Cathy's Art Diary

Charming online lecture from the National Gallery looking in detail at Canaletto’s “Regatta on the Grand Canal” in detail. Carlo Corsato led us around the painting bringing his local knowledge to bear. He started by getting up to look for red in the picture and explained how it is used to guide your eye around the picture. He then explained the role of the regatta and how it was raced including looking at the design of the gondolas which has changed over the years. He also took us through all the various masks that can be seen and what they mean. The talk was followed by a lively Q&A during which he explained how the prizes ranged from 40 ducats for first place to a pig for fourth. The talk was particularly resonant for me as, although I’d listened to it back home, I typed it up and am writing this from Venice.

Interesting online lecture from the Wallace Collection outlining Churchill’s artistic career. Sir David Cannadine from Princeton and x-chair of the National Gallery and Xavier Bray, Director of the Wallace Collection, discussed the topic. Cannadine is the author of “Churchill : Statesman as Artist” after being invited to give the Linbury Lecture on him at Dulwich. They covered how Churchill used his art as a statesman, his artistic mentors and how he used it for his mental health. They discussed how his artistic career took off after the Second World War when his work toured America and he had a popular show at the Royal Academy where he was elected an Honorary Academician Extraordinary, the only man to be given that title. They included some wonderful quotes such as ““Happy are the painters for they shall not be lonely. Light and colour, peace and hope, will keep them company to the end, or almost to the end of the day.”

Disappointing discussion at the National Gallery examining what makes a painting iconic. The event marked the publication of "Icons: 100 Extraordinary Objects from Sotheby's History" and brought together Patrick Elliott, curator of modern paintings at the gallery, a recently created role; Will Gompertz, director of the Sir John Soane Museum and Chloe Stead, Global Head of Private Sales in the Old Master's department at Sotheby's. Sadly the author, Elif Shafak, was billed to attend but had a family emergency and had to pull out. She might have brought a non-art world voice to the platform. They discussed what makes a painting an icon then each nominated contenders for the title from the galleries collection or from works which had passed though Sotheby's auction house. I would have liked them to pick more from the Sotheby's category as the galleries own works were well known and their stories very familiar to the audience. It was fun however to have ...

Charming exhibition at the National Gallery of landscapes by 19th century Viennese artist, Ferdinand Georg Waldmuller. I had done an online curator's introduction to this show, but you didn't really need to know a lot to appreciate these exquisite, jewel like paintings. The finish on them was beautiful and they had a shiny quality. They were small and drew you into the detail. I think the pictures of trees were my favourite and reminded me of Constables studies of trees. Closes 20 September 2026 Review Guardian

Fun exhibition at the National Gallery of children's work reacting to a painting in the galleries collection. This is an annual exercise which I always enjoy and this year the work chosen was Canaletto’s painting of the Venice regatta. Each school's children pick an aspect of the picture to explore so this year they looked at boats, the idea of a vista, masques and much more. I loved St Michael's C & E Primary Academy's take on the vista relating Venice to their home city of Birmingham. I also liked King's Meadow Primary School who spotted gold spikes on an emblem on a building which they echoed as wands. The objects they were made were beautiful and I've just realised from looking at my photos that there are just 3-4.   Closed 31 August 2026

Stolid exhibition at the Photographers' Gallery looking at Japanese women photographers since the 1950s. The show was well presented under the themes of pioneers, elevating the day, self, gender and society and experiments but it was large, taking over all three floors of their galleries. I liked that it was shown in groups by individual photographers with good information boards including quotes by the artists. However the work lacked a sense of lightness and it all felt quite serious and worthy. I met a friend after and told her where I'd been and as she said "That's a bit niche". I think the “Elevating the Everyday” section was my favourite with street and diary photography. I loved Ushioda Tokuko's pictures of the inside and outside of her fridge as a commentary on her life. I was intrigued by Yanagi Miwa's staged pictures commenting on Japanese elevator girls (although I thought they were air hostesses from the image). The one shown here was us...

Poor exhibition at the National Maritime Museum looking at the food culture brought to the UK by the Windrush generation and its legacy. The show had good commentary boards but not many objects and some that were billed seemed to have disappeared as there was an empty case. They pointed out how people set up markets to provide the ingredients people wanted and how the food has moved from the margins to the mainstream with a good info board on taste makers from Rusty Lee to Andi Oliver. There were a couple of videos alongside the info boards but that was it. It felt like a big story to tell and it deserved more depth. It was presented by the National Windrush Museum in residence at the National Maritime Museum. I felt they needed a bit more mentoring about how to curate an exhibition. Closed 30 July 2026