Cathy's Art Diary

Bold exhibition at the Guildhall Art Gallery of paintings of London by Jock McFadyen. The first room featured his paintings of the London Underground shown with a soundscape by Jem Finer, one of the founding members of The Pogues. They were very atmospheric and you could almost smell that dank smell of the stations. The soundscape really added to this. The next room showcased his large paintings of overground London. I loved this one of railways arches and one which made me smile as a homebase appeared over the horizon like a sunrise. The last room looked at his early paintings of people which I felt were less successful. I was interested to read that it was a year as Artist in Residence at the National Gallery in 1981 which changed his style and made him look to the world outside for inspiration. Closes 20 September 2026 Review Times

Third in a series of exhibitions at the Barbican showing the work of a contemporary artist alongside pieces by Alberto Giacometti. This iteration featured Lynda Benglis whose ethereal plaster wall sculptures echo Giacometti's practice of making plaster models for his sculptures. He also left some pieces as coloured plaster and Benglis had also begun to paint her work in bright colours with glitter. My favourite pieces in the show however were sections of the plaster walls of Giacometti's studio walls on which he had sketched ideas. Closed 31 May 2026

Surprising exhibition at the Barbican on the life and work of Columbian artist, Beatriz Gonzalez. I went along on the basis I try to go to all major exhibitions and wasn't really sure what Gonzalez did but I was entranced. Starting on the upper floor the show looked at how she started off in art and how from early on she based her painting on found images but using bright colours. I loved an early set of paintings based on Vermeer's which deconstructed the images into shapes and colour.   She also commented on contemporary events from the papers including this set on a couple who had committed suicide and some strange ones of the British royal family. On the lower floor they used the large space to feature her work painting furniture with Old Master images and my favourite piece was this dressing table with a Raphael. I want it! There was also a large version of Manet's "Le Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe" which stretched from the floor to the balcony above. Her...

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery reflecting on their Wright of Derby exhibition. Matthew Morgan thought about what he had been struck by from the exhibition and from course he had taught, a couple of which I had done. I’m not sure he brought anything new in this talk but it was good to take a moment and think about what it had highlighted about the period and Wright’s art. I got most from the Q&A session where I learnt that Wright probably met Hogarth and how prints of pictures in the annual Royal Academy shows weren’t for sale at the show but could be bought from printers in St James who quickly produced copies which were circulated throughout the country.

Fascinating online lecture from the National Gallery introducing their Zurbaran exhibition. I’d been to the show the day before and loved it so it was still fresh in my mind when Francesca Whitlum-Cooper and Daniel Ralston, led us though it explaining the theme of each room and introducing the main works in the show. They talked us through the artist’s early career from which no work survives then described the works he painted on his return to Seville in the 1620s including this mysterious picture of “The Apparition of St Peter and St Peter Nolasco”. They went on to the rooms of works for the religious orders including a massive altarpiece for a church just outside Cadiz, paintings of single saints including the gallery’s own wonderful St Francis, a look at subjects which he repeated, work for the royal court and to be exported to the America’s, still-lives by him and his son and finally works for private devotion from his later years. This was a good comprehensive introducti...

Surprising statue in Waterloo Place off Pall Mall by Bansky. I say surprising as in true Bansky fashion it appeared overnight. I popped to see in it case it doesn't hang around and, as it's made of fibre glass, I'm not sure how well it will stand up to the elements. I joined about 50 people gazing and taking selfies. It looks impressive in the space and I took it as an anti-Reform comment and a warning against striding forward with a nationalist idea but blinded by that doctrine to the subtleties of the situation but that might just be me writing on the day of the local elections. From photos I had assumed it had a matt bronze like finish but in fact it had subtle white/grey highlights which make it more visible and distinct. Closes? Who knows! Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard

Stunning exhibition at the National Gallery focusing on the 17th century Spanish artist Zurbaran. I love Zurbaran and had been looking forward to this show and it didn’t disappoint. The monumental   work looked amazing in the space and was given room to breathe. It was shown in a simple way which evoked the religious settings in which it would have originated. I loved the stark Crucifixion scenes set against black and the single figure saints reminiscent of Spanish polychrome wood sculptures. It was moving to see three panels of a massive altarpiece reunited. There was a beautiful room of still-lives by Zubaran alongside those of his son. It was a visceral moment when you realised his son had died in a plague aged just 29. The most surprising piece in the show was a huge painting of a head. Measuring about 6ft sq from a distance it was striking but I assumed it was an enlargement of a face from a painting but no it is, as described in the show, a colossal head, recently as...