The Visual Art Podcasts on Apple

I'm interested in podcasts about art and artists. I'd love to hear from you - via Facebook or Instagram about the ones you really like - and WHY.

As some of you will know, one of the reasons for my reduced level of blogging is the essential need for me to walk every day for at least an hour. 

• It's the only way to keep my severe osteoarthritis from getting worse i.e. keep me mobile and prevent me from stiffening up. 
• I also remember listening to Stephen Fry talk about how he lost weight when he started walking everywhere - and how this was much easier after he discovered audible books and podcasts.

So my audible listening to was triggered by trying to lose weight prior to my ankle surgery - and getting fit for surgery - back in the early 2020s when my daily limit for steps was strictly no more than 3.5k steps if I didn't want to be crippled the next day. Podcast listening then was dictated by how long my walk took me!

Now I aim for at least 5k steps a day and one of the ways I keep walking regularly is to listen to podcasts. I've been known to take the longer route home to make sure I get to the end of the podcast!

Art Podcasts on Apple

I only have Apple devices so all my art podcasts are limited to Apple and the BBC. 

• The BBC now ignores art so effectively it's what's on Apple. 
• I'm not a huge fan of Spotify 
• but am an Audible subscriber - which doesn't seem to have art podcasts.
• Some also have a Youtube equivalent where you get the visual version and that means can play through your screens or television.

Here's a taster of what you get if you put "art' into Apple Podcasts Search. 

getting their pics shown when I search for "art"
probably means these are the top ranking art podcasts.

BELOW are some of the podcasts I follow - although I have to emphasise how much I listen to them varies a LOT.

• Mostly because I always hit latest episodes first - the podcasts which get the most frequent listen are those who produce the most episodes - as in not behind "special subscriber" barriers. 
• They also have to look interesting to get past the other (more addictive) podcasts I listen to.

The list below is more or less alphabetical (minus "the"). 

Wayne Thiebaud: American Still Life - a landmark exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery

An exhibition of artwork by Wayne Thiebaud (1920-2021) is coming to the Courtauld Gallery this October. 

I've just booked my ticket to the Wayne Thiebaud - American Still Life Exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery - opening 10th October to 18th January 2025. 

I'm a big fan of Wayne Thiebaud - not least because I used to love drawing food, foodstuff  and meals. I never quite graduated to cakes but I do love looking at the display in the windows of great cake shops! 

This is the blog post I wrote when he died in 2021 - An appreciation of Wayne Thiebaud (1920 - 2021). I'll be writing more about him nearer the time of thre exhibition.

Wayne Thiebaud - American Still Life Exhibition

In summary he is one of the greatest and most original American artists of the 20th century. He is famous for being focused in particular on post-war modern American subjects - typically as still life objects. 

Cakes by Wayne Thiebaud (1920-1021)

This exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery will be the first ever museum show of his work in the UK. It will present Thiebaud’s remarkable, vibrant and lushly painted still-lifes of quintessentially post-war American subjects, from diner food and deli counters to gumball dispensers and pinball machines. These are the paintings with which Thiebaud made his name in the USA in the early 1960s.

The exhibition will feature rarely lent works from major museum collections in the USA as well as the Wayne Thiebaud Foundation.

These are my two books about Wayne Thiebaud - which I periodically salivate over.

For me he's an artist who is a luscious realist of the everyday - until you get up close and realise his artwork is also abstracted from reality and the artist relishes the media he used. More Wayne Thibaud: "This for you is my world to look at" (Making A Mark September 2019)

Thiebaud - delicious metropolis, the desserts and urban scenes of Wayne Thiebaud

Wayne Thiebaud 100 
the book produced to celebrate the 100th birthday of
"one of America's most loved and respected artists"

A second exhibition Wayne Thiebaud: Delights, will focus on the artists's eponymous 1965 portfolio of prints to appreciate Thiebaud as a draughtsman and printmaker.

In 1964, Wayne Thiebaud created a portfolio of 17 prints, entitled Delights, in which he returned to the favoured still-life motifs found in his paintings and which made his name in the early 1960s: ice cream cones, rows of cakes, gumball machines and many of the other objects of everyday American life. However, these subjects look very different rendered in print, on a small scale and in black and white. As Thiebaud told his publisher, ‘When you change something, you change everything.’ Thiebaud was keen to experiment with different techniques and media, and Delights was his first foray into printmaking, a technique he returned to throughout his long career.

Previous blog posts

• An appreciation of Wayne Thiebaud (1920 - 2021)
• More Wayne Thibaud: "This for you is my world to look at"
• Wayne Thiebaud working on etchings (video)

A comprehensive look at Turner - all my blog posts

This is the blog post I should have done yesterday - on the 250th anniversary of the birth Joseph William Mallord Turner on 23 April April 1775 in Maiden Lane in Covent Garden #turner250

Below is a list of all my blog posts about some aspect of Turner since I started writing this blog. They all include images of various works by Turner - and some even include my versions

Many of you will never have seen or read them.

However, beware the links to pages relating to the Turner Bequest at Tate Britain. They revamped their website - without bothering to do any 301 commands to take people from old URLs to new URLs. In part bebcause they've dumped a lot of their content relating to Turner which used to be on the website - which is a very great shame.

Turner on Making A Mark (2007-2025)

A drawing by JMW Turner
On the Washburn, under Folly Hall
British Museum

2007

• Turner Watercolours with Hockney and Shirley

2008

• Tonight Matthew I'm going to be JMW Turner..... includes one of my sketches of Turner paintings

A study of Turner's snowstorm seascape
coloured pencil on Arches HP, 8" x 10"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

2010

• Exhibition review: Turner and the Masters at Tate Britain
• Talk and Draw at the National Gallery

The Fighting Temeraire (1839)

oil on canvas, 90.7 x 121.6 cm

Joseph Mallord William Turner

Turner Bequest 1856

2011

• Review: 'Watercolour' exhibition at Tate Britain
• Turner finished my sketchbook

2012

• A Picture of London

"The burning of the Houses of Parliament" by JMW Turner

2013

• 25th November 2013 - Who's made a mark this week? - featuring Turner and the Sea - a major exhibition of marine paintings which opened at the National Maritime Museum.

2014

• Royal Academy Videos: how we made Mr. Turner
• "Mr Turner" - a new film about JMW Turner

2015

• J.M.W. Turner's House in Twickenham - open today!
• Review of Ruskin's Turners at the Fitzwilliam Museum

Brunnen, Lake Lucerne in the distance c.1841-3,
J.M.W Turner (1775-1851).
watercolour over graphite, with pen, brown and black ink on paper
(touches of watercolour, verso, from next page)
height, 225, mm; width, 290, mm
Image: copyright Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

2016

• Art History: JMW Turner and the Industrial Revolution

Rain, Steam, and Speed - The Great Western Railway
Location: Maidenhead Railway Bridge looking east,
across the River Thames​ between Taplow and Maidenhead
The bridge was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and completed in 1838. 
Exhibited: Royal Academy in 1844
Collection: National Gallery

2018

• Visit the Prints and Drawings Room at Tate Britain

2019

• JMW Turner's Travelling Watercolour Paints

Watercolour palette owned by J.M.W. Turner, R.A.
175 mm x 148 mm x 4 mm

2020 

J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851), The Doge's Palace and Piazzetta, Venice, c.1840.
Image © National Gallery of Ireland

• J.M.W Turner and The Vaughan Bequest
• British Museum: Prints and Drawings - The Solution! - how to see some of his drawings and watercolours up close

2023

• Unseen Turner and Bonington watercolours now on display at the Wallace Collection

2025

• The Turner Prize Shortlist 2025 begs a question

Where you can see Turner's artwork

The Turner Society maintains a list of all the larger collections in public museums and galleries throughout the world, has a magazine and various events, walks, visits related to Turner. 

You can become a member of the Turner Society.

Noli me Tangere revisited

On Easter Sunday in 2017, I published a post about Noli me tangere - suggested to be the first words words said by Christ on meeting Mary Magdelene in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The Latin words 'Noli Me Tangere' mean 'Do not touch me', and refer to the episode of Mary Magdalene's first encounter with Christ after his Resurrection. National Gallery

There have been very many drawings, paintings, fine art prints of the biblical scene of Mary Magdelene recognising Jesus Christ after his resurrection. It's an iconic and artistic motif which has continued for centuries. 

On this Easter Morning I've reprised the post:

• Today I've found the images (mainly in Wikimedia Commons) and put them in an album on my Facebook Page - with the details of each image from the original blog post.
• plus I've found a new image - by two past masters of Netherlandish art

Artworks have been produced by very many notable artists. My blog post documented various of the artworks in chronological order. They include: Giotto, Duccio, Fra Angelico, Memling, Botticelli, Dürer, Titian, Holbein, Poussin, Lorrain

This is an additional - and unusual - image. It was painted by BOTH Jan Brueghel the Younger, Peter Paul Rubens. Rubens did the figures and Brueghel did the landscape and plants. One interesting aspect is that Christ is portrayed as a gardener and while flowers are still in bloom the vegetables are ready to be harvested— which I gather is an allusion to Paradise.

Christ Appears to Mary Magdalene on Easter Morning (Noli me tangere) c. 1626
Jan Brueghel the Younger, Peter Paul Rubens
59.0 x 100.0cm, oil on wood
Kunsthalle Bremen - Der Kunstverein in Bremen

In addition, this Wikimedia Commons Category:Paintings of Noli me tangere has the paintings ordered by century in date order.

Van Gogh at the National Gallery - some practical pointers you'll wish you knew before you went

This is about the Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers Exhibition at the National Gallery - from a different perspective.

I'm not going to review the exhibition per se - instead I'm highlighting 

• PRACTICAL ISSUES for those wanting to visit it.
• Plus a little bit about the exhibition - and other reviews
• AT THE END: For those who want to know more about Van Gogh and his drawings and paintings: a LONG list of previous blog posts I've written about Van Gogh on this blog over nearly two decades.

The Practical Issues

The View of the Sunflowers

FACT: Everybody wants to see this exhibition. 

1. Booking is a challenge
2. Queuing to get in is a challenge
3. Navigating the exhibition is a challenge!! Everybody has got a friend or a family member who may be slightly less enthusiastic, doesn't know how to operate in crowded exhibitions and has equal capacity to "get in the way"
4. Getting a cup of tea afterwards is not straightforward!

#1 TIP:  BOOKING - Don't assume you can visit when you want to

This is a VERY popular exhibition which means:

• you can't walk up and buy a ticket
• it's SOLD OUT on very many days and at very many times in the short term future. 
• they're keeping very strict control about how and when tickets are allocated.

The exhibition closes on 19 JANUARY 2025. 

At the moment, tickets are "available" for dates until 8 December 2024 for non-Members. (i.e. at the moment you cannot book for the Christmas Holidays - I'd recommend not visiting at this time in any case.)

EXCEPT the screens indicate they're very nearly booked up for non-Members

November 2024 - almost 100% booked up for all non-members

Tickets are continuing to book up very fast.  

• Mornings are booking up particularly fast (i.e. by the crowd who come to London for the day, see an exhibition, have lunch, do some shopping, go home)
• In general avoid the middle of the day and early afternoon
• If you are flexible, I'd check out the more 'unpopular times'
• In terms of time, allow at least an hour to view the exhibition. If you want to go round twice (which I'd recommend for all serious fans) you need longer
• However you also need to allow at least another hour to get in. (see queuing below)

In terms of times, if you get the option, I'd recommend 

• avoid the middle of the day.
• Note that Sunday does not get booked up as fast as other days.
• Morning is ideal for avoiding all those people who are lingering long from previous entry times

We went Wednesday morning and really enjoyed it. Not overly crowded, no queue and we could spend time looking at each painting. Plenty of seating if needed.

Liz Wyatt

This is the link to BOOKING TICKETS. 

There is a major bonus for all those, like me, who are Friends of the National Gallery.

• it doesn't cost me anything to get in (although the booking process is confusing and the ticket price does not get knocked off until the end when booking)
• I can go more than once. Last weekend I booked to go back on the 10 December early morning
• Tickets are reserved for members

I do NOT recommend booking for 

• children or 
• anybody who is not a dedicated enthuisiast 
• who is also prepared to put up with the booking issues, the queues and the challenges once you get in!

#2 TIP: You'll be in a queue for A VERY LONG TIME

You are NOT going to just walk in just before your entry time.

More about the King's Paintings

I had a bit of an art binge and a dose of art history yesterday, on the way back to the District Line from the Philip Mould Gallery.

Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna by Lord Frederic Leighton
222 x 521 cm

"Reassorted" at the Mall Galleries 

First, I called in at the Mall Galleries - to see William Feaver's curated selection of portraits from the recent Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. It's called Reassorted and it's quite remarkable what a new curation can do for a hang. 

I'll comment more on this tomorrow. However, I recommend people take a look if you are in town and wanting to see art.

The King's Paintings at the National Gallery

I then thought I'd go and capture some other pics of Royals at the National Gallery - and came across the longest queue I've ever seen trying to enter the Main Entrance to National Gallery via the steps. Puzzling over this I walked to the other entrance and asked the security guard who said "As soon as it pours with rain, everybody heads for the National Gallery!" and let me in.... :) 

I then went in search of King Charles I - which you can now see in this Facebook Post

The thing about the ongoing renovations to the National Gallery and the current closure of the Sainsbury Wing is that the art seems to keep moving around! Very little is where it used to be. Which requires regular visits to keep up with what can be seen and where it can be seen.

One of the things I noticed were some extremely large 'new' paintings - as in they're old - but I'm not used to seeing them at the National Gallery. It turned out that these belong to the King who has made them available to the National Gallery.

So here's what you can now see. (Some of you will be aware of these - and some will not. My practice is to go and pay quick visits to favourites and then periodically have a long slow walk around everywhere!)

Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna

You can see the panoramic painting produced at the top of this post. Apparently Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna by Lord Frederick Leighton 

• measures more than two metres tall and more than five metres wide
• was painted by Leighton from 1853 to 1855 in Rome as his first major work.

Extract (extreme left) of Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna

in front of the 'Madonna', and crowned with laurels, walks Cimabue with his pupil Giotto;

It's immensely complex in terms of the number of people and the story telling - and was a favourite of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

This was Leighton's first major work, painted in Rome. It was shown at the Academy in 1855. It was an immediate success, and Queen Victoria bought it for 600 guineas on opening day. She recorded in her diary: 'There was a very big picture by a man called Leighton. It is a beautiful painting, quite reminding one of a Paul Veronese, so bright and full of light. Albert was enchanted with it - so much so that he made me buy it.'

It's been on loan from the Royal Collection for many years, however it's previously been hung high in various positions at the top of entrances and staircases - but it's now at a "get up close and personal" distance in Room 45 - one of the main galleries near the front. 

I could have sworn I'd never seen it before!

The Triumphs of Caeser

The Triumphs of Ceaser were painted by Andrea Mantegna and six of them are currently displayed in Room 14

The National Gallery has been displaying six of Andrea Mantegna’s monumental paintings 'The Triumphs of Caesar', loaned from the Royal Collection by His Majesty The King, since last September - but this is the first time I'd come across them.

Jonathan Jones gave the new display at the National Gallery a five star review! See 
Mantegna: The Triumphs of Caesar – you can hear the trumpets and smell the elephant dung

Holbein: Drawing, Painting, Materials & Techniques

The Holbein at the Tudor Court Exhibition at the King's Gallery closes today. I'd spent forever making up my mind about when to go - but not booking - and then realising I need to get a move on. Which is how come I saw it yesterday. You can see some of my pics from it on my Facebook Page

To be absolutely honest, I enjoyed the "Holbein in England" exhibition at Tate Britain in 2007 much more and it remains a vivid memory for me. (see Holbein in England - and at Tate Britain). Mainly because it which contained more portraits by Holebin including my favourite Holbein portrait "A lady with a Squirrel' plus Holbein's portrait of Erasmus

The Kings Gallery exhibition had three parts about artworks by Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543)

• mainly paintings from other artists of the same era
• drawings by Holbein and miniature portraits by Holbein
• large paintings and some large portraits and more drawings by Holbein + four miniatures by Holbein

One of the most interesting part of the exhibition came after the exit. A small exhibition in one room at the top of the stairs contained information about Holbein's art materials and the techniques he used for his portrait drawings and also his miniatures.

Holbein: Materials and Techniques

A view of part of "Holbein: Materials and Techniques"

I promptly took photos of all of it and have uploaded them all to an album on Facebook on my Facebook Page called Holbein: Materials and Techniques - so 

• if you missed it or you enjoy finding out about the materials used by artists in the past, you can have a peek and see for yourself.
• I've also added comments about specific materials and techniques where I knew something which wasn't included in the exhibition.

There are also more resources about Holbein on the Royal Collection website - listed below

• Holbein's Portrait Drawings - about how Holbein created his drawings
• Holbein in the Royal Collection
• images of the Holbeing drawings and paintings in the Royal Collection

What I find interesting is that Holbein was a royal artist - he was appointed the King's Painter in 1536.  To all intents and purposes his stay in England related to his contacts within the Royal Family and the Tudor Court. 

I've not yet found an explanation for why so many of the better known paintings by Holbein are NOT in the Royal Collection. For example, 

• the 'cartoon' drawing of King Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger is in the National Portrait Gallery. This was made in preparation for the very large painting which used to hang in Whitehall Palace - but was destroyed in the fire in1698.
• The Ambassadors - which is a very large, important and unique painting - is in the National Gallery.

The other interesting fact about Holbein is just how many portraits there are by artists "after Holbein". He was a much copied artist. There again he is regarded as one of the most important portrait artists ever!

If you look at the collection of Holbein portraits and drawings in the National Portrait Gallery, you'll find that most are "after Holbein"

The Courtauld Gallery Collection Online

One of the aspects of The Courtauld's recent renewal / refurbishment was a huge digitisation project relating to its collection of various types of artworks, images and artefacts.

You can now see the complete collection online - in a HUGE amount of detail/magnification. It provides an amazing insight for anybody anywhere in the world into both mark-making and processes by famous artists - whether by 

• brush using oil, watercolour or other media 
• or stick of charcoal, pastel of graphite

View The Courtauld Gallery Collection Online 

The Courtauld Gallery’s collection, which comprises over 33,000 objects ranging from the Middle Ages to the 21st century and includes paintings, drawings, ceramics and sculptures, among others, is available to explore in its entirety online for free for the first time thanks to a new digital platform.

This features:

• 618 Paintings
• 5,462 Drawings 
• 26,627 Prints
• 60 Sculptures

Plus ceramics, silverware, enamels, ivories, books, metalware, silverware, furniture, textiles, glassware, woodwork and frames.

Some of the categories of images online

You can also download images - so long as you stick to the rules. Basically it's a Creative Commons licence CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Unported) licence - meaning you must provide attribution and not use if commercially.

The Courtauld makes images of its collection and other content on this website available for non-commercial and educational purposes under a Creative Commons licence CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Unported). For more information on the selected Creative Commons licence, please visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en_GB.

You are welcome to use images and content identified as Courtauld copyright for non-commercial purposes in research, private study or study within an educational establishment (such as a school, college or university), for criticism and review. The source of the image or content must be provided and its copyright status acknowledged. Images of the Courtauld collection should be credited with Photo © The Courtauld. Other Courtauld licenced content must be credited with © The Courtauld.

View The Courtauld Gallery Photograph Collection Online

The Courtauld’s photographic collections are of major international significance for the study and research of art, architecture, provenance and collecting, as well as enjoyment and appreciation of art in the classroom and at home

 

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):

Rembrandt, Vermeer and Reynolds at Kenwood House

I walked from Hampstead tube station and across Hampstead Heath up to Kenwood House to see the art collection yesterday. A bit of culture with a great cafe and a nice walk thrown in is my kind of ideal day out!

I haven't been to Kenwood House in years and years but my other half had visited more recently and suggested the venue for our weekly "day out".

Which is how I came to be pictured with Rembrandt - by himself!

Me - writing a Facebook post about Rembrandt and Vermeer
in the Drawing Room of Kenwood House

Kenwood House was bought by Lord Iveagh (Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh 1847-1927) to save it from development. It subsequently became a place to display his amazing art collection - which was bequeathed to the nation on his death.

This was the most generous bequest of art in history - and was conditional on it being on display in the house for free!

On the left: The Guitar Player by Vermeer
On the right: Self Portrait with Two Circles by Rembrandt

It includes:

Rembrandt’s Self-portrait with Two Circles. READ ABOUT IT

Painted in around 1665, it was first reproduced as a print in the mid 18th century and was publicly exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in1877. As a consequence it was a famous and celebrated artwork when Lord Iveagh purchased it on 10 July 1888.

Rembrandt’s Self-portrait with Two Circles

I'm the sort of visitor who always likes to get a close-up of the brush marks!

Vermeer's  The Guitar Player

"....one of only 36 known paintings by Vermeer, an artist who specialised in depicting everyday life in domestic interiors. A young girl, possibly his daughter Maria, is interrupted from her guitar playing, as the string continues to vibrate. Vermeer has seated the girl so far to the left that her arm is cropped by the edge of the painting."

The Guitar Player by Vermeer

PLUS a very large collection of paintings by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Franz Hals, Anthony Van Dyck, Thomas Gainsborough, George Romney and Albert Cuyp - amongst others.

There is in fact an exhibition which focuses on all the paintings by Sir Joshua Reynolds who was Lord Iveagh's favourite artist - and who is celebratig his 300th anniversary of his birth in 2023.

Some of you will remember Reynolds as the chap whose statue is in the area in front of the Royal Academy of Arts as Reynolds was the very first President of the RA (Note: I find it really very sad that the entry for Reynolds on the RA website spends MORE space and text on the "RA Collections Decolonial Research Project - Extended Case Study" than it does on Reynolds and what he did and why he was important. There is something very wrong when perspectives on the past get this distorted.)

Speaking personally, I'm not so much a fan of Reynolds. While I do not doubt his skill as a painter, I find some of his paintings very whimsical. Apparently he was nearly as bad as Turner for trying to develop new ways to paint - which cause his paintings to be something of a challenge on the conservation front.

Margaret Hyde "Daisy" Leiter (1898)

who became Margaret Howard, Countess of Suffolk

by John Singer Sargent

I very much liked the John Singer Sargent painting on the Deal Staircase of the Margaret Hyde Leiter, Countess of Suffolk who it is suggested was the sister of Mary Leitner - the role model for Lady Cora, the Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey - an American who married Lord Curzon who became Viceroy of India!

It seems there's a bit of a tradition for Americans marrying into the aristocracy!

Golden Oldie #4: Van Gogh and Drawing - art media and techniques

Two posts this time - about Vincent Van Gogh and his drawing materials and techniques.  

Tree with Ivy in the Garden of the Asylum
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890),
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, May-June 1889
pencil, reed pen and brush and ink, on paper, 61.8 cm x 47.1 cm
Credits: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

Golden Oldie #4: Van Gogh and Drawing - art media and techniques

The two posts are from 2007 and 2021. I've updated both where it was needed.

Van Gogh: Drawing media and techniques (2nd February 2007)

This has been one of my most popular posts - on a perennial basis - since I started this blog.

This post focuses on Van Gogh's drawing materials (pencil, pen and ink, prints, brush and colour) and how they influenced his techniques and style.

I've also 

• resized the images
• removed dead links
• included UPDATES about research about the media he used

More about Van Gogh and his drawings and drawing techniques (28th September 2021)

This provides a summary of the information about Van Gogh's drawing materials and techniques that was mainly published AFTER my blog post from 2007.

It's not comprehensive but provides a good overview of what's been added to resources in recent years - and that includes some of the Wikipedia information!

I've also only had to update two links (both incidentally to the same website - the Foundation Vincent Van Gogh Arles) - which indicates this is perennially sound information!

Golden Oldie #1: Favourite watercolour artists

During August, I want to get on with some projects plus lots of you are on holiday so I'm going to be posting some reminders of "golden oldies" - otherwise known as posts from the last 17 years of Making A Mark which were well received at the time and have not aged.

Golden Oldie #1: Your favourite watercolour painters

Unsurprisingly, my first choice is a look back at favourite watercolour painters and dates back to dates summer 2011. 

• It started with the Watercolour exhibition at Tate Britain (shame on Tate Britain for not keeping links to info about old exhibitions alive!)
• which resulted in this post Watercolour - Who's your favourite painter? which generated a lot of comments at the time
• then this post Your favourite watercolour painters - which in turn generated yet more discussion on the same topic.

Overall, you favoured contemporary artists more than artists from the past - however those you picked from the past are classics. Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent are certainly two of my favourites - and I have my John Singer Sargent calendar on my wall in from of where I'm sitting!

I posted a link to this on my Facebook Page and the discussion has started up AGAIN!  

If you have a Facebook Account, you can join it on this link

 

Review: Audubon's Birds of America at Compton Varney

Last week I was very pleased to preview the new exhibition of John James Audubon’s ‘Birds of America’ at Compton Verney for two reasons:

• I've always wanted to see "Birds of America" 'for real' as opposed to images online - to see if it is as impressive as it's always appeared to me to be
• I'd never visited Compton Verney before mainly because of the queries about 'so exactly how do I get there?'

The overall exhibition is a critical examination of both the man and his artwork and its historical context.

My conclusion upfront is that this is the sort of exhibition that you might only get to see once in your lifetime. 

It's also a truly monumental book in more ways than one! Not only do you get to see the original hand coloured engravings but you also learn about the man. 

The presentation of both the artwork and associated information and relevant material - letters, books, manuscripts, photography, projections and films - is of a very high quality and my congratulations to those who conceived and created this exhibition.

This is a very impressive exhibition

So be sure to visit if birds and/or the art of natural history interests you. "The art of making money from a big project" is a subsidiary but also very interesting part of the exhibition.

This is therefore.....

A review of the exhibition - focusing on the different aspects I became aware of while visiting and viewing the exhibition

What is 'Birds of America'?

• The book
• The birds
• The artwork
• The exhibition

Who is John James Audubon?

• The man - who is John James Audubon
• The artist as businessman

PLUS the answer to the travel logistics issue!

and an extra exhibition about birds by Quentin Blake

But first.....

What is "Birds of America"? 

I'm going to focus on the first four themes in this section.

The Book

There are only 120 complete copies of "Birds of America" in existence. It is a landmark and truly monumental publication which is now very valuable. Most copies are in national collections or institutions and the rest are owned by very rich people. 

Private copies sell for millions of dollars. Below is the result of the sale of Lord Hesketh's copy in 2010. (Also see Audubon's Birds of America: The world's most expensive book | BBC)

A first-edition print of The Birds of America by ornithologist John James Audubon, was auctioned at Sotheby’s auction house in London, England on December 6, 2010, and sold for a record £7,321,250 ($13.8 million) price tag.

This exhibition is based on an incomplete copy owned by the National Museums Scotland. It's incomplete because the Museum unfortunately let the subscription lapse!

A complete copy includes 435 hand-coloured engravings based on the original watercolour paintings created by John James Audubon.

The Birds

Audubon aimed to paint every bird in America. Whether he achieved this or not depends on what is known about all the birds in America in the early 1800s when he was researching and painting.

At the time he managed to paint and produce engraved and hand-coloured prints for 435 different birds. There may have been more but his original watercolours have disappeared as have all but some 70 odd of the engraving plates.

What we do know is that some of the birds he painted are now extinct.

The Exhibition