Edward Bawden at Dulwich Picture Gallery - last few days

The exhibition about Edward Bawden at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in South London finishes on Sunday 9th September - and if you've not seen it yet and can do so, I urge you to get along to the Gallery to see it.  It's a fabulous exhibition.

I saw it this afternoon with Felicity House and we enthused our way around the show - finding lots to like and lots to marvel at in terms of how he worked and what he produced.

Edward Bawden, Untitled landscape with sunset, 1927, 
watercolour on paper, 
Private Collection, Photo: Mark Heathcote, 
© Estate of Edward Bawden 

If you can't get to see the exhibition, but are interested in Bawden, the alternative is an excellent exhibition catalogue which you can either buy from

• the Gallery at full price (as I did this afternoon)
• the Gallery's online shop - at full price - which has lots of very nice images of pagespreads
• Amazon - at a discount

Below is less a review of the exhibition and more an assortment of notes - about both the man and the artworks we saw. (Plus news of another exhibition about Bawden at the end)

First a few notes about Edward Bawden - not from the exhibition but rather from online sources which you can investigate at your leisure.

About Edward Bawden

Edward Bawden RA CBE (1903-1989) is hardly an unknown or forgotten artist. Born in 1903, he enjoyed a long and distinguished career as graphic designer, illustrator, watercolourist, war artist, printmaker, teacher and patron of the rts. When he died at the age of 86, a retrospective of his work had opened at the Victoria and Albert Museum

So starts the exhibition catalogue

Below is a video about Edward Bawden (in his home) first broadcast on Anglia TV when the artist was 80. It includes Bawden talking about his art - including comments on his view about the absence of a distinction between fine art and commercial art

He describes himself as a pattern maker and says he has no sense of form and could never have been a sculptor

He studied at Cambridge Art School and the Royal College of Art, was taught and mentored by Paul Nash at the RCA and was a member of the Bardfield set which included Eric Ravilious.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED as a key to understand his interests and how he worked



You can find out more about him on the following links:

• Edward Bawden | Wikipedia
• Edward Bawden | The Fry Art Gallery  - lots of pics plus a biography

Edward in his studio by his friend and contemporary Eric Ravilious

About the exhibition

This brief video previewed the exhibition



This is a brief video about the exhibition - and you can see the works hung in the exhibition



These are the exhibition reviews

• The Spectator | Edward Bawden is deservedly one of Britain’s most popular 20th century artists by Martin Gayford - 
• The Economist | How Edward Bawden modernised the watercolour - Florence Hallett provides very large images of some of the works in the exhibition
• The Independent | Edward Bawden, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, review: Good wallpaper for the adult nursery - a very snotty 2 star review by Michael Glover who seems to have a habit of sneering at anything representational and who obviously no appreciation of drawing or the quintessentially English nature of this artist. Small wonder as "art critic" seems to be his side line....

The exhibition is not based on a time line - instead it has themes.

The exhibition is divided into sections focusing on:

• World Off Duty
• Gardening
• Spirit of Place
• Portraits
• Architecture
• Fable & Fantasy

Shortlist for £15,000 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2018 + Exhibiting Photographers

The annual Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize is one of the most prestigious photography awards in the world.

For the 2018 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize - and Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery:

• 4,462 submissions were entered by 1,973 photographers from 70 countries. 
• 57 portraits from 49 photographers have been selected for display (1.27% and 2.48% of submissions and photographers respectively)
• 4 submissions are a series; and
• 4 photographers have been shortlisted for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2018, the international photography award organised by the National Portrait Gallery, London. and sponsored by the law firm Taylor Wessing

This post is about the shortlisted artists and also lists the names of the photographers selected for the exhibition.

The Competition

The competition is open to everyone aged 18 and over from around the world. Photographers are encouraged to interpret portrait in its widest sense of photography concerned with portraying people with an emphasis on their identity as individuals.

Competition is INTENSE just to get selected for the exhibition. Moreover this competition has an enthusiastic international following. So to get shortlisted as well must feel like the most tremendous achievement for any photographer.

Like the BP Portrait Prize, the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize offers an important internationally recognised platform for professionals, emerging artists and amateurs alike to show their work - except in this instance the portrait are contemporary photographic portraits.

All submissions are judged anonymously. The exhibition typically displays a wide diversity of styles which reflect both cultural preferences and the individual styles of the photographers submitting entries and their approach to portraiture.

Photographers were again encouraged to submit works as a series in addition to stand-alone portraits, and there was no minimum size requirement for prints.

• The winner of the first prize will receive £15,000. 
• The second prize winner receives £3,000 and 
• the third prize £2,000.  

The prizes for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2018 will be announced on Tuesday 16 October 2018 at 19.00

Shortlist for Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2018

The shortlisted portraits include

• two photographs of women living in London
• a double portrait of a pair of shoppers taken in England’s capital. 
• photographs of a London mother holding her baby; 
• two photographs of children living in Africa
• a child from a remote village in the jungle of Sierra Leone’s Eastern Province; 
• a series on the all-female teams of drum majorettes in South Africa’s Western Province

The Royal Academy of Arts 2019 Exhibition Programme

The Royal Academy of Arts have announced their 2019 programme of exhibitions. There seem to be more than usual - however I guess the redevelopment created extra space!

The star of the show for me is the exhibition of self-portraits by Lucian Freud in just over a year's time

Lucian Freud, Reflection (Self-portrait), 1985.
Oil on canvas, 56.2 x 51.2 cm.
Private collection, on loan to the Irish Museum of Modern Art
© The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images

This is the listing. It doesn't include the exhibitions in smaller spaces - but it does include:

• one  blockbuster by a contemporary painter (I predict)
• one 'likely to be very popular' overview of a major theme of the Renaissance
• two solo exhibitions for Royal Academicians - and one shared with Michelangelo's drawings
• two exhibitions of artwork by two lesser known European artists
• two annual events

Making A Mark in August 2018

Fans of Making A Mark will remember the "Who's made a mark this week?" posts which I had to discontinue in 2014 as they were taking over my life.

Since then I've diversified and now have other active websites and blogs - and what you used to see on Making A Mark can now be found elsewhere.

I've been mulling on how to profile what I've written and seen and today I'm going to start a trial of a NEW MONTHLY SUMMARY of

• posts on my blogs and website updates 
• coupled with some of the posts to three of my Facebook pages

Tell me what you think of it - on Facebook!

Making A Mark in August 2018

For those who missed my posts because you were on holiday or life intervened...

All posts are from Making A Mark except

• ABI = Art Business Info. for Artists
• BBA = Botanical Art and Artists

Artists

Image of Wyeth's Studio, © Phil Bradshaw, FreshFly

• The Andrew Wyeth Movie - a hugely popular blog post. - an extended trailer for the new documentary film about Andrew Wyeth, originally planned for a 2012 release - but due to launch this month!
• BBA - Video Interview with Kathy Pickles - Between 1991 and 1996, Kathy Pickles exhibited every year at the RHS Botanical Art Show. Each year she won a Gold Medal for her exhibit. In 2015, after nearly 20 years, she returned for a sixth time - and won a sixth Gold Medal.... and I've just found the video interview I did with her at the time!
• Lucian Freud - paintings of plants and gardens - following the exhibition at the Tate I did a an inventory - in a timeline - of all his paintings of plants with:
• notes about their context and location
• links to where you can see them and 
• quotes by people - including Freud himself - about his paintings of plants and why he did them.

"The subject matter has always been dictated by the way my life has gone. I noticed that when I was under particular strain, I didn't feel so like staring at people or bodies all day." It was at times like these that the palm, the Egyptian Book, thistles, cyclamens, buttercups, substituted for sitters. Seeing through the skin

• Ken Howard gets the brush-off from police in Venice - Police tell Ken Howard to stop painting in St Mark's Square in Venice - where he has a home and has painted for the last 60 years!
• BAA - Notable Botanical Artists of the 20th Century - lists the famous and/or notable botanical artists who  did most of their work in the 20th century and are now dead and who get brief or more detailed bios on my website
• Ruskin the radical: why the Victorian thinker is back with a vengeance | The Guardian - For those interested in the wide-ranging interests of John Ruskin
• Drawings by Feliks Topolski of the workers who print the money for the Bank of England are going on display at the Bank of England Museum for the first time in 60 years! (Drawing money: images of Bank print workers go on display | The Guardian)

Calling All Artists - Art Competitions and Open Exhibitions

Ken Howard gets the brush-off from police in Venice

Police in Venice have told Ken Howard to stop painting in St Mark's Square in Venice - where he has a home and has painted for the last 60 years!

Shame on the Venice Police! Should you wish to express your views this is the official English language Twitter account for Venice https://twitter.com/venice

I have!

#painting #painters This really is very silly! Ken Howard - a renowned painter of Venice - is stopped from painting #Venice by the Police? Why? Why not tackle the real problems in Venice - not ones which "might" generate complaints? @royalacademy @Venice https://t.co/BYhwaTjhAi

— Making A Mark (@makingamark2) August 31, 2018

Here are a couple of newspaper articles which cover what happened.

• 'Officious' Venice police shoo acclaimed British artist Ken Howard out of St Mark's Square | The Telegraph

The artist, a former president of the New English Art Club and a professor of perspective at the Royal Academy, told them he had used the same spot for decades but they remained unmoved.“I first came to Venice in 1958 and I’ve never had a problem,” Prof Howard told The Telegraph.“But of all of a sudden they’ve brought in new rules which say you have to have a permit. It’s a bit daft.”On Tuesday he duly went to the municipal office which issues the permits, only to find that it was closed.

• Italian police give Troubles artist brush-off | Belfast Telegraph - which highlights the fact that Ken  served as the Imperial War Museum's official British artist in Ireland between 1973 and 1979 - during "the Troubles"

An artist known for his work in Northern Ireland during the Troubles has criticised "overzealous" police in Venice after being removed from the city's famous St Mark's Square.

Ken Howard OBE PPNEAC RA RBA RBSA ROI RWA

• Website: http://www.kenhoward.co.uk/
• RA Page: Ken Howard | Artist | Royal Academy of Arts
• Ken Howard (artist) - Wikipedia
• Ken Howard - Artist - Richard Green
• Ken Howard Auction Price Results - includes lots of paintings of Venice