Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting display at the Fitzwilliam Museum highlighting the acquisition of a set of etchings by contemporary artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. This set of prints “First Flight” are delicate imagined portraits of black sitters which were displayed here with prints and drawings by Rembrandt and Van Dyck. I loved the exhibition of her work earlier in the year at Tate Britain which I believe is going to be repeated as it was disrupted by Covid. Her work stood up well to the two earlier iconic artists but in technique and composition. It was a good way for the museum to show some of their works on paper in a different context and to draw contemporary parallels. Closes 20 February 2022

Intriguing online lecture from the National Gallery comparing Rubens’ and Van Dyck’s images of Samson and Delilah. Carlo Casato talked us through both pictures, the Rubens from the National Gallery and the Van Dyck from Vienna. He talked us through the Bible story in some detail. He explained that the Rubens picture was painted for Nicolaas II Rockox and how it is shown in a painting of his house from around 1630 so we know how it was hung. He also talked us through the references to classical sculptures that Rubens had seen in Rome. He then compared the two works explaining how Rubens depicted the moment when Samson’s hair is cut whereas Van Dyck picks the moment after this when Samson’s strength has gone and how this is shown in the pictures.

Excellent three day online course from Art History in Focus looking at the history of Flemish art via pictures in the Wallace Collection. Lead by Sian Walters via Zoom this course, of two hours each morning over three days, had a good mix of lectures and interactive sessions. She used Zoom well to give variety and her style meant you did have a sense of doing this with a group of people not just in a room on your own at your laptop. Day one we looked at the early artists, mainly Van Eyck, Van der Weyden and Memling. She admitted early on that the Wallace Collection did not have a good representation of these artists, just one Memling, but she used other pictures to tell the story in a clearway. I must admit these are some of my favourite so it was nice to take some time over them. Day two was Rubens starting by focusing on the galleries wonderful Rainbow Landscape, a section of which is shown here, then looking at his life and career and finally going through other pictures and ...

Nice exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of works by Julian Opie which pick up themes and styles from the Van Dyck self-portrait which is shown In the same gallery. This is one of a series of displays in response to the gallery acquiring the self-portrait. Opie distils images down to their key points which still making it possible to read a likeness. In these pictures we see a similar pose to the self-portrait and similar lighting. There were two of his LCD animations including one called George where the head turns from side to side and the shade changes across his face. There were two more abstract pictures where the figure was paired down to circles and squares. I loved a paired down picture of a girl with a pony tail which I didn’t understand and saw it as abstract shapes until saw it reflected in another picture of the same girl which I hope I have captured in this picture. A very clever hang. Closes on 7 January 2018

Nice small exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery looking at work by Van Dyck during his time in England. There were some lovely things in this show but I was left slightly asking why it was there. Looking at the web site I think it is because the self-portrait which the gallery bought recently is touring and his is it’s time in London so the gallery have brought together other works to put it into context. The show not only looked at the paintings but how the works were reproduced and disseminated so there were small sections on the work of the studio plus on printing. It showed how the works become more popular following the Restoration. I was fascinated to see a picture of Charles II as a boy which was a pattern for other pictures of him including that picture of the royal children with a big dog which was also shown here. I also liked the fact that the gallery included works by his rivals Mytens and Johnson who seemed to be earning a nice living in London unt...

The second session of this six week course at the National Gallery focusing on the art of the 17th century. This week looked at Rubens, Van Dyck and the Flemish Baroque. The first lecture by the course leader, Lucrezia Walker, looked at the work of the two artists and how it developed over this period looking in some detail at their major works. It was fun to take a look at Rubens’ Marie de Medici cycle as they have always fascinated in the Louvre as they appear quite silly to the modern eye.   The second session introduced us to Ulyana Gumeniuk a former BP Portrait Award winner and fellow of Trinity College. She has done much work copying, although she described it as transcribing, the Old Masters in galleries from which she investigates what were the artists first brush strokes and how did the picture build up. From that experience she then creates her own works. I found this session fascinating and I could see that she was working in a Baroque style but I must admit...

Rather luscious exhibition at Tate Britain of the work of Van Dyck in Briain and for British painters. This was one of those exhibitions which becomes a portrait of a generation. I always think of Van Dyck as the painter of the Civil War but was surprised to find he died the year before it started. Instead he is recording that moment just before its outbreak. With the rich fabrics and courtly life I had a real sense of a society which could not have continued as it was. That something had to happen. It reminded me of Edwardian England just before the First World War and I was pleased to find that two of the last pictures in the exhibition were Sargents. The exhibition was set into a context very well with a room at the start devoted to art in England before Van Dyck’s arrival and two rooms at the end on his influence since his death. The tape tour was good two setting up a narrative and acting as a proper guide around the show rather than just a click the number at the picture approac...