Cathy's Art Diary

Striking display at London Bridge Station, as part of the Totally Thames Festival, of large, collaged photographs of river scenes by Henry Reichhold. The views were of Henley Regatta and the Great River Race and were compiled of a montage of images capturing the complex event into one image. The large, freestanding display, had two large and two smaller images of Henley on one side which were full of people and action. On the other side, the river race is shown as an aerial view of lots of boats going in different directions against an oddly blue river. The display might have had more impact if a charity stall hadn't set itself up at one end making it a bit off putting to stop to admire and engage with the work. Closes 30 September 2025

Interesting exhibition at the Museum of London Docklands looking at mudlarking and the objects uncovered. The first section looked at how the found objects can tell the story of London and its people. The items were grouped together into themed displays. At first, I thought these would be chronological but they then became more subject orientated. They were all set into a model of the foreshore. The gave glimpses of past lives. They were shown with contemporary art inspired by mudlarked finds. The second section looked at the practice of mudlarking, how people find objects, identify them and catalogue them.   I liked the works shown in a display resembling museum storage. There was a slightly random but interesting section on an area of the Thames around London Bridge renowned for its Roman finds. The exhibition then ended with an installation of the Moon by Luke Jerram and soundscape by Felix Taylor to represent the tides. I’d seen the Jerram piece before but it made quite ...

Beautiful installation on the river Thames at Bankside created by created by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov and local school children. The ship is made of bamboo, wood and silk with 178 canvas sails made by children in workshops and based on their discussions of diversity. It looks striking and colourful sitting in the river with great views of St Pauls behind it looking one way at Tate Modern the other way. The ship has had other iterations around the world since it first appeared in Egypt in 2008 including the 2010 Venice Biennial.  When I was there one of the primary schools who were involved turned up to look at it and were excitedly pointing out their canvases on the information boards although I admit they were easily diverted by the bubble man nearby. I did hear one girl say to her teacher “This is the best school trip ever”. Hopefully taking part is something they will remember for a long time to come. opefully taking part if something they Clos...

Nice exhibition on the banks of the Thames outside Tate Modern looking at the Dogget’s Race which has been run on the Thames for apprentice watermen since 1715 as part of the Totally Thames Festival. One side of the nicely presented information boards looked at the history of the race which was set up by the actor Thomas Dogget and told the story of watermen on the Thames pointing out that watermen took people up and down the river and lightermen took them across. The race is run between London Bridge and Cadogan pier by six apprentices and the prize is a red coat and badge which are presented at a dinner at the Fishmonger’s Hall.   The other side of the boards talked about the family tradition of taking part on the race with photographs of the current generation of these families by Hydar Dewachi. I was fascinated to see that Sean Collins, the CEO of Thames Clippers and his son had both won the race. Watch out for sister exhibitions outside the Guildhall and on one of ...

Small exhibition on the river path at London Bridge Pier looking at the influence of people from India on British culture and society. The photographs on five display stands covered a range of dates and had excellent commentaries and quotes to tell you more about the people. I loved the Indian suffragettes including Sophia Duleep Singh, a god daughter of Queen Victoria. Also a good piece on Dadebhai Noaroji, the first Asian MP elected in 1892.   There were of course photos of the Indian First World War casualties recuperating at Brighton Pavilion. The sections on ordinary people were interesting too including those looking at India nannies or ayahs and sailors or lascars who jumped ship and often became door to door salesmen. Closed on 15 October 2017  

Interesting installation on the River Thames by Tate Modern by Ik-Joong Kang as part of the Totally Thames Festival. This is a huge cube,   made from 500 drawings and lit from inside, acting as a memorial to the millions displaced during the Korean War from 1950-53. The commentary boards along the river told some of the stories on the drawings. On top there is a figure facing away from the bank. I’ve seen it in the day and at night and it’s a lovely addition to the river. Closes on 30 September 2016.  

Fabulous sculptural installation on the River Thames near Blackfriars as part of the London Fire 350 celebrations. It was a wonderful wooden model of what London looked like at the time of the Great Fire in 1666 based on the 1616 Visscher print. I passed it each day on the Thames Clipper and saw it grow over the course of a week. It was developed by a company called Artichoke. The idea was that it was burnt as part of the celebrations of the fire. I watched the video of it burning at it was spectacular and looked very much like the paintings of the event however it seemed such a shame to destroy such a beautiful object. Burnt on 4 September 2016 Reviews Times Guardian Evening Standard  

Interesting exhibition at the Institution of Civil Engineers of photographs by Matthew Johnson relating to the River Thames. The show took works from two collections. “River People” was portraits of community figures on the river and I was delighted to spot one of one of my Thames Clipper chaps, Peter Haining who I discovered was also a world champion rower. The portraits were good but tended to be from an expected view point. I would have liked them to have had a bit more edge. I preferred the other pictures, in a series called “Superhighway” and time lapse river landscapes with a number of shots overlaid to give an overview of traffic on the river. I loved one of the Thames Barrier. Closed on 3 June 2016. Reviews Evening Standard    

Stunning sculptural installation on the foreshore of the Thames at Vauxhall by Jason deCaires Taylor. It consists of four horses in white bronze with their heads replaced by oil drilling bits.   Two of them have business men on their back and two have children. They are placed so that they are covered up as the tide rises so that at high tide only the people’s heads show. If you look at facing down river the work is framed by the Houses of Parliament. I’ll admit I’m not too sure what they are about but they are so beautiful. It was also a good chance to get onto the foreshore and do a bit of mudlarking! Even though I went on a Tuesday afternoon lots of people had gone down to have a look and were just wandering round gently enjoying the work. Review Telegraph

A sculpture in the Thames by Florentijn Hofman as part of the Totally Thames Festival. This was a really fun giant Hippo which I was lucky enough to see sail up the Thames before going over to see it in its resting place off St George’s Pier at Nine Elms. It seemed to be made of planks of wood and had a cartoon roundness and big eyes. What else can one say about a giant Hippo in a river! I loved it!  

Slightly muddled exhibition at the Museum of London Docklands looking at the significance of bridges in the London landscape. I’ve had to get that that description off the museum’s website as I wasn’t quite sure what story the exhibition was trying to tell although it had some great pictures in it and was very visually stimulating. Was it talking about the history of bridges, the building of them, the social impact or just how nice they look? It seemed to be a bit of all of these which meant as a whole it lacked focus. I liked the idea put forward that that the river both unites London, as it runs from east to west but also divides the north from the south. Also the idea that bridges are part of views, can frame views and can be the place from which you view a scene. I loved some photographs by George Davison Reid in the 1930s taken over three years and representing a walk along the river. Also Piranesi’s design for a bridge at Blackfriars although he never came to Lo...

Small display featuring two paintings of the Frost Fair of 1684 at the Museum of London. I seem to be going to quite a few exhibitions at the moment which look at the River Thames and as I travel to work by the Thames Clipper each morning I find them fascinating. One of the pictures looked towards Southwark and showed great blocks of ice in the river and showed how river men who were deprived of their income rowing people across the river tried to make an alternative living by controlling the routes down and looking for payment for showing people across safely. The other gave a better overview of the fair in a flatter area near Temple with rows of stalls, people playing o the ice and a big crowds watch cannon’s being fired. I just knew I’d have gone along to see the fun!

Excellent exhibition at Dulwich Art Gallery looking at works by Whistler of the Thames and exploring he relationship with the river. I loved the etchings at the start of the show looking at the area round Docklands and the Pool of London as I go to work on Thames Clippers so it’s a section of the river I see every day and have grown to love. Whistler had captured it at a moment when it was still busy and thriving but was about to change. I particularly liked “The Lime Burner” with a wonderful multi-framed composition. The middle section looked at the various houses he lived in in Chelsea, his studios there and the work that came out of them. It also explored his nocturnes and his attempts to paint the river at night. The last section looked at how he was influences by Japanese prints particularly those showing important stages in trade routes such as bridges, All in all a really well thought out and displayed exhibition. Note to self however, to try to visit Dulw...

Fabulous exhibition at the National Maritime Museum to mark the Queens Jubilee looking at how royalty have used the river Thames . It looked at how and why palaces were built along the river, how it was used for transport, how it was incorporated into great state occasions as well as private events and how the City of London has supported this. It covered from the Tudor period to the present day and was very sumptuous! I found it magical to see a picture from one of the dinner boxes at Vauxhall Gardens and items from the frost fairs. There was a wonderful changing panorama of maps and views of the river which I found fascinating as I have started to use the river to travel to work. Reviews Telegraph EveningStandard