Much as I loved the exhibition I would like to go back to see the palazzo on an ordinary day.