Cathy's Art Diary

Disappointing e xhibition  at the National Army Museum looking at Shakespeare and war. I say disappointing because, although the narrative was set out clearly, the vast majority of items on the show were reproductions and photographs of works. The show looked not only at how Shakespeare wrote about war but how it has been used in times of conflict from the English Civil War to contemporary readings. I was fascinated to read that Charles I had a copy of the folio which he was reading as he waited trial which he annotated. The Napoleonic wars were mainly represented by satirical prints often using Shakespearean quotes and the First World War section included a copy of the complete works which were given to wounded and sick soldiers. It was an interesting idea to add contemporary productions which included a video of the National Theatre Othello which had had a military adviser who had been head of the armed forces in Iraq. Closed 1 September 2024

Fascinating exhibition at the Imperial War Museum looking at how war damages cultural heritage. It was a smaller show than I’d imagined but was packed full of stories and picked up stories between displays. It looked at why heritage is targeted both to destroy civilisations and to undermine morale.  In the destruction section there was a display on how the Nazi’s hoarded and stole art but in the restoration section it looked at the work of the Monument Men who worked to reclaim the stolen art at the end of the war. That display included a picture of Ann Olivier who I had the privilege to meet many times at Charleston Farmhouse. The picture is of a preserved book from the Louvian university library which was bombed by the Germans in the First World War, an act which backfired as the books were preserved like relics and was used as pro-war propaganda in England. Coventry was used as an example of the Baedeker bombings where the German’s targeted British cities in th...

Small exhibition at the Imperial War Museum looking at the story of the British presence in Helmand province in Afghanistan from the soldier’s viewpoint. There were some interesting objects and good use was made of videos and personal testaments. In the worst year of fighting, 2009, 108 British soldiers were killed and 157 seriously injured. There was a section on the main British base, Camp Bastion, the largest operation UK military base to be built since the Second World War which housed 28,000 people. Closes on 26 November 2017  

Interesting exhibition at the Imperial War Museum looking at the conflict in Syria. The show was in two parts. The first had a few objects and an excellent video outlining how the conflict had come about and the various sides involved. For a brief moment I understood it although I’m not sure the nuances have stuck with me. The video was shown on a great screen with an edging like a smashed window. The second part two wonderful sets of photographs by Russian photographer Sergey Ponomarev looking at the human consequences of the fighting. The series were called Assad’s Syria and The Exodus. The latter was shown on a rolling screen in a room at the end whereas the former were displayed in the gallery. There were some beautiful pictures. I loved one of a street scene though a strained glass window. Splitting the scene in three with the plain and coloured glass made it seem like three perspectives on a scene. Also one of a Syrian army officer in front of statues in Palmyra...

Excellent exhibition at Tate Modern looking at photographs of conflict and its effects. I thought this might be a slightly worthy history of war photography but it was much cleverer and more thought provoking. The works were arranged in order of how soon they were taken after the conflict so they began with pictures of the Hiroshima bomb exploding and ended with pictures of First World War battlefields taken last year. In doing this it made you think about the effects of war and conflict and the different stages in our reactions. I ended up sketching a time line in my notes showing reactions starting at shock and disbelief, moving on to horror, then interest in the horror (for example the battlefield tours of France in the 1920s), long term effects, a desire to forget and ignore, understanding and even a desire to preserve the destruction. Each conflict seems to move through these stages at a different pace and different people can react to the same event at a different pa...

Nice exhibition at the Imperial War Museum using its collection of painting to explore the theme of how modern warfare impacts on buildings and landscapes. The rooms were well themed looking at building for war, destruction, the effect of war on cities and interiors and it was a chance to show some amazing works. I was pleased to see a number of Nevisnson’s, always a favourite with me. I liked the interiors section best with the idea of how interiors reflect the threat from outside. I loved a John Piper of a passageway giving a sense of mazes and options as well as threat. However my favourite picture was a drawing of the interior of St Stephen’s Walbrook looking up through the dome which half blown away.