Sam Faulkner portraits of The Battle of Waterloo re-enactments in Belgium (The Unseen/The Conflict Revisited) allow the possibility to view military fashions on the early nineteenth century.
We are at Tate Britain this morning to view a favourite painting Titania and Bottom c.1790 by Henry Fuseli. Fuseli was introduced to Shakespeare’s plays during his student days in Zürich with the Swiss scholar Jacob Bodmer. A Midsummer Night’s Dream held a special appeal for him, in that it explores the realms of the supernatural. Presented here are interesting visionary and disturbing depictions of spiritual fantasy and evil.
Today we have the chance to view the sensual works of Barbara Hepworth at the Tate Britain.
Fabric draped and then set in resin offer a surreal illusion, the folds and drapes suspended seemingly without support. This is a medium that could be pushed further and that has much potential. We were lucky to meet Christine Hawley at the show. It was good to see her as it has been a long time since we last taught at The Bartlett UCL, fond memories indeed.
Tonight we are at a rather informal expose, given by Sue Tilley about her relationship with the Australian performer Leigh Bowery. Bowery is considered one of the more influential figures in the 1980s and 1990s London and New York City art and fashion circles. His influence reached through the fashion, club and art worlds to impact a generation and influenced amongst others, Alexander McQueen, Lucien Freud and Vivienne Westwood. Tilley, who later became known as ‘big Sue’ by artist Lucien Freud, is probably best known as the subject of his painting Benefits Supervisor Sleeping (1995). Tilley is the author of a biography of Leigh Bowery titled “Leigh Bowery, The Life and Times of an Icon”.
There are some exquisite pieces at the Victorian Sculpture exhibition. Including ruffles corsets, bodice and flock.
A day off at the Tate Modern walking the upper galleries. I’m now sitting in the members room watching the construction crews abseiling up and down the facades of the Herzog De Meuron extension.
Images left to right – 1 Pablo Picasso. 2 Joan Miró, 3 Roy Lictenstein, 4 Wassily Kandinsky, 5 Gerard Richter, 6 Francis Bacon, 7 Salvador Dali.
One of the most engaging presenters I have seen at the various lectures attended at the V&A has to be Noah Charney, an art crime expert. Short stories, linked through a series of videos about various forms of Forgery and Forgers, but not all of them in the art world, were described in a manner reminiscent of a storyteller reading to a child who has the experience to make characters come to life. The perfect introduction to promoting his new book The Art of Forgery published by Phaidon. A book on which I had Noah forge his own signature.
Images left to right. 1 Noah Charney, and six art forgeries. 2 John Myatt / Vermeer, 3 Elmyr de Hory / Modogliani, 4 Shaun Greenhaigh / Lowry, 5 John Myatt / Giacometti, 6 John Myatt / Ben Nicholson. 7 Wolfgang Beltracchi / Campendonk
Historians and critics ignored the works of John Singer Sargent, his portraits of high society people of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century were never of their time. As such Sargent is an underrated talented and prolific painter and one of my favourites. His canvasses are rich in texture filled with beautifully controlled light and deep in detail. The paintings are domestic in content but public in scale and always thought provoking. A huge number of works are on display and the show is a joy to see. I will definitely be coming to view again.
Tate Modern Sonia Delaunay exhibition. Simultanism, colour contrast and pattern in fashion. textiles and art. The confidence and exploration of the decadent 1920’s are here exemplified. The moving patterns displayed on continuous loop could well be a Vivienne Westward squiggle print window coming soon.
