Cathy's Art Diary

An excellent study morning at the National Gallery looking in detail at their Water-lilies picture by Money which has recently returned from Tate Modern. The morning was led by James Heard who began by setting the picture in the context of Monet’s life and work. We took a detailed look at some of the series pictures and talked about why he was doing them. After a quick coffee we looked at the water-lilies pictures. I hadn’t realised they had been commissioned by the French Prime Minister Clemenceau as a war memorial. I was fascinated to see the pictures of them in Monet’s studio. The tutor handed round pictures of several of the studies and asked us in groups to think about why these pictures were so radical when compared to other pictures of the time and to think about why they appeal to a post-modern eye. Usually these sessions are purely lectures so it was nice to get a bit more interaction and discussion going. Finally we spent some time in front of the picture an...

Brilliant installation at the Whitechapel Gallery by Kader Attia. It seemed to consist of two parts. Firstly there was a huge square of bookshelves with a cabinet of curiosities in the middle. Above the cabinet was a mirror on the ceiling giving the impression that the shelves went on for ever. It was really effective and was a peaceful space to walk around. I am not sure what it meant but I didn’t really mind as I liked it and it had an effect. At the far end of the room were some beautiful busts of disfigured First World War soldiers. They had the perfection of classical sculpture yet with damaged faces. It gave the impression that it was the art work not the person who was damaged. Each one was shown with a Muslim antique learning board. Again I am not quite sure why but it worked! I wish  had sneaked a photograph as there are none on the website.

Really interesting small exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery looking at seven public sculptures in London from conception to public reception, through the artists papers taken from the Henry Moore Institute Archive. I had never heard the story of the Epstein figures for the old BMA building on the Strand which were controversial when they were unveiled and which were deliberately damaged when the Rhodesian High Commission took over the building in the 1930s. The display looked at this controversy and at more recent campaigns to get hem restored. I had not imagined that the statue of the First World War general Haig on horseback on Whitehall which I pass nearly every day had been controversial or that it was the last equestrian monument in the UK. There was also a section on the Karl Marx memorial in Highgate Cemetery which has become an icon and rallying point. All in all a fascinating little show.

Innovative exhibition/installation at the Whitechapel Gallery of figurative sculpture from the V-A-C Collection from Moscow curated by installation artist Mike Nelson. This consisted of a large platform on the floor with an interesting collection of sculptures arranged on it. There was a nice Giacometti woman in the middle, a William de Kooning torso sitting on the edge and a Marino Maroni head and shoulders. The way the items were displayed made you look at them in relation to cone another and objects in their own right. Putting them all on one level seemed to make who the artist was less important and the work speak for itself. I loved the largest work “Camp Fire” by Althamer Ognisko which consisted of four pieces two of which were a sort of broken vehicle of some sort but the other two were wonderful life sized figures with realistic faces but almost skeletal bodies covered in badges, They had an odd mummy like feeling and yet I found them strangely endearing.

Retrospective at the Whitechapel Gallery of work by Richard Tuttle, a companion show to his current installation at Tate Modern. I had liked the Tate installation but this left me a bit cold. The commentary to the pictures was by him, often in poetry form, and I found it didn’t explain the work to me so I was a bit confused. I liked the wires which had been stretch along a line drawn on the wall and then released giving an image of three lines, the original, the wire and the shadow of the wire. However I did find the three inches of rope nailed to the wall a bit silly and would personally have hovered up the bits of string on the floor.

Charming exhibition at the Town House looking at work by 20th century artists. This was a really lovely chance find. I was walking around the Spitalfields area and spotted a sign for this exhibition outside the shop and was attracted in by the fact it had a work by Duncan Grant in it. You go through a delightful early 18th century shop into a gallery across a yard. The show was beautifully curated and began with a colour sketch by Beryl Touchard, taking up its colour themes and then thinking about how works on paper are the best ways of looking at how an artist develops and works on a creative idea. The booklet to go with the show guides you through the links between the pictures and the ideas. I loved the watercolours of Venice by Hercules Brabazon Brabazon and Frank Brangwyn   in misty shades of blue with small red highlights. There were some lovely Laura Knight circus scenes. Most moving was a picture of prisoner at Belsen by Feliks Topolski in his role as a wa...

Interesting exhibition at the Old Truman Brewery of work by Nathan Sawaya made in LEGO bricks. I found the show a little pompous in places but some of the work was stunning. I particularly liked the figurative sculptures such as “The Swimmer” the top half of a swimming map on a glass table and the three large masks showing different facial expressions. The show was really well lit to make the best use of the shadows thrown by the bricks. I wasn’t so convinced by the pictures as the bricks gave them a rather pixilated effect. A few of the works were like shop displays such as the big dinosaur and the two op groups at the end but then I am a girl whose screen saver is the Queen and corgi made in LEGO in Hamley’s, so who am I to me snooty! Reviews Guardian Independent