Category: Exhibitions
'One of the best American painters ever, period.'
September 13 2011
Picture: jsonline
The Milwaukee Art Museum has acquired the above portrait, Alice Hooper, c.1763, by John Singleton Copley for $3.5m. Full details here.
'Degas and the Ballet'
September 13 2011
Picture: Royal Academy
The Royal Academy's new Degas exhibition, Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement, opens on 17th September. You can see an audio slideshow preview here (it's well worth a click).
Ahead of the exhibition, The Telegraph has a nice selection of Degas' quotes on dance, including:
"They call me the painter of dancers.They don't understand that the dancer has been for me a pretext for painting pretty fabrics and for rendering movement."
"My women are simple, honest creatures who are concerned with nothing beyond their physical occupations ... it is as if you were looking through a keyhole."
New portrait commissioned by the NPG
September 12 2011
Can you guess who it is? Click 'Read on' to see the caption...
The Berlin Jewish Museum
September 12 2011
Picture: Centrum Judaicum
Here's one of history's cruel ironies: Berlin's first Jewish Museum opened in January 1933, one week before Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. The museum's founder, Karl Schwarz, fled to Israel just months later, and though the museum staggered on until 1938, all its contents were seized by the Nazis.
Now, a new exhibition in Berlin's Centrum Judaicum, charts the reassembling of the museum's collection (open until December 30th). Catherine Hickley has the full details in Bloomberg here.
Nazi picture seized in Florida
September 9 2011
A picture by Girolamo Romano, Christ Carrying the Cross, has been impounded in Florida after questions were raised over its provenance. The picture had been loaned to the Brogan Museum for an exhibition by the Pinacoteca di Brera. The heirs of collector Giuseppe Gentili, a Jew who owned the work in the 1940s, have now come forward to seek its restitution.
A restoration too far?
September 8 2011
Picture: Tate
If a third of a painting is missing, should you try and recreate it? Some time ago, I was kindly shown around the conservation studios at Tate Britain. There I saw the above enormous but damaged work by John Martin (1789-1854), The Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
The picture was damaged in 1928 when the Thames burst its banks at Millbank. But for the new exhibition, Apocalypse (see below) the Tate has decided not only to clean the surviving portion, but to paint in the missing section using photographs of the original, and another almost identical version.
I saw the picture after it had been cleaned and re-lined. The stark contrast between the pristine white section of new canvas and the cleaned and brightly coloured remainder was indeed disturbing. But I can't help liking the romanticism of the dirty and damaged picture, above. Writing in the Guardian today, William Feaver argues that the picture should not have been restored:
Earlier this year, in the course of several meetings with Tate Britain curators and conservators, I urged them not to reconstitute the one large missing fragment as they had determined to do. [...]
Waving my arms like one of Martin's prophetic linesmen, I argued repeatedly that such a painting needs not patching up but respect for what it is: a picture of an act of God (or the gods) that happens to have been dealt a titanic whack. It deserves special consideration. The missing area may be considered actual loss visited on a graphic representation of catastrophic loss. Here, after nearly two centuries, Thames embankments and Pompeiian waterfront align. History encircles us. We the onlookers, toeing the touchline between here and then, should surrender to being tantalised. It's a jigsaw lacking a few pieces, a filmic image enlivened with unforeseen jump cuts. The losses jolt the narrative
I'm sure the Tate have done an excellent job - and what an effort for the poor restorer. But for an artist as interested in destruction as John Martin, there is something deliciously appropriate about Feaver's argument, don't you think?
You can zoom in on the picture pre-conservation here.
Ford Madox Brown puzzle
September 6 2011
Picture: Manchester Art Gallery
I recently mentioned the new Ford Madox Brown exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery and the inclusion of the newly discovered Seraph's Watch. Julian Treuherz, who is curating the exhibition, has been in touch to see if anyone can help solve the apparent puzzle on the figure's shirt. He writes:
There is a puzzle in the painting, maybe some of your readers may be able to help. I cannot find out why Brown used the strange quincunx design on the seraph's tunic; he must have put it there for a reason, also the overlapping circles of the haloes and the little ones at the intersections of the haloes. Someone suggested Swedenborgian associations, but the Swedenborg Society looked into it for me but found nothing to confirm this.
Well, I'm stumped. But if anybody has any bright ideas, pray, let us know...
New acquisition in Scotland
September 5 2011
Picture: Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Here's a notable acquisition I missed while I was away. The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art has bought the above watercolour, The Mysterious Garden, 1911, by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh. It cost £230,000.
New works by Leonard Foujita
September 1 2011
Picture: Pola Museum of Art, Japan
A cache of newly discovered works by Leonard Foujita, the celebrated 20th Century Japanese artist, will go on display this month at the Pola Museum in Hakone, Japan. More here.
Van Gogh goes to the Rockies
September 1 2011
Picture: Van Gogh Museum
The Denver Art Museum has announced a new Van Gogh exhibition, 'Becoming Van Gogh', to be held from October 2012-January 2013. More here.
Renaissance coup in Australia
August 31 2011
Picture: The Canberra Times
The National Gallery of Australia has pulled of a bit of a coup with a forthcoming exhibition. It will display over 70 exquisite Renaissance masterpieces from the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, which is undergoing renovation. The paintings, which include Titians, Raphaels and the above Bellini, have never been out of Europe before.
Apparently, this is the first time works by Raphael, Botticelli, Bellini and Perugino have been shown in Australia. The show runs from 9th December 2011 - 9th April 2012.
WW2 Portraits on display at RAF Museum
August 13 2011
Picture: RAF Museum
I find the combination of war and art fascinating. So I recommend going to see a series of portraits by wartime artist Eric Kennington, which have gone on display at the RAF Museum in Hendon. Says the museum:
The exhibition will present about three dozen works covering all of the Armed Services, the Auxiliary Services, London Transport and some notable civilians. Pictures have been loaned by the National Portrait Gallery, the Imperial War Museum, the National Army Museum, the Tate, the National Maritime Museum, the Ministry of Defence and by Kennington’s family and other private lenders and art dealers.
Kennington was among a handful of British artists who distinguished themselves as official war artists in both World Wars. His portraits were widely hailed not only as works of art, but also as capturing the indomitable spirit of British and Allied Servicemen in the struggle for victory.
It's well worth a visit. If you can't make it, there's a book on Kennington by Dr Jonathan Black, called The Face of Courage, which you can buy here. Pictured above is Kennington drawing General Ironside in 1940 - check out the General's visionary pose.
New Ford Madox Brown exhibition
August 12 2011
Picture: Manchester Art Gallery
Manchester Art Gallery will hold a new exhibition on Ford Madox Brown in September. It will be the first major exhibition of his work since 1964, and will assemble his greatest paintings, such as Work and The Last of England.
The show will also display this newly discovered work, The Seraph's Watch (A Reminiscence of the Old Master), found by the exhibition's curator, Julian Treuherz. Lost for many years, the composition was known only from a partial copy by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, which was sold recently at Sotheby's.
This picture is apparently Madox Brown's second version of the subject - the first, painted in 1846, is also lost. The fact that it is a replica may explain some of the rather awkward aspects of the newly discovered work. The drapery and drawing of the hands looks a little unusual.
The exhibition runs from 24th Sept 2011 - 29th Jan 2012. Full details here.
NPG buys a Dyson
August 5 2011
Picture: Sir James Dyson, 2010 by Julian Opie © Julian Opie / National Portrait Gallery, London; commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery with the support of J.P. Morgan through the Fund for New Commissions. Inkjet on canvas, 1438 x 1082 (56 5/8 x 42 5/8)
The National Portrait Gallery, London, has acquired a newly commissioned portrait of the inventory James Dyson by Julian Opie. Here, Opie describes the process of making the portrait: [More below]
'To every other portrait my reaction was indifference.'
August 5 2011
Picture: BG
Brian Sewell has written a stinger of a review on the BP Portrait Award (National Portrait Gallery, London). He questions the validity of the competition, now that it is filled with 'bilge':
I am inclined to say that, like the Turner Prize, the Portrait Award is now so stale that it should be garrotted. In its early days it achieved something of what it set out to do, but now, in spite of becoming international and attracting 2,372 submissions, these 55 exhibited pictures suggest that portraiture has returned to its deathbed and is now beyond recovery. This award is no longer, as Alison Weir asserts in her superfluous introduction to the catalogue, "acknowledged to be the ultimate showcase of the talents of aspiring artists and developments in portraiture" - indeed, it never was. It is no longer "an example of outstanding arts sponsorship making a real difference..." as the director of the NPG insists - indeed it brings not credit but ridicule to its sponsors, who are deluded by the NPG and its minions into believing this to be "inspiring work (and) ... a truly exciting public exhibition". Ultimate, outstanding and inspiring? Hooey, phooey and bilge.
Though Sewell is as extreme as ever, I fear he is (at least partly) right. The standard of portraits is often poor - and getting worse.
But I don't blame the competition itself (which I love), rather, the judges. I sometimes wonder if they have they lost the ability to objectively and qualitatively assess works of art, a common problem these days. For too long the judges have rewarded insipid work of little technical merit, and seem unduly keen on portraits based entirely on photographs (such that you can even see flash bulbs reflected in the sitters' pupils). So it's no surprise to see so many photo-like works entered for the BP competition. They should be banned, and the entry bar raised.
Interestingly, the only portrait Sewell commends in his article is by Nathan Ford, whose portrait Abi was my pick of the bunch when I went to the opening - so much so that I took the rubbish photo on my phone, above (see a better one here). It won no prizes.
On the first Director of the National Gallery
August 4 2011
Picture: BBC
Here's a nifty slideshow about Sir Charles Eastlake, the first director of the National Gallery. It coincides with a new exhibition on Eastlake at the gallery, curated by Susanna Avery-Quash. She has just published Eastlake's travel diaries for the Walpole Society.
PS - doesn't London look nicer with cobbles?
The Walpole Society hits 100
August 2 2011
Picture: Philip Mould Ltd
There was a pleasant do at the National Gallery last week to celebrate the Walpole Society's 100th birthday. The Society publishes, in weighty annual volumes, essential evidence on British art history (most famously the notebooks of George Vertue). If you're not a member, do consider joining. For just £45 a year you get their handsome volumes, and much else besides.
To underline how useful the Society's work is to someone like me, the most recent publication (of Charles Eastlake's travel journals) came in handy for our recent Van Dyck exhibition. Eastlake (1793-1865) was the first director of the National Gallery, and a great connoisseur. Plop onto my desk two days before the catalogue went to press fell Eastlake's notebooks - which revealed that he had seen our newly discovered portrait (above) in Paris on 25th August 1860 in the Rothschild's collection: "Van Dyck - A Girl - whole length - holding her white gown (dark under sleeves) in left hand - fan in rt - [[about]] 2 - 8 w - 3 - 5h." Good timing, eh?
There is a new small exhibition at the National showing how Eastlake used to go on shopping trips in Europe, and how difficult it was to be sure in those days that the 'Giotto' on offer really was a Giotto. Worth a visit.
How the Leonardo show was put together
July 29 2011
Richard Dorment has the story behind the loan negotiations in The Telegraph.
Sewell on 'Twombly & Poussin'
July 28 2011
Picture: Dulwich Picture Gallery
Perhaps inevitably, he doesn't like it:
Poussin has nothing in common with this charlatan and is abused by this silly exhibition and the overblown and extended conceit on which it rests
As ever, though, it's worth a read.
Met's McQueen exhibition open till midnight
July 28 2011
Picture: Metropolitan Museum
A bit off-beam this one (and a chance to publish a cool photo)... but it's interesting to note that, for the first time ever, the Met Museum has extended their opening hours until midnight. It's for their exhibition on Alexander McQueen's dresses.
