MERZ!! Its Schwitters in Britain!

The current ticket exhibition at Tate Britain focuses on the late work of the Modernist Kurt Schwitters, particularily his time spent in Britain in the final years before his death here in 1948. The German artist who coined the term Merz is most famous for his pioneering collage works using any materials that he found around him. He was the first artist that I remember inspiring my own work, in a project on urban decay, when I was a 17 year old at college.

The accompanying leaflet includes a quote from him in 1919:
The word Merz denotes essentially the combination of all conceivable materials for artistic purposes, and technically the principle of equal evaluation of the individual materials...
A perambulator wheel, wire-netting, string and cotton wool are factors having equal rights with paint.

The first room briefly runs through his work during the period before he departed Germany for Norway in 1937 when the Nazi party were condemning work such as his as degenerate art. The second room first looks at his work in the three years before he then went onto Britain when the Germans invaded. The room ends with work from his time interned in a camp on the Isle of Man, including the next three works (below) that I kept walking back to look at again:

 

Untitled (Picture with Wooden Ring), oil & wood on plywood, 1941

 

 

 

 

Aerated V, oil, wood & ping-pong ball on plywood, 1941

 

 

 

These three artworks, all from 1941, show Schwitters' incredible versatility. With materials in short supply he could use any to create both flat and 3D surfaces, such as in Untitled (Picture with Wooden Ring) and Aerated V (both above) respectively. Untitled (Portrait of Klaus Hinrichsen) (below) is an example of his technical ability to paint representationally.

 

 

 

Untitled (Portrait of Klaus Hinrichsen), oil on wood, 1941

 

 

 

In Untitled (Lovely Portrait) (1942) (below) there is this contrast in one artwork. The beautfully painted face contrasting with the abstract shapes that the figures body merges into.

 



 

Untitled (Lovely Portrait), oil on canvas on wood, 1942

 

 

 

I also like the way Schwitters includes cute features in his work, such as the mouse in (the top right hand corner of) Anything with a Stone (1941-44) below:

 



 

Anything with a Stone, mixed media, 1941-44

 

 

 

Although I must admit to not being so much of a fan of the free-standing sculptures by Schwitters that I have seen, an exception to this is the strange Dancer (1943) (below):

 

Dancer, painted bone & plaster, 1943

 

 

 



 

Untitled (Portrait of George Ainslie Johnston), oil on cardboard, 1946

 

I like it when artworks have any kind of story behind them, as does Untitled (Portrait of George Ainslie Johnston) (1946) (above). On the paintings descriptive text there's this great quote from Schwitters that shows he still had a sense of humour despite having recently been very ill:

 

I am painting my doctor, Doctor Johnston, in return for the pains he took to save my life. Now he does not like to sit for me so I play chess with him. That means a double effort...

The problem is: shall I let him win, as his expression is then friendly, but people may think that I am a bad chess player, as the game is pictured in the painting... or shall I let myself win, but then his expression is unfriendly, and people think I am a bad painter!

 



 

The last two rooms of the exhibition are devoted to two contemporary artists, Laure Prouvost and Adam Chodzko. Their displayed work responds to Schwitters' history and legacy for their 2011 commission from Tate and Grizedale Arts. Below is a still from the Prouvost installation that included a series of objects and a video. I like some of the interesting and quirky ceramics, but it is the personal, touching, funny and yet slightly disturbing film that lives longer in the memory.

 



 

Laure Prouvost commission (2011)

 

 

 

 

http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/schwitters-britain?gclid=CNb6qpbW7bUCFUfMtAod5gMAug

Valentino at Somerset House

Valentino, Master of Couture at Somerset House examines the career of this celebrated fashion designer that covers his six decades of couture design beginning in the 1950's.

As you enter the second room of the exhibition there are patterns projected onto a giant beautiful (wall mounted) flower that towers above visitors looking at the cabinets of photos, press cuttings and letters below. These letters adressed to Valentino from various designers, celebrities, fashion press and royalty leave me wondering why they are included? Are they really necessary when these are the sorts of correspondence you would expect a designer of his stature to receive?

Upstairs there is a catwalk leading us through Valentinos career on either side of the runway that visitors walk on. The designer is undoubtedly a master of elegant, clean cut and stylish dresses that could make any woman feel beautiful, but it is the garments that employ more embroidery and ask more questions of his fashion house seamstresses or embroiders that stand out. These include dresses and other garments spanning forty years of collections, from the Spring/Summer 1968 to the S/S 2008 collection.

Returning downstairs there is an elegant art deco style backdrop behind the section devoted to the royal wedding dress Valentino designed. Then before the show ends in the exhibition shop, there is rightly a room devoted to some of the techniques pioneered by the Valentino house seamstresses.

Unfortunately I cannot include any pictures of the work in the exhibition, so fans of Valentino or couture should go to see the work for themselves...



http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/visual-arts/valentino

Manet, Portraying Life...

...is London's first blockbuster exhibition of the year, that recently opened at the Royal Academy of Arts.

Focusing on the portraits of Edouard Manet (1832 - 1883), the exhibition does not include some of his more provocative works that arguably established him as the father of modern art. These include the 1863 works Olympia and the original Dejeuner sur l'herbe (both of which are at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, where they'll aparently never leave). Although there is a later recreation of the latter included, there emission would be understandable as they are far less conventional portraits than the artworks on display. This is why I was probably more surprised that A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1881-2) was not borrowed from across London at the Courtauld Gallery.

Having said this, there are many masterpieces's in this understandably busy exhibition to keep fans of Manet happy, of which these are my highlights....

 

Boy Blowing Bubbles (1867) (oil on canvas)

 

 

 

 

 

Fishing (1862-63) (oil on canvas)

 

 

 

 

 

Berthe Morisot in mourning (1874) (oil on canvas)



Although not as beautifully finished and detailed as many of the faces Manet painted, I like the energy in this work that I feel makes it stand out from most of his other displayed portraits.

 

 

 



 

 

Portrait of Fanny Claus (Study for the balcony) (1868-69) (oil on canvas)

 

 

 

 

 

Portrait of M. Antonin Proust (1880) (oil on canvas)

 

 

 

The Railway (1873) (oil on canvas)

 

http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/manet/

The Making of British Landscape?

These are the last few days to see Constable, Gainsborough, Turner and the Making of Landscape at the Royal Academy of Arts. This exhibition closes on the 17 February, so this is the last chance to view artworks from the Academy's collection that have never before been shown together publicly.

The old British masters included in the show do not require any further fanfare than their names themselves. Which is just as well given that the RA only has a portable sign re-directing visitors to the nondescript untitled entrance and then they take us through the first few rooms before getting to see any of their work.

The first room explores the influence that the British school of landscape painting has had on contemporary artists before the next room jumps back to the 18th Century. This arguably could have been better displayed at the end of the exhibition?

Before entering Room 4 I found myself still hungry for more Constable's, Gainsborough's and Turner's, although there is this beautiful nautical scene (engraved after the latter) by Robert Wallis (below):

 

Cowes, Isle of Wight (engraving) (1830), (after JMW Turner) Robert Wallis (1794 - 1878).

 

 

 

 

In Constable's A Boat Passing a Lock (1826) (below) there's the atmospheric charge of an inevitable incoming storm created by the effects of the light and clouds in the sky:



 

 

A Boat Passing a Lock (oil on canvas) (1826), John Constable (1776 - 1837).

 

 

 

 

David Lucas aguably finds this difficult to replicate in his nevertheless outstanding mezzotint version of 1834 (below): 

 

The Lock (mezzotint) (1834), (after J Constable) David Lucas (1802–1881).

 

 

 

This exhibition includes some beautifully detailed prints and paintings, but I cant help thinking that other visitors who are fans of Constable, Gainsborough and Turner will also be disappointed to see that there are not a higher percentage of artworks displayed by the three headlining artists.

 

 

http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/constable-gainsborough-turner/

The Late Works...

...is a small free exhibition that opened this month at the National Gallery showing artworks by the late Richard Hamilton (1922-2011), primarily from the last decade of his life. Here's some of my favourites...

For Design for 'The Artists Eye' exhibition poster (1978) (below) Hamilton uses a print of Jan van Eyck's The Arnolfini Portrait (1434) and places an unfinished modern canvas on an easel in the foreground. I like the way paint seems to drip down from that canvas out of the picture onto the white border framing it.

 

 

 

 

 



In Lobby (1985-7) (below) beautifully detailed reflections are visible on the clean and clinical mirrored glass pillars in the centre and right of the picture.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A great contrast is created in Bathroom Fig 1 II (below) between the blurred figure in motion in the foreground and the clean, sharp lines and flat colours all around her.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

Hamilton created different surface textures in Bathroom Fig 2 II (2005-6) (below), especially in the bottom half of the picture.

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 



As can be seen in other works on display, Hamilton sometimes painted onto prints of photographs. The impeccably painted artist in the foreground of Portrait of a Woman as an Artist (2007) (below) is another example of this.

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 



http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/richard-hamilton-the-late-works

Bronze and beautiful!

The Royal Academy's current ticketed exhibition, Bronze, displays a huge variety of sculptures dating from approximately 4,500 BCE to Anish Kapoor's Untitled created this year. Rather than chronologically the show is arranged in themed rooms, such as Figures, Animals, Objects, etc. This creates a refreshing juxtaposition of artworks, so they have a Ming Dynasty figure in between an Auguste Rodin and a Willem de Kooning for example.

As the work spans over 6,000 years of excellent craftmanship and attention to detail there are many incredible artworks on display, although it was those from the Twentieth Century that stood out most for me. Here's a selection of my favourites...

As you enter the second room, David Smith's Portrait of a Painter (1954) (below) looks down on the visitor. I like the artists palette that the painter has for his/her head!

 

 

 

 

 

Borrowed from the Tate (Modern) collection, Umberto Boccioni's Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913, cast 1972) (below) is a famous example of Futurist sculpture. In this case capturing a strong and powerful human figure in motion.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

Alberto Giacometti's The Cage (1st version) (1950) (below) shows the artist for what he is probably most well known for: tall, spindly figures which have Giacometti's finger marks still visible on the cast bronze.

 

 

 

 

As I entered the fifth room of the show, this giant spider appears to be climbing up the wall! Its Spider IV (1996) by Louise Bourgeois, who created a series of them. This one below is actually a small one in comparison to the gigantic one's displayed in and outside Tate Modern in the past.

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

Finally, Pablo Picasso's Baboon and Young (1951) (below) is a witty example of the way he often mixed found objects in his sculptures, such as the toy car he used here to cast the top half of the baboons face. 

 



 

 

 

 

http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/bronze/

Victorian avant-garde?

Alongside the Turner Prize, Tate Britain's other current ticketed exhibition is the Pre-Raphaelites show that presents the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) as an avant-garde movement. I feel that this is an attempt by Tate to re-package a movement that they have had in the form of ticketed exhibitions in the past and that contains many works already from the Tate collection. When the accompanying guide states: "boldly original in style and conception, the Pre-Raphaelites made a profound contribution to the history of modern art," they dont explain how and this perhaps should be a describtion of the slightly later Impressionist movement?

They describe the many industrial, scientific and artistic changes that happened in the second half of the 19th Century, but not how "Pre-Raphaelite art distilled the energy of the world's first industrial society into striking new forms." Arguably it was the Italian Futurist movement who did this early in the 20th Century, admittedly when these changes had developed further still. I understand that the PRB considered their contemporary art as decadent, but by looking to art before Raphael for inspiration for their artistic style is not new or experimental. Neither is using for their subject matter themes that are taken from Shakespeare, the Bible, landscapes or the view from a window, however much they slightly developed any of the above.

I bow down to the fact that the curators undoubtedly have far more knowledge of the movement than me, but why not present the PRB movement for what they were based on their work? Many of the paintings on display do themselves provide evidence that they were a group of technically accomplished artists who created aesthetically pleasing artworks whether or not they were using classic subject matter or traditional painting genre's. They produced romanticised art which dealt with age-old subject matter, such as love, death, rejection, class and mythology.

Perhaps that would decrease potential visitor numbers and some may argue why shouldnt they look at art with a fresh curatorial perspective? So having said all that, I'll probably sound pedantic when I list my favourite paintings in this exhibition below that I really enjoyed seeing again!


Previously in the Romantics exhibition and taken from Tate Britain's collection, Henry Wallis' impeccably painted Chatterton (1855-6) (below) shows a young poet on his death-bed having commited suicide following repeated rejections from publishers. One of the most romantic yet tragic stories told in the artworks on display.

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Everett Millais Ferdinand Lured by Ariel (1849-50)

 



 

 

 

I always admire the soft style with which John Everett Millais painted Ophelia (1852) (below).

 



 

 

 

 



 

 

When looking closely at these 2 paintings by William Dyce you can see the incredible detail, such as the individually painted blades of grass. Pegwell Bay, Kent - a recollection of October 5th (1858) is above & The Man of Sorrows (1860) below.

 



 

 

 

 

 

I like Work (1852-63) by Ford Madox Brown (below) because its one of those paintings that are busy with various different people doing things, some more honestly than others! In this way it reminds me of a painting by William Powell Frith, The Derby Day (1856-8), thats in Tate Britain's Historic Collection.

 



 

 

 

 

 

I've included William Holman Hunt's The Children's Holiday (1864) because I like the stylised faces and the incredibly well painted silver on the left hand side of the painting.

 



 

 

 

 

 

In Isabella and the pot of basil (1866-68) William Holman Hunt expresses his incredible technical ability, such as in the way he painted the folds in the fabrics, the reflection on the furniture from the watering can and in Isabella's face.

 



 

 

 

 

 

Every page is like a work of art in William Morris' prints in this publication of The works of Geoffrey Chaucer (1896).

 



 

 

 

 

 

Edward Burne-Jones' The Golden Stairs (1880) is one of my favourite Pre-Raphaelite paintings in terms of its detail, the ladies stylised faces and the great use of colour. 

 



 

 

 

 

 

The next three paintings by Edward Burne-Jones use as their inspiration Greek mythology, specifically Perseus slaying Medusa (the Gorgon) in order to rescue Andromeda from the Kraken.

 



 

The Rock of Doom (1885-1888), Edward Burne-Jones

 

 

The Doom Fullfilled (1885), Edward Burne-Jones

 

 



 

The Baleful Head (1886-7), Edward Burne-Jones

 

 

 

 

http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/pre-raphaelites-victorian-avant-garde

Noble favourite

In this year's Turner Prize exhibition at Tate Britain, my favourite of the 4 shortlisted artists is Paul Noble. Shortlisted because of his drawings of the fictional city of Nobson Newtown shown at the Gagosian Gallery, Noble's works on display here start with a word. He then draws around this word to create landscapes with strange biomorphic shapes contrasting with structures that appear to be man-made. When walking round looking at these works, it was like a game to see if you can spot where in each piece this starting point is.

In Villa Joe (Front View) (2005-6) (below) there's an obvious nod to Henry Moore with some of the shapes in the landscape being very similiar to Moore's sculptures. These include a drawing of Three Points (1939-40), which is part of the Tate Collection.

 

 

 

Some of these organic shapes in the drawings on the walls are then transformed into three dimensions by sculptures in the middle of the room. The photo below of a detail from (Large) TREV (2012) shows one of the contrasting 'man-made' structures.

 



 

 

 

Noble's drawing Lidonob (2000) is still on display in the A Walk Through the Twentieth Century galleries at Tate Britain.

 



http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/turner-prize-2012?gclid=CLeFy7LikrMCFXHLtAodv1MALA

Faces and Figures...

...is the title of the current exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery that focuses on portraiture by Thomas Schutte, including sculpture, photography and paintings by the German artist.

On the walk through Hyde Park to the gallery I saw this sculpture across The Long Water/Serpentine lake. It reminds me a little of a Henry Moore or Barbara Hepworth.

 

 

 

 

Outside the south side of the gallery are these (patinated bronze) sculptures (below), United Enemies (2011).

 



 

 

As the sun begins to set, it casts great shadows across them and the grass.

 



 

 

 

As with the United Enemies sculptures outside, I like the weathered effect on the (patinated) bronze below. This artwork, Memorial for Unknown Artist (2011), also has that effect on its steel base too.

 



 

 

 

Vater Staat (Father State) (2010) has a similiar effect, albeit more rusty, on its steel surface.

 



 

 

 

 

I like the character that some of Schutte's ink and pencil drawings (on paper) have, such as this one from the Mirror Drawings (1998-99) series.

 



 

 

 

http://www.serpentinegallery.org/2011/03/thomas_schutte.html



Last week to see...

...the Eley Kishimoto Living With Patterns exhibition at The Aram Gallery on Drury Lane in Covent Garden. The King and Queen of fashion print express how they have become surface designers too in this small interesting show.



 

I like the way the exhibition has been curated with fabric walls between the different rooms. These are 'flash' lace panels woven by MYB Textiles, which also adorn some of the windows in the Aram (furniture) store below the gallery.

 

This is the exhibition entrance (below), with a brief view of the Flash Gnomes inside.

 



 

 

 

 

According to the exhibition guide, these Flash Gnomes (below) "welcome you to the print on print world of Eley Kishimoto."



 

 

 

The Narumi ceramics (below) are the result of the Japanese bone china manufacturer and Eley Kishimoto collaborating on Narumi's 10th anniversary Styles range.

 



 

 

 

I really like the way they curated this room with just one pair of shoes displayed using this machine that walks them round in a perpetual circle.

 

 

 

That pair and these shoes below are the result of another collaboration, this time with Clarks. They feature Eley Kishimoto's Flash and Cute Boys prints.

 



 

 

 

Ofcourse no Eley Kishimoto show could be without printed womenswear, with my favourite 2 dresses below from the In Shape range.

 

 

 

The next 3 photos below are my favourite piece's in the room of Moorcraft pottery. These are traditional ceramics that have been handpainted with Eley Kishimoto designs.

 



 

 

 

I like the oriental feel of the 2 above and the fact that the one below reminds me of a few of the paintings in the Futurism exhibition at Tate Modern in 2009.



 

 

 



http://www.thearamgallery.org/now/