2021

Women in Art is the subject of a series of talks and articles I am presenting in 2021 embracing the depiction of women by male artists and women as depicted by women artists. Cornwall Penlee Dame Laura Knight I thought I’d start the series by having a brief look at the work of the English artist Dame Laura Knight. Knight’s full bio can be found on Wikipedia. Born in 1877, at the age of 13 Laura Knight attended the Nottingham School of Art where she met her husband Harold Knight and where male and female segregation of tuition and subject matter was as practiced at the time. The excellent exhibition at Penlee Museum and Gallery Penzance in 2021 brilliantly illustrates Knight’s developing technique and subject matter. In this article we can explore her approach to depicting her female subject matter. … Continue reading Cornwall Penlee Dame Laura Knight →

David Hockney ‘The Arrival of Spring, Normandy 2020’. David Hockney iPad in Spring At the beginning of the pandemic hitting Europe in early 2020, David Hockney travelled with his iPad to Normandy France and there, whilst stuck because of travel restrictions, he created on his iPad many wonderful images. There must be a term for ‘digital art’. Maybe that’s it, or digitalised art or maybe even ‘e’ art. Whatever, David Hockney needs to be acknowledged for his brilliance at bringing fine art (I guess) to his audience through the media of electronic technology of the most modern kind. Few other artists would or could do this. Few would have the temerity, the reputation, the confidence to get away with it. It’s only the likes of such secure artists as Hockney who would be acknowledged by such institutions as the Royal … Continue reading David Hockney iPad in Spring →

Paula Rego at Tate Britain A story of stories of women’s stories. No holds barred here. Intelligent, sympathetic, emphatic, brutal, honest and most discomforting. Paula Rego, Tate Britain. @tate Bio – below Her many styles are on display here, her forms and approaches, showing her developing oeuvre, each time dramatic in their formats. After visiting this exhibition and truly contemplating the messages behind the images, who could not become a feminist and empathise with the cause. Rego looks deeply into how women’s identities are shaped by patriarchal societies. She delves into the more sinister side of children’s stories; she explores adult’s cruelties and the wildness of children. Rego emphasises the vulnerability of women, in one place concentrating on her homeland of Portugal and the Salazar regime, the outlawing of abortion and the subsequent yet further abuse of women. Rego’s style … Continue reading Paula Rego at Tate Britain →

The Making of Rodin, Tate Modern. Rodin A Work in Progress It’s worth starting with the tale about the making of ‘The Burgers of Calais’ one of Rodin’s most famous and dramatic works. Apparently, the figures were first modelled naked and then fabric tunics were dipped in plaster and draped over so that the withered bodies could clearly be seen beneath. The feet and hands, possibly too large but maybe emphasising the hopelessness and vulnerability of their fate at the hands of England’s Edward III. Extract from Wikipedia: The sculpture commemorates an event during the Hundred Years’ War, when Calais, a French port on the English Channel, surrendered to the English after an eleven-month siege. The city commissioned Rodin to create the sculpture in 1884 and the work was completed in 1889. In 1346, England’s Edward III, after a victory in the Battle of Crécy, laid … Continue reading Rodin A Work in Progress →

So contemporary: background timeline ‘1829. Government enquiry into air-borne pollution and public health’. Turner at Tate Britain Modern Times The theme was Turner and the Modern World. His depiction of the changing times from the threat and uncertainty of the Napoleonic Wars and Trafalgar and Waterloo in particular through to his more famous works ‘The Fighting Temeraire’ and ‘Rain, Steam and Speed’. His times: revolutions, riots, wars, industrial revolution, slavery and its abolition, canal building, machinery and of course the railway. All captured in his unique styles.  That is styles plural. Precise, realistic through to impressionistic. But Turner struggled with figures and maybe that’s why there are so few of them, even though is works concentrate on depicting the human experience in his modern times, from conflict to industrialisation, to storm and frenzy. Whatever the world throws at us, we … Continue reading Turner at Tate Britain Modern Times →

Sophie Taeuber-Arp Tate Modern. Was she just playing at being an artist following her whims or as described by Tate Modern ‘Taeuber-Arp was one of the most successful and innovative artists of her time’. Humm. The exhibition is worth a visit. An enjoyable dabble into the life and works of a little know (to most people) artist. Born and resident in the prosperous and secure country of Switzerland (later moving to Germany and South of France) Taeuber-Arp ‘was a crafts professional, teacher, architect, interior designer, painter, sculptor, performer, jewellery-maker, and editor of an international art magazine.’ Wow. How many terms could we all give ourselves? Nothing spared here. Bio below Looking through the exhibition, her work and approaches vary from formalised paintings, embroidery to marionettes to costumes to furniture and interior design and woodturning. All jolly good fun. Described also … Continue reading Sophie Taeuber-Arp Tate Modern →