Exit Through The Giftshop - Pictures At An Exhibition #24

More visual memories of art past...

1) LAMENTATION (1441) - Fra Angelico

I bought this in the San Marco monastery in Florence which is the place to visit to be surrounded by the work of Brother Giovanni aka Fra Angelico.  From various clues in the painting it has been deduced that the painting had been done over 5 years, with Fra Angelico taking a break from it when he lived in Cortona for a year.

I like the quiet intensity of the painting, the vivid colours of the attendants' robes and the closeness of the Virgin Mary's sorrowful face to Jesus.  The painting has a wavy cut-off line along the bottom from the extensive water damage it sustained during the flood that swept through Florence on 3rd and 4th November, 1966. 

2) OLIVE TREES (1889) - Vincent van Gogh

 

This was bought at the National Gallery, I am guessing at an exhibition of van Gogh's work as this painting is in the collection of Minneapolis Institute of Art.  This is one of a series of paintings of olive trees by van Gogh while in the asylum at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.  Vincent was allowed to go into the surrounding fields to paint the trees as the ever-changing colours of the trees fascinated him.  This was painted during the November of 1889.

The all-seeing sickly yellow sun dominates the landscape while the busy olive leaves shine and shimmer, the shadows of the trees casting purple-ish shadows on the ground.  Again, the sense of movement and colour is vibrant.

3) PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG GIRL (1797) - Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun

This was bought at the Grand-Palais in Paris when it held the first ever retrospective of Élizabeth Vigée Le Brun in 2015, 163 years after her death.  Le Brun was Marie-Antoinette's favourite portrait painter so when the French Revolution erupted, Le Brun fled France with her young daughter. She travelled to Italy, Austria and Russia, her association with the French aristocracy gaining her wealthy clients. 

This was painted during her six year stay in Russia, although titled 'Portrait of A Young Girl' the sitter bares an uncanny resemblance to Varvara Golovina, a courtier noted for her writing. A fine example of Le Brun's style, a direct focus on the sitter's face, the flowing hair and a marvellous rendering of the lady's millinary.  It's quite lovely.

4) DAVID (1501-4) - Michelangelo

 

I bought this in Florence at the Galleria dell'Accademia where Michelangelo's epic David stands in solitary majesty in a stark setting.

The statue was originally placed in the Piazza della Signoria beside the magnificent Palazzo Vecchio where he stayed for 369 years until being relocated to it's present location in 1873.  If the history of art's eternal female is the Mona Lisa, surely the male counterpart is Michelangelo's DAVID.

5) ORCHARD IN BLOSSOM (APRICOT TREES) (1888) - Vincent van Gogh

This was bought at the Scottish National Gallery where van Gogh's painting is on display.  It was painted in 1888 in Arles; van Gogh had moved there after struggling with excessive drinking and for a while he was happy there, but his hope of founding an artist's colony with Paul Gauguin foundered when the latter appeared and their friendship collapsed.

The branches of the spindly orchard trees burst forth with bright pink blossoms against a drab sky and the far-off town.  White flowers below counter-balance the brightness above and it bursts with the joy of nature.

Exit Through The Giftshop - Pictures At An Exhibition #19

 Memories of treasures past...

1) CLOISTER OF SAINT ANTONINUS, SAN MARCO, FLORENCE (1436-1446) - Michelozzo

A favourite place in Florence, this is the cloister you enter into when you visit the San Marco convent.  From the busy square of the same name, you suddenly find yourself in the tranquil cloister with a large fresco of Saint Dominic with the crucified Christ by Fra Angelico facing you at the end of the first corridor. To your right is the entrance to the former pilgrim's hospice which houses many works by Fra Angelico in a single large room.  

The site of a monastery since the 12th Century, in 1437 the occupant order of monks were ordered to leave, making room for the Dominicans from the nearby village of Fiesole.  Finding the buildings in a bad state of disrepair, the monks requested help from Cosimo Medici The Elder who commissioned the architect Michelozzo to rebuild San Marco.  It's a must-see when visiting Florence.

2) AMERICAN GOTHIC (1930) - Grant Wood

An icon of 20th Century American painting, Grant Wood's AMERICAN GOTHIC has had a life of it's own from being used for endless parodies and instant cultural references.  I saw this at the Royal Academy's 2017 exhibition AMERICA AFTER THE FALL which looked at American art from the 1930s. Wood was born in Iowa in 1891 and started painting at an early age, drawing on the midwest landscape and people that surrounded him and he would later teach painting at the University of Iowa.  He died the day before his 51st birthday of pancreatic cancer.  

He lives on in his work and of course with AMERICAN GOTHIC, a painting of his sister Nan and his dentist Dr McKeeby!  The American Gothic alludes to the tall window in the farmhouse behind the couple.  Wood rejected all the reviewers who thought it must be a satire of mid-western people and said he meant it to be an honest representation, it is certainly hard to view without all the parodies coming to mind.

3) MAN OF SORROWS (1441) - Fra Angelico

One of the many stunning frescoes on the first floor of the San Marco convent (after you have past through the lovely cloister as seen above).  This is in cell 26 and the cell paintings were never meant to be seen by anyone but the Dominican monks who occupied the cells.  That is why the cell frescoes have a distilled quality to them, these are for meditation on the subject - here the suffering of Christ. 

Christ stands in his tomb presenting his wounds to a sorrowful Mary and the kneeling Saint Thomas.  What I love about it is the startling background: the cross, spear and sponge are physical objects of the crucifixion while - almost in filmic cut-aways - Christ is seen being kissed by Judas, St Peter being identified as an apostle, Christ is spat at and beaten with sticks while 30 pieces of silver are passed from hand to hand.  It's wonderful...

4) DUNCAN GRANT IN FRONT OF A MIRROR (1915-17) - Vanessa Bell

This was bought at the Dulwich Picture Gallery's fine exhibition of paintings by Vanessa Bell in 2017.  No doubt painted at Charleston, the painting gives an immediate sense of intimacy as Duncan poses with a coloured towel draped over his head, staring at himself and Vanessa in the mirror.

Duncan and his lover David Garnett had declared themselves concientious objectors during World War I which led to Vanessa finding Charleston Farmhouse in Firle to move into so the couple could stay there too while working as fruit farmers.  Friends since 1909, Vanessa and Duncan would briefly become lovers during this period which resulted in the birth of their daughter Angelica in 1918 - a fact that was kept from her until she was 18.

5) MADONNA OF HUMILITY (1440) - Fra Angelico

I bought this at Amsterdam's Rijks Museum where one of Fra Angelico's paintings of the Madonna of Humility is on permanent display.  Fra Angelico had a particular talent for this style of Madonna and child interpretation, representing not so much a static religious image but more of a tender moment caught between mother and child.

The glorious colour is lost in the postcard reproduction but Mary's blue cloak drapes and folds around her, the delicate gold edging coming and going among the folds.  This blue is offset by the rich gold of the emroided cloth that serves as a backdrop as well as the pattened golden cushion that she sits on.  A heartwarming rendition of a over-familiar image.

Exit Through The Giftshop - Pictures At An Exhibition #17

As museums and galleries are still locked down here are some memories from the past...

1) THE LAST JUDGEMENT (detail) (1435-1440) - Fra Angelico

I bought this at the Gemaldegalerie in Berlin where Fra Angelico's impressive triptych of the Day of Judgement is on display. The central panel is Christ triumphant surrounded by his sainted besties and on the left panel he shows those blessed with life eternal and on the right those being tortured in Hell.  It possibly needs renovating to bring the painting back to what one assumes was it's vibrant life.

The postcard features a detail from the left panel where those bound for Heaven are being led by dancing angels; the flowing robes are beautifully realised in such tiny detail and they really stand out against the dark background as do the tiny buds and shrubs.

2) THE ANNUNCIATION (1440 - 1445) - Fra Angelico

This came from the San Marco monastery in Florence which is the home of this fresco, one of Fra Angelico's two masterpieces showing The Annunciation, the other is in the Prado.  In one of the great moments of "art theatre" you ascend the wide staircase to the first floor of San Marco where the monks' cells are located and as you turn the corner, you see this large fresco facing you at the top of the staircase - a real wow moment.

Fra Angelico, through the held gaze between the Angel Gabriel and The Virgin Mary, creates a captured moment of being; there is nothing to distract from the intensity of that moment, you believe the world has stopped outside.  It is marvellous to stand and revel at it's detail: the intricate painting of the relief at the top of the portico's pillars which give the image a perspective that breaks with the traditional flat look of Gothic paintings, the vivid pink and gold of Gabriel's robe is contrasted against Mary's blue cloak and his lovely multi-coloured wings also contains intricate detailing.  It's interesting how the flat rendering of the garden is offset by the depths of the trees beyond the fence.

3) THE TOWNEY DISKOBOLOS (circa 2nd Century AD) - unknown

This marvellous Roman marble statue was discovered near Hadrian's villa in Tivoli in 1791 and later acquired for the British Museum.  It is based on a now lost bronze statue, sculpted in the 5th Century BC by the Greek artist Myron.

When it was found, the statue was missing it's head but when it was purchased by Charles Townley he was told that the head had been found nearby.  Down the years there has been much conjecture as to whether it actually was the original head as another marble statue had been found a few years before with the athlete's head turned looking at the discus. Whatever it's genesis, it is still a wonderful rendering of the athlete about to launch his discus into the void.

4) THE BROKEN COLUMN (1944) - Freda Kahlo

One of the most famous and revealing of Frida Kahlo's self-portraits, she painted it in 1944 after she had spinal surgery to correct the injury she received 19 years before in a trolley-bus crash   I bought this in 2005 at Tate Modern when they had a major retrospective of her work.

Frida stands alone, impassively staring out at the viewer in a landscape that is as broken and split as her body.  Her torso is cracked open to reveal a broken but still-standing stone column instead of her spine.  She wears the cumbersome harness that doctors had her wear to correct her posture and her body is pierced with nails as in her own crucifiction.  Although there are tears on her face, she is still standing, still surviving.

5) PORTRAIT OF A GIRL WEARING A BLUE JERSEY (DORA CARRINGTON) (1912) - Mark Gertler

Bought at the marvellous CRISIS OF BRILLIANCE exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in 2013 which brought together six contempories who studied at the Slade Art School in the 1910s: Bomberg, Nevinson, Spencer, Nash and, as seen here, Mark Gertler and his subject Dora Carrington.

Through his arresting portrait you can feel Gertler attempting to capture the quicksilver modernity of Carrington, then aged 19, with her placid but determined stare, her self-cropped hair and the cool tones of her blue jersey against the sky. Gertler was to become obsessed with Carrington only to find that CRW Nevinson was also pursuing her.  Carrington, however kept them both at arm's length, wanting their friendship but not sex.  She later gave in to Gertler's persistance but it left them both unhappy and they kept a distant friendship afterwards.  Carrington committed suicide in 1932 in despair after the death of Lytton Strachey, the love of her life, and Gertler killed himself in 1939, lost in a swell of depression.

Exit Through The Giftshop - Postcards at an exhibition....

More bootiful booty from museum and exhibition gift shops...

1) TITLE PAGE OF THE FIRST FOLIO OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS (1623) - Martin Droeshout

I bought this in Stratford-on-Avon at Shakespeare's birthplace - it seemed the most obvious purchase really.  The First Folio was published in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare's death, by John Heminges and Henry Condell who were actors in The King's Men, the acting company that the Bard wrote for.  Although many of Shakespeare's plays had been published in smaller Quarto publications, these were cheaply produced and fluctuated in quality. 

The First Folio compiled 36 plays, 18 of which for the first time including THE TEMPEST, ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, MEASURE FOR MEASURE, JULIUS CAESAR and MACBETH.  It is believed about 750 editions were published and is now considered one of the most important publications in history.  A copy was sold in 2001 at Christies, NY for over £3 million.  21 year-old Martin Droeshout's engraving has become the one that most Shakespeare imagery is based on.

2) PLEIN AIR (1890-1) - Ramon Casas

I bought this in the MNAC Gallery in Barcelona which celebrates Catalonian art.  In 1890 the 25 year-old Casas was living and working in Paris and his painting 'Plein Air' shows the influence of the Impressionist painters on him.

Casas' painting has a haunting quality as a smartly-dressed woman sits outside at a table in the gloaming, staring at a man across the empty courtyard who is turned away from her gaze, looking out of the gate to the town beyond.  The white of the tablecloth and the red wine in the carafe is contrasted against the black of the woman's outfit giving the viewer a focus in the surrounding muted colours.

3) MAP READING (1932) - Stanley Spencer

I bought this at Somerset House when they recreated Stanley Spencer's 19 canvasses in situ as they appear at the Sandham Memorial Chapel in Burghclere, Hampshire.  The Chapel was commissioned to honor Lieutenant Henry Sandham who died in 1920 by his sister and brother-in-law.  They turned to Stanley Spencer to decorate the Chapel with the paintings for which he drew on his memories and observations while working as an orderly in the Royal Army Medical Corps in WWI.

Over his cycle of paintings we follow Spencer's experiences from the training hospital in Bristol where he was confronted with the injured and maimed from the Front in the benign surroundings of the hospital to being an orderly in the field in Macedonia.  In "Map Reading", an officer studies a map of the Macedonian terrain while his soldiers lounge on either side of the road, some clambering among bilberry bushes for food while one sits feeding the officer's horse who stares out at the viewer with an accusing stare.  As usual, what I love about Spencer's painting is the topsy-turvy lay-out, the humanity and gentle humour that he finds in the scene, and in particular the glaring horse - is he angry about being used as a desk by the officer or at the world that has made the situation happen?

4) THE ANNUNCIATION (CELL 3) (1438) - Fra Angelico

 

I bought this at the former Dominican friary San Marco in Florence which now houses many works by the Renaissance painter Fra Angelico who lived there from 1436 to 1445.  The first floor of the friary contains a number of frescoes by Fra Angelico that make it an essential place to visit for any art lover.  As you climb the broad staircase and turn the corner to the last flight up to the first floor you see ahead of you his magnificent fresco of "The Annunciation", one of the great works of Renaissance religious art, but the first floor also has a wonderful collection of frescoes that he painted for each of the monk's cells as subjects for contemplation during prayer. 

The austere beauty of these works is reflected in this fresco of The Annunciation.  Only a few doors down from the more-well known and larger fresco that greets you as you turn the stairs, this one has a stripped down beauty which highlights the Fra's use of perspective and his genius for distilling a deep tension between his figures:  Mary kneels in a pale pink gown, disturbed from her reading by the Angel Gabriel whose multi-coloured wings hide the lurking figure of Saint Dominic who bears witness to what is about to happen.  The glowing simplicity and held moment in time dazzles.

5) SUPPER IN EMMAUS (1861) - Augusto Betti

I bought this at the Medici Chapel in Florence.  I can find no reference to this anywhere online so guess I will just have to describe why I like it!

Betti gives us a reduced almost geometric look to the scene where Jesus appeared to two of his Apostles days after rising from the dead and their rapt attention is offset by the servant who is pouring water out of a jug and the dozing, scruffy dog under the table.  Outside the evening falls...  I like the unfussy painting which stood out against some of the more florid works in the Medici Chapel.