Advent Calendar: Day 1

The Millinery Mabel Frances Layng Darlington Borough Art Collection

This fashionably dressed lady's shopping experience looks 1000 miles away from the Black Friday crowds.

This post war photo from the Metropolitan museums collection on the other hand shows that maybe things haven't changed that much.

State Street at Madison Looking South Xmas shoppers Gordon H Coster 1945

Happy St Andrew's Day

The image of St Andrew is somewhat less familiar to me then that of England's Patron saint so I thought that I would take today to remind myself of his history and how artist have painted him.

In this characteristically dramatic work by Caravaggio we see St Andrew on the cross. At his feet dressed in highly reflective armor which distinguishes him from the rest of the characters is the Roman Proconsul Aegeas. After St Andrew had suffered for two days on the cross, from which he preached to the gathered masses, it was Aegeas that ordered he be cut down. However, when his soldiers went to remove him they were struck with paralysis rendering them incapable of doing so. Caravaggio has chosen this dramatic moment for his painting and we see the soldier frozen on the left hand side incapable of untying the martyred saint. 

This has given the artist the opportunity to really play with the anatomy of the figure, he has left half of the back on show in order to show us the locked and tense muscles in the shoulder blade giving us this impression of a sudden spasm. If we look at the figures legs we can also see that both knees are strangely bend as if the strength has gone out of them and the man has been rendered powerless to move.

This slightly more serene painting is by El Greco. Unlike Caravaggio El Greco has painted the figure of St Andrew simply holding the cross in order that we may identify him with one hand raised in a gesture of blessing. You may have noticed that in Caravaggio's painting St Andrew is shown on an upright Latin cross while here El Greco shows him holding a diagonal cross. In images from the 17th Century and onward he is usually painted with the diagonal cross which of course has become the Saltire cross on the Scottish flag. In Caravaggio's painting he was possibly influenced by earlier 16th Century beliefs that he had been crucified on a Latin cross. These two works are believed to have been  painted only 10 years apart but it marks a significant shift in the artists iconography.

I found this image on the wonderful BBC Your Paintings resource. Painted by the Italian artist Carlo Dolci and acquired by the Birmingham Museums Trust from the prestigious gallery Tomas Agnew and Sons who deal in Old Master paintings.

It is a very busy painting which seems to have a more narrative function. Again we are shown the Roman proconsul on the right overseeing the erection of the cross. Dolci has also included more prominently the crowds of people who had come to observe St Andrews crucifixion and many of whom he will convert to Christianity in his two days on the cross. You can see them between the ankles of the gentleman holding one of the boughs of wood and wearing a rather fabulous hat. 

I just had to include this work because of the splendid Scottish blue that St Andrew is wearing.

Happy St Andrew's Day

To read more about St Andrew then do click here to read A History of St Andrew written by Michael Turnbull on the Scotland.org site.

Poetic Pairings: November 2015

Lady Lilith Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1868

Lilith or Body's Beauty

Of Adam's first wife, Lilith, it is told

(The witch he loved before the gift of Eve,)

That, ere the snake's, her sweet tongue could deceive,

And her enchanted hair was the first gold.

And still she sits, young while the earth is old,

And, subtly of herself contemplative,

Draws men to watch the bright web she can weave,

Till heart and body and life are in its hold.

The rose and poppy are her flowers; for where

Is he not found, O Lilith, whom shed scent

And soft-shed kisses and soft sleep shall snare?

Lo! as that youth's eyes burned at thine, so went

Thy spell through him, and left his straight neck bent

And round his heart one strangling golden hair.

Dante Gabriel Rosetti

This sonnet appears on the lower portion of this painting's frame.

Great article about the poem here

Shoes Glorious Shoes - Shoes: Pleasure and Pain at the V&A

So many people have spoken about shoes more knowledgeably and articulately than I so I shall use their words to take you through some of the highlights of this lovely exhibition at the V&A

Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world Marilyn Monroe

If high heels were so wonderful, men would be wearing them Sue Grafton ......... (I think you will find they are)

If a chick wants to know who makes my shoes she's got to take them off and look inside ASAP Rocky

One thing I detest, I have to say, is when a shoe is too soft and its molding to the foot. This is quite disgusting. And I really really hate incredibly long shoes, where the last is very pointy, almost like Aladdin. Christian Louboutin (Not Sure how he would feel about these ones)

I like Cinderella, I really do. She has a good work ethic. And she likes shoes. The fairytale is all about the shoe at the end. Amy Adams

I spend most of my time wearing uncomfortable things, so for me, it's all about trainers. Cara Delevinge (I think she would approve of Robert's adidas collection in the exhibition)

Craziness in a shoe is great - you can have much more freedom, you can exaggerate it and it doesn't feel stupid. But to have too much craziness near your face, that would just feel weird. Miuccia Prada

I'm not afraid of heights have you seen my shoes Carrie Bradshaw

Poetic Pairing: October 2015

Happy Holiday 1999 Agnes Martin

Peace, Tranquility and Solitude

Peace, Tranquility and Solitude

Are the things we all need most

Sit all alone and meditate

Relaxing by the coast.

Allow those sounds to agitate 

And fill your empty head

Help your inner self to meditate

To natures sounds instead.

The sound of wind and water 

Waves crashing on the land

Listen to the tides which turn 

And flow along the sand.

Sitting by the coast

Breath in the cool sea breeze

It helps relax the mind and soul

And you body is all at ease.

David Boyce

Natural History Museum: Spirit Collection Tour

As a Londoner I have stood in awe under the plaster cast of Dippy in the Natural History Museum's ornate entrance hall, cowered in fear clinging to my grandfather's hand when they installed the lifelike moving T. Rex and explored the insect rooms with classmates clutching crumpled worksheets and wholesome pack lunches. All in all I thought I knew the museum pretty well and had relegated it to a place of childhood learning and amusement.

Yesterday I went on the gallery's behind the scenes Spirit Collection tour and I was shown how much more there is to the museum.

Myself and a group of eight colleagues met our charming and very knowledgeable guide by that museum institution, the gift shop, and headed away from the busy hub of the gallery via the swish Darwin centre into the back stage area. 

While we walked she set the scene by reminding us that the natural history museum is not just a reliquary for dinosaur bones and the Victorian's taxidermied animal specimens but it is also an active research institution leading and participating in research into the natural world.

The first stop on the tour was a glimpse into one of the museum's labs where some of the gallery's scientists were busy working in the sort of organised chaos common in lab environments.

Then we moved on to look at the skin crawling 'flesh-eating beetle room' complete with a live feed of the bugs themselves slowly breaking down the body of a python.

Don't worry they weren't anything like the ones from The Mummy...

From here we moved into what was essentially a huge library stack except instead of endless art journals or exhibition catalogues the shelves were filled with animals in jars of alcohol to protect and preserve the specimens. This section included fascinating items like these mice which, through a process which quite eludes me, have been dyed so that the skeletons are red and the organs are transparent. Freaky!

Many of the museum's specimens, particularly the fish and large mammal and reptile specimens, are too large to fit into this section and the next room we journeyed to was designed to store them. It had long metal tanks in the centre where specimens were stored together and the wall was lined with huge glass tanks filled with weird and wonderful creatures. While we were there some of the gallery's very own white coat wearing scientists (or some well paid actors) were moving a sharks head into a new jar.

The star of this space had to be the museum's giant squid. It was caught by accident near the Falkland Islands and gifted to the museum and since it has arrived it has helped scientist to understand more about the elusive species. Oh and she is named Archie.

We learnt a lot about Archie and the other occupants of this room but I don't want to give away all of the surprises.

To book tickets to see all of this for yourself click here it's only a tenner a ticket and I think you will agree totally worth it.

Poetic Pairing: September 2015

Untitled Joseph Cornell c. 1956-58

Stars

How countlessly they congregate

O'er our tumultuous snow,

Which flows in shapes as tall as trees

When wintry winds do blow!--

As if with keenness for our fate,

Our faltering few steps on

To white rest, and a place of rest

Invisible at dawn,--

And yet with neither love nor hate,

Those stars like some snow-white

Minerva's snow-white marble eyes

Without the gift of sight.

Robert Frost