art – Page 3 – Paper Places

Expressionists and the artists who formed the Blue Rider movement in Germany in the early 1900s are having a moment at Tate Modern with a thrilling new exhibition of works by Kandinsky, Münter, Mark Klee and many others.

April 23, 2024Tagged art, artist, exhibition, exhibitions, paintingLeave a comment

Above: Wassily Kandinsky, On the Theme of the Deluge 1913-14

If you like colour and bold ideas then this is a great exhibition to view. It’s amazing that each art movement seems to be built out a collection of artists who meet, encourage and feed off each other’s skills. In Munich in the early 1900s, a group of like-minded artists found each other and shared an interest in expressing their personal and spiritual ideas through bold, colourful painting. They called themselves The Blue Rider.

Above: top row: Gabriele Münter, portrait of Olga von Hartmann, Gabriele Munter, Portrait of Marianne von Werefkin, Elisabeth Epstein, self portrait, Bottom row: Marianne Werefkin, The Dancer, a portrait of Alexander Sacharoff (in drag!)

Just looking at these portraits, above, you get an idea of how radical and brave they were in the way they portrayed themselves and recorded each other. You could argue that the advent of photography had removed the need for accurate painted portraiture. What these images do is convey a sense of the person, the real personality and style, rather than bothering with an careful likeness. I love these pictures.

Above: a very fantastical Tiger by Franz Marc, 1912

This group, which formed members of the Blue Rider, were a mixture of married couples and free-thinking single men and women. It’s very satisfying to see that so many of the women in the group are given space for their works upon the walls and also celebrates their contribution to the collective.

Above are three examples of women’s work. Left to right: Maria Frank-Mark, Girl with Toddler 1913, Gabriele Münter, Portrait of Marianne von Werefkin (also one of the female artists in the group) and Marianne von Werefkin’s Self-portrait from 1910

The colours are wonderful. I really liked this interior painting. My Dining Room, by Wassily Kandinsky, 1909. It looks as though it was done at high speed with black drawing with a brush and then flooded with bright colours. The atmosphere of the room is terrific.

Above, the dark painting of The Skaters, is by Marianne Werefkin from 1911. Centre, Promenade by August Macke from 1913 and on the right is another by Marianne Werefking entitled The Storm. She was brilliant at conveying mysterious settings and threatening atmospheres.

And I’m going to give the last slot to Gabriele Münter and this portrait she painted of Marianne Werefkin. We have Münter to thank for the survival of so many of these works. During the Second World War, when so many of the artists were regarded as ‘degenerates’ and were also Jewish, Munter stored many of the paintings in her cellar and kept them safely hidden from Nazi threat until it was safe to reveal them and she donated them to the Städtische Galerie in the Lenbachhaus in Munich.

The exhibition is on until 20th October 2024.

Tropical Modernism – a new show at the Victoria and Albert Museum – puts the spotlight on an architectural style which emerged in the late 1940s. British architects Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry were commissioned to design and build developments which were inspired by very different aesthetics from their work in the UK. Creating buildings in hot and humid locations demanded progressive ideas which were enthusiastically adopted by leaders in Ghana and India but have not all stood the test of time.

February 28, 2024February 28, 2024Tagged architecture, art, design, interior-design, photography, travelLeave a comment

If you’re going to build a new nation following freedom from colonialism then you want to commission buildings which are symbolic of new independence. The Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Ghanaian prime minister Kwame Nkrumah both commissioned the British architects Drew and Fry to come up with ground-breaking buildings which would define their countrys’ post-colonial status and celebrate new freedom.

In Chandigarh, India an audacious plan was conceived to create the first Modernist city in the world to be built from scratch. Nehru wanted the city to be ‘unfettered by the traditions of the past … an expression of the nation’s faith in the future”. The city was created on a strict grid with a river running through it and the city plan was based on a design by Le Corbusier.

What’s so interesting is that where architects aim to enforce order, artists create interventions and counter that order. In 1957 Nek Chand was a road inspector in Chandigarh. He began collecting discarded material from the construction and turned it into a secret kingdom of over 2000 sculptures hidden in a forest near the Capitol Complex. This very personal creation countered the order of Le Corbusier’s vision in a wonderfully subversive way. It remained hidden from view until 1973. Now his ‘vast ruin’ intrigues visitors to the city.

Edward Lutyens designed the new colonial capital in India as if he were rebuilding ancient Rome, enforcing an expression of Britain’s power in the country. This playful bust of Lutyens, below, has a mocking feel about it.

There are blueprints, sketches, photographs and a really interesting film about the movement which lasts about half an hour and is well worth watching. Very intriguing and thought-provoking exhibition which brings to life the history of a fascinating architectural movement. It’s on at the V&A until 22 September 2024

It’s taken a couple of centuries but Angelica Kauffman has finally been given a solo show at the Royal Academy in London. She was an inaugural member of this illustrious group which was founded in 1768. She was renowned and admired across Europe as one of the most cultured, talented and influential artists of her generation. It’s wonderful to see so much of her work on these walls.

February 27, 2024Tagged art, history, painting, portrait, portraitsLeave a comment

In this fabulous self-portrait, Angelica Kauffman represents herself ‘At the Crossroads between the Arts of Music and Painting’. She was a talented singer and musician and torn between the two art forms. But, thank goodness, she decided to dedicate her life to painting. For forty years of her working career (born 1741 and died November 1807) she produced hundreds of remarkable paintings. She was especially enjoyed creating historical, narrative paintings but putting the female character or heroine at the centre of the action. In fact, she was a consummate feminist and celebrated the achievements of women in her work.

Painted by Richard Samuel, here is Angelica, seated in front of the easel, in the company of illustrious women of the day who are all depicted as ‘Characters of the Muses in the Temple of Apollo’. A group portrait of some of the best-known, intellectual and creative women of late 18th century Britain. She is the only artist in the group.

She made several exquisite self-portraits. All of them show her direct, intelligent gaze and are painted with such poise and incorporate classical references in the pose.

According to the curator of the show, Bettina Bamgärtel who spoke at the press preview I attended, Kauffman regarded commissioned portraits as a necessary money-making aspect of her practice, and not her main focus. However, she was extremely good at them. I liked these two portraits. On the left is Joshua Reynolds, who became a close friend. Reynolds introduced her to his royal patron, Queen Charlotte and gave her an entree into London society. On the right is the actor David Garrick. He pose is very unstuffy and shows how very comfortable he felt engaging her gaze and, one imagines, having lively conversations while the painting was being made.

This beautiful portrait of is Emma Hamilton as Muse of Comedy. Emma (who was famously the lover of Lord Nelson) was well known for her ‘attitudes’ – recreating the poses of classical figures as an entertainment. She was invited to country houses and palaces on the promise that she would perform these stylised dances in diaphanous drapes.

This is a portrait of the first Royal Academicians painted by Johan Zoffany gathered in the life drawing room of new Academy. This was not deemed a suitable environment for women so Angelica Kauffman and and Mary Moser, the two female Academicians, are represented in portraits on wall. Kauffman is on the left, looking directly out of her portrait at us.

It’s a wonderful exhibition which is well worth a visit. It opens on 1st March and is on until 30th June 2024.

The Time Is Always Now – a really enjoyable and thought-provoking exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery has opened. Curated by Ekow Eshun, this show gathers together the work of contemporary Black artists who depict the Black experience from their perspective. All the work was made in the last 20 years and captures the essence of the time we live in now yet mindful of the Black experience as it has been recorded in history, but from a White perspective.

February 21, 2024Tagged art, exhibition, exhibitions, history, paintingLeave a comment

Above is a painting by Titus Kaphar (2018) entitled Seeing Through Time which mingles the depiction of a Black page in an 18th century painting and a contemporary portrait.

Above: Vanishing Point (Mignard) by Barbara Walker which depicts the black subject in an historical painting, done in graphite, while the rest of the picture is outlined in imprint. Middle: also by Barbara Walker called Marking the Moment, which highlights the presence of the black figure over the rest of the image in a period painting. And on the right is a dramatic painting by Kimathi Donkor who creates narrative paintings reimagining historical female characters from Africa and its diasporas. We see Harriet Tubman en route to Canada.

Above: The Captain and Mate by Lubaina Himid, The Adventuress Club Est. 1922 by Toyin Ojih Odutola and She was Learning to love moments, to love moments for themselves by Amy Sherald.

At the press preview it was very interesting to hear Ekow Eshun talk about the five years he has spent developing and curating this exhibition. He has assembled an impressive selection of leading African diasporic artists mainly working in the UK and USA. It’s high time that art depicting the Black experience is celebrated in a major gallery and the National Portrait Gallery has used its space in an imaginative and accessible way. They’re also making tickets available for just £5 to visitors under the age of 25.

I was very drawn to this wonderfully layered painting by Njideka Akunyili Crosby which uses transfers, colour pencil, collage on paper and acrylic paint.

The Time Is Always Now will be at the National Portrait Gallery until 19th May 2024.

Entangled Pasts 1768 – Now is a very thought-provoking show at the Royal Academy in London. In the late late 18th century many of the leading artists, and members of the new Royal Academy of Art, were instrumental in helping to change attitudes towards indigenous people and the abolition of slavery. There’s a very imaginative mingling of works from the late 19th century to pieces by artists working today, many of them contemporary members of the Royal Academy.

January 30, 2024Tagged art, art-history, history, london, paintingLeave a comment

Starting with the late 1700s, the first gallery is filled with charming and sensitive portraits of black sitters. Above, I’ve selected a Portrait of a man in a Red Suit by an unknown artist and a wonderful portrait of Ignatius Sancho, the first man of African descent to vote in a British election. He was a musician, shopkeeper, man of letters and friend of artists. Apparently this portrait by Thomas Gainsborough was completed in one sitting in 1768.

This painting is quite familiar because the subjects, Dido Elizabeth Belle and Lady Elizabeth Murray were bought up together at Kenwood House in London and have been the subject of a film. Painted by David Martin in 1779 this painting is beguiling because Lady Elizabeth appears in a conventional pose, with her book, but she’s affectionately connected to her second cousin, Dido (the illegitimate child of an enslaved woman and a Royal Navy officer) who is depicted in a rather mischievous pose as if she’s about to dart away with her collection of fruit and flowers. Lord Mansfield, who owned Kenwood House was Lord Chief Justice in England and instrumental in the abolition of slavery.

This magnificent bust by Francis Harwood, made in 1758, is placed at the centre of the first gallery and gives a wonderful gravitas and graciousness which sets the tone of the the exhibition.

Inevitably we see the role of the black servant in aristocratic homes. And this painting by Joshua Reynolds shows George, Prince of Wales (later King George IV) by Joshua Reynolds. The pose of the attendant – who is intimately arranging the prince’s clothing, caused a stir amongst audiences who first saw it at the RA Annual exhibition in 1787. No identity is given to the attendant but he is described as ‘Black’ by Reynolds.

The shadow of slavery continues with Edwin Longsden Long’s The Balylonian Marriage Market. Young women are selected by male spectators for marriage. I get the feeling he used the same model for most of the young women but darkened their skin colour.

The later galleries leave the iniquities of slavery behind but still reference the engagement of the British Empire with indigenous peoples and leave us a bit troubled by the lack of respect which travelled with the expansive ideas of British Imperialists. For example, the found wood and metal sculpture by El Anatsui called Akua’s Surviving Children is very powerful. Primitive Matters: Huts (2010) depicts the plain, sparse slave huts which contrast with the dwellings enjoyed by Europeans in Trinidad.

It’s good to see females well represented in the show. On the left you can see a work by The Singh Twins which references the ‘triangular trade’: goods were shipped from Europe to Africa, enslaved people were shipped to the Americas, plantation produce was shipped to Europe. The model featured is Fanny Eaton and you can see a sketch of her by Frederick Sandys on the right.

The show runs at the Royal Academy form 3rd February until 28th April 2024.

This fabulous sculpture placed in the courtyard of the Royal Academy is by Tavares Strachan. Made of bronze, black and gold leaf it’s called The First Supper (Galaxy Black) made in 2023.