Showing posts with label henry moore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label henry moore. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 03, 2019

The War Artists of World War II

80 years ago today, on 3rd September 1939, the United Kingdom, France, New Zealand and Australia declare war on Germany after the invasion of Poland, forming the Allies within the context of World War II.

Battle of Britain by Paul Nash
An abstracted aerial view of a wide flat landscape including the mouth of a river.
Above the sky is full of aircraft contrails and smoke plumes, while to the upper right aircraft are flying in formation
Last night, on BBC4 (10pm) there was a rerun of a Culture Show Special made in 2010 about
Alastair Sooke explores the often overlooked history of the wartime art boom, meetingBlitz survivors, factory workers and Land Girls who became the subject of paintings, talks to contemporary artists about the challenges of creating work in conflict zones and considers how the images produced during the `People's War' laid the groundwork for a modern understanding of what art should be.
It reminded me of some of the exhibitions at the time of the 60th anniversary of the start of World War Two.

Portraits by Dame Laura Knight

I highly recommend a viewing of the programme. It was very good - particularly in relation to:
  • the role played by Kenneth Clarke, the Director of the National Gallery played in relation to:
    • moving the National Gallery collection to a disused slate mine near Blaenau Ffestiniog in north Wales
    • setting up and chairing the War Artists' Advisory Committee, 
    • persuading the government to employ official war artists in considerable numbers.
    • buying artwork produced by soldiers
    • he ended up with 6,000 works of art which were displayed around the UK at the end of the war
  • the emphasis on the art being about the war and reaching out to and engaging with people
  • insight into the approach and practices of various of the war artists - using those who had witnessed working at the time
The designated "official war artists" included in the programme included Edward Ardizzone, Paul and John Nash, Mervyn Peake, John Piper and Graham Sutherland - and Ardizzone, Paul Nash, Piper and Sutherland feature in the programme

War Artists on full-time salaried contracts
Artists employed on short-term contracts such as Laura Knight, L. S. Lowry, Henry Moore and Stanley Spencer are also included in the programme

Dame Laura Knight - War Artist
(left to right) The Dock at Nuremberg, charcoal study of the British prosecutor David Maxwell Fyfe
Ruby Loftus screwing a breech ring and Switch Works© The Estate of Dame Laura Knight DBE RA, 2013
It was noted that lots of the artists produced quite traditional (boring) 'war art' while those left to produce whatever they saw fit produced some amazing work - from Henry Moore's Blitz Sketchbooks of people sleeping in the Underground to Paul Nash's Battle of Britain and Totes Meer and Stanley Spencer's paintings of Ship Building on the Clyde
In May 1940 WAAC sent Spencer to the Lithgows Shipyard in Port Glasgow on the River Clyde to depict the civilians at work there. Spencer became fascinated by what he saw and sent WAAC proposals for a scheme involving up to sixty-four canvases displayed on all four sides of a room.[38] WAAC agreed to a more modest series of up to eleven canvases, some of which would be up to six metres long. Wikipedia - Stanley Spencer

Totes Meer (Dead Sea) 1940-1 Paul Nash 1889-1946
Tate Britain
Presented by the War Artists Advisory Committee 1946
The painting which I always remember - but did not feature in the programme is Leonard Rosoman's painting of the wall collapsing on two firemen during the Blitz.

House Collapsing on two Firemen, Shoe Lane, London EC4
copyright Leonard Rosoman


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Posted by Making A Mark on Tuesday, September 03, 2019
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Thursday, September 28, 2017

Old Flo has left Yorkshire and is on her way back to East End

Henry Moore’s bronze sculpture Draped Seated Woman - known in the East End as "Old Flo" - has been lifted from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and is on her way back to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets from whence she came.

Still from BBC video A Henry Moore statue loaned to sculpture park starts journey
Below I've set out the details of when's she expected home and the display that is being held in her honour

I've been following this story over the last five years in a number of blog posts (see below). This will be the fifth!

Leaving Yorkshire


This is the BBC video of Old Flo being lifted from her plinth where she's lived for the last 20 years inside the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.





Old Flo "opens" at Canary Wharf


Every time I go to Canary Wharf in the car I keep glancing into Cabot Square which is where she is supposed to end up - just in case she had turned up without any hoohah!

However it looks like we're getting the hoohah! So here are all the facts:
  • She returns to the East End on 22 October 2017.
  • She will be located in Cabot Square, overlooking Middle Dock and accessible to all who pass by.
  • A programme of celebrations, education and outreach will be rolled out while Old Flo is at Canary Wharf. 
  • Anyone who would like to receive updates on these activities is invited to contact Canary Wharf at oldflo@canarywharf.com.

Exhibition


There will be a display in the Community Gallery in Canada Place from 20 October to 2 January.  This will:
  • celebrate the return of ‘Old Flo’ to Tower Hamlets 
  • tell the story of how Henry Moore’s sculpture came to reside on the Stifford Estate is shown 

Canary Wharf Twitter @yourcanarywharf  needs to get its act together for welcoming her back to Tower Hamlets - not a tweet as yet. Meanwhile the politicians are all claiming they did it!




Posted by Making A Mark on Thursday, September 28, 2017 0 comments
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Friday, March 31, 2017

Henry Moore's Old Flo to move to Canary Wharf

“Old Flo” will, in future, be hosted in Cabot Square in Canary Wharf. 

Henry Moore’s bronze sculpture Draped Seated Woman known in the East End as Old Flo is at last to return to London from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park where she went 'on holiday' in 1997 (for safe-keeping) and has admired the view and the sheep for the last 20 years since the wind-up of the Greater London Council's Residary Body.

Tower Hamlets Council this week announced the outcome of the process used to decide where the sculpture should go when it comes back to London.

Draped Seated Woman aka "Old Flo" in Yorkshire Sculpture Park
photography courtesy of John Reynolds - Some rights reserved

My previous blog posts on this topic are:
  • Henry Moore Sculpture - a very poor precedent Nov 8, 2012 - This relates 
    • the story behind the creation of Old Flo by Henry Moore; 
    • her relationship with the borough of Tower Hamlets (where I live) and 
    • the story behind the then Mayor's proposal to sell the sculpture sell the sculpture (he's since had to step down as Mayor and was banned from politics for 5 years) - and 
    • why this was a really BAD IDEA!
  • Old Flo - the end of the story? Jul 13, 2015 - all about why a High Court decision determined that LB Tower Hamlets did own the Moore statue after all
  • A new location for Henry Moore's "Old Flo" in the East End
    • announced that the Appeal Court had rejected LB Bromley's appeal and Tower Hamlets Council has been reconfirmed as the legal owner of the Henry Moore sculpture Draped Seated Woman. 
    • includes a timeline of mishap and malfeasance in relation to the disposition of Old Flo.
As predicted in my last blog post - the ONLY sane option, in terms of a security blanket, at present is Canary Wharf.
There are - or should be - a minimum of two criteria for a new location for the sculpture:
  • Moore's conditions of sale
  • where the sculpture can be located and be safe from both vandalism and theft
In terms of safety, there's probably no question that the safest place which is accessible to the population of Tower Hamlets is probably what is now the private estate at Canary Wharf. It has its own security force which is active and vigilant. Nowhere else in the borough - with the possible exception of the Tower of London enjoys the same degree of security.

The threat of meltdown


The major consideration had to be the potential theft of the statue for its metal value.

The threat was not insignificant. It's a fate suffered by other Henry Moore Sculptures that have been "lifted" and stolen for their value as metal not art. Below are accounts of other bronze sculptures which have been stolen and melted down

Finding a new location


Tower Hamlets Council's statement says
Three organisations put in bids to provide a home to the valuable artwork, for up to five years.

Following a detailed and independent scoring process, including representatives of the Henry Moore Foundation, it was agreed that Canary Wharf Group had set out the best plans to make Old Flo accessible to residents whilst ensuring the security of the renowned sculpture, amid fears that it could be stolen for its bronze metal value.

Without a high level of security the sculpture would not have been possible to insure.
However this might not be her last resting place.

The Mayor of Tower Hamlets indicates that she may be on the move again.
“Whilst I would have loved to see Old Flo returned to her old home in Stepney her considerable value means we’ve had to find her a safe and secure home for her for the next five years. My hope is after that she can move even closer into our community, possibly at the new Civic Centre in Whitechapel when it is complete. In the meantime Canary Wharf will be a great and accessible home for Old Flo allowing her to once again add to Tower Hamlets’ already enviable reputation as a creative and cultural borough.”
I'll just be glad to see her back in the borough!

For those wondering where Cabot Square is see the red marker sign on the map below.  It's a hop skip and a jump from the nice security men who are stationed at the roundabout monitoring coming and goings of all vehicles entering the estate.



More on this topic

Posted by Making A Mark on Friday, March 31, 2017 0 comments
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Thursday, November 08, 2012

Henry Moore Sculpture - a very poor precedent for public art

Lutfur Rahman, the controversial/discredited Mayor of Tower Hamlets has ignored the concerns raised by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, a petition, and protests on a wide scale and confirmed his personal decision to sell a Henry Moore sculpture which is owned by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

Note that this was NOT a decision of the Council - this was a decision of the Mayor.

Ostensibly the Mayor intends to raise funds for the borough to help address budgets cuts.  However straight after the decision was taken, it was also alleged that he also has plans to give money to local mosques in order to buy votes (see Why Lutfur wants to sell Old Flo).  Doubtless we'll hear more on that score in due course.

Draped Seated Woman (1957) by Henry Moore
Bronze - Currently located within Yorkshire Sculpture Park
The story of "Old Flo"

The sculpture in question is a very large bronze called Draped Seated Woman.
READ MORE......>>
Posted by Making A Mark on Thursday, November 08, 2012 0 comments
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