Dialogues of Space: Heeseung Chung and Onejoon Che, Korean Cultural Centre UK, Grand Buildings, 1 – 3 Strand, London WC2 (Main Entrance on Northumberland Avenue), until 6th February 2016
Onejoon Che,
Eunpyeong-gu newtown#1, Gupabal, 2007.
C-Print, 152x102cm.
Courtesy the Artist.
This is a show of contrasts, on the one hand in his powerful outdoor photographs Onejoon Che reveals buildings, urban sites and architecture while Heeseung Chung’s images are of interiors which she reveals in large-scale works. The combined result is a mixture of urban and social spaces which starts a dialogue on contemporary Korean art and culture.
Heeseung Chung,
Curves (Triptych), 2010. C-Print,
Triptych, each panel 180x135cm.
Courtesy the Artist.
Flight, An installation by Arabella Dorman, St James’s Church, 197 Piccadilly, London W1, until 2nd February 2016
Flight
an installation artwork by war artist Arabella Dorman. Pictured during the Festival of Lessons and Carols on 20th December 2015.
Photo credit: Adrian Brooks/Imagewise
The inspiring war artist Arabella Dorman has created an installation which reflects the humanitarian crisis of forced displacement that affects our world. It is a sobering thought that more than three thousand, one hundred people have drowned to reach a potentially safer place than their own home.
In September Dorman went to the Greek island of Lesvos to work helping the refugees who arrived there in their thousands. The journey by rubber dinghy from Assos in Turkey to the island is some 10km but it is a rough sea and many capsize with loss of life. The salvaged dinghy hanging above the nave was designed to carry fifteen people but in fact this one carried sixty-two. Hanging from it are three life jackets – two adults’ and a child’s – worn by refugees. More of these life jackets form part of the traditional Nativity scene.
Arabella Dorman in Lesvos, September 2015
There is a traditional element in this display because it was customary to hang ships from the ceiling in some churches and the three life jackets reflect the Holy Family and their flight from persecution into Egypt. At this time of family celebration this is a fitting and I hope inspiring reminder that we should be helping our fellow man.
The Church’s rector the Rev Lucy Winkett makes the point eloquently “The real story of Christmas is of the child Jesus born in dangerous circumstances and a family fleeing a tyrannical regime. We are seeing this story played out in front of us today with family after family climbing into boats to escape violence and come to Europe. It’s therefore especially important for the church to reach out to people of all faiths and none who are experiencing displacement and danger as Christians mark the birth of Christ in similar circumstances”.
Flight
an installation artwork by war artist Arabella Dorman. Pictured during the Festival of Lessons and Carols on 20th December 2015.
Photo credit: Adrian Brooks/Imagewise
This truly is a book that celebrates the idea of maps for it looks at them in many contexts whether real or imagined such as Columbus’s line drawing of the coast of the New World or Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island map. There are also maps by contemporary artists, including Grayson Perry and Ai Weiwei.
Daylight Map, 2005, Olafur Eliasson Neon,
sintra box, transformers, controllers, sequencer, timers, 122 x 254 x 15.2 cm / 48 x 100 x 6 in., private collection
Courtesy of the artist, neugerriemschneider, Berlin and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / photo: Tanya Bonakdar Galler
Tweetping, 2013, Franck Ernewein
Digital, dimensions variable
Credit: Tweetping.ne
The maps are arranged in specially curated pairings of common themes which may be complementary or contrasting. It adds to the excitement and draws you in to look closely at them. For example a recent digital map of Africa, using mobile phone data, to predict the spread of Ebola is foiled by an 1854 map of London by John Snow that shows the spread of cholera.
Map of the River Nile from its Estuary South to Cairo, 1525, Piri Reis
Ink and pigments on paper, 34 x 24 cm / 13 3⁄8 x 9 3⁄8 in., Walters Art Museum, Baltimore
Credit: The Walters Art Museum
Willamette River, Oregon, 2013, Daniel Coe
Printed on paper, 43 x 96.5 cm / 17 x 38 in., private collection
Credit: Daniel E. Coe, courtesy of Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries
The book chart’s five thousand years of cartographic development in the world, reflecting changing boundaries, religions, geography and technology. It relates the story and aspirations of mankind and is a book which you will definitely want to explore time and time again – and you won’t have to leave your armchair!
Panoramic View of Wutaishan, 1846, Gelong Lhündrup
Hand-coloured woodcut, 144 x 194.6 cm / 4 ft 10 3/4 in x 6 ft 4 3/4 in. Rubin Museum of Art, New York
Credit: Rubin Museum of Art
Come All the Way! (Caminos Santiago), 2011, Cinta Arribas
Printed paper, 70 x 87 cm / 27 1/2 x 34 1/4 in., private collection
Credit: Cinta Arribas
A Rothschild Renaissance: Treasures from the Waddesdon Bequest, Room 2a, The British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1
The Smoking Room in Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild’s The Red Book, 1897; Waddesdon,
The Rothschild Collection (The National Trust) Gift of Dorothy de Rothschild, 1971; acc. no. 54
© The National Trust, Waddesdon Manor
Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild emulated many of the Renaissance princely and noble collectors in creating his own Kunstkammern in the Tower Drawing Room at his country house Waddesdon Manor but in the late 1880s he had a New Smoking Room created in the Bachelors’ Wing which was decorated in the Renaissance style and suited the collection perfectly.
The Waddesdon Bequest, Room 2a, British Museum.
© The Trustees of the British Museum
He bequeathed this Renaissance collection to the British Museum on his death in 1898 with the proviso that it was to be displayed in a separate room on its own. Having been displayed on the first floor of the museum for many years it is now housed, thanks to a generous donation from the Rothschild Foundation, in a stunning, specially created new gallery in what was the original Reading Room of the Museum.
Rosary bead or prayer-nut showing scenes of St Hubert The Waddesdon Bequest.
© The Trustees of the British Museum
This is a special collection not only because it reflects the mind of a 19th century collector but also through the objects purchased reflects the art market of the day as well as the rise of forgery to meet the demand from the growing number of collectors in the 19th century.
The Aspremont Lynden Ewer and Basin, silver-gilt, 1545-50. The Waddesdon Bequest.
© The Trustees of the British Museum
This is a collection that one has to visit so that one can get close to the objects and appreciate their fine detail and see the craftsmanship that went into their creation. To me the exquisite Holy Thorn Reliquary still captures my imagination as it was made to hold a thorn believed to have come from Christ’s Crown of Thorns and was described by Neil MacGregor in the series “A History of the World in 100 Objects” as “a single-object museum”.
Holy Thorn Reliquary of Jean, duc de Berry, Paris, France, before AD 1397
© The Trustees of the British Museum
Footnote: The New Smoking Room at Waddesdon now houses a collection put together by Ferdinand’s sister Alice de Rothschild. See my blog CHRISTMAS 2015 AT WADDESDON (21 November 2015) for an illustration, it is the room with the “Hanukkah” inspired lamp in it.
The Waddesdon Bequest, Room 2a, British Museum.
© The Trustees of the British Museum
britishmuseum.org
This is the story of the internationally known firm from its start in North Wales to its present day incarnation in London’s Mayfair. It is a remarkable tale adorned with marvellous precious objects, including, of course, works by Fabergé. Their clientele is wide ranging from crowned heads, writers, stars of stage and screen to notable collectors such as Malcolm Forbes and Marjorie Merriweather Post.
‘Apparitions’, a gold and enamel brooch by Vever, c 1900
It is a vibrant firm which continues to not only sell the past but also encourages contemporary jewellery designers and goldsmiths. This is a well-illustrated book with images of both the wonderful pieces that have passed through their hands and their glittering array of clients and thus it also becomes a social history.
A Fabergé Aquamarine and diamond brooch bought by Nicholas II for his wife Alix of Hesse three months before their wedding.
The author is Wartski’s Managing Director, Geoffrey Munn, who will be a familiar face to many of you from his appearances on the BBC Antiques Road Show. He is to be congratulated on this history of the firm and I really don’t think there could be a more fitting way to celebrate Wartski’s first 150 years.
A gold pendant in the form of a Bacchante. Attributed to Castellani or Giancinto Mellilo, c 1870
An Emerald and diamond set Tiara by Evrard & Frédéric Bapst , Originally part of the French Crown Jewels
An oval banded onyx cameo of Cupid and Psyche by Tomasso Saulini (1793-1864)
Third Imperial Egg by Carl Fabergé. Recently rediscovered and exhibited at Wartski in 2014
http://www.antique-collecting.co.uk/antique-collectors-club-books/
wartski.com
Federation of British Artists, The Painted Parish, Mall Galleries, The Mall, London SW1, 15th – 20th December 2015
John Foker SWLA
Ancestral Communities (2015)
Oil 26 x 29 cm
Churches have many roles in today’s world as places of worship, concert venues, tourist attractions, even domestic dwellings or ruins. This show brings a selection of these buildings to our attention and reminds us that John Betjeman summed it up so clearly in his poem “Churchyards” when he wrote “Our churches are our history shown / In wood and glass and iron and stone”.
Richard Plincke RI
A Walk around Salisbury Cathedral (2010)
Wash drawing, tinted 51 x 61 cm
The exhibitors are Sarah Bee PS • Charles Bone RI • Matthew Draper PS • John Foker SWLA • Peter Folkes RI • Lisa Graa Jensen RI • Alice Hall AROI • Peter Kelly NEAC RBA • Colin Kent RI • Ronald Maddox RI • Anthony Morris NEAC RP • Edman O’Aivazian ROI RSMA • Richard Plincke RI • Charles Rake NEAC • Bob Rudd RI • Peter Vincent PS • Toby Ward NEAC • Roy Wright PS • Anthony Yates RBA
Anthony Yates RBA
Former Methodist Church, South Street, Harborne, Birmingham (2015)
Oil 75 x 57 cm
http://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/
Alice Hall AROI
Morning Light across the Nave, Westminster (2015)
Oil on canvas 98 x 78 cm
This is a rather special book in that it is a celebration of British style created by a master of interior decoration. On looking through the twelve houses in England, France, the Bahamas, Ireland and Scotland the reader is transported into a harmonious world that reflects the house, its collections and its owners.
(c) Tessa Traeger
In 2003, when interviewed by the Daily Telegraph about the work he was doing for The Prince of Wales at Clarence House Kime said: ‘What I love most in my work is rearranging other people’s stuff. The Queen Mother’s still there in the way I’ve done it, but it’s also relevant to the new owner, what he wants. It’s keeping all this stuff still simmering, though my brief was ‘Nothing must change’. It feels as if the Queen Mother has just popped out, but all her history, treasures, and mementoes of her 100-year life are still there. You’re recreating something completely different, but with all these memories. We’re nothing without memory.’ He certainly achieved that there and as the book reveals in the other houses too thanks to his understanding of art, antiques and textiles and his innate ability to mix periods and styles. Prince Charles in his eloquent foreword suggests that the ultimate test of a room is whether it makes you want to stay there. I certainly agree that Kime’s rooms pass that test with flying colours.
(c) Tessa Traeger
The noted photographer Tessa Traeger was specially commissioned to take many of the photographs in the book and there are additional photographs by Christopher Simon Sykes, James Mortimer, Fritz von der Schulenburg, James Mitchell and Lord Snowdon.
(c) Tessa Traeger
(c) Tessa Traeger
(c) Tessa Traeger
Brian Gallagher, Barbara Stone Perry, Letitia Roberts, Diana Edwards, Pat Halfpenny, Maurice Hillis, Margaret Ferris Zimmerman.
We are fortunate that the accompanying exhibition at the Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina brings us this very fine and informative tome because it celebrates some two hundred objects from the more than two thousand British ceramic pieces in the Museum. It really is a fine collection encompassing the majority of the 18th century British factories who produced ceramics in salt-glazed stoneware, lead-glazed earthenware, creamware, soft-paste and hard paste porcelains.
Longton Hall
Covered Potpourri Vase, circa 1754-1757
The selected pieces are notable for their craftsmanship, quality and, in some cases, their distinguished provenance. Every piece is illustrated in colour and fully catalogued, giving us a fascinating insight into the production and decorating techniques that created these examples as well as their history.
New Hall
Cup and Saucer, circa 1785-1790
Decorated by Fidelle Duvivier
So whether you are a collector, scholar or lover of social history I can certainly say this a book that you will find both enjoyable and useful – just like many of the objects it focuses on!
John and Richard Riley
Bust of Charlotte Augusta, Princess of Wales, 1819
Tea Wares, circa 1760-1770
Winter Exhibition: Auerbach, Calder, Dufy, Lanskoy, Picasso, Renoir, Connaught Brown, 2 Albemarle Street, London W1, until 23rd December, 2015
Alexander Calder 1898 – 1976
Untitled, 1967
Signed, dated and inscribed lower right
Gouache and ink on paper
43 1/8 x 29 1/2 in, 109.5 x 75 cm
The theme for this very enjoyable exhibition is the journey towards Abstraction. It is a delightful path bordered with works by artists such as Chagall, Afro, Henri Le Sidaner, Raoul Dufy, Leon Pourtau and Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin as well as those mentioned above. It certainly deserves to be seen.
Tim Forrest's E & A 