Monthly Archives: October 2016

Arthur Rackham

The Works of Arthur Rackham from the Library of an English Bibliophile, Peter Harrington, 43 Dover Street, London W1, until 5th November 2016

Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens – the most enduringly popular book Arthur Rackham illustrated. Limited edition numbered copy 157 of 500 copies printed Courtesy of Peter Harrington

Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens – the most enduringly popular book Arthur Rackham illustrated.
Limited edition numbered copy 157 of 500 copies printed
Courtesy of Peter Harrington

This is a must for all bibliophiles and is best summed up by Pom Harrington, the owner of Peter Harrington, who wisely says “Arthur Rackham was the dominant figure of the illustrated book in the first half of the 20th century and this fascinating collection of 225 items contains excellent copies of his most important works including illustrated copies of Peter Pan and Rip Van Winkle. I urge you to visit the exhibition and see these important and beautiful illustrations for yourself.”

Rip Van Winkle – the first book wholly illustrated by Arthur Rackham. Limited edition numbered copy 137 of 250 copies printed Courtesy of Peter Harrington

Rip Van Winkle – the first book wholly illustrated by Arthur Rackham. Limited edition numbered copy
137 of 250 copies printed
Courtesy of Peter Harrington

http://www.peterharrington.co.uk

Lucy B. Campbell at the Winter Olympia Fair 2016

Winter Art & Antiques Fair, Olympia London, Hammersmith Road, London W14, 31st October – 6th November 2016

Marco Ramasso WINTER FIELDS, 2016 Oil on Canvas 47¼ x 47¼ ins /120 x 120 cm

Marco Ramasso
WINTER FIELDS, 2016
Oil on Canvas
47¼ x 47¼ ins /120 x 120 cm

It’s that time of year again and the Fair offers a wide-ranging selection of art and antiques for all tastes.  It is especially useful for those who seek ‘prestige’ items for their homes. One gallery always worth a close look is Lucy B. Campbell.

Juan Luque LAS CENIZAS DEL VIENTO TORRE, 2015 Oil on Canvas on Board 45 x 63 ins / 114 x 160 cm

Juan Luque
LAS CENIZAS DEL VIENTO TORRE, 2015
Oil on Canvas on Board
45 x 63 ins / 114 x 160 cm

After starting her gallery concentrating on rare antiquarian prints in 1984 she gradually moved in the 1990s towards international and British contemporary artists and very successfully specialises in paintings, sculpture and photographs. From her ‘stable’ of British, American and European artists she is bringing a fine selection of works by Anna Pugh, Guillermo Muñoz Vera, Manuel López Herrera, Juan Luque, Carlos Morago and Marco Ramasso to this edition of the Fair.  By the way if you are looking for an artistic Christmas gift then you may find their Anna Pugh Jigsaw Puzzles fit the bill.

Anna Pugh FLYING KITES, 2016 Acrylic on Board 28¾ x 32¾ ins / 73 x 83.2 cm

Anna Pugh
FLYING KITES, 2016
Acrylic on Board
28¾ x 32¾ ins / 73 x 83.2 cm

www.lucybcampbell.co.uk

 

http://www.olympia-antiques.com

Two Galleries – Newly Moved

Skarstedt, 8 Bennet Street © Richard Davies

Skarstedt, 8 Bennet Street
© Richard Davies

The exhibition Cindy Sherman and David Salle: History Portraits and Tapestry Paintings (until 26th November 2016) perfectly shows off Skarstedt’s new gallery at 8 Bennet Street, St James’s. The large-scale works Sherman’s History Portraits (1988-90) and Salle’s Tapestry Paintings (1989-91) highlight why both artists were leading figures in New York’s ‘Pictures Generation’ art movement and their skilful addition of extra layers to existing images, whether painted or photographic, still engages the viewer.

Cindy Sherman & David Salle: History Portraits & Tapestry Paintings Installation view, © Cindy Sherman. Art © David Salle/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. Courtesy of the artist and Skarstedt.

Cindy Sherman & David Salle: History Portraits & Tapestry Paintings Installation view,
© Cindy Sherman. Art © David Salle/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. Courtesy of the artist and Skarstedt.

 

A Vanitas bust Italian or French School, c. 1700 Terracotta, 85cm. Colnaghi

A Vanitas bust
Italian or French School, c. 1700
Terracotta, 85cm.
Colnaghi

Another gallery to make the transition across Piccadilly to St James’s is Colnaghi who have moved to 26 Bury Street, St James’s where their new premises provide a 21st century setting for their Master paintings and sculpture.  There is still time to see their opening show Vanitas (until 4th November 2016) and it is perhaps a particularly apt subject for the autumn. The thirty or so paintings and sculptures, dating from the 16th century onwards, are part of the genre which considers the idea of mortality and the impermanence of earthly pleasures.  It reminds me of the phrase ‘Sic transit gloria mundi’ (thus passes the glory of the world) used in Papal coronations. So not a bad thing to bring us down to earth!

 

Installation view, Colnaghi

Installation view, Colnaghi

 

http://www.skarstedt.com

http://www.colnaghi.com

Related Matters

Studio Sem, Pietrasanta, 2016, Henryk Hetflaisz

Studio Sem, Pietrasanta, 2016,
Henryk Hetflaisz

It was a great delight to meet the sculptor Helaine Blumenfeld OBE again at the opening of her exhibition Hard Beauty at the Hignell Gallery in Mayfair’s Shepherd Street (hignellgallery.com).  Her exceptional sculptures which combine the ideas of abstraction and figuration are tours de force which take great skill and verve to create as there are elements of risk in that process.

Helaine Blumenfeld OBE, Taking Risks, Terracotta, 2016, Courtesy Hignell Gallery, ‎Henryk Hetflaisz -001

Helaine Blumenfeld OBE,
Taking Risks, Terracotta, 2016,
Courtesy Hignell Gallery, ‎Henryk Hetflaisz -001

Just a short walk away in Bruton Street you still have the chance to see an exhibition (until 29th October) devoted to Helaine’s father-in-law the renowned photographer Erwin Blumenfeld.  Entitled Erwin Blumenfeld: From Dada to Vogue, it is being shown at Osborne Samuel (www.osbornesamuel.com) and comprises of a mixture of original photographs, drawings collages and personal ephemera which have come from his family.

Erwin Blumenfeld, Vogue, Paris, 1938, Silver Gelatin Print, Courtesy Osborne Samuel

Erwin Blumenfeld,
Vogue, Paris, 1938,
Silver Gelatin Print,
Courtesy Osborne Samuel

This exhibition’s importance is highlighted by its curator Lou Proud who says:  It is simply not possible to put into few words the importance of Erwin Blumenfeld’s work, let alone its stand alone beauty and ever resounding influence on today’s image makers. It’s fascinating how someone who did everything possible to stretch, bend and break the existing boundaries of traditional photography, managed to create works that reach far beyond what we could ever dream that the medium of photography would and could deliver, leaving us In Memoriam, with what only can be described as ‘solidified magic’.

Erwin Blumenfeld, Shadowed Silhouettes, 1953, Silver Gelatin Print, Courtesy Osborne Samuel

Erwin Blumenfeld,
Shadowed Silhouettes, 1953,
Silver Gelatin Print,
Courtesy Osborne Samuel

While writing about Osborne Samuel it seems right to mention that they were behind the loan of Lynn Chadwick’s Walking Woman (1984) to Salisbury Cathedral where it can be seen on the West Lawn.  The gallery has had a long relationship with the Cathedral (www.salisburycathedral.org.uk).

Lynn Chadwick Walking Woman (1984) Credit Ash Mill

Lynn Chadwick
Walking Woman (1984)
Credit Ash Mill

Tom Ellis at the Wallace Collection

The Middle – Tom Ellis at the Wallace Collection, The Wallace Collection, Hertford House, Manchester Square, London, W1, until 27th November 2016

The Middle- Tom Ellis at the Wallace Collection

The Middle- Tom Ellis at the Wallace Collection

This intriguing exhibition starts on this prestigious Museum’s front lawn and then inside occupies the Front State Room and the downstairs exhibition gallery.  The Museum’s own collections have inspired contemporary artist Tom Ellis (b1973) to create these site specific works. His large-scale paintings with their recurring motif of a shoemaker are inspired by work by Teniers the Younger while his furniture is inspired by those 18th century French examples in the Collection which have transformative elements.

Front State Room The Middle- Tom Ellis at the Wallace Collection

Front State Room
The Middle- Tom Ellis at the Wallace Collection

The installation’s title reflects the unresolved nature of the works and the idea that the museum is neither a fully domestic or public space.  The third inspiration comes from the writer Samuel Beckett who was interested in the idea of the unresolved and open-endedness that can be found in art.  Beckett, a frequent visitor to the Wallace in 1935, also shared Ellis’s love of Dutch paintings.

Exhibition Room The Middle- Tom Ellis at the Wallace Collection

Exhibition Room
The Middle- Tom Ellis at the Wallace Collection

http://www.wallacecollection.org

 

The Art of Enamelling – a Celebration

ENAMOURED, The Atrium, The Goldsmiths’ Centre, 42 Britton Street, Clerkenwell, London EC1, until 18th November 2016

Vase adieu. Flower vase. Standard silver and transparent enamel. Year made: 2016. Designed and made by: collaboration between London based enameller Frances Loyen and silversmith Hector Miller Size: Ht. 33cm Width at base 11cm Photo credit: - Rosalind Miller

Vase adieu. Flower vase. Standard silver and transparent enamel.
Year made: 2016.
Designed and made by: collaboration between London based enameller Frances Loyen and silversmith Hector Miller
Size: Ht. 33cm Width at base 11cm
Photo credit: – Rosalind Miller

Organised by The British Society of Enamellers this exhibition celebrates the work of both their established members and new graduates.  The technique of enamelling has a long history dating back as far as the 16th century BC and one can quite understand its enduring appeal through the ages because the transformation from powdered glass (frit) applied to a metal surface to form a vibrant, hard colourful surface is achieved in the kiln at high temperature.

Evangeline Long Three Dimensional Object Title “Barn”, 2016 Enamel on corrugated copper - balsa wood frame Sifted Jewellery Enamel -firescale - high fired Dim : H 20cm X D11cm. X W14cm Photo : Tracey Sherwood

Evangeline Long
Three Dimensional Object Title “Barn”, 2016
Enamel on corrugated copper – balsa wood frame
Sifted Jewellery Enamel -firescale – high fired
Dim : H 20cm X D11cm. X W14cm
Photo : Tracey Sherwood

Traditional techniques such as Basse-Taille, Champlevé, Cloisonné and Plique à Jour are still used today but nowadays it can also be industrially applied. While we may usually associate the technique with jewellery or precious object such as those created by Fabergé it can also be applied to metals such as copper, cast iron and stainless steel.

This is a wonderful celebration of this fascinating and enduring technique.

Joan Mackarell: Celtic perfume bottle Silver, enamel, up-cycled glass bottle 8 x 10 cms Cloisonné Joan finds the old bottles in antique shops and then designs and makes new tops in silver and enamel which are inspired by the bottle shapes.

Joan Mackarell:
Celtic perfume bottle
Silver, enamel, up-cycled glass bottle 8 x 10 cms
Cloisonné
Joan finds the old bottles in antique shops and then designs and makes new tops in silver and enamel which are inspired by the bottle shapes.

 

 

www.goldsmiths-centre.org/whats-on

BOOK REVIEW: Going Once

Going Once: 250 Years of Culture, Taste and Collecting at Christie’s

 going-once-jacket

ISBN: 978 0 7148 7202 5

Phaidon

£39.95

 

What better way to celebrate two hundred and fifty years as a leading art business than through the two hundred and fifty objects selected for this book.  It is a wonderful survey of these remarkable sales and the high prices achieved whether for a 3,000-year-old Assyrian frieze or Dorothy’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz. Paintings, furniture, gold and silver, sculpture, wine, even a London Routemaster bus are included.  One feature I like is that as well as giving the original sale price they also give today’s equivalent value.

 

This is a great book to dip into time and time again as there is much to learn and enjoy from it.

phaidon.com

Michelangelo Pistoletto at Blenheim Palace

Michelangelo Pistoletto at Blenheim Palace, Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1PP, until 31st December 2016.

Great Hall Terzo Paradiso/Third Paradise(2003-­‐2016) 1200 x 480 x 50 cm, aluminium,foam,rags Photo:Tom Lindboe Courtesy: Blenheim Art Foundation

Great Hall
Terzo Paradiso/Third Paradise(2003-­‐2016)
1200 x 480 x 50 cm,
aluminium,foam,rags
Photo:Tom Lindboe
Courtesy: Blenheim Art Foundation

The setting for this great exhibition is the wonderful Blenheim Palace the family home of the Dukes of Marlborough and birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.  It can come as no surprise that this masterpiece of English Baroque architecture set in over two thousand acres of ‘Capability’ Brown-designed gardens and parkland is a World Heritage Site.

Red Drawing Room LeTrombe del Giudizio/The Trumpets of Judgment (1968-­‐1986) 200 x 100 cm each, aluminium Photo: Tom Lindboe Courtesy: Blenheim Art Foundation

Red Drawing Room
LeTrombe del Giudizio/The Trumpets of Judgment (1968-­‐1986)
200 x 100 cm each,
aluminium
Photo: Tom Lindboe
Courtesy: Blenheim Art Foundation

This solo exhibition celebrating Pistoletto’s fifty-year career is presented by the Blenheim Art Foundation.  Site-specific installations, sculpture and paintings can be found both within the palace and in the surrounding spaces.

First State Room Il fascio della tella/The bundle of canvas (1980) 214 x 70 cm canvas, cord Courtesy of Tim Forrest

First State Room
Il fascio della tella/The bundle of canvas (1980)
214 x 70 cm
canvas, cord
Courtesy of Tim Forrest

The artist’s work has a playful element to it and includes the Venus of the Rags in the Chapel which has a central classical figure leaning against waste textile fabrics and is a fine example of his Arte Povera works.  Much of his work has a philosophical message reflecting his own beliefs and hopes for unity and collaboration.

Long Library From Self-­‐Portraits (Il Presente/The Present) to Quadri Specchiantii/Mirror Paintings (1961-­‐ 2016) Dimensions variable, canvas acrylic and plastic paint, aluminium, silkscreen print, mirror Photo: Tom Lindboe Courtesy: Blenheim Art Foundation

Long Library
From Self-­‐Portraits (Il Presente/The Present) to Quadri Specchiantii/Mirror Paintings (1961-­‐ 2016)
Dimensions variable,
canvas acrylic and plastic paint, aluminium, silkscreen print, mirror
Photo: Tom Lindboe
Courtesy: Blenheim Art Foundation

Many works, including his Mica Paintings – which look as if they were part of the Palace’s own picture collection – are found in the various State Rooms and perhaps culminate in the Long Library where over thirty of his well-known Mirror Paintings are encountered.  The polished steel surfaces with their photo-silkscreened images also reflect the viewer and makes them part of the piece. Among pieces outside is a new work Mirage, a partially submerged gold-painted car, whose colour reflects the golden balls on the Palace’s roof.

Upper Water Terraces Portrait of Michelangelo Pistoletto at Blenheim Palace with new commission Miraggio/Mirage (2016) 230 x 140 x 140 cm, car roof, gold paint Photo: Tom Lindboe Courtesy: Blenheim Art Foundation

Upper Water Terraces
Portrait of Michelangelo Pistoletto at Blenheim Palace with new commission Miraggio/Mirage (2016)
230 x 140 x 140 cm,
car roof, gold paint
Photo: Tom Lindboe
Courtesy: Blenheim Art Foundation

I think that this exhibition is a ‘perfect marriage’ with its setting.  It engages and delights and is a thought-provoking experience which will long live with you in a good way.

 

I shall leave it to the Blenheim Art Foundation’s Director Michael Frahm to sum up “With over fifty individual works exhibited at Blenheim Palace, we are extremely honoured to present the first major survey show of Michelangelo Pistoletto in Britain. With consideration to the social and political challenges the world faces today, Michelangelo’s practice continues to feel much needed. We are proud to support his beliefs and vision, and celebrate his extraordinary body of work. This exhibition portrays an artist who, since the 1960s, has continually pushed boundaries, challenged the status quo, and produced work which has enchanted and surprised audiences around the world.”

 

 

http://www.blenheimartfoundation.org.uk

http://www.blenheimpalace.com

Blenheim Palace Courtesy of Tim Forrest

Blenheim Palace
Courtesy of Tim Forrest

Room Portraits by Jeremiah Goodman

Jeremiah – Inspired Interiors, Room Portraits by Jeremiah Goodman, Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, 39 Brook Street, London W1, until 5th December 2016

img_20161007_131202

To me this is the perfect subject for the last exhibition that Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler will host in the famous Yellow Room, so beloved by Nancy Lancaster, before they finally move out completely to Pimlico Road and Fulham Road. It has been curated by Dean Rhys Morgan.

wp_20161004_10_22_01_pro

The American artist Jeremiah Goodman (b. 1922) is renowned for his evocative pictures of interiors. After studying at the Franklin School of Professional Art he became a successful advertising illustrator with his work appearing in magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, and Interior Design Magazine. It will come as no surprise that his work attracted the interest of architects, industrial and interior designers.

img_20161007_131756

Goodman was always interested in creating portraits of interiors but a meeting with the renowned actor Sir John Gielgud in 1948 changed things.  Jeremiah sums it up: ‘Before I met him I painted interiors for my own pleasure, but he invited me to England, where I went in 1949, and began to introduce me to his friends. It was all very Brideshead Revisited and I found myself in the company of people like Cecil Beaton, John Fowler and Ivor Novello. I was invited to stay in glorious country houses.’ Since then he has been creating portraits of rooms from the homes of the rich and famous.

wp_20161004_10_22_54_pro

His distinctive informal style – often using transparent watercolour and opaque gouache on illustration board – perfectly captures details on textiles and the patterns of light in these exquisite rooms. These room portraits are the perfect finale for the Yellow Room and I seriously encourage you to see them.

wp_20161004_10_20_51_pro

www.jeremiahgoodman.com

www.sibylcolefax.com

img_20161007_131444

A Sculptor at Work

Courtesy of Sladmore Contemporary

Courtesy of Sladmore Contemporary

 

I thought given the continued interest in my blog ‘Bear Alert’ (26th June, 2014) which featured a bronze sculpture of a Kodiak bear by Nick Bibby that I should share this photo of him working on the Imperial Griffin Maquette. It is part of his current show at Sladmore Contemporary.

 

www.sladmorecontemporary.com