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.