Matisse in the Studio

Aug21

Matisse in the Studio, The Sackler Wing, Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1, until 12^th November 2017

I am grateful to John Kirkwood to visiting and writing about this exhibition:

It isn’t often that one can visit an exhibition of works by a master such as Matisse and also see the subjects of the work on view alongside them as well. This exhibition brings together 35 objects alongside 65 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints and cut-outs and it is startling to see the very objects represented, as Tommy Cooper might have said ‘before your very eyes!’

This is the first exhibition to show that such treasures as are on display were often both the inspiration and the subject matter for the work and we must be grateful for their survival. Some of the objects are represented as you will see them but others get an interpretation from Matisse which shows his imagination and skill in transforming them into works of art. Altogether a fascinating visit to his studio.

http://www.royalacademy.org.uk

The Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition

Jul10

Summer Exhibition 2017, The Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1, until 20th August 2017

I am grateful to John Kirkwood for visiting and writing about this exhibition:

Installation view of the Summer Exhibition 2017.
Photo (c) David Parry

This year’s Show is vibrant and exciting and varied across several media. Of particular note is Yinka Shonibare’s Wind Sculpture VI in the Annenberg Courtyard which explores the notion of harnessing motion and freezing it in a moment of time.

Installation view of the Summer Exhibition 2017.
Photo (c) David Parry

Gilbert and George are showing a new large-scale work from their Beard Speak series and there are works by Phyllida Barlow, Anthony Gormley, Sean Scully, Bob and Roberta Smith and Wolfgang Tillmans – a very impressive line-up!

Installation view of the Summer Exhibition 2017.
Photo (c) David Parry

Farshoud Moussavi has curated the Architecture Gallery which celebrates architecture by focusing on construction coordination drawings which show the full complexity of a building.

Installation view of the Summer Exhibition 2017.
Photo (c) David Parry

The Charles Woolaston Award has been won by Isaac Julien for his five-screen film WESTERN UNION: Small Boats which is apparently inspired by Visconti’s The Leopard. I have to say as that is one of my favourite films I couldn’t really see the connection apart from the two films being set in Sicily, however it is well worth a look.

As always, the show is a real treat for art lovers and the standard remains as high as ever.

http://www.royalacademy.org.uk

A great celebration of Art!

Jun24

MAYFAIR ART WEEKEND, Mayfair & St James’s, London (various locations), 30^th June – 2^nd July 2017

I am grateful to John Kirkwood for attending the press conference and writing about this:

Max Mara
Ludovica Gioscia – Infinite Present, 2017. C-print on archival fuji matt paper
Courtesy Ludovica Gioscia

Now in its fourth year this celebration of Art in Mayfair features over 60 galleries, auction houses, fashion houses and restaurants who will all in their own way have something to offer the visitor.

Mayor Gallery
Tadaaki Kuwayama – Untitled (Yellow)1969, acrylic on canvas, 90x90cm.
Courtesy of Mayor Gallery

Moretti Gallery
Guido Reni, Bologna – Two Bacchantes 1639-1640.
Courtesy of Moretti Gallery

The Royal Academy of Arts will be the hub of this celebration and its courtyard will offer a place in which to relax and recover your strength to carry on through the many events planned.

Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
Gilbert & George
Courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Photo Nikolai Saoulski

There will be temporary, site-specific artworks from up and coming artists and workshops led by groups such as the Bedroom Artists’ Collective as well as informal conversations with artists, gallerists and local Mayfair figures.

Burlington Arcade
Mathilde Nivet – Birds

The Burlington Arcade has commissioned an installation by Mathilde Nivet of 300 paper birds in-flight motion in two positions – wings fully stretched or slightly bent. Not unsurprisingly the installation is called Birds!

GAFRA
Nelson Makamo – Cool Moments 2017
Courtesy of the Gallery of African Art (GAFRA)

Hignell Gallery
Ben Russell – Cactus House, Alabaster 2017
Photograph courtesy of Tanya Dolver

On Sunday there will be a workshop for kids to create their own Gallery.

Bowman Sculpture
Le Baiser (The Kiss), 2nd Reduction – Auguste Rodin.
Courtesy of Bowman Sculpture

David Zwirner
Lisa Yuskavage – Stoned 2016
Courtesy David Zwirner New York-London

Victoria Miro
Milton Avery – Young Couple (Husband and Wife), 1963. Oil on canvas. 50 x 60 in
© Milton AveryTrust

White Cube
Wayne Thiebaud – Green Dress 1966 – 2017
© Wayne Thiebaud DACS, London, VAGA, New York 2017

Simon Dickinson Gallery
Domenico Conti – Portrait of Antonio Canova in his studio completing the La Touche ‘Amorino, 1792.
Courtesy of Simon Dickenson Gallery

Partners & Mucciaccia_
Cristiano Pintaldi – Untitled,2016, acrylic on canvas, 101x105cm.
Courtesy of Partners & Mucciaccia

Pace
Nathalie du Pasquier
© 2017 Nathalie du Pasquier. Photo by Bruno Lopes

Halcyon Gallery
Dale Chihuly – Maize Persian Set with Obsidian Lip Wraps
Courtesy of Halcyon Gallery

Marlborough Fine Art
Victor Pasmore – The Cloud in the West,1987
Courtesy of Marlborough Fine Art

Stoppenbach & Delestre
Andre Derain – Collioure
Courtesy of Stoppenbach & Delestre

Mount Street Gardens
Benjamin McMahon (2014)

http://www.mayfairartweekend.com

The London Original Print Fair 2017

May2

The London Original Print Fair 2017, Main Galleries, Royal Academy of Arts, London W1 4^th – 7^th May 2017

General shot of the London Original Print Fair
Photographer credit: Benedict Johnson

This Fair always fascinates as it seamlessly combines prints from across the centuries, including newly published works by artists such as Brian Eno, Gillian Ayres, Tess J and Christopher Le Brun PRA. The talks programme includes the Annual Printmaking Talk by Cornelia Parker OBE RA and Gordon Samuel on the Grosvenor School. Definitely a place to go whether looking for works to hang on your walls or to start a collection.

Brian Eno,
Grapefruit, 2016.
Courtesy Paul Stolper, London

Claude Lorrain
Coast scene with an artist – Le dessinateur
Etching, circa 1638-41
Courtesy Christopher Mendez

Anish Kapoor
Blue Shadow 2013
Courtesy Lyndsey Ingram

Eric Ravilious,
Commander Looking Through the Periscope, 1941
Courtesy The Fine Art Society

Bridget Riley
Untitled 1962
Courtesy Karsten Schubert

http://www.londonprintfair.com

Russian Art 1917-1932

Feb20

Revolution: Russian Art 1917-1932, The Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1, until 17^thApril 2017

As I was unable to attend I asked John Kirkwood to go on my behalf – here are his thoughts:

Boris Mikailovich Kustodiev, Bolshevik, 1920
Oil on canvas, 101 x 140.5 cm
State Tretyakov Gallery
Photo (c) State Tretyakov Gallery

This exhibition to commemorate the centenary of the Russian Revolution focuses on a momentous period in Russian history between 1917, the year of the October revolution, and 1932 when Stalin began his violent suppression of the Avant-Garde.

Wassily Kandinsky, Blue Crest, 1917
Oil on canvas, 133 x 104 cm
State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Photo (c) 2016, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Divided into sections all the way from Salute The Leader, through Brave New World to Stalin’s Utopia, there is even a section on Fate of the Peasants. Stalin came to power by promising to make the lives of the peasants better but once in power he ruined their lives by forming collective farms which destroyed the existing peasants’ way of life and livelihood. All sounds a bit too familiar.

Isaak Brodsky, V.I.Lenin and Manifestation, 1919
Oil on canvas, 90 x 135 cm
The State Historical Museum
Photo (c) Provided with assistance from the State Museum and Exhibition Center ROSIZO

The post 1917 paintings are strongly nationalistic and utterly unsentimental – there is no room for doubting your allegiance to the State – but politicised as they are they remain strong and arresting images. There are works by Chagall and Kandinsky and a room dedicated to over 30 paintings and architectons of Malevich seen together for the first time since 1932 in an exact reconstruction of the hang designed by the artist for the Leningrad exhibition that year.

Alexander Deineka, Textile Workers, 1927
Oil on canvas, 161.5 x 185 cm
State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Photo (c) 2016, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
(c) DACS 2016

Kazimir Malevich, Peasants, c. 1930
Oil on canvas, 53 x 70 cm
State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Photo (c) 2016, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

http://www.royalacademy.org.uk

AT HOME: ‘Flaming June’

Dec21

‘Flaming June: The Making of an Icon’, Leighton House Museum, 12 Holland Park Rd, London, W14, until 2^nd April 2017

Flaming June: The Making of an Icon, installation shot at Leighton House Museum.
Photo: Kevin Moran. Courtesy: Leighton House Museum

What an exciting exhibition this is! Leighton’s iconic painting Flaming June has come back to the house where it was painted and not only that it is reunited with the other works that Leighton included in what was to be his last showing of work at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition because he died in January 1896.

The original installation in Frederic Leighton’s Studio, by Bedford Lemere, 1 April 1895.
©Historic England Archive. Image Courtesy of Leighton House Museum

If that were not enough on its own we are even more spoilt because it is being shown alongside other works (thanks to loans from private collections and the Metropolitan Museum of Art) that he showed at that year’s Summer Exhibition.

Frederic, Lord Leighton (1830-96), was one of the leading artists of his day and between 1878 and his death was President of the Royal Academy. Although not particularly well received at the exhibition Flaming June has become justly famous – its history is fascinating as this exhibition reveals – and is on loan from the Ponce Museum of Art in Puerto Rico.

Flaming June: The Making of an Icon, installation shot at Leighton House Museum.
Photo: Kevin Moran. Courtesy: Leighton House Museum

Thanks to the April 1895 photograph showing Flaming June and it’s fellow works before they were submitted to the Royal Academy it has been possible to give now an idea of what visitors on a studio open day would have seen.

Leighton House’s senior curator, Daniel Robbins, sums it up saying: “I am delighted that over 125 years on we can reunite these five paintings created by Leighton in the home and studio he cherished. This exhibition will be a chance for visitors to look more closely into this final body of work with Flaming June as its centrepiece and consider afresh Leighton’s achievements as an artist. I am extremely grateful to those who have loaned the works to us for the exhibition and to those who helped us track down the paintings held in private collections.”

Flaming June: The Making of an Icon, installation shot at Leighton House Museum.
Photo: Kevin Moran. Courtesy: Leighton House Museum

Open daily except Tuesdays, 10am – 5.30pm but check for opening times over the holiday period.

http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/FlamingJune

‘Gibson of Rome’

Sep21

John Gibson RA: A British Sculptor in Rome, Tennant Gallery and Council Room, Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1, until 18th December 2016

John Gibson, R.A. (1790-1866)
Sleeping Shepherd Boy
1818
Bequeathed by John Gibson, R.A., 1866
Plaster
110.50 x 47.0 x 94.0 cm
Photo credit: (c) Royal Academy of Arts, London

It is a hundred and fifty years since the death of John Gibson RA (1790-1866) who was a leading neoclassical sculptor of his time. He was born in the Welsh town of Conwy but when still a child moved with his family to Liverpool. He was enthralled by Ancient Greek and Roman Art from an early age and his artistic talent and enthusiasm was recognised by a group of supporters who raised the wherewithal for him to go on a study trip to Italy in 1817.

John Gibson, R.A. (1790-1866)
Cupid pursuing Psyche
Before 1843
Bequeathed by John Gibson, R.A., 1866
Marble relief
72.40 x 103.50 x 10.50 cm
Photo credit: (c) Royal Academy of Arts, London

In Rome he was able to study under the leading sculptor of the day, Antonio Canova and was urged by him to set up a studio in Rome. Gibson did so and thanks to a European clientele decided to settle there saying: ‘In England my life would be spent in making busts and statues of great men in coats and neckties; here I am employed upon poetical subjects which demand the exercise of the imagination, and the knowledge of the beautiful.’. His sculptures were also popular in this country where he was known as ‘Gibson of Rome’ and by 1844 (the year of his first return visit) he counted the Queen and Prince Albert among his patrons. In 1836 he was elected as a Royal Academician.

Sir Edwin Landseer, R.A. (1802-1873)
Portrait of John Gibson, R.A.
ca.1850
Bequeathed by Sir Edwin Landseer, R.A., 1874
92.50 x 72.0 x 2.50 cm
Oil on canvas
Photo credit: (c) Royal Academy of Arts, London; Photographer: John Hammond

He had bequeathed his artworks to the Royal Academy on his death in 1866 and works on show in this exhibition and others on display at Bodelwyddan Castle, Denbighshire, Wales are part of this significant bequest.

John Gibson, R.A. (1790-1866)
Monument to Lady Leicester: Angel carrying infant and leading mother to heaven
ca.1844
Bequeathed by John Gibson, R.A., 1866
Plaster cast
181.0 x 126.50 x 18.0 cm
Photo credit: (c) Royal Academy of Arts, London

This exhibition is complemented by a virtual exhibition ‘The Gibson Trail’ which has images and information on over one hundred and fifty objects in the collections of the Royal Academy, the Victoria & Albert Museum, Tate Britain, the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey, the National Portrait Gallery and Buckingham Palace. The website www.gibson-trail.uk includes an interactive map showing the locations of Gibson’s works in the capital.

The Tennant Gallery and Council Room Dates and Opening Hours Exhibition open to the public: 8 September – 18 December 2016 Tuesday – Friday, 10am – 4pm Saturday – Sunday, 10am – 6pm Closed Monday

www.royalacademy.org.uk

Amuse Bouche: Hockney

Sep2

David Hockney RA: 82 Portraits and 1 Still Life, Royal Academy of Arts, The Sackler Wing of Galleries, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1, until 2^nd October 2016

David Hockney at the Royal Academy of Arts
(c) David Parry/ Royal Academy of Arts

Go! See!

Exhibition tickets for David Hockney RA: 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life must be pre-booked.

http://www.royalacademy.org.uk

The 248th!

Jul18

Summer Exhibition 2016, Royal Academy of Art, Main Galleries, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1, until 21st August 2016

Installation view of the Summer Exhibition 2016
(c) Stephen White

This year’s exhibition is the 248th one and it has been co-ordinated by the well-known sculptor Richard Wilson RA. Noted artistic duos have been the inspiration for this years show and as you move around the galleries you will find works by more than twenty of them.

Installation view of the Summer Exhibition 2016
(c) Stephen White

Among those invited are Heather & Ivan Morison, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Boyd & Evans, Tim Noble & Sue Webster, Langlands & Bell and Pierre et Gilles. Their works are among the twelve hundred works garnered from this year’s twelve thousand entries. Did I like it? Slightly more so on my second visit.

Installation view of the Summer Exhibition 2016
(c) Stephen White

On arrival and departure do look at the screen on the Academy’s facade because you may have been caught on the camera that is part of Ron Arad’s wonderful 16 metre kinetic sculpture Spyre.

Pierre et Gilles
Marie Antoinette, le hameau de la reine (Marie Antoinette, The Queen’s Hamlet), 2014
Hand-painted photograph on canvas
154 x 139 cm
Photo courtesy of the artists and Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris â Brussels

http://www.royalacademy.org.uk

Installation view of the Summer Exhibition 2016
(c) Stephen White

Prints Galore!

May4

The London Original Print Fair 2016, Main Galleries, Royal Academy of Arts, London W1, 5th May – 8th May 2016

Bill Jacklin
Stars and Sea at Night XVII, 2016,
75 x 100.5 cm
Marlborough Graphics

It is hard to believe that this Fair, which is the largest in Europe dedicated to prints, is entering its fourth decade and this year’s welcomes some fifty of the world’s top print dealers and publishers. So whether your taste is for contemporary of old masters this is the place to come.

David Spiller
With Love (Mickey), 2016
25 Colour Silkscreen print on hand torn Somerset smooth 400 gsm paper
Signed and editioned by the artist
Edition of 95
Image size 76 x 76 cm, Paper size 88 x 89 cm
TAG Fine Arts

Robert Motherwell, Automatism Elegy (State II Buff), 1980,
Lithograph, Edition of 50, 40.3 x 50.8 cms (15 7/8 x 20 ins)
Image courtesy of Bernard Jacobson Gallery

Michael Craig-Martin
Headphones From: Fragments, 2015
Screenprint with protective glaze on Somerset Tub Sized Satin 410 gsm
Paper and image 90.0 x 90.0 cm
Edition of 35
Courtesy Michael Craig-Martin and Alan Cristea Gallery, London

Peter Lanyon,
Cornish Landscape, 1958,
Lithograph, 48.5 x 36.2,
Courtesy Osborne Samuel

www.londonprintfair.com

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Tag Archives: Royal Academy of Arts

Matisse in the Studio

The Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition

I am grateful to John Kirkwood for visiting and writing about this exhibition:

A great celebration of Art!

I am grateful to John Kirkwood for attending the press conference and writing about this:

The London Original Print Fair 2017

Russian Art 1917-1932

AT HOME: ‘Flaming June’

‘Gibson of Rome’

Amuse Bouche: Hockney

The 248th!

Prints Galore!