Review: Julia Margaret Cameron at the V&A

I learned a few new things about the Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron at the preview of the exhibition of her photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum - which opened last week.

View of the Julia Margaret Cameron exhibition

There are currently two exhibitions about Cameron in the museums of South Kensington

• The Julia Margaret Cameron Exhibition is on display in Room 100 (the Photographs Gallery) at the V&A until 21st February 2015 - open daily 10:00 to 17:45.  FREE.
• There is a companion exhibition up the road in the Media Space at the Science Museum - Julia Margaret Cameron: Influence and Intimacy which continues until 28th March 2015

Drawn entirely from the world-class National Photography Collection, the exhibition features the Herschel Album (1864), a sequence of 94 images which Cameron considered to be her finest work to date.Science Museum: Julia Margaret Cameron: Influence and Intimacy

If you're going to one I'd recommend you also see the other as well. (Although I personally diverted via the amazing ceramic collection on the 6th floor to the art of the Bauer Brothers - in the Images of Nature Gallery next door at the Natural History Museum).

However a number of the reviews listed at the end are by people who "did the double".

Things I learned about Cameron the photographer included:

• she was a mother of six who took up photography at the age of 48
• her first camera was a gift from her daughter and son in law

"It may amuse you, Mother, to try to photograph during your solitude at Freshwater." 

• 2015 marks 
• the bicentenary of her birth in 1815
• the 150th year since her first and only museum exhibition at the V&A in 1865

Within two years Cameron had sold and given her photographs to the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) and in 1868, the Museum granted her the use of two rooms as a portrait studio.

Henry Cole, Julia Margaret Cameron, c. 1868 

© Royal Society of Art, London

• She had a good relationship with Henry Cole, the Director of the South Kensington Museum 
• She became the V&A's first artist in residence when she was granted use of two room within the precincts of the Museum to use as a portrait studio. Here she used to photograph people who lived in London
• she was an innovator:
• she pioneered the close up and close cropped portrait and, as a result, influenced the photographers of today
• she created photographs which resembled paintings
• she was the first photographer to take a photograph deliberately out of focus
• she was also none too bothered about fingerprints on photographs!
• she was a friend of a number of eminent Victorians - artists, thinkers and scientists.

I found one of the most difficult things with this exhibition was trying to keep in mind the difference between Cameron's own photographs and those of the typical Victorian photographer. I think I could have done with a bit of context to highlight the contrast in practice.

The exhibition is structured around four letters sent by Cameron to Cole and has four sections - which focus around:

• her early aspirations and photographs
• how she began to develop both confidence in portraiture and innovation in terms of techniques
• the need to earn money from her photographs and in particular photographic portraits
• an insight into her working methods

The exhibition includes groups of photographs around a particular theme

Fancy Subjects for Pictorial Effects - covers a set of photographs which either strive to interpret paintings or otherwise employ some device for pictorial effect.

Circe, Julia Margaret Cameron, 1865
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

One of these was her Madonna Groups

The Madonna Groups

Fortune as well as fame - Cameron started out with the notion that she could make money from her photographs. Indeed one of the things which came across to me quite strongly in the exhibitions was that this was a woman who had an eye on every angle and wasn't above exploiting every connection she had.

This exhibition includes a number of large format portraits. Cameron counted a number of eminent Victorians as friends - the scientists Charles Darwin and Sir John Herschel; the painter G. F. Watts; the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson (who was her neighbour at Freshwater on the Isle of Wight); and the historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle. The exhibition includes the photographs she took of them

I personally liked her portraits much better than her 'arty' photographs.

Charles Darwin, Julia Margaret Cameron, 
1868, printed 1875
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Whisper of the Muse, Julia Margaret Cameron, 1865 - a portrait of the painter GF Watts who Cameron considered to be her chief artistic inspiration.
Here he is receiving a whisper of inspiration
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Julia Jackson, Julia Margaret Cameron, 1867
later Julia Stephen, Cameron's niece, her favourite subject, and the mother of the author Virginia Woolf
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The last section is devoted to "Her Mistakes or Her Successes" referencing the aspects of her technique which would have been mistakes in other people's eyes but which became an intrinsic part of her working approach. She used very careful lighting, soft focus and long exposures to make her photographs somehow seem more real.

This section also includes a recently discovered set of photographs which used to belong to GF Watts which show the flaws in her approach at the most extreme and also the outcomes of the technical challenge of working with potentially hazardous chemicals.

A set of "Defective Unmounted Impressions"

I also learned that the Victoria and Albert Museum was the first museum in the world to create a permanent collection of photographs - and to exhibit photographs as works of art.

It's certainly a Museum with a special place in the history of photography as a visual art.  This is the subject hub for photography at the V&A on the V&A website.

More information

Julia Margaret Cameron: Photographs to electrify you with delight and startle the world by Marta Weiss has been published to accompany the exhibition.
These are links to:

• a biography of Julia Margaret Cameron
• the page on the V&A website about 19th Century Photography

Other reviews

• ‘I love the darkness of her reality’ by Sarah Burton | Financial Times
• Julia Margaret Cameron; Influence and Intimacy reviews – the fine art of keeping still | The Observer
• Julia Margaret Cameron: the Leonardo of photography - Martin Gayford | The Spectator
• Julia Margaret Cameron, Science Museum and V&A, review: 'bold virtuosity' | The Telegraph 
• Julia Margaret Cameron, V&A, exhibition review: Electrifying pioneer turns photography into poetry | Evening Standard

Selected Artists - The Columbia Threadneedle Prize 2016

The names of the artists and artwork selected for The Columbia Threadneedle Prize have been announced. You can find them below - along with some of the images of the artwork

The last Threadneedle Prize awards Dinner - in the middle of the exhibition
at the Mall Galleries

You will recall I posted the The Columbia Threadneedle Prize - Call for Entries back in July. This week those who entered the competition got to find out who has been selected for the exhibition from 3 to 20 February 2016 at the Mall Galleries in London.

There's also going to be a second exhibition of many of the works at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence (the city’s largest temporary exhibition space), for a special four-week exhibition opening in June 2016.

I know some of the artists selected below - and I've been drawn by one of them!

If you've been selected and would like an image of your artwork featured in this blog post please get in contact (how to contact me details are in the side column)

Two Works

• Maria Bowers - studied graphic design at Bath College of Higher Education (1991) completed a MA in Multidisciplinary Printmaking at UWE, Bristol; regular exhibitor at Royal West of England Academy
• Justice (photo etching)
• Lily (photo etching)
• Lewis Chamberlain b.1966 Studied at Slade; won First Prize Discerning Eye 2001
• Play Horse
• To Mark An Occasion

Lewis is celebrated for his hyper-realistic pencil drawings which can take as much as four years to complete

• Tomas Clayton b.1957 - portrait painter in oils and freelance graphic designer and illustrator. I've seen his work before and was very impressed by it and featured it in this blog post about the 2012 annual exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters
• Apres La Guerre  - see below
• Chere Capucine - see below

Apres la guerre 1915-2015
Oil on Masonite, 50cm x 53cm
Copyright Tom Clayton

‘Chère Capucine 1915-2015′
Oil on Masonite, 68cm x 75cm
Copyright Tom Clayton

• Stephen Read Lives and works in England. Exhibited in Threadneedle Prize in 2009
• Hut 21
• Too Much Intelligence

Hut 21
oil on board, 95 x 120 cmcopyright Stephen Read

Too Much Intelligence
oil on board, 95 x 120 cm
copyright Stephen Read

• Chris Thomas b.1947 Also selected for the Northern New Light Prize in 2015
• Reflection Study 1
• Sheep with their Lambs

One Work

A

• Thomas Allen b.1989 - What is Planted - on the Threadneedle Prize Final Shortlist in 2014  - I remember his work very well, it was stunning and demonstrates that you can make very large drawings and they can get into the exhibitions of pretigious prizes.

What is Planted
chacoal and sanguine, 180 x 90cm
copyright Thomas Allen

• Claire Anscomb - Noel Carroll - Works in graphite. Selected for the Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2013 and the Threadbeedle Prize in 2014
• Edward Anthony - Ron Arad
• Yuki Aruga - Severance (see below) - b.1985 in London and lives and works in London.

Make art in Rome - on a scholarship!

Would you like to spend a month in Rome with a studio, room and board provided?

This post is about opportunities to spend time in Rome painting - supported by a scholarship or other Funding.

The Forum Seen from the Farnese Gardens (1826) by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
H. 0.28 m; W. 0.50 m

The RBA Rome Scholarship 2016

The prize is presented with a view to offer an enriching learning experience for a young graduate as well as improving their profile as an emerging artist.

Who is eligible:

• painters, printmakers or sculptors
• in their final year or within 3 years of graduation

Deadline for entry: December 31st 2015

What's on offer:

• Four weeks at Sala Uno, a highly prestigious gallery and international arts centre in the heart of Rome. This is The Gallery
• Accommodation is in a self-contained apartment, situated within a wonderful and extensive walled garden in the grounds of the gallery
• Studio space will be available within the gallery
• Half-board, breakfast and evening meal, is provided at a nearby restaurant
• Return flights are included

Conditions for entry:

• Application:
• The applicants' work needs to be figurative
• Six images of recent work to be provided, by email to Mick Davies (see this page for his email address) 
• Download and complete the Application Form
• First stage: select 20 artists from the entire entry 
• Second Stage - an Exhibition: the 20 semi-finalists are invited to send exhibit work at the "RBA Rising Stars" exhibition at The Gallery@Lloyd's Register (February to March 2016), in the City of London. 
• All works may be for sale [no commission taken by Lloyd's or the RBA] (This is a link to the 2015 exhibition website).  
• Exhibition space will be limited. Large scale works should be accompanied by smaller works
• Due to the location of The Gallery at Lloyd's Register (i.e.) it's a ‘walk through’ for various businesses situated in the building), they request that exhibits should not include naked forms or subject matter which may give offence to certain groups
• Semi-finalists are responsible for the delivery and collection of their own works
• Third Stage: Select four finalists to 
• interview at the Mall Galleries, in central London. Finalists should bring with them any sketchbooks or journals demonstrating their exploration of techniques or development of their ideas
• exhibit one work (for sale) at the RBA Annual Exhibition in March
• Awardwinner: the winning candidate will be announced by the President of the RBA at the Private View.

Sponsor: The Royal Society of British Artists is able to offer this major scholarship through a bequest from the late Mr. G H Benn in memory of his late wife Marianne Von Werther(1901-1984), a former member of the RBA.

Further Information:

• Previous Rome Scholars
• Emerging Artist Opportunities at the FBA

More Rome Sholarships in 2016-17

The British School at Rome also offer scholarships for longer periods of time for

• humanities (scholars/academics) - including the BSR-Henry Moore Foundation Fellowship in Sculpture and the Giles Worsley Rome Fellowship for architects and architectural historians
• visual artists
• architecture

Visual Arts Awards by The Britis School at Rome

Who is eligible: 

• artists at different stages of their careers

What's on offer: 

• an opportunity to research and focus on their work away from normal pressures, and to use the BSR as a base to explore Rome and Italy.
• Awards include board and accommodation in one of our purpose-designed artist’s studios which include a mezzanine bedroom and en-suite bathroom. 
• Award-holders are required to live at the BSR throughout the period of the award.

The closing dates for residencies for 2015-16 were earlier this year. Information is still given below to show the range of awards usually available. Information upon the awards available for 2016-17 is being prepared. Please revisit this page in late November to see the latest details of the other awards available for 2016-17.

• Rome Fellowship in Contemporary Art
• BSR-Henry Moore Foundation Fellowship in Sculpture
• Sainsbury Scholarship in Painting and Sculpture
• Derek Hill Foundation Scholarship
• Abbey Fellowships in Painting
• Abbey Scholarship in Painting
• Australia Council Residencies
• General Visual Art Selection Criteria

£30,000 BP Portrait Award 2016 - How to enter and how to get selected

The Call for Entries for the BP Portrait Award 2016 was published yesterday on the National Portait Gallery website - so it's time to write my Annual Guide to how to enter and how to improve your chances of being selected! Many of those who've been selected in the past have told me they've found it very helpful.

The closing date for digital entries from artists all over the world is 2nd February 2016.

BP Portrait 2015 - after the Awards Ceremony
Second Prizewinner Michael Gaskell (for the 4th time!) (link is to a video interview with him)
with Peter Monkman (2009 Winner) who was one of the Judges in 2015

This year the image which will feature on the competition website's home page is that of second prizewinner Michael Gaskell who has now won second prize a total of four times!

What this post covers

This post covers:

• 12 reasons why this is a competition worth entering - which includes details of the significan prize money
• How to enter for those who don't like the small print. I won't cover every last detail - so you still have to read ALL the conditions but sometimes it helps to have an introduction first! :)
• The Judges - plus a video of a judge explaining how the process works
• How to get selected - my suggestions for how to improve your chances of selection. Plus a video of a past winner explaining the process and how it worked for her.
• The Exhibition
• links to past posts about previous BP Portrait Award winners and exhibition reviews on this blog going back to 2007

What's different in 2016

The major change this year is that the conditions and the rules now have a white background and are a lot easier to read. 

For those who didn't enter last year the major change in 2015 was that postal entries are no longer accepted and the entry is process is digital.

If any of you spot anything else that has changed please leave a comment and I'll do an update.

BP Portrait 2015: Judges's Choice for First Prize on the left
'Annabelle and Guy' by Matan Ben Cnaan,  
Winner of the BP Portrait Award 2015 Visitors' Choice on the right
'Juanito' by José Luis Corella
Photo © Katherine Tyrrell

12 great reasons to enter the BP Portrait Award 2016

This is a "game changer" of a prize. It typically has a very positive impact on the careers of artists who win the top prize - for all the reasons listed below

23rd November 2015: Who's made a mark?

A round-up of recent posts about art, artists, art exhibitions and news relevant to art by me and others in newspapers, journals, blogs and Facebook

A new exhibition Artist & Empire opens at Tate Britian this week.
Mahadaji Sindhia entertaining a British naval officer and military officer with a Nautch c.1815-20
Anonymous Delhi School
Watercolour on paper, 222 x 317 mm | British Library

The most popular posts I've shared on facebook this month have been to do with 'being an artist' and the value of art.

They are:

• RECOMMENDED: Laura Cumming's article in The Observer about The seven ages of an artist. The article - besides commenting on the observations of several famous articles - links to a number of other articles about interviews with seven leading artists (aged 24 to 80) who were asked what they haved learned from a life in art

Degas “Everyone has talent at 25, the difficulty is to have it still at 50.”

• RECOMMENDED: Would you like to generate "a significant improvement in psychological resilience"? My post How art changes your brain - the well-being value of drawing and painting to older people is a summary of the recent German scientific study of older people. Start drawing and painting in your old age! Art appreciation doesn't work as well as actually making and creating! 
• RECOMMENDED: An Education Next  journal article by Jay P. Greene, Brian Kisida and Daniel H. Bowen is very relevant to both teachers and parents. The Educational Value of Field Trips suggests taking students to an art museum improves critical thinking skills, and more. It subsequently stimulated this article - Science says Art will make your kids better thinkers (and nicer people)  - which subsequently 'went viral'

Art Competitions & Call for Entries

Larry Lamb with his exhibition within the exhibition

Art Competitions

• ING Discerning Eye 2015:
• These are the Prizewinners - ING Discerning Eye 2015
• My review of the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2015 - including things that surprised me, things that didn't and things worth noting.
• These are the Prizewinners - Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Competition 2015

Call for Entries

• Attention all painters in water-based media!
• the Royal Watercolour Society has published its CALL FOR ENTRIES for its 2016 Contemporary Watercolour Competition which is open to entries from International Artists. The deadline is 18th January and the exhibition will be held at the Bankside Gallery in March 2016
• There has been a Call for Entries: Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours Annual Exhibition 2016 and my post provides an overview of what is required

Art Business & Marketing

Branding & Communication

• Want to improve your profile on social media? Check out How to describe yourself as an artist on social media

Know Your Worth

• This article Watch What Happens When You Ask Non-Creative Professionals to Work for Free has a great video which highlights why visual artists - including artists and photographers - should be a bit more circumspect before giving away their services for free. 
• Bottom line if you consider yourself to be a professional then behave like one!
• Also remember to treat others in the visual arts fields as professionals as well eg photographers and fine art printers. As one person pointed out below....

This includes the printing industry. Especially when a client wants to make a change after they send they receive the proof. They want to know why it will cost more money. If I had a dime for every time I had to explain that I'd be retired.

Selling Art

I've highlighted a number of aspects of new information on my new Art Business Info. for Artists website recently on its new blog. These are:

• The first blog post covers a couple of guides for those wanting to sell their art via exhibitions or art fairs. These are:
• A Guide to Art Dealers and Galleries. This has facts about the different roles of the Art Gallery and the Art Dealer and facts about representation
• Plus a guide to Alternative Exhibition Options the vanity gallery, art co-operative and renting a space in a commercial gallery
• A Guide to Art Agents, Art Buyers and Art Consultants - for all those wanting to know about whether agents can help them sell art. 
• It defines the different roles of the different players in the marketplace e.g. how to find an agent, what they can do for artists and how they work​
• It gives you checklists eg Are you ready for an agent? and Working with an art agent
• It provides a list of reference articles where you can find different perspectives and more in-depth information
• Another page provides checklists of things to think about for those wanting to think about Selling Art from Home

Residencies

• Dorothy Una Ratcliffe Fellowship 2016: The National Trust have a 3–month fellowship for an artist/illustrator (individual or collaborative) at Acorn Bank near Penrith, in the Lake District during the spring months of 2016. The deadline for applicants is Monday 30 November 2015, 5pm

Art History, Museums & Exhibitions

Search Quality Guidelines: Find out how Google rates websites

Ever wondered how Google rates websites to determine how they rank in their search engine?

The aim of this post is to:

• tell you the latest news from Google - it will impact on whether and how often people find your website or blog
• relate what Google says about how to rate websites to things that artists do on or with their websites. Every so often you will see a TIP.

What's New?

Google did something extremely unusual this month.

For the very first time, Google published the entire document of Guidelines given to people who evaluate websites for the purposes of influencing the factors used in the Google Search Engine algorithm (the thing which determines which websites rank well or badly).

This is because:

• they've just done an update and 
• they want more and more people to understand how sites are rated for search queries via mobile devices.

What it also means is that Google are helping us to understand better about what matters, how you can help you website - and how you can mess up!

The reason I take what Google says seriously is demonstrated by the chart below. Nearly 95% of the search queries whioch generate traffic for this blog come via Google.

I haven't read every aspect of the Guidelines as yet - and consequently may come back and update this post.

How search quality evaluation works

Google hires people to evaluate websites according to a very structured and very detailed regime. This assessment regime is detailed in the Guidelines Manual which has now been released in full and fully up to date.

The results of the assessments help Google to determine the weighting of the various factors which are incorporated into the algorithm which actually determines the rankings of websites within the Google Search Engine - in relation to specific queries.

Thus for example it might determine how important how recent new content or relevance to a local context might be.

Documentation

Updating Our Search Quality Rating Guidelines was the blog post on the Official Google Webmaster Central Blog "Official news on crawling and indexing sites for the Google index"

Some people missed it but buried in the text was a link to a 160 page PDF document titled 'General Guidelines' and dated 12th November 2015.

You can download this SEO Gold Mine for free !

People have described this document as being leaked but I'm not sure how a link in an official blog gets evaluated as being a leak.  I think maybe they just like to call it a "leak" as it makes for a good story!

If you read the blog post, Google makes it quite clear

In 2013, we published our human rating guidelines to provide transparency on how Google works and to help webmasters understand what Google looks for in web pages. Since that time, a lot has changed: notably, more people have smartphones than ever before and more searches are done on mobile devices today than on computers.

We often make changes to the guidelines as our understanding of what users wants evolves, but we haven’t shared an update publicly since then. However, we recently completed a major revision of our rater guidelines to adapt to this mobile world, recognizing that people use search differently when they carry internet-connected devices with them all the time.

Thus the key change is the impact of mobile devices - and this is recognised in terms of:

• the inclusion of  Part 2 - Understanding Mobile Needs 
• plus lots of examples in the Guidelines uses the mobile view to demonstrate what they mean

So what do the Guidelines say

Quality

The Guidelines define in some considerable detail what they mean by different levels of quality. 

Below are reasons for assessing a page as being of Low Quality. (MC means "main content"; SC means "supplementary content")

If a page has one of the following characteristics, the Low rating is usually appropriate:

• The quality of the MC is low. 

• There is an unsatisfying amount of MC for the purpose of the page. 

• The author of the page or website does not have enough expertise for the topic of the page and/or the website is not trustworthy or authoritative for the topic. In other words, the page/website is lacking E-A-T. 

• The website has a negative reputation. 

• The SC is distracting or unhelpful for the purpose of the page.

Below is the definition of what makes a High Quality Page.

Extract from page 20

It needs at least one characteristic out of:

• a satisfying amount of high quality "main content" (ie MC = what your website is about)
• The page and author are expert. authoritative and trustworthy for the topic of the page
• the website has a good repuattion for the topic of the page.

PLUS Google also wants to see:

• who you are and how you can be contacted
• Supplementary Content (SC) which makes for a satisfying a user experience on the page and website
• a website which is designed in such a way that the user knows what is main content and which is supplementary - and it allows people to navigate between the two
• "a website which is well cared for and maintained" (i.e. updated from time to time and not ignored e.g. old and out of date content is removed)

In terms of the best content....

We will consider the MC of the page to be very high or highest quality when it is created with a high degree of time and effort, and in particular, expertise, talent, and skill. Very high quality MC may be created by experts, hobbyists, or even people with everyday expertise. Our standards depend on the purpose of the page and the type of content. The Highest rating may be justified for pages with a satisfying or comprehensive amount of very high quality MC.

TIP: In terms of artists, first-person experience is considered to be one way of defining expertise. Hence artists who write extremely detailed and helpful reviews of products or places are likely to give their websites or blogs a boost!

When it comes to rating a website or blog this is what the Guidelines say (Page )

The top three most important PQ considerations are:

• Quality and quantity of Main Content. Examine the MC carefully. Given the purpose of the page, evaluate the quality and quantity of MC. 

• Level of expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) of the page and the website. The level of E-A-T is extremely important for YMYL pages. 

• Reputation of the website. The reputation of a website is very important when the website demands a high level of trust.

New Topics in this Version

The guidelines have a NEW emphasis on 'mobile'.  Thus we have Part 2: Understanding Mobile User Needs

There is also something called "Needs met". This aims to distinguish between pages which deliver a very fast and appropriate response on recent events - which must be fresh - and older authoritative websites which might only update occasionally (ie authoritative information doesn't tend to change every five minutes)

New approaches

The quality raters will be testing via mobile devices as well as from a desktop.

TIP: The emphasis on mobile means the opening sentences of pages and blog posts are now extremely important. They should signal the content of the page. You'll notice how I very often in the first paragraph say:

• what the blog post is about
• what the blog post contains

I do the same thing on the websites I'm building. The aim is to waste people's time as little as possible. My sites may not be the ones they're looking for - but I do want people to leave with a favoruable impression.

and another thing

TIP: It's absolutely essential that your website or blog can be read easily via a mobile device. If you've not yet implemented a responsive template which adjusts what content looks like for the size of the screen - now is the time to do so!

Important concepts

EAT is an important concept. (This was a new introduction last year - and it's still important.)

It stands for 'expertise, authority and trustworthiness' i.e. all the reasons why you would choose to read one website rather than another.

TIP: From an artist's perspective it's about what might they be writing about or hoping to promote which demands that they are experts and trustworthy.

EXAMPLE: One example might be people offering art tuition.  People evaluating websites for classes or workshops where money changes hands might well be looking for indicators of: indicators of expertise (eg training; qualifications etc) length of time they have been doing this (eg no. of years of experience as a tutor) number of people who reference (link to them) them as the "go to" art tutor indicators of trustworthiness re money (e.g. detailed contact details; use of appropriate mechanisms which are safe for customers; security certificate for the site)

and finally

I was very pleased to see this on page 66!

Art pages do have a purpose: artistic expression. Pages created for artistic expression do not deserve the Low quality rating simply because they have no other purpose. Artistic expression, humor, entertainment, etc. are all valid page purposes.

I'm interested to know what you make of the Guidelines. (Do bear in mind they are a Technical Manual for people employed to do a job). Do please leave a comment.

Review ING Discerning Eye 2015

ING Discerning Eye - exhibitions by Nicole Farhi and Larry Lamb.

Yesterday I ventured out after a week of resting my frozen back and went to visit the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition at the Mall Galleries....

...and got to meet Larry Lamb, one of this year's selectors and Tony Humphreys, the CEO of The Discerning Eye charity who were both chatting to a well known lady who I very much suspect will become one of next year's selectors - but I'm not saying who! :)

However as this review is coming late in the day I'm going to very much focus on highlighting the work I liked and anything that might be useful for those submitting in future years

What I liked about the mini-exhibitions

The ING Discerning Eye is interesting because it's six mini exhibitions making up one large exhibition.

I loved the sparse and beautifully hung exhibition of the 42 pieces chosen by Stephen Doherty (Director of Visitor Communications for Somerset House). My eye kept being drawn back to it.

Stephen Doherty seems to be a ladnscape fan.

I also loved a lot of the landscapes that he had chosen

Nicole Fahri has an awful lot in her exhibition (109 pieces) - but it worked as she wove themes and artworks together. It also demonstrated very clearly how you can mix very diverse works together - and it works - if you have a very discerning eye!

Nicole Fahri's selection and exhibition - lots of sculpture for somebody who has become a sculptor

For me, Larry Lamb's exhibition of of 65 works of art was one that would probably appeal to a lot of people visiting the exhibition. He told me he loves colour and texture.

The left hand side of Larry Lamb's exhibition
I loved the ceramics and sculpture at either end of this photo

Caroline Convey's birds jumped off the wall in Larry Lamb's exhibition. The shapes and the colour were very strong and they looked great hung together.  I understand that her family all came down from Scotland to see the exhibition!

This is her website and her Facebook Page

(from top left clockwise) African Grey Parrot, Cockerel, Green-winged Macaw and Chicken
mixed media by Caroline Convey

Emma Bridgewater had the Brian Sewell spot - which I always think is the most difficult to carry off as it covers four walls and it's very difficult to see all at once and nearly impossible to stand back from due to the tables and chairs.

Nevertheless the work hung on the grey feature wall carried extremely well across the room. She has 81 pieces in her exhibition.

About Rory McEwen

I've spent a delightful few hours recently putting together a page About Rory McEwen on my Botanical Art and Artists website.

I'm going to develop a series of pages about various famous botanical artists. I started with Maria Sibylla Merian so decided to do a contemporary botanical artist next - and, of course Rory McEwen was the obvious one to do!  For those who don't know him, he's probably the most revered and influential botanical artist in the UK in recent years.

He died in 1982 - but his botanical art and his legacy lives on.

I'm guessing rather a lot of botanical artists now painting on vellum will have seen his paintings at some point.

A new page 'About Rory McEwen' on Botanical Art and Artists

On the page you can find:

• a summary of his life as it related to botanical art - plus 
• a detailed timeline - i.e. I miss out all the musical side of his life and stick strictly to the botanical art
• references to biographical information elsewhere
• a summary of his artistic practice - and 
• links to more detailed comments 
• plus a few quotes about his value to botanical art

"I paint flowers as a way of getting as close as possible to what I perceive as the truth, my truth of the time in which I live"Rory McEwen 

• summaries of the important botanical art books
• ones he collaborated on - Old Carnations and Pinks; The Auricula and Tulips and Tulipmania) 
• catalogues of the major posthumous and retrospective exhibitions in 1988 and 2013.

A double page spread from Old Carnations and Pinks
He did the botanical illustrations while studying at Cambridge University

• lists of the artworks he produced which can be identified (I'm sure there must be many more!)
• categorised according to a timeline and 
• then listed using a colour to indicate which exhibition they relate to. This, I think, is an exercise which nobody has done before. I know I was going cross-eyed by the time I finished!  It did reveal very clearly how the thematic series came about - and which subject matter he returned to - or never left.
• a summary of the main exhibitions. Plus a list of all exhibitions he was involved with - categorised by 
• solo exhibitions in his life time, 
• group exhibitions in his life time and 
• retrospective exhibitions - held posthumously
• Plus videos which show his watercolour paintings on vellum in all their glorious precision and luminosity.

For true fans I hope you enjoy it. I learned a lot while doing it..... but I still wish I'd found out more about the True Facts from Nature exhibition - the one where everything changed forever....

For those who want to know about the impact he had I recommend you read:

• this blog post by Coral Guest - which comments on the impact of his work
• this review by Marin J Allen - which comments on his artistic practice

A Guide to Art Dealers, Art Galleries - and Vanity Galleries

Back in April I launched a new website now called Art Business Info. for Artists. 

Since then I've been steadily updating the content, including some that is new rather than transferred from old sites.    You can access this easily from the home page - see image below.

This post is about three new aspects to the site

• a new blog for news about the art business
• a new page about art dealers and art galleries
• a new pages about alternative offline options for exhibiting art

The aim is that all three will develop and improve over time.

Content pages on Art Business Info. for Artists
access the section by clicking the red button
access the page by clicking the topic title

The Art Business Info: News Blog

Last week I added a news blog - called Art Business Info. News

In future, this will:

• routinely announce contents updates in future unless it's a significant new section.  
• add alerts to art business articles worth reading on other sites - much as I do on Facebook Page.

In the column on the right hand side you can find:

• ways to subscribe to the blog via email or a freedreader
• links to other art business blogs in the side column

A Guide to Art Dealers and Galleries

The first new section is A Guide to Art Dealers and Galleries. It covers:

• Key facts about Representation 
• How the The Art Gallery and The Art Dealer operate 
• Advice about Art Galleries from Art Advisers and Gallery owners 
• An Art Gallery Glossary covering words used in contracts and gallery agreements 
• How selling art in a gallery and commission work - including the legal agreements 
• How to get and keep a gallery 
• How to move on and end a relationship with a gallery 

Alternative Options for Exhibitions - Vanity Galleries, Pop-Ups etc.

The second NEW PAGE published yesterday is about Alternative Exhibition Options.

The art market has changed in recent years and artists now have more options to choose from in terms of how they take their art to market offline.

However emerging artists and those with little experience need to avoid being targeted by the scams which undoubtedly exist within the art economy.

One of these is the vanity gallery (as distinct from the properly run art co-operative or renting space in pop-up spaces or proper commercial galleries that have gaps in their calendar of exhibitions from time to time)

This page covers:

• Vanity Galleries - and why they are to be avoided 
• Pop-Up Spaces - an artist rents a space and holds an exhibition 
• Rent space at a reputable Commercial Gallery - and why that can work for artists with a strong following 
• Art Fairs - an artist rents a booth on an ad hoc basis after passing quality assessment 
• Art Market - an artist rents a booth on a regular basis; tends to require a long term commitment. 
• why all artists need to do "due diligence" before they pay money to other people so they can exhibit their art 

It also includes a Comparison: Vanity Gallery vs Artists' Co-operative vs Rental Space - see below

	Vanity Gallery - Rent a wall	Artists' Co-Operative	Rental Space - pay to exhibit
Owner	Typically owns the space and pays the bills	Typical a co-operative has no owner The member artists are responsible for the gallery	Owner may own or rent the gallery; Pays the bills; Commercial galleries / art fairs may have track record as a place to sell art (but beware of 'start-ups')
Business Model	Income derived from artists paying fees to exhibit their work Often seen as a deception / scam as galleries can masquerade as proper art galleries. Marketing targets inexperienced artists.	Aim to promote co-op member artists  their artwork and  Plus sell art on a non-profit basis (i.e. cover costs)	Artist-driven The artist rents a space to market, exhibit and sell work in a commercial gallery, pop-up space or art fair
Quality	Eligibility is wallet-oriented Assessment of art is usually very superficial	Admission to the co-op is usually juried  Co-ops tend behave like galleries and look for artists with good quality art and a track record of sales	Commercial galleries and art fairs typically do a quality assessment of an artist's work. No guarantee of acceptance. (Not applicable to pop-up spaces.)
Cost to the Artist	Rental of wall space - this can be exorbitant; May also pay commission at a lower rate than a conventional gallery; Could include hidden charges	Often a combination of membership subscription  time spent doing exhibition stewarding / processing sales. No commission costs.	Best return if exhibition generates good sales. No commission costs.
Risk to the Artist	Vanity galleries on a CV are considered to be a demerit by other art galleries	Relatively low cost way of getting art exhibited Especially if you can trade time for membership fees - and paint while you man the gallery	Maximum effort cost and risk if no sales. Gross sales have to fund all expenses of rental and marketing.

I'll be adding more content to the Art Market/Fair and due diligence sections in the near future - but thought people like to see the section on Vanity Galleries now.

What do you most want to know about?

I've got a lot more content to transfer to the new website - however I can choose the priority for including new content

If lots of you want to know about a topic which is currently absent I can do my best to include it sooner rather than later.

Please let me know in a comment on this post what you'd most like to know about

Art Business Info for Artists - content can be accessed via drop down menus on navigation line

Links:

• Art Business - for Artists - Announcement of new website