Today's Partial Eclipse

Unfortunately today's partial eclipse in London will have resulted in little more than grey photos of a cloudy sky. So here are three images of eclipses past to make up for that.

The Metropolitan museum have this extraordinary set of Daguerreotypes by brothers William Langenheim and Frederick Langenheim who had opened a studio in Philadelphia. These seven images were taken during the first full solar eclipse since the invention of photography. I was interested to read that these images had to be so small (the smallest measuring 3.2 x 2.5 cms) at this early stage in the history of photography smaller cameras could function with less light and because the very nature of an eclipse means that there is limited light available William and Frederick had to use the smallest camera available.

This dramatic rendering of the eclipse from the British Museums collection is a mezzotint print ideal for creating the deep blacks and the stark contrast with the bright light. The inscription in pencil underneath suggests that this print was based upon watercolour sketches that the artist Drewitt made while at sea on the SS Ortona. I can only imagine how eerie an eclipse would look on board a boat.

We go back to photographs with this image from the V&A's collection which has already gathered 805 likes on instagram so far today. It is a print made in 1956 from a glass negative created in 1923-24 by the photographer Eugene Atget. This image has an almost theatrical quality with everyone gathered together engaging simultaneously in the same action.

Goya: The Witches and Old Women Album - Chillingly Brilliant

This exhibition was a must see for me as soon as I saw it advertised and the reviews did nothing to damped my enthusiasm.

Like most exhibitions at the Courtauld gallery it hones in on one aspect and investigates it in depth. In this case, an album (Album D) of drawings that Goya produced in the later years of his life.

The real feat of the curators is to have brought together all the pages from this book known to be in existence. The sheets come from museums far and wide who have graciously contributed their drawings to allow us a unique insight into the artist’s psyche. As you go around I recommend you take note of the names of the contributing galleries just to recognise the work that has gone in to getting them there.

The first room sets the scene effectively including prints and drawings which demonstrate Goya’s preoccupation with the occult with age and its troubles and vanities. Then in the second room we get to the real business of the exhibition, the album itself.

The masterfully executed ink drawings veer from the hauntingly horrible to the poignantly beautiful. In the first pages images of gnarled witches abound with their stooped postures, jutting chins, broken teeth and sunken malevolent eyes. Some fly through the air either tumbling down to hell with reckless abandon or swooping up by the power of their magic, others gnaw on babies or collect them to take to the great witch master. There is madness and a primal erotic and voyeuristic charge in many of the images. Figures look up each others skirts or are clinched in twisted embraces. 

Wicked Woman Goya

However in the last pages of the book, the subject matter shifts. Goya shows us aged and stooped figures leaning on sticks with toothless grins. My personal favourite drawing belongs to this category.  It is an image of an old woman dancing to the music of the castanets in her hands. She throws her left leg up in a joyful gesture seemingly carefree and with little regard to her frailty. These later drawings appear to show sympathy and care we see that the cruelty reflected in them is not a fictitious mythical and fantastical one but rather the everyday cruelties of age. 

He can no longer at the age of 98 Goya

Goya appears to answer the inevitable question of where these images came from within the series itself. After the particularly repulsive image of a witch about to tuck in to a supper of raw baby which is shown above we see an image entitled by Goya  He wakes up kicking. It shows an old man appearing to wake from a nightmare with that horrible start which we all know well. The implication is that these are images and visions drawn from Goya’s own dreams and imaginings reflecting his darkest fears and preoccupations. This is also eloquently expressed in the print below from his Capricios series in the first room entitled The sleep of reason produces Monsters.

The Sleep of Reason produces Monsters Goya

The album is roughly dated to 1819-23 coinciding with the artist’s famous Black Paintings which he painted directly on to the walls of his house in Madrid. Like these paintings it is unlikely that these drawings were intended for public consumption. Luckily for us both the paintings which were stripped from the walls and the drawings have survived the test of time. Most of the sheets even maintaining the fascinating titles that Goya gave them. Allowing us a privileged look into the head of Goya as an old man.

One of Goya's Black Paintings Two old men eating soup 

Exhibition runs until 25^th May 2015. For more information and to book click here. 

Poetic Pairing: March 2015

Thebes Ramesseum statues of Osiris c. 1870-75 New York Public Library Digital Catalogue

Ozymandias

I met a traveler from an antique land,

Who said, "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:

And on the pedestal these words appear:

"My name is Ozymandias, Kind of Kinds."

Look on my works ye Mighty, and despair!

No thing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that Colossal Wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Percy Shelley

 

Some Inspiration to keep those New Years Resolutions going

Somehow we are already well into 2015, I do not know about anyone else but it seems to be flying by to me.

My new years resolutions, to take up a craft (for which I chose Crochet) and to budget more carefully are just about remaining on track.

However, I thought maybe we could all do with a little artistic inspiration to help keep our heads in the game. Here are the top 10 most popular new years resolutions and something to help motivate you to keep them through spring at the very least.

1. Spend more time with friends and family

The appearance of the artist family 1935 -1947 Chagall

How can you not be touched by the tender gesture of the artists hand on his chest as he takes a moment away from his work to look at those around him.

2. Fit in Fitness

Pick up a Discus or maybe just hit the gym or do a spot of Yoga

3. Tame the Bulge

It might not be asparagus season yet but if this Flemish still life doesn't tempt you to stick to the vegetables nothing will.

4. Quit Smoking

Frankly if you aren't smoking something as fantastic and elaborate as this pipe from the met what is the point anyway.

5.Enjoy life More

Why not pull up a swing and takes some inspiration from these folk.

6. Quit Drinking

After all who wants to go around dropping babies.

7. Get out of Debt

Money may not look quite as fabulous as these ancient coins from the British Museum but it is nice and shiny.

8. Learn Something New

Be inspired by Kader Attia's Jacob's Ladder work which was shown recently at Whitechapel gallery and pick up a book any book will do.

9. Help Others

In Van Gogh's Delacroix inspired work we see illustrated the classic story of the Good Samaritan.

10. Get Organised 

How could you not be organised with this coin case from the Met or this stunning desk from the Wallace collection. You might have to make do with one from Ikea but the idea is the same.

Poetic Pairing: February 2015

Girl at the Mirror David Muirhead 1928 Royal Academy of Arts

A Sad Child

You're sad because you're sad.

It's psychic. It's the age. It's chemical.

Go see a shrink or take a pill,

or hug your sadness like an eyeless doll

you need to sleep.

Well, all children are sad

but some get over it.

Count your blessings. Better than that,

buy a hat. Buy a coat or pet.

Take up dancing to forget.

Forget what?

Your sadness, your shadow,

whatever it was that was done to you

the day of the lawn party

when you came inside flushed with the sun,

your mouth sulky with sugar,

in your new dress with the ribbon 

and the ice-cream smear,

and said to yourself in the bathroom,

I am not the favourite child.

My darling, when it comes 

right down to it

and the light fails and the fog rolls in

 and you're trapped in your overturned body 

under a blanket or burning car,

and the red flame is seeping out of you 

and igniting the tarmac beside your head 

or else the floor, or else the pillow, 

none of us is;

or else we all are.

Margaret Atwood

Giovanni Battista Moroni at the Royal Academy: Getting Face to Face with the 16th Century

Yesterday I spent a spontaneous afternoon at the Royal Academy's Giovanni Battista Moroni exhibition. I didn't entirely know what to expect from it but I had seen some of the works in the National Gallery's collection so from what little I knew I was looking forward to it.

Moroni is one of the 16th century's many underestimated and overshadowed Italian renaissance artists. His lack of popularity must be down to his relatively niche clientele, he worked mainly in the area surrounding his home in Lombardy and he didn't travel as widly as many of his more well known contemporaries. Luckily for his reputation his paintings regained favour in the Victorian era when they appealled to the tastes and romantic sensibilities of collectors including the National Gallery's Charles Eastlake.

The exhibition is a relatively small one in the Sackler Wing but there is plenty in it and it should not be overlooked in favour of the glitzy Allen Jones or the heavy and awe inspiring Anselm Kiefer. The works chosen showcase a good cross section of Moroni's works including some altarpieces and portraits that encompass characters from various walks of Italian society from aristocrats to his most famous work the humble tailor (above).

While the altarpieces are interesting and show how effectively Moroni managed to appeal to his counter-reformation patrons it is of course his portraits that steal the show.

The care and sensitivity with which he treats his sitters is evident from the first room. He is able to capture more than just a likeness of his sitters but to portray something of their character.
We see rich aristocrats that look as though they have the weight of the world resting on their shoulders or who seem thrilled to be exactly where they are in life showing off their wealth and circumstance.

As well as being pscyhologically interesting the paintings are also a sumptuous visual spectacle. One of the features of his paintings is the bluey grey background he often employs. This allows the intricatly detailed costumes to pop of the canvas. We are shown a masterclass in painting the fashionable clothing and jewellery of the day notable examples being the 'boy in pink', the portrait of Isotta Bombatti and the gentleman pictured below in his cosy looking (and very on trend) fur.

I really enjoyed the exhibition and would recommend it to anyone interested in portraiture.

It runs until 25th January and costs £13.50 (£12 without donation)

Tuttle Takes Over

It is certainly the season for hot chocolate, crisp autumn walks, Christmas adverts and apparently the American artist Richard Tuttle. He is currently enjoying pride of place in the Tate Modern Turbine hall and has a display at the exciting and vibrant Whitechapel gallery.

I have found it difficult to warm to Tuttle’s turbine hall instillation. In the evening when the turbine hall gets darker the dramatic lighting that illuminates it comes into play and the vibrant colours of the fabrics do pop against the greys and blacks of the hall. I also really rather like the shadows in the folds of the red fabric on the side you see immediately as you walk in. However it's a work I have found hard to love or understand.

In an attempt to appreciate it on another level I decided to pop in to the Whitechapel gallery's display. Various people had told me that it had helped them to see him working on a scale that he was more familiar with and that they preferred this.

The exhibition entitled I Don't Know The Weave of Textile Language addresses the artists work using fabric. There were a couple of pieces that I particularly liked. The work which showed a wooden frame with white fabric falling off it which was reminiscent of a canvas on the wall from which the fabric has become detached made me think twice. It reminded me of the importance of textiles in so much of the art produced after the early 1500s. It provides the very base that supports some of the worlds most loved masterpieces; where would Gainsborough's Blue Boy be without the very fabric that supports him?

There were also two very beautiful works from 2008 which involved bands of fabric which had been dyed and then suspended using silver rings hung on nails into the wall. The edges of the fabric has been left exposed and raw with strands of thread left to remind us of the very structure of the sheet we are looking at. On one of the panels of fabric there was this vibrant and crispy splash of a neon yellow paint which draws you in and forces you to examine the way that the ink has bled into the fabric.

The works I liked best where those that made you really look at fabric, a material we take for granted, and to see the beauty in its simplicity. To see how it is constructed and the different ways it can be used and treated.

This said I did struggle with the exhibition, the artist and the gallery force you to take the initiative and leaves you to take from it what you will. I encourage you to go and do just that, the exhibition runs until the 14th December.