Tag Archives: Messum’s

The 2017 20/21 British Art Fair

The 20/21 British Art Fair, Mall Galleries, The Mall, London SW1, 13th– 17th September 2017

Rose Hilton – Self Portrait with Model,
Oil on Canvas, 72 x 92 cm.

After a year’s absence – its old venue was no longer available – this popular Fair returns to central London. Its new venue is the Mall Galleries so very central indeed.

Ken Smith – Free Fall,
Hopton Wood Stone, 25 x 10 x 10 cm

The thirty-three leading dealers taking part bring a fine selection of works, especially Modern and Post War pieces. I have taken this opportunity to show some works from Messum’s who were founded in 1963 and specialise in paintings and sculpture.

David Blackburn (1939 – 2016) Gasometer and Orange Sky,
Pastel, 37 x 41 cm

http://www.britishartfair.co.uk

 

“Strong, bright colours”

Eardley Knollys, Messum’s, 28 Cork Street, London W1, until 20th May 2016

Eardley Knollys Reflections at Mottisfont oil on canvas H 91 x W 64 cm

Eardley Knollys
Reflections at Mottisfont
oil on canvas
H 91 x W 64 cm

Many of these works by Eardley Knollys (1902-1991) have not been seen before.  He said of his work in an early exhibition catalogue “I have always loved strong, bright colours – muddy ones seem to me symbols of gloom. This led me to the Pont Aven and Fauve painters, and they remain my favourites… I try to drive along the splendid road they opened – in my own car of course and with some personal diversions.”

Now we have chance to once more enter his colourful, elegant world.

  www.messums.com

THREE SHOWS IN CORK STREET

David Blackburn: A Search for the Inexpressible, Messum’s, 28 Cork Street, London W1, until 11th March 2016

GREY AUSTRALIA, pastel and collage, 1983, H 41 x W 37 cm (H 16 1⁄8 x W 14 5⁄8 in)

GREY AUSTRALIA, pastel and collage, 1983, H 41 x W 37 cm (H 16 1⁄8 x W 14 5⁄8 in)

Although scenes in Australia and America are the subject of these somewhat abstract pastels the artist describes the way he depicts them as ‘a sort of visionary geometry’. I certainly feel that he also reflects his native Yorkshire in some of the wonderful colours he uses and it is quite understandable why he has such an international reputation.

SUMMER SUNLIGHT, pastel, 2003, H 65 x W 51 cm (H 25 5⁄8 x W 20 1⁄8 in)

SUMMER SUNLIGHT, pastel, 2003, H 65 x W 51 cm (H 25 5⁄8 x W 20 1⁄8 in)

www.messums.com

 

Gabo’s Monoprints: A Family Collection, Alan Cristea, 34 Cork Street, London W1, until 12th March 2016

Naum Gabo Opus Four (Family name – The Lyrebird), 1950 Monoprint in dark brown from a professionally made end-grain block. Paper 22.9 x 15.3 cm / Image 15.9 x 13.7 cm Inscribed For my dearly beloved daughter Nina Serafima on Her Seventeenth Birthday from her Father Gabo May 26th 1958 Courtesy Nina and Graham Williams and Alan Cristea Gallery, London

Naum Gabo
Opus Four (Family name – The Lyrebird), 1950
Monoprint in dark brown from a professionally made end-grain block.
Paper 22.9 x 15.3 cm / Image 15.9 x 13.7 cm
Inscribed For my dearly beloved daughter Nina Serafima on Her Seventeenth Birthday from her Father Gabo May 26th 1958
Courtesy Nina and Graham Williams and Alan Cristea Gallery, London

This is the first time that these prints made by the celebrated Russian sculptor Naum Gabo (1890 – 1977) have been seen publicly. He was persuaded at the age of sixty to make prints and the first – Opus 1 – is on a small circular piece of tissue. He used the same woodblock to make another print which he gave to his daughter Nina for her ninth birthday in May 1950.

Naum Gabo Opus Eight, date unknown Monoprint from block of Florida Boxwood. Paper 30.2 x 23.8 cm Courtesy Nina and Graham Williams and Alan Cristea Gallery, London

Naum Gabo
Opus Eight, date unknown
Monoprint from block of Florida Boxwood.
Paper 30.2 x 23.8 cm
Courtesy Nina and Graham Williams and Alan Cristea Gallery, London

He went on to produce a serious body of woodcuts (Opus I – XXII) until his death. His daughter and her husband have particularly treasured those received as gifts and even given them special names.  This is a unique opportunity join them in their admiration of Gabo’s work.

http://www.alancristea.com

 

Boyd and Evans – Overland, Flowers, 21 Cork Street, London W1, until 12th March 2016

Boyd & Evans, Tonopah NV, 2015 (c) Boyd & Evans, Courtesy of Flowers Gallery London and New York

Boyd & Evans, Tonopah NV, 2015
(c) Boyd & Evans, Courtesy of Flowers Gallery London and New York

This show of works by Boyd & Evans of large-scale photographs continues their exploration of the wild landscapes of America’s south-west. It is almost a visual diary, one they have been working on since the 70’s.  These new works show signs of human occupation but with no human figures raising the question are they now abandoned or unused places?

Boyd & Evans, Benton Springs CA, 2015 (c) Boyd & Evans, Courtesy of Flowers Gallery London and New York

Boyd & Evans, Benton Springs CA, 2015
(c) Boyd & Evans, Courtesy of Flowers Gallery London and New York

http://www.flowersgallery.com

A Private Paradise

Lionel Bulmer & Margaret Green – a private paradise, Messum’s Fine Art, 28 Cork Street, London W1, until 24th December 2015

Lionel Bulmer (1919-1992) NEAC, Night Windows, 1957, Oil on Board, H 92 x W 122 cm

Lionel Bulmer (1919-1992) NEAC,
Night Windows, 1957,
Oil on Board, H 92 x W 122 cm

This is a rather special exhibition that reveals both the artistic and private world of these two artists who met at the Royal College of Art after the war and became inseparable, so much so their friends referred to them as Margaretandlionel.

Margaret Green (1925-2003) NEAC, Walberswick Ferry, circa 1965, Oil on Board, H 39 x W 49 cm

Margaret Green (1925-2003) NEAC,
Walberswick Ferry, circa 1965,
Oil on Board, H 39 x W 49 cm

It would have been wrong not to include a work depicting Warbleswick as together with neighbouring Southwold it was a place they loved for several decades and I, for one, totally agree with them in that.

 

http://www.messums.com

Messum’s Fine Art

The Elemental North: Jake Attree & David Blackburn, Messum’s Fine Art, 28 Cork Street, London W1, until 6th February, 2015
It is not because of having lived there that I really like this show of work by two Yorkshire artists but because of their very differing skills in depicting and more importantly, capturing a sense of place.

David Blackburn b. 1939 ACROSS THE VIADUCT, 2005 pastel 48 x 36 cm Courtesy of Messum's Fine Art

David Blackburn b. 1939
ACROSS THE VIADUCT, 2005
pastel
48 x 36 cm
Courtesy of Messum’s Fine Art

David Blackburn’s pastels reflect his having lived in Australia in the 60s and 70s and engagingly challenge our concepts of the horizon and what we see. Instead they demonstrate “the relationship between the unnoticed and the infinite”.

Jake Attree b.1950 The Bank of the River Aire - Early Morning oil pastel on card 58 x 61 cm Courtesy of Messum's Fine Art

Jake Attree b.1950
The Bank of the River Aire – Early Morning
oil pastel on card
58 x 61 cm
Courtesy of Messum’s Fine Art

Jake Attree’s works are of more familiar form but his use of impasto presents an individual approach which when depicting a building such as York Minster has a sculptural element too. There is almost an air of mystery to his works, a sense of time stood still.
There is also a similar exhibition at Brooksbank School in Yorkshire (20th – 30th January) bearing the same title. It features work by sixth form pupils and recent alumni hanging alongside works by Attree and Blackburn and is aimed at giving the students a fuller picture of the commercial art world.
You will not be surprised to learn that David Blackburn was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List for his services to art.

http://www.messums.com