Having spent my childhood gazing at Constable's Flatford Mill on our living room wall, I had an antipathy towards Constable, this most English of English landscape painters. To me, his images were too simple, too real or just too boring. However, this is clearly not the case. With the Academies laying down the rules as … Continue reading Those most English of English Painters
Month: March 2017
Lowry and Chaplin
Just saw this Lowry on Manchester Art Gallery's FB page: Their caption reads: The subject of this painting is the laying of a foundation stone of a new school. Although it was supposed to be a dignified, serious occasion, Lowry found the ceremony pompous and its participants comic. The man laying the foundation stone was … Continue reading Lowry and Chaplin
More on Ekphrasis – Grant Wood and Jay Sigmund
A pale green ribbon of cement Rippled along the jutting hill And down its silken course there went The horse Death rode when out to kill A rubber-footed silvered steed, Needing no impact from a lash; An eagles' grace; a greyhound's speed - Two glassy eyes to burn and flash. Love in the saddle; Death … Continue reading More on Ekphrasis – Grant Wood and Jay Sigmund
Cornelia Parker’s War Room 2015
Just watching BBC2's, Britain at War: Imperial War Museum at 100, and Cornelia Parker revisits her installation of War Room at The Whitworth in Mancester. Having stood in the centre of this room, it is unbelievably moving to be gazing on what is essentially missing: the poppy itself. This symbol of remembrance is ingrained on … Continue reading Cornelia Parker’s War Room 2015
Inside Chernobyl’s Abandoned Listening Device
These photographs by Norwegian photographer Øystein Aspelund are hauntingly beautiful, as is this amazing track by Vile Electrodes - check out this interesting blog post by Emma Tucker from 'The Spaces' website: https://thespaces.com/2016/09/06/inside-chernobyls-abandoned-listening-device/8/ https://youtu.be/4ny3EOhHPf8
Aspiration by Aaron Douglas
This amazing painting is currently at the Royal Academy in their America After the Fall exhibition and is worth the entrance fee alone! Painted in 1936 as one of four mural panels, the sheer scale of this is breathtaking. I was going to write about the symbolic elements, the use of geometric form, the palette, … Continue reading Aspiration by Aaron Douglas
A little question…
Scroll down for the answer: Keep going... Bit further.... I paid my first ever visit to The British Museum yesterday and as I turned the corner onto Great Russell Street, I knew I had seen that view before. Hammershoi visited London in 1905-06 and he and his wife took lodgings there. Given how busy it … Continue reading A little question…
Estorick Collection
Don't often write about a venue but I can't recommend a visit to the Estorick Collection in Islington enough. Estorick Collection Website Nestled behind an brick wall, the newly extended and renovared building houses a magical collection of Italian Futurist art, collected by Mr and Mrs Estorick. If you want to see Balla, Carra, Russolo … Continue reading Estorick Collection
More on American War Artists
PBS - American War Art The exhibition in Philadelphia was covered by PBS in this short bulletin. Really is a fascinating aspect of War art. Claggett Wilson – War Artist
Johannes Molzahn
Johannes Molzahn born Duisburg, 21 May 1892–died Munich, 31 December 1965) This powerful image appeared on Daily Art Daily and it is mind blowing! Interestingly, Molzahn, during the period 1910-1920 became interested in the cubo-futuristic style but combined the figurative with the abstract. He would place figures before a background of fragments of rectangles, trapezoids, triangles … Continue reading Johannes Molzahn
