‘Op Art’

Seurat to Riley: The Art of Perception, Compton Verney, until 1st October 2017

Blaze IV,
Bridget Riley,
© UK Government Art Collection © Bridget Riley 2017. All rights reserved

Regular readers of my blog may recall that in October 2015 I posted about a small but enjoyable exhibition Bridget Riley: Learning from Seurat at the Courtauld Gallery and now in this large-scale show at Compton Verney this debt is re-visited and much expanded upon.

La Luzerne, Saint-Denis,
Georges Seurat,
© Scottish National Gallery

It reminds us that since the 19th century some artists have been fascinated by the way in which the eye sees optical illusions as it responds to visual stimuli and this point is well proven in this exhibition. Ninety diverse ‘Op Art’ works are featured in the show, including pieces by Victor Vasarely, Julio Le Parc, Jeffrey Steele, Jesus Rafael Soto, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Peter Sedgley, Liliane Lijn and, of course, Bridget Riley and Seurat.

Our Spectral Vision,2016,
Liz West.
Photo (c) Hannah Devereux

Professor Steven Parissien, Director of Compton Verney sums it up: “Optical Art explores a range of effects and emotions, using complex geometry and advanced mathematics to communicate with the viewer in a way that is simultaneously mentally challenging and visually appealing. This wonderful exhibition demonstrates just how exhilarating, electrifying and (quite literally) eye-opening Op Art can be.”

The show is curated by Penelope Sexton and Dr Frances Follin and appropriately enough supported by Farrow & Ball.

Pulse 05,
White Earthenware, Underglaze colour, matt glaze, 2012.
Sara Moorhouse,
(c) Sara Moorhouse

http://www.comptonverney.org.uk

Queen Victoria in Paris

Queen Victoria in Paris: Watercolours from the Royal Collection, Compton Verney, Warwickshire, CV35 9HZ, until 11th December 2016

Antoine Léon Morel-Fatio (1810-71) Royal visit to Napoleon III: Queen Victoria landing at Boulogne, 18 August 1855 Watercolour © Royal Collection Trust 2016

Antoine Léon Morel-Fatio (1810-71)
Royal visit to Napoleon III: Queen Victoria landing at Boulogne, 18 August 1855
Watercolour
© Royal Collection Trust 2016

This special exhibition commemorates the State Visit of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert (with their two eldest children) to Paris in August 1855 and followed a State Visit to Windsor in April of that year by the Emperor Napoleon III and his consort the Empress Eugénie.  It was part of cementing the alliance between Britain and France in the Crimean War.  The forty-four watercolours, generously loaned by Her Majesty the Queen, depict the major events of the nine day visit from their arrival at Boulogne aboard the Royal Yacht onwards.

Eugène-Charles-François Guérard (1821-66) Royal visit to Napoleon III: Queen Victoria's entry into Paris, 18 August 1855 Watercolour © Royal Collection Trust 2016

Eugène-Charles-François Guérard (1821-66)
Royal visit to Napoleon III: Queen Victoria’s entry into Paris, 18 August 1855
Watercolour
© Royal Collection Trust 2016

The watercolours, half of which are being publicly shown for the first time, were either presented to or commissioned by Queen Victoria and became one of her ‘Souvenir Albums’ that recorded events in her marriage to Prince Albert.  I find them all of great interest but am specially drawn to those of her apartments in the Palais de Saint Cloud.

Jean-Baptiste-Fortuné De Fournier (1798-1864) Royal visit to Napoleon III: Queen Victoria's dressing-room at St Cloud Watercolour © Royal Collection Trust 2016

Jean-Baptiste-Fortuné De Fournier (1798-1864)
Royal visit to Napoleon III: Queen Victoria’s dressing-room at St Cloud
Watercolour
© Royal Collection Trust 2016

The significance of the Queen’s visit is summed up by Rosie Razzall, Curator of Prints and Drawings, Royal Collection Trust: “This was a pivotal period in British and French history. After centuries of enmity, France and Britain were never again to fight on opposing sides. A visiting head of state was not received with such popular fervour in France until the Kennedys in 1961, and has been unmatched since.

Max Berthelin (1811-77) Royal visit to Napoleon III: illuminations at the Hôtel de Ville, 23 August 1855 Watercolour © Royal Collection Trust 2016

Max Berthelin (1811-77)
Royal visit to Napoleon III: illuminations at the Hôtel de Ville, 23 August 1855
Watercolour
© Royal Collection Trust 2016

After Compton Verney this touring exhibition goes on to the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter; The Wilson: Cheltenham Museum and Art Gallery; and the Bowes Museum, County Durham.

Eugène Louis Lami (1800-90) Royal visit to Napoleon III: the supper in the Salle de Spectacle, Versailles, 25 August 1855 Watercolour © Royal Collection Trust 2016

Eugène Louis Lami (1800-90)
Royal visit to Napoleon III: the supper in the Salle de Spectacle, Versailles, 25 August 1855
Watercolour
© Royal Collection Trust 2016

http://www.comptonverney.org.uk

Picasso in London and Warwickshire

Woman in a Hat (Olga) by Pablo Picasso, 1935; Centre Pompidou, Paris. Musée national d’art moderne Copyright: Succession Picasso/DACS London, 2016 Photo: Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/Rights reserved

Woman in a Hat (Olga) by Pablo Picasso, 1935;
Centre Pompidou, Paris. Musée national d’art moderne
Copyright: Succession Picasso/DACS London, 2016 Photo: Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/Rights reserved

There is no doubting the enduring popularity of Picasso with all age groups and I thought I would share these ongoing exhibitions with you.  In the National Portrait Gallery is Picasso Portraits which is exciting in that the portraits – in various media – come from all stages of his career and while some of them are well-known others are not.

Portrait of Olga Picasso by Pablo Picasso, 1923; Private Collection Copyright: Succession Picasso/DACS London, 2016

Portrait of Olga Picasso by Pablo Picasso, 1923;
Private Collection
Copyright: Succession Picasso/DACS London, 2016

They are all of people he knew, including friends, lovers, wives and children such as  Guillaume Apollinaire, Carles Casagemas, Santiago Rusiñol, Jaume Sabartés, Jean Cocteau, Olga Picasso, Marie-Thérèse Walter, Dora Maar, Lee Miller, Françoise Gilot and Jacqueline Picasso. You will also discover caricatures and portraits inspired by earlier masters such as Rembrandt and Velazquez. (www.npg.org.uk)

 

Picasso Le peintre et son modèle IV 1970 Ink on cardboard Courtesy Omer Tiroche

Picasso
Le peintre et son modèle IV 1970
Ink on cardboard
Courtesy Omer Tiroche

At Omer Tiroche in Conduit Street you will discover Picasso on Paper (until 16th December 2016) with more than thirty works from the early 1900s onwards. They reveal how he used any piece or scrap of paper to capture his thoughts and ideas. (http://www.omertiroche.com).

Picasso Femme Debout et Femme Assise 1939 Gouache and brush and black in on lined paper Courtesy Omer Tiroche

Picasso
Femme Debout et Femme Assise 1939
Gouache and brush and black in on lined paper
Courtesy Omer Tiroche

 

 

Pablo Picasso Sprung mit dem Stab, 1957 Jumping with the pole, 1957 Blatt 8 aus Die Tauromaquie oder die Kunst des Stierkampfes Sheet 8 from Tauromachy or the Art of Bullfighting Aquatinta im Zuckeraussprengverfahren Sugar-Lift Aquatints 35 x 49,5 cm Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, © Succession Picasso Foto: Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Horst Kolberg, ARTOTHEK

Pablo Picasso
Sprung mit dem Stab, 1957
Jumping with the pole, 1957
Blatt 8 aus Die Tauromaquie oder die Kunst des Stierkampfes
Sheet 8 from Tauromachy or the Art of Bullfighting
Aquatinta im Zuckeraussprengverfahren
Sugar-Lift Aquatints
35 x 49,5 cm
Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf,
© Succession Picasso
Foto: Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Horst Kolberg, ARTOTHEK

Outside of London at Compton Verney there is another exhibition of Picasso on Paper (until 11th December 2016) featuring prints from the collection of the Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf.  The show gives us an ideal opportunity to look at Picasso as a printmaker with over 70 works from the 1920s-1960s and includes various media – etching, lithography, aquatint and linocut.  Although not formally trained he became very adept at printmaking and regarded it as important as painting. In all he created over 2000 prints during his lifetime.  Alongside the prints is a selection of his ceramics. They echo themes found in his prints and highlight how the relationship between the two was an important part of Picasso’s artistic output. The ceramics have been loaned by Leicester Arts and Museums Service by kind permission of The Estate of Lord and Lady Attenborough. (http://www.comptonverney.org.uk)

Pablo Picasso Kopf des Fauns, 07.02.1962 Head of the Faun Farblinolschnitt, Auflage 19/50 Colour Linocut, Edition 19/50 64 x 53 cm Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf © Succession Picasso, Foto: Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Horst Kolberg, ARTOTHEK

Pablo Picasso
Kopf des Fauns, 07.02.1962
Head of the Faun
Farblinolschnitt, Auflage 19/50
Colour Linocut, Edition 19/50
64 x 53 cm
Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf
© Succession Picasso, Foto: Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Horst Kolberg, ARTOTHEK

 

Lord & Lady Attenborough: A Life in Art The Celebrated Private Collection of Picasso Ceramics Sotheby’s London, 22 November 2016

Lord & Lady Attenborough: A Life in Art
The Celebrated Private Collection of Picasso Ceramics
Sotheby’s London, 22 November 2016

Other Picasso ceramics from Lord and Lady Attenborough’s collection come under the hammer at Sotheby’s London on November 22nd (Lord & Lady Attenborough: A Life in Art The Celebrated Private Collection of Picasso Ceramics). The Attenborough’s used to visit the Madoura pottery, where Picasso worked, in the South of France on their summer holidays when staying at their summer house near the town of Vallauris and built up a collection which reflects Picasso’s artistic development in working in this medium.

Lot 30 Grand vase aux femmes nues Terre de faïence vase, 1950 numbered 8/25 height: 26in Estimate: £250,000-350,000

Lot 30
Grand vase aux femmes nues
Terre de faïence vase, 1950
numbered 8/25
height: 26in
Estimate: £250,000-350,000

Their son Michael Attenborough CBE recalls that “Vallauris was a great annual pilgrimage. In those days I remember wrapping pots up in brown paper for the drive back to England. At Old Friars, our family home, there was a huge, long table in the hall and the top surface of it would have four or five Picasso pots and underneath it there would be another four or five. Dad scattered them liberally everywhere; he adored them and just loved their extraordinary combination of beauty and wit.”(sothebys.com)

BBC Faces of Comedy

BBC Faces of Comedy, Compton Verney, Warwickshire, CV35 9HZ, until 2nd October 2016

Victoria Woods Sketch Show Story, Julia Walters (Mrs Overall) Duncan Preston (Mr. Clifford) Victoria Wood (Bertha) Celia Imrie (Miss Babs), 2001, Copyright BBC

Victoria Woods Sketch Show Story,
Julie Walters (Mrs Overall) Duncan Preston (Mr. Clifford) Victoria Wood (Bertha) Celia Imrie (Miss Babs), 2001,
Copyright BBC

To some extent this exhibition is a curtain raiser for a landmark sitcom season that the BBC will be airing across BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four later in the year.

The Goon Show, Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan, 1956 Copyright BBC

The Goon Show,
Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan, 1956
Copyright BBC

This exhibition which has been guest curated by Paul Merton (Have I Got News for You) and Adil Ray (Citizen Khan) features nearly one hundred images garnered from the BBC photo library from the 1950s onward with many familiar faces.  It’s great fun and will appeal to many whatever their own sense of humour.

Absolutely Fabulous, Jane Horrocks and Joanna Lumley, 2001, Copyright BBC

Absolutely Fabulous,
Jane Horrocks and Joanna Lumley, 2001,
Copyright BBC

http://www.comptonverney.org.uk

Steptoe and Son, Harry H. Corbett as Harold Steptoe, Wilfrid Brambell as Albert Steptoe & Duncan Wood with various cast members & studio crew, 1965, Copyright BBC

Steptoe and Son,
Harry H. Corbett as Harold Steptoe, Wilfrid Brambell as Albert Steptoe & Duncan Wood with various cast members & studio crew, 1965,
Copyright BBC

Fifties Britain

Britain in the Fifties: Design and Aspiration, Compton Verney, Warwickshire, CV35 9HZ, until 2nd October 2016

Festival of Britain Colour Lithograph Poster © Estate of Abram Games

Festival of Britain Colour Lithograph Poster
© Estate of Abram Games

What a decade it was! Opening with the Festival of Britain in 1951 which played an important role in the fashioning of a new Britain which was recovering and rebuilding itself after the Second World War. The exhibition views the decade through the eyes of a fictional young couple who were setting out in life together and aptly starts with the Festival of Britain itself and goes on to look at various aspects of daily life.

The Experimental House Allesley Village designed in 1958 by Geoffrey Salmon for JM Austin Smith Photographer unknown

The Experimental House Allesley Village designed in 1958 by Geoffrey Salmon for JM Austin Smith
Photographer unknown

Focusing on housing it considers both exterior and interior design. Famous design names such as Lucienne Day, Robert Welch and Terence Conran, as well as Sanderson, Ercol and Whiteleaf whose distinctive designs were finding customers at home and overseas are included. Home technology grew too with labour-saving electrical devices for the kitchen such as washing machines and food mixers.  By 1954 Rationing had ended and by relaxing Hire Purchase controls consumers were able to buy such “luxuries” as a television and indeed by 1956 over half the TV sets were being bought on HP. The British Film Industry flourished with home-grown stars such as Diana Dors and Dirk Bogarde and with films like Bridge on the River Kwai and The Dam Busters attracting audiences both at home and abroad. The decade saw the final flourish of Britain as a place to spend a holiday although this declined in the 1960s as package holidays really took off.

1956, Campden Toastrack, box & Design Centre kitemark label © Robert Welch Designs Ltd

1956, Campden Toastrack, box & Design Centre kitemark label
© Robert Welch Designs Ltd

Southend Beach 1950s © Southend Museums Service

Southend Beach 1950s
© Southend Museums Service

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The late 50s were a time of economic prosperity and 1959 was both its apogee and also the herald of the 60s.  It is an era best summed up the words of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan who said “Go around the country, go to the industrial towns, go to the farms and you will see a state of prosperity such as we have never had in my lifetime …most of our people have never had it so good.”

Wallpaper design 'Wrappings' kingfisher red Image courtesy of Sanderson

Wallpaper design ‘Wrappings’ kingfisher red Image courtesy of Sanderson

This exhibition, set against colours of the period, will be both nostalgic to those who lived through it while also being informative and intriguing to newer generations and it is one that I heartily recommend.  It depicts a very different, dare I say, friendlier world and one where the new designs of that time still have appeal to a modern day audience.

1965 ercol catalogue, showing a 1950s 308 ercol Folding occasional table Reproduced by kind permission of ercol

1965 ercol catalogue, showing a 1950s 308 ercol Folding occasional table
Reproduced by kind permission of ercol

http://www.comptonverney.org.uk

Image of Mobiles fabric ref. 220035 Image courtesy of Sanderson, www.sanderson-uk.com

Image of Mobiles fabric ref. 220035
Image courtesy of Sanderson, http://www.sanderson-uk.com

Capability Brown

Capability Brown at Compton Verney

 

(C) Stuart Thomas

(C) Stuart Thomas

This year marks the the 300th anniversary of the birth of the truly great English gardener Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown and it is being marked by many events in the wonderful landscapes he created for his patrons around the country. It is fitting for me to begin my occasional coverage with Compton Verney where an important restoration project is taking place, thanks to a £2.5 million Heritage Lottery Fund Grant.

Meadow

Meadow

Brown would say to prospective clients when viewing their estates that the place had “capabilities” – thus earning his soubriquet.  By moving hills, damming rivers to create lakes, and planting trees he literally remade the gardens into what is now celebrated as the quintessential idyllic English landscape. Among the features Brown introduced at Compton Verney were the ice house and a new chapel to replace the old one he had pulled down as it spoilt the view.

West Lawn Cedar DJ 2008

West Lawn Cedar
DJ 2008

 

Ice house © 2013 John Cleary Photography

Ice house
© 2013 John Cleary Photography

 

 

 

http://www.comptonverney.org.uk

Tempests, Tyrants and Tragedy

Shakespeare in Art: Tempests, Tyrants and Tragedy, Compton Verney, Warwickshire CV35 9HZ, until 19th June 2016

OpheliaÔÇÖs Ghost ® Kristin and Davy McGuire, photograph by Electric Egg

OpheliaÔÇÖs Ghost
® Kristin and Davy McGuire, photograph by Electric Egg

Many of you will have heard of the national award-winning art gallery Compton Verney which as well as having permanent collections which are well worth visiting (Naples, Northern European Art 1450-1650, British Portraits, Chinese, British Folk Art & The Marx-Lambert Collection) also hosts special exhibitions and one can certainly say that this one – Shakespeare in Art – is indeed special.

Dame Diana Rigg and Dame Helen Mirren in the grounds at Compton Verney between takes - Sir Peter Hall’s film of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1968. Photograph by David Farrell, courtesy of the David Farrell Estate (c) DFP

Dame Diana Rigg and Dame Helen Mirren in the grounds at Compton Verney between takes – Sir Peter Hall’s film of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1968.
Photograph by David Farrell, courtesy of the David Farrell Estate (c) DFP

Fittingly, as it marks the 400th anniversary of the playwright’s death, the exhibition has been designed by the The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Director of Design, Stephen Brimson Lewis. There are more than seventy works on view from the 18th century to contemporary and they are divided thematically into eight acts which include The Tempest, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, King Lear and Henry VIII.  It is an engrossing experience that underlines the magic of Shakespeare’s plays.

John Singer Sargent, Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth © Tate, London 2015

John Singer Sargent,
Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth
© Tate, London 2015

In addition to this exhibition is a complimentary one which introduces us to John Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery which used to be on London’s Pall Mall (the sight is now occupied by the new Philip Mould Gallery). Boydell, a print publisher, opened it in 1789 and commissioned prominent artists of the day, including Romney, Fuseli and Northcote to produce works (history paintings) inspired by Shakespearian scenes.

Henry Fuseli, Prospero, Miranda, Caliban and Ariel, Plate 4 from The Boydell Shakespeare Gallery 1786-89 ® York Museums Trust

Henry Fuseli, Prospero, Miranda, Caliban and Ariel, Plate 4 from The Boydell Shakespeare Gallery 1786-89
® York Museums Trust

 

 

http://www.comptonverney.org.uk