Dulwich Picture Gallery – I

Aug29

Art and Life: Ben Nicholson, Winifred Nicholson, Christopher Wood, Alfred Wallis, William Staite Murray, 1920 – 1931, Dulwich Picture Gallery, until 21st September 2014

Winifred Nicholson, Cyclamen and Primula, c.1922-3, oil on board, 50 x 55 cm, Courtesy of Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge/ © Trustees of Winifred Nicholson

If you haven’t already made the pilgrimage to see this exhibition then I do suggest you make the effort. It focuses on the ten year marriage of Winifred and Ben Nicholson, who are rightly numbered among the top echelon of 20th century British painters. It also looks at their friendships and exchange of ideas with their contemporaries Christopher Wood, Alfred Wallis and the ceramicist William Staite Murray.

Christopher Wood, Zebra and Parachute, 1930, oil on canvas, 55.4 x 61.2 cm, © Tate, London 2013

Alfred Wallis, The Schooner the Beata, Penzance, Mount’s Bay, and Newlyn Harbour, Undated, Oil on board, 40 x 50.5 cm, Private Collection

The show, curated by the Nicholson’s grandson Jovan Nicholson, is grouped by location – London, Lugano, Cumberland and Cornwall – enables us to see the parallel views of the same scenes by the artists. It is an eloquently told story of a certain time in British Modern Art, especially Nicholson’s move towards Abstracts and ends appropriately with his 1935 (painting).

Ben Nicholson, 1935 (painting), 1935, Oil on canvas, 60 x 91 cm, Private Collection / © Angela Verren-Taunt 2013. All rights reserved, DACS

http://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk

William Staite Murray, Vortex, c. 1926-9, Stoneware Bowl, H 8.3, D 19, © York Museums Trust (York Art Gallery)

A painting by Norman Blamey sells for over five times its estimate at auction

Aug28

This very striking oil on board mural of `St Andrew the Fisher of Men` was originally painted by Norman Blamey OBE (1914-2000) for Ruislip’s Lutheran Church of St Andrew and it recently sold for £3200 against a pre-sale estimate of £600 at Wellers Auction House in Guildford.
His approach to sacred and secular subjects was meticulous realism and in some he emulated early Renaissance masters with his use of crystalline geometry and one can also see a debt to Stanley Spencer. Only in recent years has he been given his due recognition.

http://www.wellersauctions.com

The Art and Science of Exploration, 1768-80

Aug26

The Art and Science of Exploration, 1768-80, Queen’s House, Greenwich, London SE10

‘Tahiti Revisited’
by William Hodges, 1776
Oil on canvas
National Maritime Museum, London

The fabulous classical building that is the Queen’s House is the setting for this new display which examines the highly important part that artists played in Captain Cook’s three voyages of discovery.

The Kongouro from New Holland (Kangaroo)
by George Stubbs, 1772
Oil on mahogany panel
National Maritime Museum, London

On his return from the first expedition Cook brought the news of new flora, fauna and peoples through accounts and imagery and it was this combination of science and art that continued in his two further voyages.

Portrait of a large dog (Dingo)
George Stubbs, 1772
Oil on mahogany panel
National Maritime Museum, London

The artists not only recorded the unfamiliar lands they visited but also the peoples – the portrait of Poedua, the Daughter of Orio by John Webber is among the earliest of a Polynesian woman by a European painter . Such works, including the scenes painted by William Hodges influenced how the public at home viewed the Pacific.

Poedua, the daughter of Orio (c.1758–c.1788)
by John Webber, c.1784
Oil on canvas
National Maritime Museum, London

Among the cargo brought back on the first voyage were 30,000 dried plants and 955 botanical drawings by Sydney Parkinson, who sadly died on the return journey. The importance of these new plants led to Parkinson’s patron the naturalist Joseph Banks employing a number of artists to finish watercolours and engravings from Parkinson’s sketches. A work not fully completed until the 1980s.

Castanospermum austral watercolour just
Sydney Parkinson [after]
Watercolour
The Trustees of the Natural History Museum

What is particularly exciting about this exhibition is that it is the first time since the National Maritime Museum acquired them in November of last year that the Stubbs’s portraits of a Large Dog (Dingo) and The Kongouro from New Holland (Kangaroo) have been on public display. However they are both given very close competition in interest by the other works shown alongside them and together they take us on these voyages of discovery, a journey that will long remain with you.

http://www.rmg.co.uk

The Death of Captain James Cook, 14 February 1779
by Johan Zoffany, c.1798
Oil on canvas
National Maritime Museum, London

Never Again!

Aug24

Never Again! World War I in Cartoon and Comic Art, The Cartoon Museum, 35 Little Russell Street, London WC1, until 19^th Oct 2014

Situated not far from the British Museum is the fascinating Cartoon Museum which shows British cartoons and comic art from the 18^th century to the present.

Hark! Hark! The Dogs do Bark! 1914. Artist unknown
©

The current exhibition is devoted to the First World War and shows how British cartoonists were from the beginning involved in the propaganda war to bolster morale and lampoon the enemy.

The Gallipolii shell diverter (for returning the enemy’s fire), c. 1915 William Heath Robinson,
©

Probably the most well-liked cartoon of the war is Bruce Bairnsfather’s ‘Well, if you knows of a better ’ole, go to it’. While he was criticised in Parliament for his work, Bairnsfather was highly popular with the troops. The three hundred or so images come from newspapers, magazines, comic postcards and children’s comics. There are also some French and German postcards and cartoons from trench publications which were actually produced by those serving. Some new commissions specially created for the show can be viewed too.

The exhibition provides a wide- ranging insight to all facets of the war, including air raids, conscription, conscientious objectors and women’s war work. Some may find a few politically incorrect by today’s standards but many will bring a smile which is, of course, what they were meant to do.

www.cartoonmuseum.org

Never Again! G. R. Halkett, 1915, Cartoon Museum Collection. Donated by the ArtFund.
©

Footnote:

On August 29^th is a special evening event Dazzle, Dance & Draw – FREE EVENT (booking essential)

http://www.cartoonmuseum.org/events

Royal Childhood

Aug22

Royal Childhood, Summer Opening of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace, until 28^th September 2014.

Picture Gallery at Buckingham Palace
Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014
Peter Smith

Buckingham Palace, as this view of the Picture Gallery suggests, is a veritable treasure house of Old Masters, English paintings, porcelain (especially French), great furniture, clocks and sculpture. To many of us it is the place where the Queen entertains visitors whether heads of state or more ordinary mortals invited to the annual garden parties and investitures. A seat of State and Royal business!

Handwriting practice of the five-year-old Prince of Wales (future George IV), 1767
Royal Collection Trust / (C) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014.

Princess Victoria’s home-made wooden dolls
Royal Collection Trust / (C) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014.

That is why this year’s exhibition Royal Childhood is special for it reminds us that it has also been a family home from the time George III purchased it in 1762. Indeed the east front with its famous balcony was commissioned in 1845 by Queen Victoria to give more ‘accommodation for our little family, which is fast growing up’. She and Prince Albert had nine children. In the last century Her Majesty the Queen and her sister Princess Margaret moved into the Palace in 1936 when their parents King George VI and Queen Elizabeth came to the throne, and of course the Queen has raised her own children there since her own accession in 1952.

What huge fun this exhibition is for it reminds us that despite some of the necessary formalities, such as the birth announcement displayed on the easel in the forecourt as happened with the birth of Prince George of Cambridge last year, that children are very much the same in their love of dressing up, recording their growth in height, toy cars, rocking horses, exercise books, and making things such as pottery.

Cupboard door marking the heights of royal children, from Princess Elizabeth to Prince Andrew.
Royal Collection Trust / (C) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014.

Fairy costume worn by Princess Anne
Royal Collection Trust / (C) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014.

Among the highlights for me were the doll’s house belonging to two of George III’s daughters and the silver-gilt Lily Font used for royal christenings but these are just two of the many wonderful things reflecting nine generations of royal children. Certainly when I saw the pedal cars – there was a thunderstorm outside – I thought what fun it would be to race up and down the Picture Gallery in them. I hope that it proves as nostalgic and enjoyable an exhibition for all who visit it.

Silver-gilt Lily Font, 1841
Royal Collection Trust / (C) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014.

http://www.royalcollection.org.uk

Toy soldiers belonging to Prince Edward, c.1960
Royal Collection Trust / (C) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014.

Miniature Aston Martin DB5 presented to Prince Andrew, 1966.
Royal Collection Trust / (C) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014.

Rocking horse presented by President Obama and Mrs Obama to Prince George, 2013
Royal Collection Trust / (C) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014.

Blue glazed bowl made by Prince Harry, aged 11.
Royal Collection Trust / (C) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014.

Lynn Chadwick

Aug20

Lynn Chadwick at Salisbury Cathedral & Canary Wharf, London

Thanks to London’s Osborne Samuel Gallery’s generous long-term loan Lynn Chadwick’s Cloaked Figure IX can now be seen in Salisbury Cathedral Close. It is certainly a fitting tribute to the internationally respected sculptor in a year which marks the hundredth anniversary of his birth.

Cloaked Figure IX (from behind) Lynn Chadwick Salisbury Cathedral Close – photo by Ash Mills

Dating from the late 1970s this well-known sculpture is one of Chadwick’s series of standing and walking cloaked figures. The Cathedral’s Visual Arts Advisor Jacquiline Creswell said: ‘For me, Cloaked Figure IX, has enormous presence. She evokes images of cardinals and other ecclesiastic figures as she makes her way majestically toward the huge west doors. It is an implied movement, her enveloping, protective cloak swept behind with her pyramidal head held high, surveying her new surroundings. This life-size entity in the Close will be a new member in our rolling arts programme and we are looking forward to opportunities to use this distinctive sculpture as a focus for community engagement.’

Cloaked Figure IX (frontal) Lynn Chadwick Salisbury Cathedral Close – photo by Ash Mills

As those of you who read my blogs on the Cathedral in June will gather, they are building up a reputation for displaying visual art both inside and out. As well as Cloaked Figure IX you will discover Helaine Blumenfeld’s Angels: Harmony on Choristers’ Green; Elizabeth Frink’s Walking Madonna in the churchyard and Emily Young’s Angel Head in the Cloister garth. I shall certainly try and visit this wonderful place again.

www.salisburycathedral.org.uk

http://www.osbornesamuel.com

In Canary Wharf’s busy Cabot Square sits Lynn Chadwick’s bronze sculpture ‘Couple on Seat’ and it is no doubt admired by both workers and shoppers as they pass by. From August 19^th the statue will be given its own voice as part of the ‘Talking Statues’ project led by Colette Hiller. The Talking Statues initiative animates 35 sculptures in London and Manchester for a year with amusing monologues inspired by the work of art itself.

How does it work? Well you can swipe your smart phones on a nearby tag and then hear the figures “come to life” with monologues that offer a humorous view on the two sides of a marriage. The voices belong to the well-known British comedians and actors Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar and the dialogue is written by Nikesh Shukla, author of Meatspace and Coconut Unlimited.

Canary Wharf has one of the UK’s largest collections of public art with over 65 artworks and sculptures which are all free to view.

www.canarywharf.com

Peace Breaks Out!

Aug18

Peace Breaks Out!, Sir John Soane’s Museum: 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A, until 13th September

Napoloen Bonaparte
Francesco Cossia (fl. 1797)

As you will have gathered from earlier blogs this month 2014 is a year of anniversaries and this exhibition marks another for in the summer of 1814 Europe celebrated the peace that followed the fall of Napoleon.

The Place Vendome
Henry Parke image under guidence of Soane

Drawn from museums and private collections is a display of over a hundred pieces, including ceramics, paintings and prints. They cover the peace celebrations in London and around the country as well as the experience of English visitors to Paris. The Prince Regent hosted the Allied Sovereigns in London as 1814 also marked the hundredth anniversary of the Hanoverian Succession.

Les facheux contretems ou L’anglais surpris par sa Femme

From Sir John Soane’s own collections one sees books and architectural drawings of Paris and his collection of Napoleonica which all in all provides an enjoyable glimpse into a rather special year.

Napoleon Ring with a lock of the Emperor’s hair

http://www.soane.org

There is also a chance to buy works inspired by the exhibition by contemporary artists.

http://www.soane.org / shop.soane.org

The First Georgians

Aug15

The First Georgians: Art & Monarchy 1714-1760, The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, until 12 October 2014

Studio of Sir Godfrey Kneller George I, King of Great Britain and Ireland, Elector of Hanover, c. 1715
Image copyright of Royal Collection Trust/c Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2013.

This exhibition celebrates the three hundredth anniversary of the Hanoverian succession to the British throne in 1714 and what a story it tells looking at the reigns of George I (r.1714-27) and his son George II (r.1727-60) it also reveals the somewhat problematical relationship both Kings had with their heirs.

Christian Frederick Zincke, George II, c.1727
Royal Collection Trust / copyright Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014.

Over three hundred works from the Royal Collection are used to tell the tale, including the Jacobite claims from the ‘Old’ and ‘Young Pretender’ which culminated in the battle of Culloden in 1746. This is told through battle plans and military maps and includes a draft order of battle for Culloden which is thought to have been made by the Duke of Cumberland, George II’s son who led his troops to victory.

R Cattermole, The Cupola Room, Kensington Palace, c. 1817
Image copyright of Royal Collection Trust/c Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2013.

George I favoured Kensington Palace as a residence and employed William Kent to decorate a series of State Rooms which the King had furnished with the best examples of British furniture and Old Master paintings. George II’s son Frederick Prince of Wales was also a collector of Old Master paintings and his purchases included Guido Reni’s Cleopatra with the Asp, c.1628. He also liked to entertain and the spectacular marine service by Paul Crespin and Nicholas Sprimont was made for use at his table. Frederick’s mother Queen Caroline was without doubt the dynasty’s most intellectual member and her interests in art, gardening and genealogy is revealed here.

Christian Frederick Zincke, Queen Caroline, c.1727
Royal Collection Trust / copyright Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014.

An important development in 18^th century British cultural life was the slow move away from Court patronage as artists were able to achieve fame and success without the support of a royal patron. Satire, whether written or depicted became a favourite weapon ridiculing public taste and the emerging new leisure class provided good subject matter.

The Neptune Centrepiece, 1741-2
Royal Collection Trust / copyright Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014.

There was an increasing demand for luxury items which drove British commercial enterprise to new heights and saw the development of such new enterprises as the Chelsea porcelain works which competed with the German Meissen factory, and whose products are still eagerly sought after today.

Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory, oval dish from a dessert service, 1752-6
Royal Collection Trust / copyright Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014.

It really is a fascinating, wide-ranging exhibition which not only celebrates the first two Georges but also shows how it was the time when Britain started to become a cosmopolitan, liberal society, which embraced commerce, freedom of both expression and the exchange of ideas. So definitely worth commemorating!

Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto, London: The Thames from Somerset House Terrace towards Westminster, c. 1750.
Image copyright of Royal Collection Trust/c Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2013.

www.royalcollection.org.uk

Dennis Hopper

Aug13

There are two exhibitions in London celebrating the American actor, film director and artist, Dennis Hopper who died in 2010.

The first is Dennis Hopper: The Lost Album at the Royal Academy of Arts which features more than four hundred original photographs which he took between 1961 and 1967. What makes this exhibition special is that the images on show were only rediscovered after Hopper’s death and are the ones he chose for his first major exhibition in 1970 at the Fort Worth Art Center, Texas.

Dennis Hopper Double Standard, 1961 Photograph, 17.45 x 24.87 cm The Hopper Art Trust © Dennis Hopper, courtesy The Hopper Art Trust. www.dennishopper.com

Dennis Hopper
Double Standard, 1961
Photograph, 17.45 x 24.87 cm
The Hopper Art Trust
© Dennis Hopper, courtesy The Hopper Art Trust. http://www.dennishopper.com

On returning to Los Angeles in 1961, he found himself on the Hollywood blacklist and over the next six years photography became his creative output. He is thought to have taken eighteen thousand photographs.

Dennis Hopper Untitled (Hippie Girl Dancing), 1967 Photograph, 34.29 x 23.37 cm The Hopper Art Trust © Dennis Hopper, courtesy The Hopper Art Trust. www.dennishopper.com

Dennis Hopper
Untitled (Hippie Girl Dancing), 1967
Photograph, 34.29 x 23.37 cm
The Hopper Art Trust
© Dennis Hopper, courtesy The Hopper Art Trust. http://www.dennishopper.com

This show provides a “snapshot” (forgive the pun please) of 1960s American social and cultural life. They range from portraits of Jane Fonda, Paul Newman and Andy Warhol to Hells Angels, hippy gatherings and the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He accompanied Martin Luther King on the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery.

Dennis Hopper Martin Luther King, Jr., 1965 Photograph, 23.37 x 34.29 cm The Hopper Art Trust © Dennis Hopper, courtesy The Hopper Art Trust. www.dennishopper.com

Dennis Hopper
Martin Luther King, Jr., 1965
Photograph, 23.37 x 34.29 cm
The Hopper Art Trust
© Dennis Hopper, courtesy The Hopper Art Trust. http://www.dennishopper.com

The photographs capture the humour and volatility of life and of them Hopper said “I wanted to document something. I wanted to leave something that I thought would be a record of it, whether it was Martin Luther King, the hippies, or whether it was the artist.”

Dennis Hopper Paul Newman, 1964 Photograph, 16.64 x 25.02 cm The Hopper Art Trust © Dennis Hopper, courtesy The Hopper Art Trust. www.dennishopper.com

Dennis Hopper
Paul Newman, 1964
Photograph, 16.64 x 25.02 cm
The Hopper Art Trust
© Dennis Hopper, courtesy The Hopper Art Trust. http://www.dennishopper.com

Close by is the second exhibition Lost Angels at the Mead Carney Gallery and thanks to The Dennis Hopper Trust it combines 1960’s photographs from Hopper’s archive with a series of new works by California-based artist Russell Young.

Dennis Hopper
Andy Warhol (at a table) , 1963
Stamped on verso by The Hopper Art Trust
Silver gelatine print
30 3/4 x 44 7/8 in
78 x 114 cm
Edition of 3

Young discovered within the archive a small strip of early 1960s photographic negatives which revealed how Hopper had caught the lifestyle of the Californian Hells Angels on film. Using his distinctive California colours Young has brought us a new way to look at these young men of the road.

Russell Young
Lost Angel #4 – Fight Pink + Black , 2014
Signed & dated on verso
Acrylic paint and enamel on linen
19 x 26 1/2 in
48.3 x 67.3 cm

The Dennis Hopper Art Trust will present a selection of specially-printed negatives taken by Dennis Hopper between 1961- 1967 currently exhibited at The Royal Academy Of Arts, London in the form of a special edition for sale.

Exhibition Details:

Dennis Hopper: The Lost Album, The Royal Academy Of Arts, Burlington Gardens, London W1, until 19 October 2014

www.royalacademy.org.uk

Dennis Hopper & Russell Young: Lost Angels, Mead Carney Fine Art, 45 Dover Street, London W1, until 20^th September 2014

www.meadcarney.com

The London Arts Board

Aug11

The London Arts Board

When is a gallery not a gallery? The answer is when it is a no longer used municipal notice board which has become a “gallery space” known as The London Arts Board.

The London Arts Board

It is now being used to give emerging artists a solo London exhibition space. Up until September 2nd you can see two collage works – On Paper and The Action of Forces by Terry Greene, a Yorkshire-based artist.

On Paper, Terry Greene

The board is in Camberwell at the corner of Peckham Road and Vestry Road and is “open” 24/7

The Action of Forces, Terry Greene

londonartsboard.blogspot.co.uk

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Art & Antiques, etc – news from London and around

Monthly Archives: August 2014

Dulwich Picture Gallery – I

A painting by Norman Blamey sells for over five times its estimate at auction

The Art and Science of Exploration, 1768-80

Never Again!

Royal Childhood

Lynn Chadwick

Peace Breaks Out!

The First Georgians

Dennis Hopper

The London Arts Board