Facing the modern: The portrait in Vienna 1900

Facing the modern, the National Gallery's current exhibition includes some beautiful paintings brought together from the walls of galleries across Europe and the US and from various private collections. However I have to say I found the curating a little strange and these stunning works were not set up to their best advantage. The text panels were grey and challenging to read in the low lighting. It also felt as if the exhibition jumped around too much, particularly the room which brought together the self portraits which included paintings of the artists included in the first room intermixed with the newer wave of artists. The paintings by Gustav Klimt whose style changed dramatically across his body of work are not chronological which is slightly confusing and disorientating.

That said the exhibition did give me a whole new perspective on Klimt's work. Previously my view of him had been coloured by the fact that I am not a huge fan of his painting The Kiss having only every seen poor reproductions online, in books, on tea towels or on postcards.

This exhibition included some of his early work alongside stunning examples of his famous later style. One particularly outstanding painting from a private collection is Portrait of a Lady in Black. This stunning painting of a fashionably dressed Viennese woman is meticulously painted the bracelet on her right wrist seems to jump off the canvas at you.

Be warned, this is not the most cheerful of exhibitions. Vienna during the early 1900's was famously a discontented and anxiety ridden place. As you walk through the exhibition reading the information on the paintings you will be struck by how many of the sitters committed suicide. This slightly morbid facet of Viennese life during this period is addressed in the creepy room which includes death masks of Klimt, Mahler and Schiele as well as the haunting portrait of Ria Munk on her deathbed.

 The room focuses upon how portraiture during this period often had a commemorative function.

We also see the paintings by Oskar Kokoschka of patients suffering from Tuberculosis. His twisted and tortured style seems to fit perfectly with representing the people in the late stage of this disease. Such as this painting of Count Verona painted in 1910. The deep furrow in the sitters brow and his emaciated face and knotted hands give a sense of the sitters pain and suffering both physically and mentally. 

The exhibition ends with the tragic and controversial portrait of Amalie Zuckerkandl, the image used on the shows promotional material.

It shows Amalie a Jewish resident of Vienna who died in a Nazi concentration camp during the second world war. The coincidental fact that this painting remained unfinished by Klimt gives the painting a haunting significance that melts the life of the work with that of the sitter and the turbulent historical moment. The painting is also intertwined with an issue hot in the press at the moment, Nazi-looted art. After the discovery of Gurlitt's huge hoard of 'degenerate' art brought together during the war the eyes of the world are focused upon art works confiscated and stolen during the war years. This particular painting is embroiled in a legal battle over whether the painting rightly belongs to the Austrian state or if it should be returned to the heirs of it's original owner the Jewish sugar baron Ferdinand Bloch-Bower.

If you can set aside the confusing order of the paintings there is a lot to be learnt from this extraordinary collection of art works. The exhibition runs until the 12th January so book now!

Advent Calender 2013: Day 3

The American artist Henry Mosler's The Christmas Tree c. 1916

Advent Caldender 2013: Day 2

Carol Singers by Gunning King Brighton and Hove Museums and Art Galleries

Day 1

Advent Calender 2013: Day 1

I really enjoyed doing an advent calender the year before last so I thought I would treat you and myself to another one this year.

Just roll over the number to open your first advent window.




The Gates of Honour under snow The Fitzwilliam Museum William Nicholson

Poetic Pairings: December

Homesickness 1940 René Magritte Galerie Isy Bracot, Brussels

Home Thoughts, from Abroad

O to be in England

Now that April's there,

And whoever wakes in England

Sees, some morning, unaware,

That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf

Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,

While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough 

In England - now!

And after April, when May follows,

And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!

Hark, where my blossom'd pear-tree in the hedge

Leans to the field and scatters on the clover

Blossoms and dewdrops - at the bent spray's edge -

That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over

Lest you should think he never could recapture

The first fine careless rapture!

And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,

All will be gay when noontide wakes anew

The buttercups, the little children's dower

- Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!

Robert Browning

Nika Neelova

This Monday I spent the day invigilating for the winning entry of the historic portion of the British Society of Sculptors Sculpture Shock award.

The competition comprises three elements, subterranean, ambulatory and historic and encourages the artists to devise sculptures for spaces we would not usually encounter contemporary sculpture.

Nika Neelova was the winner of the historic award and her work was installed temporarily on Thursday 14th in the church of the Holy Trinity just off Sloane Square. Monday was the last day of the exhibition.

The sculpture is entitled North Taurids Following the Meteor Shower. It was located on the north side of the church in front of the Lady Chapel. The main part of the sculpture is on wooden boards in the centre of the space and then there are several other pieces scattered around. The polyhedra shapes are created by pouring different materials into wooden moulds, (these moulds are also included in the work complete with the graffiti from the desks the wood originated from). These materials include concrete and wax either alone or mixed with other materials such as marble dust to evoke the impression of stone and crystals one of the things that inspired the artist.

The work interacts with the church space without imposing upon it. Nika was struck by the variety of geometrical forms used throughout the beautiful arts and crafts church which prompted her to look at sacred geometry and gave her the inspiration for the form of her work. As well as connecting the work symbolically with the site there is an aesthetic link. The concrete ties in with the vast columns supporting the roof while the wax looks like marble and granite, materials used throughout the rest of the churches ornamentation and furnishing.

The sculpture really came into it's own in the evening when the dramatic lighting cast strong and interesting shadows across the work. It also highlighted the translucency of the wax polyhedra which looked really effective and beautiful.

As well as drawing links with the art and architecture of the surrounding church the sculpture reminds viewers of all manner of things, crystals, meteors, an architectural dig, the pyramids of Egypt. There is lots to be seen in this at first sight simple work and encouraged me to look at the rest of this intriguing artist's body of work. If you are inspired to take a look too click here.

Xu Bing: Travelling to the Wonderland

On one of the many grey and rainy afternoons so far this month I took a little trip to the V&A to visit the new installation in the Italianate courtyard. It is a piece by the Chinese artist Xu Bing entitled Travelling to the Wonderland.

Initially I was underwhelmed, the grey sky and light drizzle didn't set it off to the best effect and from a distance the work didn't have much impact. However, as soon as you get nearer to the work, walking round it, taking in the details and exploring all of the different aspects it pulls you in and is reluctant to let go.

The work is inspired by a Chinese fable by Tao Qian about an idealistic world where the inhabitants live unaware of the outside world. This explains why the installation feels so much more effective when you get closer to it. The work is arranged in a circle and from the outside of the circle you have to come in close to the work and peer inside of the ring of stones. Evoking the message of an enclosed and exclusive world that we can only seek to see and understand.

When you do get close enough to peer into this world there is plenty to discover. Interspersed among the rocks collected from around China are a whole range of ceramic houses, figures and animals.

The work evokes the incredible diversity of the incredible country of China including rocks from around the country, branches from a number of different plants and ceramic models of traditional buildings from across history. 
 

The installation also includes a fusion of modern and traditional materials such as the smoke machines and the Liquid Crystal screens build into some of the houses. Such as the one in the video below where we see cartoon characters having what looks like a skype date. This fusion of old and new is a fitting metaphor for modern China.

 If you are visiting with children then you could even set them a bit of a treasure hunt.

1. Find a fish
2. Find a drowned house
3. Find a bridge
4. Find a zebra

I will definitely be returning one evening to see the installation by night as it looks stunning with the reflections off the water, the smoke and the dramatic lighting.

Enjoy your trip to Wonderland.