Showing posts with label Tate Britain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tate Britain. Show all posts

Monday, December 06, 2021

Surgery postponed - my list of exhibitions in London to visit

I made it all the way to the ward, unpacked and knew when the operation was likely to take place when it was CANCELLED (long story not for this blog!). It's hopefully in the process of being rescheduled for mid January.

So coming home again I started making a mental list of exhibitions to try and go and see.... 

and these are they....


ART EXHIBITIONS to see in London


Courtauld Museum

https://courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/

....has reopened after its major transformation project and I'd like to try and get to see old favourites again.

 

Hokusai: The Great Picture Book of Everything

Venue: Room 90, British Museum
Dates: until 30th January 2022
Ticket prices - cheaper to go in the week rather than the weekend
In a global first, this exhibition will display 103 recently acquired drawings by Hokusai, produced in the 1820s–1840s for an illustrated encyclopedia called The Great Picture Book of Everything. For reasons unknown, the book was never published, presenting the opportunity to see these exceptional works which would otherwise have been destroyed as part of the woodblock printing process.

Depicting scenes from Buddhist India, ancient China and the natural world, the brush drawings not only showcase Hokusai's inimitable style and skill, but also reveal a version of 19th-century Japan much more intrigued by the wider world than previously thought.


Dürer's Journeys: Travels of a Renaissance Artist


https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/durers-journeys-travels-of-a-renaissance-artist
Venue: Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery
Dates: Until 27 February 2022
Ticket prices: Standard admission £20 Monday – Sunday plus concessions

This is the exhibition which should have been held in 6 March 2021 – 13 June 2021 - but got caught by the lockdown.

I was really miffed I was going to miss this one so pleased I can now get to see it as I'[m a big admirer of Durer.
The first major UK exhibition of German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer in nearly 20 years.

Through paintings, drawings, prints, and letters, this exhibition follows Dürer’s travels across Europe, bringing to life the artist himself, and the people and places he visited.

Charting his journeys to the Alps, Italy, Venice and the Netherlands, the exhibition will explore how Dürer’s travels sparked an exchange of ideas with Netherlandish and Italian Renaissance artists, fuelled his curiosity and creativity, and increased his fame and influence across Europe.

Hogarth and Europe

Venue: Tate Britain
Dates: Until 20th March 2022

One that had completely passed me by - but I am partial to Hogarth. I often wonder why more artists today - with the exception of Grayson Perry - don't follow in his footsteps in terms of recording daily life.

Funny video provides a new take on the story!

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2021

READ MORE......>>
Posted by Making A Mark on Monday, December 06, 2021 0 comments
Categories , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday, April 25, 2021

Art Exhibitions in London opening in May 2021

This post summarises the art exhibitions at the large art galleries and museums in London which will reopen on or after 17th May 2021 - which is the date indoor entertainment venues can reopen after lockdown.

The galleries and museums covered below are:

  • Royal Academy of Arts
  • National Gallery
  • Tate Britain
  • Tate Modern
  • Wallace Collection
  • Hayward Gallery
  • Dulwich Gallery
  • Whitechapel Gallery
Infinity Mirrored Room - Filled with the Brilliance of Life, 2011 
 © YAYOI KUSAMA
accessioned by the Tate 2019
LINKS TO EXHIBITION WEBPAGES are embedded in the title of the exhibition

Private / commercial art galleries reopened - as part of the reopening of non-essential retail - on 12th April

It would be wrong to suggest things are back to "normal".  Normal may still be some way off. 
  • All visits will need to be booked 
  • There are additional precautions to maintain social distancing / health and safety.
  • You can visit in a group of up to 6 people (remember when you used to be able to talk to friends at an exhibition!)
The government in its roadmap out of lockdown commented as follows
The arts, entertainment and recreation sector (excluding sports, amusement and recreation) has been hit very hard by the pandemic. Pre-COVID-19, this sector was worth £18.3 billion GVA UK wide (£15.5 billion in England) and had 473,000 jobs (400,000 in England). GVA output in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector as a whole compared to February fell by 46% in April, and subsequently to 33% in November; in no month since March has output been above 77% of pre-pandemic levels.[footnote 70] The sector as a whole has also had a high take-up of the furlough scheme, with 455,000 furloughed at peak in spring, and 293,000 furloughed at the end of November. Between 25 January and 7 February, 44% of businesses in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector have paused trading.[footnote 71] Reopening these sectors can allow these businesses to recover revenues and bring back employees.
In other words - get out there and visit some art exhibitions!

Royal Academy

We intend to reopen 18 May when lockdown restrictions have lifted.

If planning to visit more than one exhibition I recommend you read the visiting constraints carefully first - and book your most preferred exhibition first.
We are continuing to prioritise exhibition access for Friends and supporters. However, capacity in our galleries is greatly reduced and sadly we can’t guarantee access if time slots are fully booked.

David Hockney: The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020


THERE ARE LESS TICKETS AND LOTS HAVE SOLD!

All works by David Hockney. © David Hockney
All works by David Hockney. © David Hockney
Clockwise from top left: 
No. 125, 19th March 2020. iPad painting. No. 340, 21st May 2020. iPad painting. No.186, 11th April 2020.
iPad painting. No. 118, 16th March 2020. iPad painting. No. 316, 30th April 2020.
iPad painting. No. 88, 3rd March 2020. iPad painting. No. 370, 2nd May 2020. iPad painting. No. 259, 24th April 2020.
iPad painting. No. 133, 23rd March 2020. iPad painting.
Dates: 
  • 23 May — 1 August (Main Galleries) SOLD OUT(?) from what I can make out - I couldn't find a ticket
  • 11 August - 26 September 2021 (Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries) - most of August sold out; I'd act quick if you want a ticket
  • same artwork in both galleries 
  • Book now 
This is an exhibition of 116 new artworks - all created by Hockney on his digital tablet. 

Tracey Emin / Edvard Munch: The Loneliness of the Soul

Dates: 18 May – 1 August
This is the exhibition which should have opened last November - but was nobbled Tier 4 restrictions and then by lockdown.  
  • Emin has been a major figure in contemporary art for over 25 years
  • Munch pioneered a radical new style known as Expressionism. 
  • Emin selects masterpieces by Edvard Munch to show alongside her most recent paintings.
Having viewed the image sheet for the exhibition it's amazing how much similarity there is between the two artists.

Michael Armitage: Paradise Edict

Dates: 22 May – 19 September
Michael Armitage draws from Titian, Goya, Manet and Gauguin to explore East African culture and folklore.  The visit seems to be limited to a time slot of 50 minutes. 

National Gallery


The National Gallery website gives me the distinct impression of a gallery which has decided to cut its losses and definitely is NOT taking any chances with booking art for the first half of 2021 and paying for transport for an exhibition which might be cancelled if another lockdown happens....

Just ONE exhibition opening in May - and it's NOT "a name"

Conversations with God - Jan Matejko’s Copernicus

Dates: 21 May – 22 August 2021 (Room 46)
a rare opportunity to see one of Poland’s most loved works of art.

You have to wait until much later for leading artists.

AUTUMN 2021: 
The first major UK exhibition of German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer in nearly 20 years.

SPRING 2022: 

Tate Britain

Tate’s four galleries hope to reopen on 17 May. Plan Your Visit or go to our FAQ page for additional information.
Most of the exhibitions are reopening i.e. ones which closed due to Tier 4 and then the lockdown
  • Timed tickets must be booked before visiting
  • All visitors including Members need to book a ticket
  • This ticket includes access to the British art collection routes
The exhibitions include:

Ongoing exhibitions - which are open all the time and are FREE (but you still have to book a ticket) include:

Tate Modern

The reopening of Tate Modern

Exhibitions reopening

NEW Upcoming Exhibitions

  • Beuys’ Acorns  Until 14 Nov 2021 (FREE) - should have been open from the beginning of May (hence listed first) IF Tate Modern had been open!

  • Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms (18 May – 21 November 2021) - 2020 was supposed to be a big long Yayoi Kusama exhibition for TM's 20th anniversary - but it was not to be. Instead it's now in 2021 - for its 21st - and we now have:

Tate presents a rare chance to experience two of Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms. These immersive installations will transport you into Kusama’s unique vision of endless reflections


Wallace Collection


Rubens: Reuniting the Great Landscapes

Dates: opens on 21 April 2021. (No closing date given)

For the first time in over two hundred years, Peter Paul Rubens’s (1577-1640) two great masterpieces of landscape painting, The Rainbow Landscape (The Wallace Collection) and A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning (The National Gallery) will be reunited as part of an exhibition at the Wallace Collection.

 

Hayward Gallery



Dates: 19 May – 25 July
It features:
  • a series of imposing and intricate sculptures cast from fallen trees 
  • over 40 engravings and electroplated copper plates. 
The Hayward Gallery presents the artist’s first solo museum presentation in the UK in over a decade, featuring the UK premiere of a ‘breathtakingly beautiful’ new feature-length film.
 

Dulwich Gallery


Unearthed: Photography's Roots

Dates: Re-opening 19 May subject to COVID-19 restrictions, until 30 August 2021
the pioneering story of photography from the 1840s to today, told through stunning still lifes of plants and botany.

 


Whitechapel Gallery


Phantoms of Surrealism

Dates: 19 May – 12 December 2021
This archive exhibition will examine the pivotal role of women as both artists and as behind-the-scenes organisers within the Surrealist movement in Britain in the 1930s.

Plus

and finally......


An unauthorised exhibition of the largest private collection of artworks by Banksy 

will be on show at 50 Earlham Street. It opens 20th May for a limited period - who knows for how long?

Posted by Making A Mark on Sunday, April 25, 2021 0 comments
Categories , , , , , , , ,

Sunday, August 09, 2020

Job losses at major art galleries

Staff working in the 'art' side of major museums in the UK seem to be surviving Covid-19. Those working in the trading arms appear to be not so lucky. 

Some of the strategies being employed to allow art galleries and museums to live within their means seem a bit crude at present - and, in my opinion, there needs to be rather more business 'nous' employed in my option.

This is a tweet by the union representing the staff at Tate Enterprises Ltd - the commercial subsidiary, which operates retail, publishing and catering within the galleries - following a socially distanced demonstration will take place outside Tate Modern at the end of July.

I'm left wondering whether the Head of Coffee - on a salary which exceeded that of curators of art at the Museums(!) - will be on the list of those whose jobs may be for the chop.  (READ my post from January 2020: Next time stop and think before you have a coffee at the Tate)

To be honest - if it were staff in Conservation (which requires training for jobs with limited opportunities) who faced the prospect of losing their jobs I'd be very concerned. However the trading arm does NOT exist without the reason why the art galleries and museums exist. Jobs in catering also crop up rather more frequently than jobs for conservation staff or curators.

While it's always sad that anybody loses their jobs through no fault of their own, let's keep a proper perspective on this. 

  • It's a lot more sad for people who are losing their lives during the pandemic and 
  • there is going to be a major structural shakeout with respect to how organisations are run in future - and there's no guarantee that ANYTHING will ever go back to being the same as before.
  • If more cuts in spend are needed, and I were in charge:
    • I think I'd be very inclined to start with all those earning a salary of over £35k - right up to the Director - with the percentage cuts increasing as salaries increase.  
    • That would enable more people to remain employed and reduce those who would need to claim benefits. 

More about the job losses

These articles tell you more about the consultation about the need to cut back on staffing due to the anticipated decreased level of trade at the Galleries.


Posted by Making A Mark on Sunday, August 09, 2020 0 comments
Categories , , , , , ,

Saturday, July 04, 2020

Which London art galleries and museums reopen next week?

Here's a summary list of the art galleries and museums in London which begin to open from next week  PLUS
  • what you need know in order to visit 
  • which are offering extra benefits for essential workers who have kept us all supported through this health emergency. 

The RA reopens next week

I won't be venturing out to see any of them in the near future. I've got a risk factor re Covid-19 so am more content viewing art online right now.

 All Galleries REQUIRE pre-booking in order to manage numbers and social distancing

 Masks will be recommended by all galleries.

 The list below is ordered in terms of date of reopening and amount of information available on the website.

Royal Academy of Arts

The health and safety of our visitors and staff is paramount. We will be following government advice on health and safety as a minimum, with additional measures and standards also in place. Among these measures will be a limited number of visitors at any one time, and asking that all visitors wear a face covering while at the RA.
Open to Members: Thursday 9 July
Open to the Public: Thursday 16th July
Days of the week: Thursday–Sunday
Hours: 11am–4pm
Advanced booking: ESSENTIAL https://knight.royalacademy.org.uk/page/reopening-corona
the UK’s Emergency Services, NHS and social care workers, Blue Light Card holders will be able to visit for free. Simply book online using the promo code THANKYOU. We'll require employee ID when you arrive for your visit.

National Gallery

added social distancing, one-way art routes and a contactless experience.
Open to Members: Monday 6th July
Open to the Public: Wednesday 8th July
Days of the week: daily
Hours: 11am–4pm

Wallace Collection

A one-way fixed route will be in operation to visit the galleries, starting on the upper floor. Not all galleries will be open for visitors.
The café and cloakroom will be closed.
Open to Members: ?
Open to the Public: Wednesday15 July
Days of the week: ?
Hours: 11am - 3pm
Exhibition Programme

Tate 

One-way routes and safe distancing guidelines are in place throughout the galleries. Prepare for a bit more walking than usual. Access information for each gallery will be published mid-July.
Open to Members: ?
Open to the Public:  All Galleries reopen on Monday 27th July
Days of the week: ?
Hours: ?
Advanced booking: ESSENTIAL - see https://www.tate.org.uk/visit
Exhibition Programme - see individual Tate Museum website for programmes. Some exhibitions are extended; some are cancelled


Serpentine Galleries

Please only come if you can get to the gallery safely. Group size is limited to maximum 6 people.
Open to Members: ?
Open to the Public: 4th August
Days of the week: ?
Hours: ?
Advanced booking: ESSENTIAL https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/visit/

Dulwich Picture Gallery

Open to Members: ?
Open to the Public: AUTUMN 2020
  • 4th July - open for gardens, pop-up shop and café
Days of the week: ?
Hours: ?
Advanced booking: ESSENTIAL
Exhibition Programme: ?

Victoria & Albert Museum 

- NO NEWS

British Museum 

- NO NEWS

National Portrait Gallery 

- Closed for the next 3 years - see my previous blog post National Portrait Gallery not reopening - until 2023
Posted by Making A Mark on Saturday, July 04, 2020 0 comments
Categories , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, May 28, 2020

10 x £10,000 bursaries to artists to replace Turner Prize 2020

There will be no Turner Prize in 2020. Instead Tate Britain has announced that one-off bursaries of £10,000 to 10 artists.

These will be announced in about one month's time - in late June.

The change of thinking has also added an extra £60,000 to the prize pot. The bursaries have been made possible thanks to generous funding from a group of Tate’s supporters, including The Ampersand Foundation.

NO EXHIBITION AND NO TURNER PRIZE IN 2020
both are replaced by 10 bursaries X £10k

The Turner Bursaries: why the change?


The very obvious problem in terms of the preparation required for an exhibition is that people are NOT at work and NOT doing what they would normally do to enable the annual Turner Prize Exhibition to go ahead.

This is simply not achievable under current restrictions.

An alternative was sought - and the decision was made to provide financial support to a larger selection of artists through this period of profound disruption and uncertainty.

Alex Farquharson, Director of Tate Britain and chair of the Turner Prize jury, said:
“Gallery closures and social distancing measures are vitally important, but they are also causing huge disruption to the lives and livelihoods of artists. The practicalities of organising a Turner Prize exhibition are impossible in the current circumstances, so we have decided to help support even more artists during this exceptionally difficult time. I think JMW Turner, who once planned to leave his fortune to support artists in their hour of need, would approve of our decision. I appreciate visitors will be disappointed that there is no Turner Prize this year, but we can all look forward to it returning in 2021.”
One can only surmise after the split prize last year that this might be another example of "how we do things differently after the Pandemic" and that the Bursary idea might catch on.

It's a lot fairer than giving one artist a very large sum of money - and this move has also leveraged out more money to support artists i.e. there's an extra £60,000 in the prize pot!
  • the normal prize post is £40,000
  • this gets split between a First Prize of £25,000 and three x £5,000 for the three other shortlisted artists
Those eligible for the Turner Prize are artists born or based in the UK for outstanding exhibitions or other presentations of their work in the previous 12 months.

The change in the prize pot makes me wonder 

  • how much it costs to put on the Turner Prize exhibition at Tate Britain and 
  • whether the person who wins the Prize should be given the option of a very big cash prize or a much smaller cash prize and an exhibition at Tate Britain.


The Turner Jury

The members of the jury who will determine who gets the bursaries are: 
  • Richard Birkett, Curator at Large at the Institute of Contemporary Arts; 
  • Sarah Munro, Director of BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art; 
  • Fatoş Üstek, Director of Liverpool Biennial; and 
  • Duro Olowu, designer and curator.
The Tate says they've spent the last 12 months they've visited hundreds of exhibitions in preparation for selecting the nominees - but surely that should be 9 months if you disregard lockdown and their inability to visit any exhibitions

In line with the existing prize criteria, they are invited to nominate British artists based on their contribution to new developments in contemporary art at this time. 

The new plan is that they should hold a virtual meeting to select the list of 10 artists, which will be announced in late June. 
Posted by Making A Mark on Thursday, May 28, 2020 0 comments
Categories , , , , ,

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Next time stop and think before you have a coffee at the Tate

Today the Tate garnered some of the worst PR for an art museum that I've seen in a while - except from those who hang stolen art and/or are run by people who are fraudsters.

It's not up there with the Sackler debacle (re the Opioid crisis  and stripping the Sackler name from various art galleries and museums) but it has invited an awful lot of ridicule. Twitter has been red hot and articles appeared as the story gained notice.




In a nutshell, the Tate proposes to pay a "Head of Coffee" more than it pays its curators.

The story started with a piece in The Times (see above). Since then the story has been highlighted on Twitter by:
Articles about the proposed salary have been in:
Alan Leighton, Prospect national secretary, told The Daily Telegraph: “The pay discrepancy highlighted is a stark reminder, not that the head of coffee is paid too much but that highly qualified museum professionals are paid far too little. Across the sector it is clear that roles which exist in other sectors are paid well, while heritage-specific roles are paid appallingly. This cannot continue. Without these qualified specialist workers there would be no galleries and no museums. It’s time that was recognised and those roles rewarded accordingly.”

The Tate side of the story


This is the article - Slot Roasting Collective - which is about the coffee created for the Tate - and ostensibly why they need to employ a "head of coffee". I gather finding supplies and quality control of their own in-house grinding operation is one that requires knowledge and expertise

I wonder whether it also requires first and second degrees and considerable experience to be paid much less than this in a curatorial role related to the principal purpose of the Tate.

Tate Coffee is produced as part of the Tate Commerce operation whose objective is to
maximise profits and extend the value of the Tate brand, to support Tate’s work and collection
However coffee grinding does not make it in the Tate's overall strategy and vision statement for its main purpose.

Instead Tate Commerce states
We will make our vision reality by being:
  • Customer focused – prioritising and championing the needs of the customer
  • Open – to new ideas and perspectives; to calculated risk; encouraging exchange and collaboration
  • Interdependent – building on the strength and uniqueness that Tate brings, without losing sight of the benefits of enterprise
  • Global – connecting with the world through products and publications
  • Sustainable – looking to the long term and demonstrating operational responsibility
My view is that
  • Tate has not learned the salary lessons which the BBC had to - about how an enterprise which receives state funding MUST demonstrate that comparability in relation to responsibility when grading jobs and awarding salaries. 
    • The BBC is in the midst of paying out millions of pounds in response to those who have asserted that they been treated unjustly in an employment context. 
    • I'm wondering what the staff at the Tate might start doing in the near future now the union is involved
    • Could the Tate end up paying out a lot more money on salaries for curators in the near future - or will they cut curatorial jobs to finance the salaries of curators' jobs catching up with the "head of coffee"
  • The coffee collective idea is nice - but I'd love to see the actual numbers and whether or not it actually contributes significantly to the finances of the Tate. Maybe the commerce operation needs to have its financial targets stretched - and some criteria for what it can and cannot do spelt out rather more clearly?
  • I also wonder what will happen if visitors to the Tate start boycotting the coffee?
  • When it comes to comparability..... The individual who is critical to sourcing wild coffee plants for the entire world - including literally finding it in countries around the world - works at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and is the husband of a friend of mine. I'm just wondering whether what he'll think about the salary in question......

and finally......


I'm waiting for the inevitable T shirts with the slogans
Nice coffee - shame about the management


Posted by Making A Mark on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 0 comments
Categories , ,

Monday, August 12, 2019

If you missed Van Gogh in Britain at the Tate

Last week I visited Van Gogh and Britain at Tate Britain - and took rather a lot of photos. I've now uploaded some of these - mostly the ones of the drawings and paintings by Vincent Van Gogh to an album attached to my public Facebook Page titled Van Gogh and Britain

The exhibition has now closed and I recommend you take a look if you wanted to visit but were unable to do so.  Also if you want to read more about Van Gogh I've listed other blog posts about Van Gogh - which also contain pics at the end of this post.


It includes:

  • drawings by Van Gogh - including one where I show the mark-making close up (see above - his drawing of the garden at the asylum at St Remy)
  • self-portraits by Van Gogh - three in total
  • paintings by Van Gogh - in variou venues and across the years
PLUS
  • Drawings, paintings and prints by other artists who influenced Van Gogh - notably John Constable, John Millais and Gustave Dore
  • paintings by artists influenced by Van Gogh - including Lucien Pissarro, Samuel John Peploe and Francis Bacon.
  • pictures from the last Van Gogh Exhibition at Tate Britain in 1947-8 - when they had to resurface the floors afterwards due to the number of people who visited
You need to look at each photo individually to see the caption - and I haven't quite finished these but have done most of them - and with some that are not finished you can read the wall caption which is also in the photo

READ (a lot!) MORE


You can also read the Guide to the exhibition on the Tate website - but you'll need to be quick as for some reason the Tate does not archive its exhibition and educational material!

PLUS my blog posts from my Van Gogh Project - which do not date - and are included below (Introduction to the Van Gogh Project)

Van Gogh and Drawing

"I sometimes think there is nothing so delightful as drawing." Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890)

Van Gogh's Paintings

READ MORE......>>
Posted by Making A Mark on Monday, August 12, 2019
Categories , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday, August 11, 2019

Sarah Wimperis talking and teaching about how Van Gogh paints

A big shout out to my friend Sarah Wimperis who was the artist commenting on the Official Audio Guide to Van Gogh in Britain at Tate Britain - and talking about the Van Gogh paintings and how they are painted.

All the people with the headsets on are listening to Sarah Wimperis
commenting on how Van Gogh painted this painting - Starry Night (Arles, August 1888)

I finally got to see the exhibition last week having only just realised in time that it was about to finish!  (I hate the crowds at the beginning and have to endure the crowds at the end when I forget to make a date to go after the beginning and well before the end!)

I posted the above photo to my FB account and Sarah commented with Those people with headphones are listening to me!

I thought she did brilliantly - highlighting aspects of the painting which just don't come through when curators or critics talk about them. 

What I liked was she talked about how careful he was - in terms of the colours used and his brushwork.

For example, in relation to the Starry Night Painting (Arles 1888), the caption, by the curator says one thing


While Sarah - on the Audio Guide - is talking about LOOKING at:
  • how many different blues he has used for the sky to demonstrate that a sky is not always a flat colour
  • how he has always made sure his brush marks reflect the contours or form of the object he is painting e.g. the broad brush marks for the ripples in the water are all horizontal
LOOK AT: the various colours used in the night sky and the horizontal brush marks he made for the water

That's because she spent several months in 2017 painting 788 paintings exactly like Van Gogh for the total of 65,000 needed for the film 'Loving Vincent'! (see example of four frames).

Sarah was the only English artist out of 125 artists from all over the world - and hence a natural choice for the audio guide!

You can see something of what she did on her website - on the Loving Vincent page

Learn to paint like Van Gogh


Having learned an awful lot about how Van Gogh painting, Sarah now includes tuition for those who would also like to paint like Van Gogh in her portfolio of painting workshops. 

Check out the workshops section of her website for more details. 

I just rang her to tell her about this blog post and she tells me that her tuition dates for next year will be going online within the next week!

In the meantime she is providing painting tuition in oil and gouache on painting holidays and workshops this year in:
  • Provence - August 31st - September 7th 2019
  • Norfolk - September 22nd - 26th 2019 - already sold out
Posted by Making A Mark on Sunday, August 11, 2019
Categories , , , , , , ,

Saturday, August 25, 2018

All Too Human - Diversity at Tate Britain

I went to the All Too Human - Bacon Freud and a Century of Painting Life exhibition at Tate Britain yesterday. The Spring and Summer have been full of other activities - and sunshine - and I suddenly realised the exhibition closes on Monday!
All Too Human explores how artists in Britain have stretched the possibilities of paint in order to capture life around them. The exhibition spans a century of art making, from the early twentieth century through to contemporary developments. London forms the backdrop, where most of the artists lived, studied and exhibited.

I'm not going to comment on the art as everybody has their own perspective and the reviewers from the newspapers have given it a thorough going over (see links to their reviews at the end).

 Instead I'm going to comment on something that struck me this morning when reviewing the names of who was in the exhibition - and who was not.

Key points:

  • it's an exhibition of c. 100 paintings by SOME of those considered by SOME to be leading modern British painters (i.e. made their names in the 20th century)
  • it includes a significant number of works by Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon 
  • it's about painters in Britain who represent 
    • human figures, 
    • their relationships and 
    • their surroundings
  • it has very few women painters. Notably Paula Rego gets a room to herself and there is a large painting by Jenny Saville - but other female painters are less notable than the chaps.
  • there's an effort at diversity (as in 'tackle the checklist') - in terms of ethnicity - but it's not very persuasive. 
and it wholly misses a VERY notable point about diversity in relation to "British Painting" - see below

Diversity


It's very definitely an exhibition of paintings by people with very diverse backgrounds - although very little is made of this.

It hadn't really occurred to me before this exhibition just how diverse "British painters" in the 20th century were.

Map of locations: Blue = artist studios; Red = Art Schools; Green - galleries

List of locations of Artists Studios and who is linked to which London Art School

The art (mostly paintings) are by artists who had some sort of association with London - with some being members of the so-called "School of London" - and very many underline the diversity of nationalities in the capital - and in the field of painting in the 20th century.

So they include......
READ MORE......>>
Posted by Making A Mark on Saturday, August 25, 2018 0 comments
Categories , , , , ,

Wednesday, November 01, 2017

Impressionists in London - a marketing own goal by Tate Britain!

I'm going to recommend the new EY Exhibition at Tate Britain as worth seeing.
HOWEVER, this comes with a MAJOR caveat which needs explaining at the beginning. It's all to do with the title of the exhibition.

Three paintings of the Houses of Parliament by Claude Monet
my favourite is the one in the middle from the Art Institute of Chicago
I wouldn't have an issue with the new exhibition at Tate Britain if the headline was "French Artists in London".

However my expectations about what I was going to see were heightened by the title they chose instead which was "Impressionists in London" - with a subtitle of "French artists in exile 1870-1904"

So what follows is:
  • First the explanation of rather a lot problems associated with the title and 
  • then my review of the exhibition. I'll not be commenting much on at least the two of the rooms as a result.

So why is the title a problem and a marketing 'own goal'?


View of Room 5 - London through outsiders' eyes
Here's my list:
  • Only four of the eight rooms are given over to paintings by Impressionist painters
    • Room 1 contains paintings by painters who became known as Impressionists AFTER the paintings were painted
    • Room 5, 6 and 7 contain Impressionist paintings. 
    • Room 8 is devoted to Derain who was a Fauvist and the paintings were painted AFTER 1904
    • Room 1 is the introduction and focuses on why artists left France
  • Three of the rooms and very substantial sections in the catalogue are given over to four artists who are NOT IMPRESSIONISTS!
    • Room 2 is dedicated to James Tissot (1836-1902) who fought in the Franco-Prussian was and been a member of the Paris Commune and was definitely an artist in exile, However he was a painter of modern times and high society who had refused to exhibit with the Impressionists at their first exhibition in 1874. 
    • Room 3 is devoted to Alphonse LeGros (1837-1911) and Jules Dalou (1838-1902). LeGros is a very boring, conservative and academic painter - who left France in 1863 (i.e. he was an immigrant not "in exile" and was naturalised British in 1888). He's a made out to be a central person for artists exiling to London following the Franci-Prussian war. In no way is he an Impressionist!  Dalou may have changed the way sculpture was done but this is wholly unrelated to Impressionism.
    • Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1828-1875) is a French sculptor who to my mind only deserves to be a footnote in this exhibition but instead gets an entire room (Room 4) to himself! His visits to London don't merit a mention in either his entry in the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History or Wikipedia. He's in because he sculpted Napolean III.
  • A number of the artists were certainly NOT in exile at the time they were creating paintings in the exhibition.  They visited and revisited London - as painters - without any impulse or imperative to desert France!  The use of the word 'exile' strictly only relates to the period 1870-1880 for the Communards and a very much shorter period for everybody else. Thus the sub-title "French artists in exile 1870-1904" actually makes no sense to me at all. There was no exile after 1880.
exile - the state of being barred from one's native country, typically for political or punitive reasons.
  • Two of the painters are not even French and were never in exile in London!
    • James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) - who has three paintings in the exhibition is an American artist who was living and painting in London but was not in exile
    • Giuseppe De Nittis (1846-1884) is an Italian painter who was never in exile and paid periodic visits to both Paris and London. However five of his paintings were included in the First Impressionist Exhibition of 1874. 
The reality is that major exhibitions these days probably need to be joint ventures and have multiple venues both to access works and defray costs. However that does not excuse sloppiness of focus in representing the exhibition to the paying customer.

One of the information articles on the Tate website refers to Eight things to know: Impressionists in London and while informative it fails to highlight that a number of the artists were NOT IMPRESSIONISTS! When educational material becomes misleading to this extent, this is really not good enough.

Bottom line - two points
  1. This all makes for a very confusing exhibition. The actual Impressionist paintings don't even start until Room 5 of an 8 room exhibition
  2. this exhibition is not a 2/5 stars exhibition - as suggested by Jonathan Jones in his Impressionists in London review – how not to tell the origin story of modern art however I entirely understand why he gave this review - based on the expectations created by the title and the marketing
This pea souper of a show nearly achieves the impossible feat of making Monet seem dull, while illuminating little about British links to impressionism
To my mind the Evening Standard in its review Impressionists in London, exhibition review: Inaccurate and dishonest does have a point...
The title of this show isn’t just inaccurate, it’s dishonest. It’s only partly about those very bankable artists connected to Impressionism.
All those responsible for marketing exhibitions for Tate Britain really need to pay a LOT MORE close attention to the detail of the Non-Broadcast Code of the Advertising Standards Authority - particularly Articles 1 and 3
The central principle for all marketing communications is that they should be legal, decent, honest and truthful. All marketing communications should be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and society and should reflect the spirit, not merely the letter, of the Code.
As one of my readers commented on my Facebook Page
The Royal Academy puts on crowd pleasing Impressionist related exhibitions whenever they feel hard up, looks like the Tate may be doing the same.
It's really not good enough. Inaccuracies have become industrial in this exhibition.

Review


That said, I'll now endeavour to highlight why it's an exhibition worth seeing.
READ MORE......>>
Posted by Making A Mark on Wednesday, November 01, 2017 0 comments
Categories , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Rachel Whiteread on Drawing

Following on from yesterday's Jerwood Drawing Prize post, this is another post about 'drawing'.

This is Rachel Whiteread talking about drawing - in a very normal, accessible, everyday way in a video by Tate Britain. It was filmed for her exhibition of her drawings at Tate Britain in 2010



Another exhibition opened last week at Tate Britain - simply called Rachel Whiteread
Celebrating over 25 years of Rachel Whiteread’s internationally acclaimed sculpture
The exhibition is on until 21 January 2018.

Rachel Whiteread's Drawings

The show that can overturn one's attitude to an artist is as rare as hen's teeth. The show that can achieve this solely through drawings – unless the artist is a draughtsman – is even less common.
This first-ever museum exhibition of her drawings shows Whiteread doodling (her word) on paper, using pencil, gouache, ink, correcting fluid (to build texture). She calls these drawings her working diary, but they are in no way personal or confessional. They don't throw back at us any kind of image of the sculptor. They feel coolly constructed, painstakingly analytical. They remind us of work by the minimalists – paintings by Frank Stella from the 1960s, or stacked units by Donald Judd. They are cerebrally set apart from us.

Posted by Making A Mark on Tuesday, September 19, 2017 0 comments
Categories , , , , ,

Thursday, August 31, 2017

Thomas Girtin: The Art of Watercolour

Thomas Girtin: The Art of Watercolour was an exhibition held at Tate Britain in 2002 (4 July - 29th September 2002). It was the exhibition that inspired David Hockney to take up watercolour after he had previously dismissed watercolour as "wishy washy" and "only suitable for Sunday painters".  Not because it was a brilliant exhibition (it wasn't - it had some critics) but because it showed Hockney some of the sublime paintings which really demonstrate what can be done with watercolour.

(see my previous post About David Hockney and Watercolour about what he did after he changed his mind! )

Just so that we know what we're missing when watercolour exhibitions lack an emphasis on traditional 'pure' watercolour paint, this post will provide access to
  • what was said about the exhibition 
  • paintings by Girtin in the Tate's collection.
Thomas Girtin was born in London in 1775, the same year as J.M.W. Turner, and died in 1802, at the age of twenty-seven. The art of watercolour was transformed during Girtin's brief life. This was especially marked in landscape watercolours, which grew in scale and ambition. Led by Girtin and Turner, watercolourists abandoned careful stained drawings for a more dramatic style of painting that captured moods and a range of light and weather effects. Not everyone welcomed the rapid technical changes, especially as revolution and war threatened the established political order. For a brief period, however, watercolour painting was the epitome of modern art, and the landscapes of Girtin and Turner were welcomed as a national triumph.

Thomas Girtin: The Art of Watercolour: Room guide


The following are introductions to the rooms within the exhibition:



Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland c.1797–9 by Thomas Girtin
Tate



Thomas Girtin - Dover - Google Art Project
Dover by Thomas Girton
Yale Center for British Art



The White House at Chelsea (1800) by Thoms Girtin
Tate


What we need to be focusing on - in art competitions and open exhibitions which "say" they are about watercolour - is finding people who can have the same impact on the overall direction of contemporary art using traditional watercolour paint.

Otherwise traditional watercolour paint will just go back to being the medium that is not well regarded by those who think they know better!

...and that would not only be ignorant - it would also be a big mistake.


263 artworks by Thomas Girtin 

The Tate has 264 drawings and paintings by Thomas Girtin in its collection and most of them are watercolours.

The most famous is 'The White House at Chelsea' (see above) where the focus of the painting is left unpainted
According to an anecdote, 'A dealer went one day to Turner, and after looking round at all his drawings in the room, had the audacity to say, "I have a drawing out there in my hackney coach, finer than any of yours".Turner bit his lip, looked first angry, then meditative. At length he broke silence: "Then I tell you what it is. You have got Tom Girtin's White House at Chelsea' ".

Reference:

Posted by Making A Mark on Thursday, August 31, 2017 0 comments
Categories , , , , , , ,

Monday, August 28, 2017

About David Hockney and Watercolour

"With watercolour, you can't cover up the marks. There's the story of the construction of the picture, and then the picture might tell another story as well."
David Hockney
David Hockney doesn't call 'acrylic paint' watercolour! He reserves this term for 'proper watercolour paints'.

As one of the early and leading 20th century painters in acrylics he knows the difference - and the difference in the challenges they pose for the painter!

Hockney once condemned watercolour as a medium for painting - calling it "wishywashy" and "suitable only for Sunday painters".

However he changed his mind and was inspired to start painting in watercolour after seeing an exhibition about Thomas Girtin at Tate Britain in 2002. (see tomorrow's post)
The artist got his inspiration for making watercolours after visiting an exhibition of the French watercolour artist Thomas Girtin, who died in 1825 aged 27. He said he had to learn a new way of painting but found watercolour could capture scenes even a photographer could not do justice to.Hockney shows off his wishy washy watercolours | The Independent (2003)
In 2002 - Hockney painted a series of five double portraits in watercolour
Hockney, 64, has not called the paintings watercolours however - the title of the exhibition is Paintings On Paper. They measure 4ft by 3ft and were made using four pieces of paper, with Hockney painting them in sittings of seven hours, with no initial sketches.Hockney unveils first watercolours | BBC
In 2003 - Five Double Portraits: New work by David Hockney - painted using watercolour - were exhibited in Room 40 at the National Portrait Gallery (16 January - 29 June 2003).
Hockney has long been interested in the dynamics of the double portrait. In search of a contemporary approach, Hockney began exploring watercolour further earlier this year and found its immediacy and fluidity lent itself to producing portraits directly from life. Painted on a large-scale on four watercolour tablets, each portrait was produced in one seven-hour sitting.
In 2003 - He also experimented with doing large watercolour paintings of the interior of his home and garden on multiple sheets of paper - see his website.

 In 2004 - he was painting the Andalusia Mosque in Cordoba in watercolour - see his website.
David Hockney Midsummer: East Yorkshire 2004
In 2005 - he had an exhibition of watercolours he had painted in Yorkshire (see the video above) - David Hockney Midsummer: East Yorkshire 2004 Somerset House, London (17th November 2005 - 19th February 2006). Also exhibited in California as David Hockney Hand Eye Heart - Watercolors of the East Yorkshire Landscape LA Louver, Venice, California 26 February - 2 April 2005. I'm going to be ordering the pack of 36 postcards of the paintings from the Salt Mills Gallery!
When he was painting Midsummer: East Yorkshire, David Hockney worked in pre-mixed colour so he could work as fast as possible, and didn’t allow himself the comfort of any underdrawing in pencil. The result has a fresh and vivid beauty.
One visitor commented
Some years ago now I visited the Courtauld Gallery to see thirty six watercolours on paper by David Hockney. They were called Midsummer East Yorkshire 2004. I grew up a few miles from Woldgate woods, have driven over the Yorkshire Wolds countless times, and have lived a few miles down the road from Bridlington where Hockney now paints since the late 1980’s. It was the first time that I had seen the Yorkshire countryside that I knew and understood reflected back to me. No stone walls, no peaks, no sheep, no drama. I sat there in the middle of a London gallery and felt at home.Patricia Rogers





A reviewer for the The Telegraph commented in Hockney strolls down memory lane
You cannot deny them their skill. An accompanying film shows Hockney was using pots of pre-mixed colour, dabbing his brush in little inkpots, in order to work as fast as possible. With no pencil underdrawing, there is no room for mistake. There is one painting he had to abandon because it started raining - you can see the raindrops in the washes of green and grey he had been able to get down.

The sense of immediacy is total, and breathtaking: a refreshing contrast to the stiller, less effervescent oils he did of Yorkshire in the 1990s. Another unfinished work shows the silhouette of a combine harvester above two glorious streaks of golden corn and a flurry of grasses beneath. It makes you wish that other lover of golden cornfields, Van Gogh, had done more watercolours: they might have lightened his heart.
Of course not everyone liked them - this is a rather hysterical article by the art reviewer of the Social Affairs Unit - whatever that is!

In 2006 - Hockney
  • curated an exhibition of Turner watercolours at the Tate - see Hockney on Turner Watercolours - and I went to see it and wrote a couple of blog posts about it (see below)
  • had an exhibition "David Hockney Portraits - Life Love Art" at the National Portrait Gallery which included watercolour portraits
In 2012 - he exhibited another series of watercolour paintings of Yorkshire in A Bigger Picture at the Royal Academy.

I doubt if Hockney will ever stop painting in 'proper' watercolour - because of its unique properties.

Reference


Posted by Making A Mark on Monday, August 28, 2017 5 comments
Categories , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)