Tag Archives: Drawings

Ceramicists Celebrated!

Ken Price: A Survey of Sculptures and Drawings, 1959 – 2006, Hauser & Wirth, 23 Savile Row, London W1, until 4th February 2017

Installation view, 'Ken Price. A Study of Sculptures and Drawings, 1959 – 2006', Hauser & Wirth London Photo: Alex Delfanne

Installation view, ‘Ken Price. A Study of Sculptures and Drawings, 1959 – 2006’, Hauser & Wirth London
Photo: Alex Delfanne

Spread over both gallery spaces this exhibition provides an extensive survey of Ken Price’s ceramic output.  Through drawings and sculptures we see how this innovative artist changed the way in which ceramics were regarded by transferring the concept of them being practical pieces into the idea of their being artworks in their own right.  Drawing on many influences and inspirations he achieved this spectacularly.

Installation view, 'Ken Price. A Study of Sculptures and Drawings, 1959 – 2006', Hauser & Wirth London Photo: Alex Delfanne

Installation view, ‘Ken Price. A Study of Sculptures and Drawings, 1959 – 2006’, Hauser & Wirth London
Photo: Alex Delfanne

http://www.hauserwirth.com/

Shaping Ceramics: From Lucie Rie to Edmund de Waal, Jewish Museum London, Raymond Burton House, 129 – 131 Albert Street, London NW1, until 26th February 2017

Antonia Salmon, Wind Rush, 2016 Height 32cm, Courtesy of Antonia Salmon

Antonia Salmon, Wind Rush, 2016 Height 32cm, Courtesy of Antonia Salmon

This is a marvellous opportunity to see the work of gifted potters and the exhibition starts with the Jewish émigrés who brought the ideas and styles of central Europe to a Britain where ceramicists were following the Anglo-Oriental fusion practiced by Bernard Leach. Lucy Rie, Hans Coper and Ruth Duckworth were promoted by Henry Rothschild, a refugee himself, through his London-based store Primavera.

Lucie Rie, Buttons, Courtesy of The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent

Lucie Rie, Buttons, Courtesy of The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent

From more recent times one sees the work of the celebrated Edmund de Waal and other of his generation, including those who express their Jewish identity through their work. It is a great celebration of ceramic art – I was particularly pleased to see a selection of the buttons created by Lucy Rie as I had first heard about them from Paul Atterbury many years ago.

Ray Silverman, Thrown Stoneware Form, around 1983 Photo Tal Silverman

Ray Silverman, Thrown Stoneware Form, around 1983 Photo Tal Silverman

I shall leave the final words to the Museum’s director Abigail Morris who has said ““This exhibition offers a new perspective on ceramics as well as an opportunity to see some beautiful artwork. It is the first time these ceramicists have been grouped and exhibited together in this way and we hope that our visitors will enjoy discovering how Jewish ceramicists changed the face of British studio pottery”

Edmund de Waal, Arcady, P489, 2007. Photo Heini Schneebeli, courtesy of the Crafts Council

Edmund de Waal, Arcady, P489, 2007. Photo Heini Schneebeli, courtesy of the Crafts Council

jewishmuseum.org.uk

A celebration of early drawings

Old Master Drawings 1465 to 1670, Les Enluminures, 23 East 73rd Street, 7th Floor Penthouse, New York, NY 10021, USA, 20th – 28th January 2017

GERMAN SCHOOL Adoration of the Magi (200 x 282 mm.) Germany, Swabia or Franconia, c. 1465-70

GERMAN SCHOOL
Adoration of the Magi (200 x 282 mm.)
Germany, Swabia or Franconia, c. 1465-70

Les Enluminures has been selling important early drawings to both collectors and museums since 1991. These early works are becoming scarcer to source and so this is a very special exhibition of thirteen remarkable drawings which include sketches for compositions and fully worked drawings.

GERMAN SCHOOL St. John the Evangelist (189 x 100 mm.) Upper Rhine, c. 1480-90

GERMAN SCHOOL
St. John the Evangelist (189 x 100 mm.)
Upper Rhine, c. 1480-90

The gallery’s Dr Sandra Hindman sums it up: “There remains much to be learned from early drawings, and because of their increasing rarity, as well as intrinsic artistic interest, every example merits close attention and further study. Here is an uncommon opportunity for private collectors and institutions alike to acquire an Old Master drawing that documents an early moment in the history of drawing.”

FLEMISH SCHOOL A Study of Monsters and Grotesques (267 x 416 mm.) Belgium, Antwerp (?), c. 1625-1650

FLEMISH SCHOOL
A Study of Monsters and Grotesques (267 x 416 mm.)
Belgium, Antwerp (?), c. 1625-1650

http://www.lesenluminures.com

Room 90 at the BM

Maggi Hambling – Touch: works on paper, Room 90, The British Museum, until 29th January 2017 

& 

French portrait drawings from Clouet to Courbet, Room 90, The British Museum, until 29th January 2017

 

Rosie, the stuffed rhinoceros in Ipswich Museum, 1963. Ink 48.3 x 34.9 cm, Maggi Hambling © The Trustees of the British Museum

Rosie, the stuffed rhinoceros in Ipswich Museum, 1963.
Ink 48.3 x 34.9 cm,
Maggi Hambling © The Trustees of the British Museum

The British Museum’s Room 90 plays host to two very good exhibitions of drawings.  The first Touch features forty works by that great British contemporary artist Maggi Hambling who although proficient in all media – painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture – regards drawing as the heart of her working practice.

The show’s title ‘Touch’ reflects Hambling’s belief that there is a deep connection between artist and subject.  She explains: : ‘I believe the subject chooses the artist, not vice versa, and that subject must then be in charge during the act of drawing in order for the truth to be found. Eye and hand attempt to discover and produce those precise marks which will recreate what the heart feels. The challenge is to touch the subject, with all the desire of a lover.’

Father painting 16/1/94 (4), 1994. Ink on paper. 61 x 49 cm © Maggi Hambling; photo: Douglas Atfield

Father painting 16/1/94 (4), 1994.
Ink on paper. 61 x 49 cm
© Maggi Hambling; photo: Douglas Atfield

The show also marks the gift of fifteen works by the artist to the British Museum and follows on from the idea, originated by Francis Towne in 1816, of artists giving some of their works to the Museum.

Portrait of Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne and his wife Geneviève , Nicolas de Plattemontage, 1677, 260.00 x208.00 mm, Black chalk with red and white chalk on paper © The Trustees of the British Museum

Portrait of Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne and his wife Geneviève , Nicolas de Plattemontage, 1677,
260.00 x208.00 mm, Black chalk with red and white chalk on paper
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Nearby is French portrait drawings from Clouet to Courbet a wonderful selection that highlights the Museum’s notable holdings of French portrait drawings. There is something intimate about a drawing – as Maggi Hambling suggests – and so no wonder artists used it to depict family and friends.  It is also a good medium to try out new ideas of portraiture. As well as these ravishing drawings there are examples in other media including enamels, medals and an onyx cameo.

Leopold Mozart and his two children, Wolfgang Amadeus and Marie Anne, 1777, 320 x 200 mm. Watercolour and bodycolour, on contemporary gold, black and green wash mount © The Trustees of the British Museum

Leopold Mozart and his two children, Wolfgang Amadeus and Marie Anne, 1777,
320 x 200 mm. Watercolour and bodycolour, on contemporary gold, black and green wash mount
© The Trustees of the British Museum

britishmuseum.org

Gustave Courbet, Self Portrait , 570.00 x 450.00 mm, 1852, Black chalk and charcoal on paper © The Trustees of the British Museum

Gustave Courbet, Self Portrait ,
570.00 x 450.00 mm, 1852,
Black chalk and charcoal on paper
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Gilles-Marie Oppenord & Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier

BOUNTIFUL INVENTION: Drawings by Gilles-Marie Oppenord (1672-1742) and Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (1695-1750), Waddesdon Manor, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, until 23rd October 2016

 

Gilles-Marie Oppenord, Design for a salon chimney-piece, presumed to be for the Palais-Royal, Paris, c 1717; Photo Mike Fear (c) The National Trust, Waddesdon

Gilles-Marie Oppenord,
Design for a salon chimney-piece, presumed to be for the Palais-Royal, Paris, c 1717;
Photo Mike Fear (c) The National Trust, Waddesdon

Oppenord and Meissonnier are celebrated exponents of the Rococo Style that reached its apogee in France in the reign of Louis XV.  In this exhibition, chiefly drawn from Waddesdon’s own collection – there is a loan each from the Courtauld Gallery and the V&A – we get a chance to understand why they are held in such high esteem and why their designs were so eagerly sought after even in their own time.

Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier, Design for the lid of a gold box; c 1732-c 1733; The Rothschild Collection (The National Trust) . Photo Mike Fear © The National Trust, Waddesdon Manor

Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier,
Design for the lid of a gold box; c 1732-c 1733;
The Rothschild Collection (The National Trust) .
Photo Mike Fear © The National Trust, Waddesdon Manor

On view there are sketches and highly finished drawings as well as working drawings and copies for use in printmaking. Their subject matters range from architectural and ecclesiastical subjects to designs for box lids, interiors and so forth.  Some were pure whimsy but many others were created by all types of craftsmen into real and usable entities.

Gilles-Marie Oppenord, Design for a garden pavilion, for the Elector of Cologne, c 1720. The Rothschild Collection (The National Trust). Photo Mike Fear © The National Trust, Waddesdon Manor

Gilles-Marie Oppenord,
Design for a garden pavilion, for the Elector of Cologne, c 1720.
The Rothschild Collection (The National Trust).
Photo Mike Fear © The National Trust, Waddesdon Manor

Oppenord’s and Meissonnier’s designs spread throughout Europe thanks to the prints made of their drawings and they remained a source of inspiration for successive generations.

Juste-Aurèle-Meissonnier Design-for-a-Monstrance, 1727 Waddesdon, The-Rothschild Collection

Juste-Aurèle-Meissonnier
Design-for-a-Monstrance, 1727
Waddesdon, The-Rothschild Collection

http://www.waddesdon.org.uk

Metalpoint Drawing

Drawing in silver and gold: Leonardo to Jasper Johns, Room 90, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1, until 6th December 2015

Albrecht Dürer, Dog resting, c. 1520, silverpoint over charcoal? on pale pink prepared paper, 128 x 180mm. © The Trustees of the British Museum

Albrecht Dürer,
Dog resting, c. 1520,
silverpoint over charcoal? on pale pink prepared paper, 128 x 180mm.
© The Trustees of the British Museum

This exhibition is a joint venture with the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC and it looks at the technique of metalpoint drawing across the centuries and features around one hundred works drawn from collections around the world.

Susan Schwalb, Strata no. 407, 2005, silverpoint, 229 x 227mm. © Reproduced by permission of the artist

Susan Schwalb,
Strata no. 407, 2005,
silverpoint, 229 x 227mm.
© Reproduced by permission of the artist

The technique requires a metal stylus, often of silver, which was then used to draw on a roughened preparation.  The artist had to have a very clear idea of the image they wanted as it is difficult to rub out a line once drawn.  The skill and attention needed was worth it as the drawings in this exhibition eloquently show.

Leonardo da Vinci, Bust of a warrior, c. 1475, silverpoint, on cream prepared paper, 287 x 211mm. © The Trustees of the British Museum

Leonardo da Vinci,
Bust of a warrior, c. 1475,
silverpoint, on cream prepared paper, 287 x 211mm.
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Used in Italy in the 1400s but replaced by the growing popularity of chalk as a medium in the mid-16th century, it remained popular in Northern Europe until the 17th century.  It was then discarded as a technique until the revival of interest in the Renaissance in the 19th century and as this exhibition illustrates it is still used today.

 

http://www.britishmuseum.org