ANNA LOVELY - AN ARTIST TO WATCH

A SOUTH LONDON ARTIST TO WATCH

We visited the artist Anna Lovely last week, in her studio in South East London.

Anna by her easel

Here she is, sitting by some of her work, with a lovely lampshade which she painted, just in front.

Anna Lovely 

Anne does a lot of her work in a studio space at her home, and the whole area is full of visually stunning pieces of art work, plus paintings by her father, artist Paddy Lovely.

Poster - Paddy Lovely

   

There is a strong link to Camberwell Art School, too.  Anna studied at Camberwell and the Royal Academy Schools, and her father Paddy, mother Belle, and daughter, Bonnie, have all studied at Camberwell.

The work is predominantly in watercolour or acrylic, and Anna uses a light, luminous palette of colours.  The work is brilliant and glows on the walls.

The Old Palette

Anna and her family are very hospitable and a warm welcome is always given!

Recent exhibitions include one in at the Jeannie Avent Gallery, East Dulwich in Northcott Road.

I recommend that you make a point of seeing Anna's work when she next exhibits, and snap up one of her lovely paintings while they are still affordable!

COLIN WIGGINS TALKS ON PRINTS AND PRINTMAKING

RICHMOND ART SOCIETY EVENING LECTURE

http://www.richmondartsociety.com

The talk last Wednesday at Richmond on Thames was given by Colin Wiggins,

who I find to be an excellent lecturer, as well he might be, as he is Head of Special Projects at the National Gallery.

The talk was Prints and Printmaking, and Colin first of all stated his great interest in the print medium, stating that making pictures is his main interest, and he is most passionate about prints.

WOODCUTS

He started off talking about woodcuts, explaining that these early works, from Germany and other parts of Europe, were designed to reach a mass audience, they were the first impressions that could be produced en masse.  Particularly interesting was the images from Ars Moriendi, The Art of Dying, as people were very involved with the necessity of having a 'good death'.  Devils lurked under the bed of the dying….

ALBRECHT DURER

Durer was the great printmaker, until Rembrandt came along. Durer worked with woodblocks but at first he was not allowed to cut his own block. He made the drawing, and then a block maker transferred his drawn line onto the wood, this explains why some of the early Durer images are crude and inaccurate. Colin showed examples of the original drawing by Durer and compared it to the final image from a woodblock. Durer then demanded that the cutters did a better job and the final images are those amazing prints that are so well-known. Follow the link above to see examples of these.

In 1498 there were images of 'The End of the World', because most people thought that the world would end in 1500 and the Apocalypse series was made.  These images were particularly disturbing and macabre.

Engraving, into a metal plate, was the new art form.  At that time copper plate was used, and the copper was made into a plate by a smith who hammered the copper flat. The copper plate was very amenable to the aim of an artists who wanted to create very black blacks.

The Burin, a pointed tool, cuts into the copper plate, which is then inked up.  Durer created the famous image of St Eustace in this way. The copper plate was covered in a layer of oily ink and then run through a printing press.

Another master of the technique is known as the Master LCZ, of whose work only a very few images remain, and nobody knows his name or place of work, but probably he worked in Germany.

ETCHING

Etching followed, and the usual method was to cut into a layer of 'hard ground' with a sharp tool, then the plate is etched in a bath of acid.

Etching is nowadays usually made on a zinc plate, as these days copper is very expensive, and in any way, copper plate is now run off in a press rather than beaten flat into shape.  This means that the blacks of a traditional etching print are not so deep and impressive, as the lined in the zinc will deteriorate if left in the acid too long.

REMBRANDT

Rembrandt is considered to be the greatest printmaker and Colin finds his etchings of greater fascination and magnificence than his paintings.

Unfortunately Colin did not have time to talk about the etchings of that other great master, Goya.

Rembrandt was one of the few Northern artists who never went to Italy, he worked on images of himself a great deal, and had a repertoire of expressions that he used.  Of course it is well known that he used his wife Saskia as a model too.  Colin showed us some magnificent prints by Rembrandt, particularly of a sleeping pig, the Pancake Seller, and various versions of a spectacular Crucifixion.

The lecture ended all too soon, when Colin talked briefly about the work of Gainsborough, who used acquaint, as did Goya, and the mezzotints of Constable. These were produced by Lucas and are in the British Museum Print Room, with Constable's notes.  

LUCIEN FREUD

Lucien Freud also produced etchings, and apparently he wore his gasses to do them, which is why they are better than his later paintings - the paintings were done without the glasses!

AVANT-GARDE-ON-SEA, POST WAR ST IVES

LECTURE AT RICHMOND ART SOCIETY 7 NOVEMBER 2012

held at the American International University in London, Richmond

BY BARRY GARNHAM, art historian

POST-WAR ST IVES:  AVANT-GARDE-ON-SEA

Not knowing what to expect from this, I found the lecture fascinating and Barry an amusing and erudite lecturer.

He  described the history behind Cornwall's  popularity with artists, as it has long been famous for its light.

In the late 19th century, Newlyn became the destination for painters;  there was cheap accommodation due mainly to the decline of the fishing industry, and there were picturesque subjects everywhere;  people's way of life and costumes had not changed much over the last 100 years.  There was a resistance to modernisation and a nostalgia among the intelligentsia for that way of life.

ST IVES ARTISTS' COMMUNITY 

Tiny St Ives followed on from Newlyn.  It became very popular.  Virginia Wolf's book 'To the Lighthouse' was set there.  In the 1920s a  special train brought paintings up the the RA Summer exhibition.

However, Barry pointed out that the well-known painters in St Ives were from everywhere else except Cornwall. Even Arthur Wallis, the naive  painter, was from Devon. The one exception was Peter Lanyon, who was from another part of Cornwall.

The time between the wars attracted many artists but there was a big influx at the time of the Second World War when artists went there to escape the blitz,  particularly from what had been the centre for artists and writers, Hampstead, in North London.

In Hampstead Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth had had a direct hit on their studio, and Ben was instrumental in settling them both in St Ives, which Barbara initially hated.  She was later called 'The Witch of St Ives';  both of them tried to run the artists community and she in particular became unpopular, and began to drink very heavily.

Barry dotted his talk with funny anecdotes, including telling us that whenever a large sculpture piece by Barbara was being transported out of the town for an exhibition, the whole of St Ives ground to a halt - the roads being so steep and narrow.

YOUNG TURKS

Following the Nicholsons, the artistic community attracted a large number of 'Young Turks' including John Tunnard, Keith Vaughan, Terry Frost, Roger Hilton, William Scott, Peter Lanyon and Patrick Heron.  The decline of the fishing industry caused the lofts and fishing sheds to be available at low rents, so large studios were there for them to work in.

The main body of the lecture included a large number slides of works by all these men, and of work by artists who influenced them such as Picasso, Leger, Braque, Mondrian, among others.

BERNARD LEACH

The potter Bernard Leach also set up a studio in St Ives, despite the impracticality of the site, as there is no clay available locally. Also with Leach was the potter Shoji Hamada. The pottery provided work for some of the painters, including Terry Frost.

AMERICANS 

St Ives was visited by Clement Greenberg and Mark Rothko, and other Americans who came to see what was going on, and in Rothko's case gain inspiration.

It was a great evening and the large audience was mesmerised, despite the lecture lasting one and a  half hours without a break!

LONDON MARATHON APRIL 2012

SUNDAY, 22 APRIL LONDON MARATHON, 2012

I went to see the runners again this year. As last year, I made my way to Wesminster Tube station, and admired the interior escalator and exit of the tube station yet again, it's in the Brutalist style!

Once outside the sun was shining and the large plane trees looked very lovely, in small leaf.  By the river, on the Embankment, I stood and did this pen drawing. 

Waiting for the runners, near Wesminster Bridge

I got talking to a man who said he drove a minibus up to London every year with his local running club, from Berkshire, and he said it was a great occasion which ended in a celebratory meal in a local pub in the evening.  He said he had been doing it for 30 years, and was now 70, so this would be his last year (something to do with insurance, I think).

This year I was not in such a good position for taking photos, but was able to get a shot of the Women Elite runners, powering through.  The Kenyan women were in the lead, including Edna Kiplagat, who was third last year.  I made a painting which included an image of her, which will be at Bankside Gallery soon.

Edna Kiplagat runs 2012 Marathon

This year Mary Keitany won the women's title.  I did not see the winners and their triumph until I got home later, when I watched it on the TV.  It is very exciting, though, even if you cannot see  the winners.  The atmosphere is frenetic, and what makes it even better is the crowd of supporters, including children (and dogs), shouting their encouragement.

BANKSIDE GALLERY,  GROUP EXHIBITION OF SOUTH LONDON WOMEN ARTISTS.

It starts on Wednesday, 2 May and is on for a week.  There will be work from about 100 artists, all kinds of painting and sculpture.

Edna runs London Marathon, 2011, oil on canvas

THE WILD, THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE DAMNED AT HAMPTON COURT

HAMPTON COURT PALACE, MIDDLESEX

VISIT TO THE WILD THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE DAMNED

Well it was a bit wild, a bit beautiful and damned, but I am talking about the weather last week, when we went to Hampton Court on the train.

Damed nuisance …..

The road outside the Palace is currently suffering roadworks, and as we were a bit early meeting friends, we decided to cross the road to the restaurant/bar (which used to be a good old fashioned pub) on the river bank.  Unfortunately the barriers prevented everybody crossing at the traffic lights, from the road by the Palace entrance.
 
There was no safe place near by to cross, and the traffic is heavy there, so several of us moved the barriers so we could cross over safely when the lights turned to red.  This annoyed the site foreman (not a Brit) who remonstrated with us, saying it was not safe to cross, but not suggesting anywhere else to cross. Ah well…..


APRIL WEATHER

The wild and beautiful bit was the clouds, full of rain, over the palace, and yes, we did get pretty wet in the heavy shower.  Here is a photo of the clouds

Hampton Court Palace in April

The exhibition, open to 30 September 2012, called 

The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned 
is very interesting and I recommend a visit, if you are in the area.  Hampton Court can be found not far from London, via a train from Waterloo.  The galleries are apparently newly spruced up, where the paintings and sculptures are on display.  It is a temporary exhibition.

Most of the paintings are of ladies from the court of King Charles II with a few from the reign of his brother King James II.  The main works are painted by Peter Lely, born in Germany, who was active in London from 1647.

Peter Lely in Wikipedia

The beautiful women who lived in London during Charles's reign were very influential with the king, who loved pretty, powerful and witty girls. 

It is a shame that a lot the of faces are so similar, because I guess that these girls were all very different.  They had to live by their wits as well as their looks, and it was a tough place to carve out a position of power and wealth, there was so much competition. The money which Charles had at his disposal for his favourites was limited.  He also rewarded them with titles, and made sure that his many bastards had titles too. Nell Gwyn, who was an actress and therefore a bit 'common' was not reward with a title, although her two sons were.
Nell Gwyn in Wikipedia, with information about the Court

You have a chance to see paintings in the Windsor Beauties group, and Hampton Court Beauties group, which are not usually shown together.

The Lely paintings were all done in part by Lely's studio artists, since he was so extremely popular he could not do all the work himself.  Nevertheless, the portraits are a great pleasure to examine in detail, and there is interesting information in each of the large rooms.  You can get a background the the life of these women, some of whom died tragically young.  There is a huge portrait of Charles as well, in pride of place, showing off his shapely calves and elegant high heeled shoes.




There are also paintings by Geoffrey Kneller, and other artists which I did not know.


TROUPE OF ACTORS AT HAMPTON COURT
The  museum staff are knowledgeable and helpful, and while we were there, a troupe of actors were enacting Peter Lely painting notorious Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland.

If you care to visit St Paul's Church in Covent Garden, Peter Lely is buried there.  Nell Gwyn is buried in St Martin's in the Fields, Covent Garden.

The exhibition includes two very large Rubens paintings.

It is a fascinating collection of works and gives an interesting highlight on a very famous collection of British celebrities from the 17th century.

LUCIEN FREUD AT NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY - LUCIEN FREUD PORTRAITS, to 27 May 2012

LUCIEN FREUD - 1922-2011

Went last Thursday pm and was unpleasantly surprised at the huge crush of people and, once again, nowhere to sit except right at the far end of the several rooms/galleries.  You need at least an hour and a half to look at the works, preferably more.

I know Freud's work quite well but the exhibition confirmed my feeling that his early work has brilliance and colour, while the older work is gloomy, grey and depressing. 

I liked the drawing of Christian Berard, in black and white conte crayon, charming and a pleasure to study.  

Conte pastel of Christian Berard 


Also I liked the Auerbach head and the famous John Minton head of 1952. Apparently Minton commissioned Freud to paint this portrait.
I wonder if Freud had a problem with the widespread interest and publicity surrounding Pop Art in the 1950s and 1960s, in America and the UK?  I am thinking of Roy Lichtenstein's work, for instance.  He must have found such a movement quite difficult to ignore but I do not know of any of his work that shows an acknowledgement of Pop Art.  Instead the earlier, lightly toned portraits of the 1940s and early 1950s changed to those which are much bleaker and even more sombre in colour and tone.


JOHN DEAKIN
I noticed a head, of John Deakin, dated 1963-4 which, to me, suggested it was painted with affection, maybe?  Deaken was a photographer, for more about him see this information
Walker Museum exhibition on John Deakin
and look at Wikipedia too (could not get a link to work, sorry)
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Deakin  

Deakin died in 1972, and the photo on the Wikipedia page of him shows remarkable similarity to Freud's portrait.  Otherwise the heads and figures seem lacking in warmth, as if Freud really distanced himself from these people, some of them friends and family, and regarded them as so many objects.  However, there is one painting, of a red-haired man sitting in a chair and this stands out because the man is almost smiling (1962-63).  The only smile. Although another painting is called Woman Smiling, 1958-9, I could not see a smile here.


I mused on the idea that as we are so used to looking at famous faces that is why we love to check out the famous faces in this show?  Perhaps that is why Freud is so popular, and of course we all know what Freud looked like, from his many self-portraits and photographs, and we think that if we can place all the other faces and bodies, we are one of the 'in' crowd.  The 'in' crowd can comprehend and appreciate the works that sell for so much, and even if we really believe the images are ugly, depressing, degrading and voyeuristic, we are somehow hanging on to the celebrity status, clinging on anxiously, one of the Freud fan club.

The people attending the exhibition were entranced by these portraits, studying them carefully, on the whole.  Maybe the reason they are so popular is because we live in an age of the celebrity, even more so than in past decades?  Maybe we walk round exhibitions such as this one trying to put a name to a face, to put a story to a life lived in public eye, such as Martin Gayford in his blue scarf?

The colours Freud used seemed to tend towards grey/blue.  There is a large painting of the head and bosom of a Pregnant Girl, 1960-61, with lots of blue shadowy shapes on her nude body and also there is blue round the mouths of many heads, notable head of A Woman Painter, 1957and Head of a Child, 1954.  This blue can be seen very obviously in the portrait of HM The Queen, which has a distinct blue round the top and bottom lips, although you cannot check my observation as this painting is not in the exhibition.

Yes, I made a note there, "How dreary can you get?" when looking at the Painter and Model picture, where the woman on the left stands on oil paint tubes.  It seems like everybody is really pissed off at having to sit for him (for interminable hours) and the results are really immobile and inanimate, even the plants and animals are static.

Freud was lucky in that he was a success in his life time - unlike Watteau whose painting he used as a source.  The flesh he captures is the grey, cool flesh of the Brit, it seems as if it would be clammy and cold to the touch, no warm olive or brown skins here.


CHILDREN AND DOGS

Not much joy in this National Portrait Gallery show, then.  The children and pet dogs painted seemed similarly cowed into submission;  did he ever try and get an animated expression, such as did Hogarth, for instance?  I wonder if his fame had a deadening effect on the sitter?

My opinion after thinking about is for a few days, is that Freud got into a pleasant rut and liked the cash when it started rolling in.  The more grotesque the model, the more money he could make.  Where was the joy in painting, the fun?  I saw no evidence of the delight that an artist feels when the struggle works.  Even the studios seem sorry for themselves.  It seems like he hated the studio, the dingy walls, the crappy old chairs and sofas, the messy floor.  On the other hand, the rooftops and walls of the out-of-the-window view works well.

There was no impression that Frued loved the work he dedicated himself to, so maybe it was just a very lucrative 'hobby' ?  Obviously he couldn't fund his gambling addiction in an easier way.  And the adulation must have been addictive too. And the girls.

Some of the last works, right at the end, have strange accumulations of pigment, almost three-dimensional, so thick, especially on the faces, as if to see how much oddity he could get away with and still sell.

There is a lot of anxiety in this exhibition, the anxiety of the model, fearing that maybe the artist will reject him or her, or portray them in a crude, cruel new slant which will keep the public buying but will keep them for every in the public eye as an ugly icon.

ETCHINGS BY FREUD

These are lovely etchings, which I shall return to examine again, as they are outside the main exhibition so you do not have to buy a ticket to go and look at them

'SNAP' SOUTH LONDON WOMEN ARTISTS EXHIBITION

BANKSIDE EXHIBITION FOR SOUTH LONDON WOMEN ARTISTS GROUP

The next exhibition of the SLWA will be held for one week from 30 April to 8 May.

My painting will be on display at the  Bankside Gallery.  It is an oil painting on canvas, measuring H56 x W76 including frame.

Edna Runs London Marathon

The painting was inspired by my visit to the 2011 London Marathon, held last April.

I was standing near to Westminster Tube Station and was able to watch the elite runners pass, with the spectators and marshalls making an exciting backdrop to the runners.

In my painting I have featured the Kenyan runner, Edna Kiplagat.  My source material included pencil sketches and photographs.  As well, like most artists, I have a good visual memory so that comes into helpful effect.

You might notice the statue of Windston Churchill on the right, which at the time the statue was surrounded by protective mesh fences.

On the right you can see the huge figure of a teddy bear, with the word CORAM on a sash.
Here is a link to the CORAM charity web site:
CORAM, BETTER CHANCES FOR CHILDREN

Coram Bear at London Marathon 2011, oil painting

This bear was part of the support group for the runners who were raising spondorship money for the CORAM charity, and I thought it particularly attractive with its friendly smile.

Of course a lot of photographs were being taken by the crowds, as well as by the official photographers.  All kinds of positions were taken so as to get a good view, and it seemed that everybody was trying to get that perfect shot, though they did take time to clap and shout encouragement.

The Bankside Gallery is very near the Tate Modern Gallery, on the Thames Path, and is open every day from 11am to 6pm
BANKSIDE GALLERY SLWA EXHIBITION APRIL 30, 2012