"Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur" at the Wallace Collection

I had a lovely morning yesterday visiting the Wallace Collection and getting to photograph and hear about "Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur".

The exhibition is in the basement of the Wallace Collection and fills three rooms plus two side galleries (where the Portraits of Dogs exhibition was).  I enjoyed it and will probably go again because, oddly, previews are not the best times to digest everything there is to enjoy.

It's both a visual feast and an amazing confection of a variety of media and items  ceramic, sculpture, textile (tapestries and carpets) and works on paper made by Sir Grayson Perry RA in the last three years. Apparently there is more diverse use of media in this exhibition than in any exhibition he has done ever before. It has everything!

Just his use of colour - and he is a master colourist - will mean most people leave the exhibition with a smile on their face.

I'd recommend a visit while recognising it is not an exhibition which will appeal to everybody (see some of the links to reviews at the end)

Heaven's Gate by Sir Grayson Perry RA

As always, everything in the exhibition - with the exception of a few items from the Wallace Collection - has been drawn, designed and created by Grayson Perry - or in the case of things like the the carpets, tapestries and wallpaper, created by others under his very, very specific direction. I heard about what happens if you don't stipulate very exact colours!

Heaven's Gate (wool carpet) in the background
and The Great Beauty (oak,brass and ceramic) on the right

Pots and sculpture form an important part of the exhibition

Drawings - in pen and coloured pencils - and pot

I walked in to the photocall with Grayson Perry - see below.

Unseen Turner and Bonington watercolours now on display

Turner and Bonington: Watercolours from the Wallace Collection is a new display of previously unseen watercolours by two of the most significant  watercolour painters of the 19th century - Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) and Richard Parkes Bonington (1802-1828).  It opened yesterday and is on for the next six months - until 21 April 2024 - in what's known as 'The Housekeeper's Room' on the ground floor just beyond the shop.

Turner and Bonington are two of the finest watercolour painters that England has ever produced. Plus these 19th century watercolours are normally kept in storage as they are very sensitive to light - and they have never been exhibited before at the Wallace Collection or elsewhere.

Richard Parkes Bonington
Venice_ The Doge’s Palace from the Ponte della Paglia, c. 1827-28
© The Trustees of the Wallace Collection

There are only 9 small previously unseen. watercolour paintings and 1 medium sized oil painting however they are definitely worth a trip to see them. The paintings are arranged in themes:

• Turner and Yorkshire (4 paintings)
• Bonington and Normandy (3 Paintings)
• Bonington's Views of Venice (3 paintings)

“The theme of the display is travel; in the sense of finding captivating views whether within the confines of one’s own country or through exploring other countries. The Normandy coves depicted by Bonington were notorious at the time for smuggling, which would have piqued the curiosity of the contemporary viewer, while Venice was, of course, the centre of the Grand Tour and attracted artists and aristocratic tourists in great numbers.”
Dr Lucy Davis, Curator at the Wallace Collection

Another theme relates to how each artist dealt with painting light and atmosphere. 

Turner and Yorkshire

Four watercolours about Yorkshire by JMW Turner

Turner spent a long career based in Britain but also travelled extensively around the UK and across Europe.

This first series is of Yorkshire and are four views painted for Sir William Pilkington (1775-1850) who was a contemporary of Turner and a close family friend. He was based at Chevet Hall near Wakefield.

The four watercolours followed his normal process of being 

• based on "on the spot" plein air sketches - in the sketchbooks which now form part of the Turner Bequest at Tate Britain.
• subsequently worked up into finished watercolour paintings either in his studio or in Yorkshire.

They comprise (left to right):

Portraits of Dogs: From Gainsborough to Hockney

Last week, I went to see the new exhibition of Portraits of Dogs: From Gainsborough to Hockney at the Wallace Collection in Marylebone.

Crop of Landseer's Laying down the Law (or Trial by Jury)

Whether you are a dog fan or not, it's a very interesting exhibition for a variety of reasons. Here are some of them:

• the paintings in the show are exclusively portraits of dogs - no humans allowed!
• some of the portraits are extremely impressive - on any level
• artists included in the show include some very well known names - including some you may find surprising
• the exhibition has an excellent narrative in terms of themes which tell the story of dog portraits over time
• it's very well presented with good labelling
• you get to see a well known artist trying to draw a dog - who isn't always co-operating!

Oddly, this is an exhibition which had been planned for some time - and then had to be postponed due to the Pandemic. What happened next is 

• the Wallace Collection decided to publish the catalogue anyway (see below)
• a huge number of people became very new owners of dogs! 

I fully expect this exhibition to be very popular and attract a lot of visitors from both old and new fans of dogs - particularly during the school holidays. I recommend all those who specialise in dog portraits to see an upsurge in interest - and they'd better go and see it to see what has prompted a commission!

General consensus seems to be it's well worth a visit which I would endorse

• ★★★★★ 'A treat for art-lovers and dog-lovers alike' – The Telegraph
• ★★★★ 'Charming' – The Evening Standard

About the Artists

I'd heard of most of the artists. They include:

Famous painters of animals 

• George Stubbs (1724 - 1806) - he's best known as a painter of horses - but he's a brilliant painter of dogs too and demonstrates an excellent understanding of their anatomy. He's also a painter of dogs renowned for their bloodline.

Stubbs’s animal portraits were family records intended for personal consumption and not for great public rooms.

George Stubbs (1724-1806) Ringwood, a Brocklesby Foxhound (1792)
Oil on canvas, 100 x 126 cm
Private Collection

• Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-1873) - a very well known painter of animals - about whom I learned something new - his use of allegory in his paintings of groups of dogs. For example, Landseer's painting Laying Down The Law (1840) satirises the legal profession through anthropomorphism. It shows a group of dogs, with a poodle symbolising the Lord Chancellor. This is one of the most celebrated dog paintings of the 19th century. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1840

Edwin Landseer Laying Down the Law or Trial by Jury
one of the most popular paintings of the 19th century

In the picture Landseer uses the individual characters of the breeds of dogs to satirise various members of the legal profession. The white poodle, with the similarity of its long ears to a legal wig, parodies the pomposity of a judge.

The painting was recognised at the time as a satire on the Court of Chancery, set up to deal with common law problems such as contested wills. The endless delays in the court exhausted the finances of the litigants while enriching its lawyers, an issue memorably taken up by Charles Dickens in Bleak House.

and 

Respite & Recommendations

After five very full days of "full on" art gallery visiting, two press views, two private views and photographing five exhibitions, plus a hospital appointment to get my pre-assessment done for more surgery next month, I woke up this morning feeling really very weird, which then turned into feeling really rather ill for most of this morning. I'm unable to eat much of anything.  Basically I'm nearly brain dead and my body is rebelling I think! 

So...... My partner pointed out I'd obviously overdone things (he is apt to do things like that!) - and we've cancelled today's Sunday Roast.

So...... Despite the fact I'd planned to do my review of the annual exhibition of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours today I'm going to restrict myself to brief recommendations relating to the exhibitions I've seen this week.

If you like dogs...

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Portraits of Dogs from Gainsborough to Hockney

website: https://www.wallacecollection.org/whats-on/exhibitions-displays/

Two exhibitions are worth seeing - they're a total one off and they've never been done before.

• Portraits of Dogs from Gainsborough to Hockney (paintings and videos) - lots of really good portraits of dogs only (i.e. no humans in sight - apart from this one photo mural on one wall). I learned a lot - about artists and dogs! You can find this exhibition on the Lower Ground Floor
• The Queen and her corgis (photography) located to left of entrance on ground floor. For real fans of corgis and/or the late monarch.

If you like Paintings in Water Colours 

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours | 211th Exhibition | Mall Galleries

This RI Annual Exhibition is well worth seeing and can be found in all three galleries at the Mall Galleries until next Saturday.

• It includes 449 artworks on the walls
• It had c.4,000 entries - so those selected from the open entry are mostly very good quality

I've already uploaded a folder of prizewinners and I'm trying today to upload the photos I took as I walked slowly around the exhibition - by Gallery

• Prizewinners
• North Gallery
• East Gallery
• West Gallery

I'll embed a link to the latter two when I've uploaded them.

Royal Watercolour Society | Spring Exhibition | Bankside Gallery

If you're coming to London for the RI Water Colours Annual Exhibition, don't forget that the Royal Watercolour Society also has its Spring Exhibition on at the same time at the Bankside Gallery next to Tate Modern - until 22nd April

I've not seen it - but the artwork which you can see online suggests they continue to pick artworks by painters with different 'contemporary' styles in recent times. 

It's emphatically NOT the exhibition it used to be...... They've still to find halfway adequate replacements for people like Leslie Worth and David Prentice!

If you've only got time to do one, then go to the RI Exhibition.

NEW Exhibitions about Plants

• Plants of the Qu'ran - a series of 25 botanical paintings by Sue Wickison
• The Wonderful World of Water Plants - botanical art and illustrations
• All the Flowers Are for Me - two installations by Anila Quayyum Agha

ALL three Exhibitions are on display at The Shirley Sherwood Gallery | Kew Gardens until Sunday 17 September 2023.

They opened yesterday, while I was there and there were lots of people flooding in...

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Plants of the Qu'ran 

This is a series of 30 large botanical watercolour botanical paintings by Sue Wickison. All of them are scientific botanical illustrations for a ground-breaking book of the same name which will be published next month.

This is the sort of watercolour painting rarely seen in the exhibitions of the RI or RWS. More's the pity. 

This photo, after posting to my Botanical Art and Artists Facebook Page  is currently drawing international admiration from botanical artists from all over the world - and breaking lots of my FB Page records for adulation! It's an exhibition which is going to get a lot of visitors!

I'm also going to be reviewing it next week on my News Blog on Botanical Art and Artists. I'll also be publishing a video interview I did with Sue yesterday morning before the gallery opened.

Sue Wickison with two of her paintings

The Wonderful World of Water Plants - botanical art and illustrations | Gallery 6

This exhibition focuses on plants which are found:

• growing in the water
• on the margins of rivers and ponds
• in damp boggy areas

Art Exhibitions in Significant London Art Galleries | Autumn / Winter 2022

Significant London Art Galleries are those that are well known - but are not as big or as significant as the major/national art museums and galleries which I covered in the last post

This is a summary of the art exhibitions this Autumn / Winter in 

• the Courtauld Gallery
• Dulwich Art Gallery
• Royal Academy of Arts
• Wallace Museum

To be frank, I'm actually quite disappointed by what's on offer this Autumn. There's nothing which is making me jump up and down with excitement!

Other art galleries include:

• Barbican Art Gallery
• Hayward Gallery
• Serpentine Galleries
• Whitechapel Gallery

But these often have exhibitions I'm not much interested in. However, if you love contemporary art by international artists in various new manifestations they can be a good place to visit.

SIGNIFICANT / MEDIUM SIZED ART GALLERIES IN LONDON

Courtauld Gallery

Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN

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The Courtauld Gallery, Shop and Art Café are all cashless

The Courtauld Gallery

The Permanent Collection

The Courtauld's Permanent Collection is EXCELLENT. Personally I periodically go to see the Collection rather than the exhibitions, although the latter can be interesting. I haven't been since the refurbishment of the galleries but I'm not looking forward to lots of plain white walls.

This is the Virtual Tour. 

From the Virtual Tour of the Permanent Collection

The Courtauld’s much-loved permanent collection ranges from the Middle Ages to the 20th century and has been completely redisplayed and reinterpreted. These enhanced spaces have allowed The Courtauld to give visitors greater insight into this world-leading collection than ever before.

Fuseli and the Modern Woman: Fashion, Fantasy, Fetishism 14 Oct 2022 – 8 Jan 2023

An exhibition devoted to a remarkable group of around fifty drawings by Henry Fuseli, one of 18th century Europe’s most original and eccentric artists