tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63585872241721658392024-02-20T10:05:38.352-08:00Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco - NewsA blog to keep you up to date with the latest events regarding my work and more.
Visit my website www.ilardt.com to view my work.Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-10304411716085669242020-02-12T09:22:00.003-08:002020-02-12T14:04:23.839-08:00THE BLOG HAS MOVED<br />
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Due to the demise of the Blogger platform I now write ( infrequent) posts on my website.<br />
Please visit <a href="https://www.ilardt.com/blog" target="_blank">www.ilardt.com</a>.<br />
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<br />Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-65445548955482861632017-04-25T01:26:00.001-07:002019-01-07T09:30:13.934-08:00<br />
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WHY DO ARTISTS MAKE PRINTS ?</div>
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Since I founded Print Solo I realised that even people who are very interested in visual arts don’t have a clear idea about what printmaking is. The main element that they retain, I found out in conversations, is that it allows artists to make more than one copy of a piece. In an age in which technology can reproduce paintings and drawings with stunning fidelity then, ( did you see the Borgherini Chapel reproduced with 3D printing techniques for the Michelangelo and Sebastiano exhibition at the NG in London?) why not just go for digital reproductions, why do artists keep making original prints ?</div>
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The answer is of course that printmaking is not, or not just, about multiplication, but that the process involved in the various techniques is unique and has been fascinating visual artists for centuries.</div>
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In a recent talk in which I was introducing Print Solo I reflected on what some of these peculiar elements of original prints were, and the first one that occurred to me was the gap between the work of the artist and the birth of the print.</div>
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As you might know, in order to produce an original print the artist works on a matrix that is of a different material than the artwork itself: the print is on paper while the artist has been in fact carving a piece of wood, or cutting into plastic, or engraving a metal plate.</div>
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The artwork takes its final shape not under the hand of its creator but at a different time and place, when the tools have been put down and the object they created has been inked and is passing through a printing press.</div>
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These degrees of separation between the artist and the artwork have the effect of producing a surprise, a moment of real thrill when the paper is lifted from the matrix after having undergone the small journey on the printing press bed.</div>
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In the words of William Kentridge, a keen printmaker, at that precise moment the artist as a maker is left on one side of the press and the hands that peel the paper off the plate are the ones of the artist as observer. The surprise is further enhanced by the reversal of the image.</div>
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The metaphor that comes to my mind is that one of a person meeting an adult offspring they didn’t know they had, and looking hard to search for familiar features, for a resemblance to the other children.</div>
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Printmaking can introduce novelty and unexpected results, which in turn may feed works produced in a different medium. It can teach the artists something about their own practice, offer some insight. Also, the delight of seeing one’s own work with new, fresh eyes, of experiencing it as a viewer, is an almost addictive feeling one wants to relive again and again: when printing an edition or by periodically returning to the printmaking studio.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Evening in the Studio, mezzotint ( 20x15 cm)<br />
<a href="https://www.printsolo.com/product/evening-in-the-studio/" target="_blank">Available on Print Solo</a></td></tr>
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Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-12189943168287351042016-03-06T07:19:00.002-08:002016-03-06T07:19:47.970-08:00Book Review - Italian Renaissance Courts: Art, Pleasure and Power <br />
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I was recently sent this book by Alison Cole, an art historian and journalist, about the relationship between artists and courts in Italian Renaissance.<br />
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The book provides a very precise backdrop to the artworks that we know and love from that period.<br />
I am always interested in the context in which a painting was made, I find that it matters as much as, if not more than, the subject. It was something I noticed when I went to see the <a href="http://ilardt.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/national-gallery-film.html" target="_blank">"National Gallery" documentary </a>by Frederick Wiseman, that most explanations about paintings were focussing on the subject while technique and context were seldom mentioned.<br />
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In the past I have posted about<a href="http://ilardt.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/pieros-flagellation-recent.html" target="_blank"> the complicate interpretation of Piero's Flagellation</a> providing a summary of Silvia Ronchey's book about it, and also <a href="http://ilardt.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/sprezzatura-what-does-it-mean.html" target="_blank">tried to give an explanation</a> of the term "sprezzatura", which was born in that period and is so relevant to the art and culture of Italian courts.<br />
Cole's book refreshed and deepened my knowledge on the differences between all the distinct cultural hubs that coexisted in the peninsula during those extraordinary centuries.<br />
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It is easy to forget that there were profound differences between communities that were only a few dozens of kilometres apart, like the courts of Urbino and Ferrara for example: one fortified and based on military strength and all centred on the figure of the mighty Duke Federico, brave and cultured; the other at times defeated but more open to communications and pervaded by poetry, music and chivalric ideals coming from the North.<br />
If we are aware of these characteristics, it is easier to understand how the luminous, solid and rational space in Piero could be painted just a few hours away from the hyperbolic metaphoric one imagined by Francesco del Cossa in Palazzo Schifanoia (the frescoes featured in Ali Smith's excellent novel "How to Be Both" btw), although they were both "sons" of the ubiquitous Pisanello.<br />
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It was a real pleasure, as I opened the book, finding a painting by an artist belonging to my family. Francesco Rosselli was the half brother of Cosimo and mainly known as the author of an important document, a painting that chronicles the entry of Ferrante d'Aragona's fleet in Naples after his victory over the Anjou. The painting had probably been commissioned by the banker Filippo Strozzi who helped finance the expedition and wanted to consolidate his exchanges with the Neapolitan king.<br />
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The book is pleasant, with a lot of illustrations, and also offers information on the character of the princes and their heirs, the dynastic intricacies and pecking order within the courts. A good read.<br />
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<br />Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-4938104436267227592015-01-13T15:41:00.002-08:002015-01-13T16:01:44.216-08:00"National Gallery" FIlm <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Having read some good reviews, last Sunday I went to watch this documentary by filmmaker <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Wiseman" target="_blank">Frederick Wiseman</a>. At short notice I couldn't find anyone willing to endure three hours so I merrily went on my own and, particularly since I didn't not have to worry about the amount of boredom inflicted to spouse, I really enjoyed it.<br />
The film is somewhere in between a fly-on-the-wall documentary and a photo of a museum by Candida Hofer. Images of paintings and visitors in museum rooms alternate with recordings of gallery talks, board meetings and discussions on conservation.<br />
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There is no commentary, no narration, but the film is so self explanatory that there's really no need for it. The images, which I think have been recorded over a number of weeks, suggested to me the flow of a day.<br />
The film opens with the whirring sound of a floor polishing machine and a glimpse of the gallery preparing for the daily opening, proceeds to "spy" on a morning meeting where we see the NG Director Nicholas Penny dealing with marketing issues. As the "day" goes on and we are shown people looking at masterpieces and a few ( too many?) gallery talks to the general public and to children.<br />
It is quite revelatory how images of people queueing in the cold for tickets to the blockbuster Leonardo show precede footing from corporate events evenings, and how the talks become more sophisticated when they address a public of "connoisseurs". Wiseman says his films are "<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">based on un-staged, un-manipulated actions... The editing is highly manipulative and the shooting is highly manipulative... What you choose to shoot, the way you shoot it, the way you edit it and the way you structure it... all of those things... represent subjective choices that you have to make."</span></span><br />
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Visits to the "backstage" are very interesting. The team from the conservation studio gives us a taste of the technological department of the Gallery's life, even if they too have to oblige to corporate visitors. The manual ability of the craftsmen painstakingly carving and gilding frames in the silence of some lab is hypnotic, and the care taken with the lighting of a display draws our attention to aspects that we might overlook.<br />
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In a couple of shots we see people sketching in front of paintings, and two scenes present the art classes that take place in a frankly quite unsuitable room with a bad lighting and a circle of desks; it's the only time when the film touches on the subject of making paintings and on the museum's role to inspire and engage with artists.<br />
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I have never joined one of the group talks from the NG program but having sat through a few during the film I am disappointed at how they (or the editing) focus on the subject and the iconography of the painting; from there we jump directly at the spectrographic analysis of layers by restorers. What happens between the moment the artist chooses the subject and visualises the scene and when we are confronted with the resulting physical object, the act of painting, is not looked at.<br />
Rubens' "Samson and Delilah" is explained as if the artist was a film director or a cinematographer, his main task placing and lighting the figures. Nothing is said about the impossible activity of taking some dust, mix it with oil and applying it to a piece of fabric and make something that is so individual and sublime that nobody can replicate it.<br />
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We are told about Titian's paintings and his love for Ovid; we are even read a poem about the nymph Callisto but what about the surface of Titian's paintings, what about his revolutionary contribution to painting ? What about the way in which his teacher's glazing process is forgotten and the sensuousness of his nymphs is found precisely in the sensuousness of his paint, where the matter becomes flesh ?<br />
Speakers in the film seem to be all art historians and the only one who introduces herself as an artist states she is not a painter but makes installations !<br />
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"National Gallery" is enjoyable both for people who visit regularly and for those who don't have this privilege, its slow pace leaves the viewer time to think and flavour the atmosphere of the museum.<br />
The attention to the visitors reactions, the slow track-shots in the empty rooms and the enlargements of painted details had made me hope for more, for a film that was enamoured with the deep and mysterious ways in which masterpieces affects us, but this is a long and at times beautiful documentary about the institution and not art itself.<br />
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<br />Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-39847537186087523502014-12-10T15:18:00.001-08:002014-12-10T23:40:22.051-08:00Painting and Back Health<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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In recent weeks a fortunately short bout of back pain has made me think about the best practices for an easel artist to keep a healthy back.<br>
In my experience the "move" from the table to the easel when I started working in oils years ago represented the end of all neck pains I have been suffered since school days. My posture has always been quite correct despite being tall but I always had the tendency to hang down the head when sitting at a desk. This of course meant a constant strain for the trapeze muscle that resulted in sore shoulders and a stiff neck.<br>
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When I started working at the easel and, like a homo sapiens, finally looked ahead rather than down, all of this disappeared. In my early days as an oil painter I used to stand all the time, both in class and very often in the studio. I sawed off the top part of my easel so that I could lift the base up and work standing even with small paintings.<br>
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For a few years I also had one of those Swedish chairs with the seat at an angle and a knee rest. I realised though that I often ended up perched on top of it slumped forward with my feet on the knee rest. An ostheopath recently explained that even if used correctly those chairs are no good, as you end up having all the weight supported on your knees, which ultimately damages the joint and might affect the sciatic nerve.<br>
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In recent years, as I concentrated on table top still-life in which my point of view is aligned with the set up, I work sitting 90% of the time. A good amount of time spent working on printmaking also meant again sitting at a table and working on small scale works that need to be looked at from a close distance. Since I am not getting any younger I decided to find out about the best way of preserving a healthy back. I asked my GP's osteopath and posted on FB to get advice from fellow painters.<br>
You probably already know all of this but here's a little reminder anyway:<br>
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- Take breaks<br>
<a href="http://cindyprocious.com/" target="_blank">Cindy Procious</a> points a timer if she becomes too absorbed in what you are doing and take a short break to move around. I want to think that a certain space and body awareness develops naturally with painting skills, so it's good to relax the muscles involved in handling the brush. <a href="http://www.judigreen.co.uk/" target="_blank">Judi Green</a> uses <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=spiky+massage+balls" target="_blank">Spikey Balls</a> to massage the back during breaks, while <a href="http://lindatraceybrandon.com/" target="_blank">Linda Brandon</a> does push ups ( I'm impressed!)<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ingres at the Phillips Collection, Washington</td></tr>
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- Exercise<br>
<a href="http://donaldbeal.macmate.me/donaldbeal.macmate.me/Welcome.html" target="_blank"> Donald Beal</a> has obtained a set of exercises from a physiotherapist to strengthen rhomboid muscles ( between shoulder blades) and hold a good shoulder posture. In case of pain there are contrasting opinion if osteopathy or physiotherapy is the best option ( see difference <a href="http://www.southfieldsosteopathy.co.uk/page6/page6.html" target="_blank">here</a>). Annie Brash Kelvin opted for a personal trainer and <span style="line-height: 15px;">Lylian Peternolli for jogging.</span><br>
I must confess that when it's time to go to the gym I always find something more interesting to do in the studio. I try to go twice a week and I don't do classes because I know I don't like to go at a regular time. The osteopath advised me to do "a bit of everything". Best of best, he said, is swimming front crawl, otherwise do a little on all aerobic machines: treadmill, bicycle, cross trainer, rowing machine and the like (no Power Plate) followed by core exercises with control.<br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.pamhawkes.co.uk/" target="_blank">Pam Hawkes</a> </span> says: one of the postures I have developed over the years is to try, when standing or sitting, to fold my arms behind my back and hold the opposite elbow with each hand; it helps keep those long back muscles stretched.<div>This is a good exercise to relieve tension in the jaw, as we often clench it without realising. Place a fist under your chin as when you support your head. Open your mouth slightly pushing hard against your hand and count to seven, relax counting to three and repeat a few times.<br>
Pilates, yoga etc. are all good disciplines of course, and <a href="http://www.sophieploeg.com/" target="_blank">Sophie Ploeg</a> suggests that I get another dog ! ( sigh)<br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoTetN_JymeDtistHGVYyNpzO8LhASpCBUuwo93Ex-Vhq1fluNGUBUi5LKKCJVzftiF9ZzXQLH5DecRvJ5k0x1ryNB8mB6PJ4rT25SiKSxo8CKcZu9A5TxJzKWiUmMK1YATh6ibGs7i03e/s1600/11_Autoritratto+1924.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoTetN_JymeDtistHGVYyNpzO8LhASpCBUuwo93Ex-Vhq1fluNGUBUi5LKKCJVzftiF9ZzXQLH5DecRvJ5k0x1ryNB8mB6PJ4rT25SiKSxo8CKcZu9A5TxJzKWiUmMK1YATh6ibGs7i03e/s1600/11_Autoritratto+1924.jpg" height="320" width="280"></a>- Palette<br>
<a href="http://www.dennisspicer.co.uk/" target="_blank">Dennis Spicer</a> bought a cheap tea trolley at a charity shop for his palette, while Linda Brandon clamps it to another easel close by. <a href="http://www.davidkassan.com/" target="_blank">David John Kassan</a> has developped a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ParallelPalette" target="_blank">vertical palette</a> that also has advantages for comparing your mixes as it's positioned beside the painting.<br>
I haven't tried DJK's palette but having worked on a glass palette on a trolley in the past I now feel I am doing well with holding a wooden one. I have a couple of these large palette, one that is slightly smaller and fits in my painting backpack and a larger one for the studio. I got them from <a href="http://www.greenandstone.com/v2/p/PAC.php?c=1" target="_blank">Green and Stone</a> and they are light and balanced and don't strain the arm or the wrist at all. ( I know, <a href="http://www.royconnelly.com/" target="_blank">Roy Connelly,</a> I should put it down but I like it !).<br>
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Posture:.<br>
<a href="http://buschini.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Maryanne Buschini</a> ( and my osteopath) suggests a <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=swiss+ball+chair" target="_blank">Swiss ball chair</a>. G<a href="http://www.gallery286.com/" target="_blank">allerist Jonathan Ross</a> suggests the Alexander Technique but I must thank <a href="http://gailsauter.com/" target="_blank">Gail Sauter</a> who suggested <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Steps-Pain-Free-Back-Solutions-Shoulder/dp/1905367457/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418251531&sr=1-1&keywords=esther+gokhale" target="_blank">a book</a> by <a href="http://gokhalemethod.com/esther_gokhale" target="_blank">Esther Gokhale</a> ( similar to Alexander Technique in some aspects). I only had it for a week or so but I found that <br>
the explanations are very clear and the posture she suggests feels very natural to me. I learnt not only a new posture for sitting but also one for when I stand and look down such as when making monotypes or framing. I tried this today and it felt very good.<br>
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If everything else fails, I leave the last words to the wise John <a href="http://johnhansenartist.com/index.html" target="_blank">Hansen</a>:<span style="color: #444444;"> "A cure that works almost as well as exercise is age. Time and ageing pain receptors help. I use both."</span><br>
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<br></div>Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-62016909874921213052014-10-30T16:31:00.001-07:002014-10-30T17:11:45.501-07:00Organising a Solo Show Elsewhere : My Way En route for the opening of my exhibition in Italy, it occurred to me to jot down the basics, so here I am on the plane writing this blog post on my phone (sorry no hyperlinks ) on how I went about preparing the show.<div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirzs6AzJ6O1u6V0zB_EwF0WzngqXojAJXquair8TUMtx1xIn2WQXnxiF2LtF0LHTB2dWvLktqECaMSU73hC3oJ7-Mi2xgvqVmRRcIADARHrLM3hj3mtXvEDqRURAUeAEIP9-vkJXDLH44-/s640/blogger-image-1861881359.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirzs6AzJ6O1u6V0zB_EwF0WzngqXojAJXquair8TUMtx1xIn2WQXnxiF2LtF0LHTB2dWvLktqECaMSU73hC3oJ7-Mi2xgvqVmRRcIADARHrLM3hj3mtXvEDqRURAUeAEIP9-vkJXDLH44-/s640/blogger-image-1861881359.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>First: start painting the paintings. Yes that's obvious, but note that I wrote "start". I think that an exhibition should be planned when I know I am onto something in my work, when the infamous "body of work" is taking form and I am confident I am going to produce a satisfying number of pictures. </div><div>As the idea of a future exhibition starts shaping in my head, I notice I can hone in the theme and develop it with more focus. I <span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">learn about the common thread that links the painting together, take it up and start following it as a life line that guides me out of a maze.</span></div><div>Planning a show takes months so it's better to get things going much before the work is completed: that deadline is an important goal that sustains and motivates my time in the studio. </div><div><br></div><div>Paint the paintings, I said: one of the first things I thought of was how many, and how large. In the case of "Villaggi" I had a given space that I knew ( it's my third exhibition with Elle Arte and the first one in which I have the whole gallery). I wanted to have a good number of works but not to overcrowd the rooms, so I settled on about 25 works of different sizes. <span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">That number seem to be enough to articulate a discourse without ending up being repetitive. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div>I wanted some paintings large enough ( with frames they go up to 120x150cm) that could really affect the atmosphere in a room as well as many small ones where the ideas are condensed.</div><div>I think it is fair to offer work at different price levels. In my experience there are collectors who love the work and collectors who love the work and also have a new house with a lot of wall space. </div><div>A folder with unframed works on paper ( matted, labelled and wrapped in clear plastic) adds variety, is a cheaper buying option and showcases technical skills in different media.</div><div>"Villaggi" is a still life show but I wanted to include two works that function a bit like backstage footage and interrupt the quasi obsessiveness of the theme: so I purposedly painted a self portrait while arranging a still life ( also a connection with my other work ) and a study of a landscape by Bellini.</div><div><br></div><div>Where and when</div><div>I have an ongoing relationship with Elle Arte, a well established gallery in Palermo with a high professional standard. Laura, the owner, shows my work regularly so she was the first one I called when I made the decision to have a solo show. This also meant getting in touch with other galleries I work with to let them know they wouldn't get much work from me in the following months and also deleting "call for entries" to art competitions from my inbox so that I could build up the work faster.</div><div>I originally set a date for 2015 but as a closer slot became available I accepted to speed things up. I think October and November are the best time to show in a city as well as spring months. </div><div>If you are planning a show somewhere don't forget to check out the town's calendar. In London, for example, opening on Halloween night during the school holidays wouldn't be a great idea, while I was told that in Palermo this is a time of the year when families get together and stay in town.</div><div>In Rome a few years ago I was showing during the local film festival so it was impossible to have a press release published because local arts pages were all clogged with reviews. Research in advance !</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Photographing and framing</div><div>In the meantime, work goes on in the studio. As I finish paintings, I photograph them and file the images. ( also have a list of paintings with measures on a piece of paper, you'd need the info a countless number of times, it's quicker !)</div><div>I normally take photos outside on an overcast day and adjust images in Photoshop. If I were to sell giclee prints I'd definitely have them done professionally, but for postcards, online posts and a small catalog I'm perfectly happy with my own pics.</div><div><br></div><div> Normally I order natural wood frames online and paint them myself. I have approached the framer and obtained a small discount seen the number of frames I order from them. </div><div>I must say that I probably don't save much money by doing the work on my own but I enjoy it very much. Most of my frames are gray and/or white: it's good to find one or two colours that suite all the paintings so the show has a unified and tidy appearance.</div><div>I prime the natural wood and paint two or three coats of matte emulsion, some times adding a little depth by painting coats of different tones and sanding exposing the colour underneath.</div><div>I finish off by sanding with fine steel wool and polishing with wax.</div><div>I use z-shape clips to fit the canvas in the frame and attach gummed tape to the back.</div><div><br></div><div>I fit a string behind the work for hanging, but for medium and small paintings I also include a single triangular fitting because the string can prove a real nightmare if the gallery has a chain system for hanging: it's impossible to align the paintings ! </div><div><br></div><div>I like to have control of my frames however this time I decided to send my smaller works to be framed in Italy as I wanted a slightly different mould that the online supplier didn't have.</div><div>I recently visited a small bottega in Tuscany ( no website !) that does fantastic job at a better price and I also figured out it would cost me less to ship small works on panel from UK to Tuscany, frame them at Italian price with bulk discount and ship them on to Sicily. Check local services !</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Packing and Shipping</div><div>If you have read until now you'll know I do my best to keep costs down. So I did not build crates, I don't know how to do it, don't have the space nor the tools, but</div><div>I'm happy to say that all my works arrived safely to Palermo.</div><div>For medium size works I purchased telescopic sturdy boxes that are intended for moving mirrors ( on Amazon), and I saved the large flat boxes in which my frames arrived. I used a lot of cling film and bubble wrap and probably ingested half a roll of brown tape ( not enough hands for scissors!).</div><div><br></div><div>I bought cardboard corners that I fit onto every painting protecting the frame with cling film. I then sandwiched bubble wrap between paintings in similar sizes and tied them together very firmly with wide packing cling film so that they couldn't slide, then more bubble wrap around the whole thing and in the box very clearly marking "Do not stack" and using "Fragile" tape.</div><div>I booked the shipping with an online shipping comparison website and chose a land service that turned out rather cheap. For a show a couple of years ago the gallerist had secured a sponsorship for the shipping by including their logo in the catalogue, worth a try.</div><div><br></div><div>Advertising</div><div>Most of the job locally is done by the gallery, including securing press coverage by sending a press release to local newspaper. Here in Palermo hard copy works: the gallery invested in postcard invitations to send their clientele and leave in book shops, cafes etc.</div><div>Social networking is useful to remind people about the event and to send more extensive information about the show. </div><div>I sent a newsletter ( using Mailchimp) to all my italian contacts even if they live elsewhere. You never know, people have spread the word and I'm expecting some extra guests who are friends of friends. </div><div><br></div><div>Catalogue </div><div>A catalogue is an important record: nowadays there's no need to invest a large sum to have enough copies for everyone. An online Print on Demand service allows you to only print a few copies that can be given to the best collectors and to potential or actual galleries.</div><div>I asked an artist friend, James Bland, who is both very articulate and familiar with my work, to write a piece<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"> that I have then translated in Italian.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Again, I did a little homework to keep costs down. I originally composed the whole catalogue with a software from Blurb but I also asked for a quote to a local printer in Sicily that came out much cheaper. I uploaded my draft on the Blurb website and bought a digital copy. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">I then showed it to the Sicilian printer to show him how I wanted it ( too complicated to compose again with a new software ). I then optimised all the image files for printing, converting them to CMYK and uploaded them on Dropbox, and he put the catalogue together. Again check the locals !</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">I also uploaded all the images and the text on a Tumblr blog: I chose Tumblr because the images appear very large. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">I included a link on my newsletter for people to see the whole catalogue online. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Opening</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">I have spoken with my (poor!) husband at length about the work, "rehearsing" a bit of narrative about the paintings. It's important to memorise something coincise, coherent and interesting to say: you don't want to be caught by surprise and stutter something silly to a good collector ( yes that happened to me).</span></div><div><br></div><div><font face="Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif">At this point I can say I did my best and I only want to enjoy my time in Palermo.</font></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">The plane is landing... I can't wait until tomorrow ! </span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9nz4qkEYX3-7WHoKWg-B9C7dmm6E9mt9wG_EhErv0oK-Av2ALThXRCJQwW_FhsgCLoMHCED9o6oTzyvNg7gbPam_a_RaUkyC8HsNVNR9E0hqk0S7AUnb9PXt2KiUcc42V8nel-YfBXuek/s640/blogger-image-1747565210.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9nz4qkEYX3-7WHoKWg-B9C7dmm6E9mt9wG_EhErv0oK-Av2ALThXRCJQwW_FhsgCLoMHCED9o6oTzyvNg7gbPam_a_RaUkyC8HsNVNR9E0hqk0S7AUnb9PXt2KiUcc42V8nel-YfBXuek/s640/blogger-image-1747565210.jpg"></a></div><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div>Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-35082552939245690392014-10-08T15:43:00.000-07:002014-10-09T01:39:26.797-07:00Upcoming Show at the Royal Academy: Giovanni Battista MoroniOn Monday I attended a talk in which the curator <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Arturo-Galansino/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A266239%2Cp_27%3AArturo%20Galansino" target="_blank">Arturo Galansino</a> introduced the show "Giovanni Battista Moroni", opening on the 25th of October at the Royal Academy, and this is a short account on what he said, a little information if you are planning to visit.<br />
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The show is a very special occasion: it's the first UK show of Moroni in thirty years, and the Royal Academy's first old master's exhibition in a decade. And Moroni <i>is</i> a great master, unfortunately very little known to the general public!<br />
The UK hosts the largest collection of Moroni outside Bergamo: the exhibition will feature forty paintings by him and five by other painters ( Lotto and Moretto among them).<br />
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Moroni was born in Albino, near Bergamo, around 1520. He studied close by, in Brescia, in the bottega of the painter <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moretto_da_Brescia" target="_blank">Moretto</a>. In his first works we can immediately notice some elements that will characterise all his work: an interest for texture and materials, the use of architecture to structure the space and most of all the striking realism.<br />
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Soon after establishing his independent practice he was called to Trento during the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Trent" target="_blank">Council</a> that decided the fate of the Catholic church. In that moment the town was a very important centre and Moroni produced some religious works that embodied the ideas of the Counter Reformation, looking at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzo_Lotto" target="_blank">Lorenzo Lotto</a>, who was twenty years his senior and had worked in Bergamo.<br />
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This painting, from a private collection, is an interesting example of a new kind of devotional work. Saint Ignatius of Loyola had written about some spiritual exercises: one of these was the so-called "orazione mentale", mental prayer, in which the faithful should concentrate and visualise a sacred scene. Moroni breaks up the architecture so that the vision is real and imagined at the same time.<br />
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In the second part of the show we will see the portraits of the 1550s, where his excellence in this genre starts to appear clearly. He paints some "ritratti esemplari", portraits of people who should be an example to emulate. Among these the elegant and truthful <a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/30.95.255" target="_blank">portrait of Lucrezia Agliardi Vertova</a> from the Met. Notice the beautiful shadow of the veil on the collar !<br />
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The rooms dedicated to portraits from the 60's will be very spectacular. Moroni had an extraordinary ability to depict fabrics and clothes, his women are at the peak of fashion. We will see beautiful silks, embroidered fabrics, furs, jewels.<br />
In time dresses change as political allegiances change: Bergamo was in Venetian territory but very close to the border with the Duchy of Milano, under Spanish rule. The Spaniards favoured black and so we see men increasingly wearing that colour and standing in front of Spanish mottos inscribed in architectural elements.<br />
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In Bergamo the aristocracy ended up taking parts and splitting in two very distinctive factions, pro-Venetians and pro-Spanish: in 1563 a high profile assassination in a church prompts Venice to try and re-establish its rule, and Moroni, who had often painted the opposition, decides to return to his small town of Albino. Here he will go back to making religious works and he will portray members of the bourgeoisie. It is then that he painted his famous "<a href="http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/giovanni-battista-moroni-the-tailor-il-tagliapanni" target="_blank">Tailor</a>".<br />
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Scholars have given different interpretations of this work, including allegorical ones. Charles Eastlake, the famous director of the National Gallery, had bought this work from an Italian aristocrat nicknamed "Tagliapanni", literally fabric cutter but figuratively "a gossip", could this be his portrait in disguise? It was also said that our tailor is wearing a belt made to hold a sword, but further studies found that tailors did dress like that.<br />
Galansino rejects different interpretations and is convinced that this is an earnest portrait. It is the first time that we see an artisan on canvas, and Moroni shows respect both for the man and for his trade. The painting has been compared to Degas' Women Ironing, it is a forerunner of XIX century taste. <br />
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A gentleman in black from the 1570s: it's Gian Gerolamo Albani,;belonging to a pro-Spanish family, he had been in jail in Venice and then in exile. Again there is a comparison to make with XIX century sensibility and Ingres' octopus-handed<span style="background-color: white;"> <span style="line-height: 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis-Fran%C3%A7ois_Bertin#mediaviewer/File:Louis-Francois_Bertin.jpg" target="_blank">Louis-François Bertin.</a></span></span></span><br />
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Moroni was indeed a modern artist, he worked like an early photographer: sitters would go to his studio where they would be sat on the same prop chair, in front of the usual background, and made immortal.<br />
In his time he was known by the cognoscenti but his was a small scale operation: he didn't have a bottega with students who would help him with the work and carry on his name.<br />
He didn't leave an immediate and evident legacy however it would be difficult to imagine the work of his famous fellow countryman Caravaggio without knowing that he left for Rome with Moroni's realism in his pocket.<br />
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I am looking forward to the opening !<br />
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<br />Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-65646490631300800652014-08-24T04:08:00.000-07:002014-08-24T15:10:10.754-07:00Il Libro Mio<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxZA6PNhaOZJfGcMb-pALoqlgcrTw_wBrZ5oxQED8vKPz0RxtPYFbH9MJptIp_yRL0dACKev5e4bDdgZr6B0mv_JYneLDVylNodFMs1smjh4EK3lvWvAAGarAUgqxxMVY-Hv0UOQjicXab/s1600/Jacopo_Pontormo_-_Group_of_the_Dead_-_WGA18133.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxZA6PNhaOZJfGcMb-pALoqlgcrTw_wBrZ5oxQED8vKPz0RxtPYFbH9MJptIp_yRL0dACKev5e4bDdgZr6B0mv_JYneLDVylNodFMs1smjh4EK3lvWvAAGarAUgqxxMVY-Hv0UOQjicXab/s1600/Jacopo_Pontormo_-_Group_of_the_Dead_-_WGA18133.jpg" height="404" width="640"></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>"If by chance one is disorderly in exercise, in clothes, in coitus or superfluous eating, in a few days it can harm you or even doom you. So you should be prudent in June, July, August and mid September, sweat moderately and most of all beware of the wind after you exercised, and take care in eating and drinking, particularly when you feel warm.</i></span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Afterwards, from mid September, get ready for autumn, when, because of the short days and the start of the humid weather, and the humidity of the excess drink you had in the summer, you should prepare yourself by fasting, drinking very little and exercising so that winter colds, finding you not well disposed, might not harm you.</i></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And don't meddle too much with meat, particularly pork, and from mid January on don't eat it at all, that it is fibrous, and bad. And behave moderately, because excess body fluids and catarrh will only appear later on in February, March and April since in winter cold weather freezes them. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And take care that some times, following the moon phases, one catches cold and immediately everything that's frozen becomes liquid and this might cause dreadful snots and even apoplexy or other dangerous diseases, that everything is caused by this cold temperature: as cold makes you eat and drink too much and everything solidifies, then fairer and humid weather warms it up and it grows and swells. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And so as I said at the start when you feel congested beware of getting cold when you exercise because it might kill you in a few days. So if you acquired excess liquids in the winter do as I have above here described and most of all be careful in March, particularly ten days before and ten days after the full moon...that every time the moon fills up it is harmful and it is important to take precautions.</i></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>...</i></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>In the year 1555 during the moon that started in March and lasted until the 21st of April, in all that moon pestilent diseases were born that killed many people who were healthy and good and took care of themselves, and everyone was bleeding.</i></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I think what happened was that January wasn't cold and all the cold temperature happened in the March moon, that one could feel a dull and poisonous cold battle the air of the "long days season", which was like listening to fire sizzling in the water, so that I was very scared. </i></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>It is advantageous to be prepared before March moon starts, that she might find you sober in eating, exercised and very mindful of sweating. And don't be surprised that, as soon as [the moon] is over, a man doesn't know why but from feeling ill he will then feel better, as it is happening to me, today 22nd April, first day of the new moon, after I have never really felt any good in the past days.</i></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>It must all be because of a certain cold weather that hadn't really finished and had lasted until the 21st; but today, this day I just mentioned, I feel warm and fine because the weather is finally in his own season."</i></span><br>
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This is a rough translation of the fascinating incipit of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontormo" target="_blank">Jacopo Pontormo</a>'s diary. Written in 1555 and 1556, these few pages, the only ones we have, are a vivid and present testimony that bring the master close to us.<br>
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He was 60 when he wrote this, working at the huge cycle of frescoes in San Lorenzo in Florence ( then completed by Bronzino), now lost apart from some preparatory drawings.<br>
Pontormo cuts a lonely and hypocondriac figure, noting the weather, the food he ate and the bits of work he completed that day. He seems to be writing at the end of each week, as if his notes might help him to device the best conditions for him to work. He records his stomach upsets and the cost of food.<br>
His frequent meals with Bronzino and few others leave him the rest of the day to work, and he never mentions any other distraction. His supper is simple, often only a "fish of egg" ( omelette rolled so that it looks like a fish) and not much else, and accompanied with a few ounces of bread.<br>
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There is no glorification of his work, very little pride, just a love for what he does, as he describes finishing the head of a figure, then the next day an arm, then the other one. He writes that he hit his toe against a door or that his assistant has spent the night out at the very time when Jacopo was ill, and " he will never forget this".<br>
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I find his spleen, lunacy and fastidiousness endearing because of the humility that transpires from his words. "Today 25th March [1556]: the moon is in opposition": the moon governs his life, it's the planet of Mannerism.<br>
Vasari says that in the little house where he lives, across the road from a convent and with a little orchard he tends to, he often climbs up where his bed is, and hauls up the ladder.<br>
In the diary one day he is drawing in his house, perhaps working at this dramatic tangle of falling apart bodies, and he hears Bronzino knocking, then later on his friend Daniello. We can picture him being startled and deciding not to open and continue working. Later on he writes: I don't know what on earth they might have wanted.<br>
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The diary ends in October 1556, a few weeks before his death, these are the last entries.<br>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>"Monday: I did the head and hair of that boy; I dined, 2 birds.</i></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Tuesday: I woke up one hour before dawn, and I did the torso of that putto that holds a chalice, and the evening I dined, a good wether. but my throat is sore and I can not spit this thing I have.</i></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Today, 11th, Sunday: I went to Certosa. In the evening, I dined.</i></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Today 18th, Sunday, Dined with Piero, wether; and in the evening I dined at Bronzino's fried liver.</i></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Friday it got cold and in the evening we dined in a tavern, Daniello, Giulio, at the Piovano: roasted eel that cost 15 farthing."</i></span><br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I have a connection with Pontormo. His paintings from the Story of Joseph, now in the National Gallery in London, was originally commissioned for a nuptial chamber in the Florentine palazzo Borgherini. After the demise of the Borgherini in 1750 the building was acquired by the Rosselli Del Turco and it's been in our family ever since. </td></tr>
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Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-8943369339200554892014-08-06T10:29:00.000-07:002014-08-07T04:42:13.914-07:00A quick look at the BP Portrait Award 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdqOdv7SQ1vpZ6VQ3E7bKOSeirAt8N9b72zVeGEMPuR_ufyO6dcV7xUIN79K7SaffQXgGJeQ1ndViilJcY5mdGBGc-afEYmOfbY8tCxLfYoMYO1-IhsgZjhtXyQ5F01LF42yaH1JjIPVkc/s1600/BP-2014-main-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdqOdv7SQ1vpZ6VQ3E7bKOSeirAt8N9b72zVeGEMPuR_ufyO6dcV7xUIN79K7SaffQXgGJeQ1ndViilJcY5mdGBGc-afEYmOfbY8tCxLfYoMYO1-IhsgZjhtXyQ5F01LF42yaH1JjIPVkc/s1600/BP-2014-main-logo.jpg"></a></div>
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Finally getting round to publish a short post on the yearly <a href="http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/bp-portrait-award-2014.php" target="_blank">BP Portrait Award Exhibition</a>, now open at the National
Portrait Gallery in London. This is one of the most competitive open
exhibitions in UK with, this year, about 2400 entries. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The jurors have a vast choice for picking the exhibitors:
only two paintings in a hundred make it to the walls of the gallery.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every selected work
has all the reasons to be there and they are all very good paintings each in their
own merit. I wanted to write about the selection as a whole and how the show generally
looks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wonder if the presence of
Jonathan Yeo in the jury has influenced the judging process overall as the exhibition looked more homogeneous than in
previous years. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of the
paintings can be classified as belonging to realism and photorealism. The “BP
Big Heads” (over-sized close up portraits that have made a constant appearance
in the show) have returned this year, but aside from those, most of the paintings on display are within a
range of more tightly rendered works from photos to more “painterly” ones but still strongly rooted in realism.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Probably as a
consequence of the realism there is a distinctive lack of colour in the exhibition.
Walking in the gallery I felt as the dreaded <a href="http://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2014/07/01/we-are-making-a-difference-on-the-cadmium-ban/" target="_blank">banning of cadmiums</a> in Europe, that is
tragically looming upon artist’s heads, was already in place.<br>
It isn’t only the “classically” trained artists (it occurred to me in a
recent conversation that a more accurate definition would be post-neoclassically
trained), who normally don't use a very chromatic palette, but also among artists from different countries or schools there is a predominance of tonal paintings, earthy skin tones and
neutral backgrounds (with exceptions of course), and pure colour basically appeares when there
is an object or garment that is more chromatically saturated, when it is in fact a local colour. Matisse's portrait of his wife wouldn't have a place in the selection, to be clear.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Another constant of the exhibition is that the sitter
matters. Before the opening of the show the NPG released a video in which one of
the jurors, the writer Joanna Trollope says that it wasn’t too difficult to see which portraits were about the painter more than the sitter. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I like portraits that are equally about the painter, about the relationship among the two, about the
artist’s vision of the world; however I felt that there are several paintings chosen either because of the celebrity status of the sitter or because of their quirky
fashion sense, so works in which the sitter's identity is the most relevant element, and the criterium mentioned by Trollope doesn't seem to have had much of an impact on the selection.<br>
<br>To simplify the eternal painter's dilemma between form and subject ( who do you love more, mummy or daddy?) I ask myself, when considering a portrait :
what if this was a photo of the same sitter in the same pose ? What does the
fact that the portrait is a painting adds to the work, how is painting integral and essential to the
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Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-55962803457615221752014-06-23T04:09:00.003-07:002014-06-23T13:30:35.099-07:00Catherine Goodman - Portraits from Life at the National Portrait Gallery LondonRight before the buzz of the BP Portrait Award the NPG has opened a new display featuring a series of portraits by <a href="http://www.catherinegoodman.co.uk/" target="_blank">Catherine Goodman</a>, together with a a few of her drawings.<br />
Since Goodman won the BP Award in 2002 she has exhibited regularly with galleries such as <a href="http://www.marlboroughfineart.com/artist-Catherine-Goodman-108.html" target="_blank">Marlborough</a> and <a href="http://www.colnaghi.co.uk/exhibition/803/catherine-goodman-drawing-from-veronese" target="_blank">Colnaghi</a>. She has helped found the Prince of Wales Drawing School, in which she has retained the high profile role of artistic director (the person who keeps the focus on the "art" part of the institution).<br />
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The show at the NPG is intense and emotional. The portraits are almost all close ups, the head bigger than life size, the brushwork layered and energetic, respecting both the form and the surface of the canvas; the palette is rich with realistic skin tones punctuated by marks in saturated colour.<br />
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There is only one large self portrait in the show, and is the only painting in which the viewer is confronted and looked at straight in the eyes. In all the other portraits the sitters' glaze is turned away, they seem to be staring directly at their own life.<br />
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The show includes some very haunting drawings. In the last number of <a href="http://moreintelligentlife.com/page/contents-julyaugust2014" target="_blank">Intelligent Life</a> ( quarterly magazine of the Economist) I read a beautiful article on Jean Vanier, the founder of <a href="http://www.larche.org.uk/" target="_blank">L'Arche</a>, a community for the mentally disabled that has now branches around the whole world. The article describes the deeply moving and life-changing experience of spending time as a volunteer in these houses and as I looked at Goodman's drawing made in one of L'Arche houses I found the same sentiment expressed in the pages of <a href="http://www.catherinegoodman.co.uk/galleries/indexFade.shtml#GalleryNPGDrawings" target="_blank">her sketchbook</a>. While the large paintings expand and encompass a long span of time, the constrictive size of the paper and the instantaneous nature of the drawings compress emotions into these powerful works full of pain, compassion, love and respect.<br />
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Portraits have always been at the core of British painting, and in recent years Hockney, Auerbach and Freud have taken the genre to both a highest artistic standard and a wide level of popularity. Goodman follows in their steps with a, yes I'm stereotyping, womanly capacity of empathising with her sitters. As with Goodman, Freud and Auerbach required quite an extraordinary number of sittings for each portrait, some going on on for decades. I can't help feeling, looking at the paintings, that there is a process of subjugation going on there.<br />
Freud's sitter look mostly gloomy and obliging, Auerbach's have their outside appearance obliterated as he explores their humanness. Goodman's sitter on the other hand seem to have a much more active if not democratic role in the work of art, which looks like a cooperation between two human beings rather than a long ordeal one is submitting the other to. The process result in a series of works that speak about painting, life, beauty, memories, engagement.<br />
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I had the chance of meeting Goodman a few years ago. It was at a dinner party, so not the right place to ask lots of questions. Anyway it was soon after the 2010 BP show and she remembered my painting there. She said it looked "sladeish" ( as per the Slade School of art in London) but she didn't recognise my name as one of the students there. She had in fact correctly identified the influence of Uglow in my work, perhaps less strong now. She then asked me about my practice and I said I was painting still life and working from the model. At that point she said something that I have not really appreciated until later on, taken as I was by learning to paint the figure, she warned me against the objectification of women's body.<br />
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I hadn't paid much attention but then it became evident to me the danger of picking up, from Uglow's work, the way he painted girls like soul-less bodies, pieces of meat splayed on a table. I don't have many chances to paint the nude, but looking back I can see that my best portraits from models are done from those I have painted several times over the course of years, people I care for, and this now is something I pay attention to in my work and also in other artist's.<br />
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Read the introduction to the show, an interview with the artist and an essay by William Feaver <a href="http://www.catherinegoodman.co.uk/galleries/indexFade.shtml#GalleryPaintings" target="_blank">here </a>. It is clear from the sitters and the contributions to the show's catalogue that Goodman enjoys support from many prominent members of society, but her inspiring work and her dedicated art practice deserve to be more widely known and celebrated.<br />
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Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-76411890923749146702014-04-27T09:56:00.000-07:002014-04-27T10:06:54.140-07:00Sprezzatura: what does it mean ?Recently I have come across this term in a book on Venetian painting and in an article about portraits. When the word appeared again in an FT article over sunglasses I felt I had ought to do something about my ignorance and investigate what it means.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raphael: Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione, Louvre</td></tr>
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Sprezzatura is an Italian words but very few Italians nowadays would understand its meaning, although it sounds quite similar to "disprezzare" ( to despise) and "sprezzante" ( contemptuous).<br />
The term has been coined by Baldassarre Castiglione, an important character of Italian Renaissance, a political counsellor and author of Il cortigiano, a manual in which he outlines the characteristics of the perfect gentleman at court. The book, together with Macchiavelli's The Prince, marks an important shift in culture, when interest turns away from medieval metaphysics and turns to society. Il Cortigiano was one of the best-sellers of the century, and Frances I had it translated in French too.<br />
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The book was written in Urbino between 1513 and 1524 and finally published in 1528, when in Italy courts such as the ones in Ferrara, Urbino, Mantua were at their peak. Courts were not only a centre of political power but cultural hubs where intellectuals, writers, poets, musicians and artists came together.<br />
In Il cortigiano, Castiglione talks about grace as the most important quality that a courtier should possess. The courtier was a gentleman who was supposed to know how to ride, converse, be a scholar, dance, dress up and have impeccable table manners as well as fighting skills.<br />
All these activities, says Castiglione, must be naturally performed without effort, and this is what sprezzatura means, a certain detachment and non-chalance that should dissimulate any strain; in Castiglione's words, make the viewer believe that one just can't go wrong.<br />
In the book he cites as an example a dancer who puts so much attention in what he does that he can be clearly seen counting his steps and is therefore an ungraceful and unpleasant partner.<br />
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Sprezzatura is relevant to painting for two different aspects.<br />
The book's code of conduct was promptly adopted by courtiers, who wished to be painted in a way that showed their grace and sprezzatura, so it quickly became the signature style of XVI century court portraits.<br />
Look at Bronzino's young man in this eponymous portrait from the Met. He is aloof and self confident, at ease, elegant and not overly keen, his gracefulness looks second nature. Sprezzatura encompassed a certain melancholic indifference that we often find in portraits from this period ( is this the common root with the modern Italian words ?).<br />
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At the core of sprezzatura is not exactly effortlessness though, but the ability at feigning it, the skill of dissimulating it. This is the other aspect of its influence on painting: bear in mind that the word "arte" in ancient Italian has the wider meaning of modus operandi, and it's at the root of words such as artifice. </div>
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Not only sprezzatura is a behavioural quality of a painted sitter, but the term can be applied to the piece of art itself, made in a seemingly easy way and almost without thinking, with non-chalant virtuosism as if it sprang not from a long and arduous training and painstaking work but purely from natural flair.</div>
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It was in those years that sprezzatura became a positive quality for the artist and nowadays we still hear the words "raw talent" enthusiastically spoken about as if the lack of effort or formal training was the most desirable characteristic. </div>
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Roberto Calasso ( an Italian scholar) sees <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/may/15/tiepolo-pink-roberto-calasso-review" target="_blank">Tiepolo</a> as a perfect example of an artist who practices sprezzatura: light and fluid touch, fast execution, confident and flamboyant brushwork. </div>
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I wonder which modern artists might be considered to have sprezzatura, to produce work that is seemingly easy and has a lightness of touch and a playful grace to it and Matisse is the first one that comes to my mind.</div>
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The link with sunglasses is still eluding me though.</div>
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For more arty words check this other <a href="http://ilardt.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/how-to-impress-your-arty-friends.html?m=1" target="_blank">blog post</a> from a while ago. </div>
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<br />Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-70265919734423440402014-02-10T11:49:00.000-08:002014-02-12T06:24:48.466-08:00Diarmuid Kelley Show at Offer Waterman<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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Diarmuid Kelley is a painter with an excellent reputation who shows regularly at the prestigious <a href="http://www.waterman.co.uk/" target="_blank">Offer and Waterman</a> Gallery in Chelsea, London. </div>
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His latest show, All Cats Are Gray, ( <a href="http://www.waterman.co.uk/publications/17/" target="_blank">buy catalogue</a>) is on now and as usual features figures and still-life. </div>
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I went to see the show and am sharing some iphone photos with details of the works ( all</div>
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other images come from O. W. <a href="http://www.waterman.co.uk/" target="_blank">website</a>). I know that Kelley's studio is very close to my house but I never had the chance to meet him, not that he needs to go around submitting paintings to competitions: all his shows are sold out ! </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx4TGXM5H5hfIBbVy_LDlDeiEEObr6b2vwQjWtKlBybgJvXD-Sv2E1_Y9pZ8cTnuGUfvJyG4K9iDgVYI0KN1dL5k9AsQbEru5jnP9-ucIhkEwl6LKC-swN9H4oRxEkTnhADAq-2DDdhjkN/s1600/2386_1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx4TGXM5H5hfIBbVy_LDlDeiEEObr6b2vwQjWtKlBybgJvXD-Sv2E1_Y9pZ8cTnuGUfvJyG4K9iDgVYI0KN1dL5k9AsQbEru5jnP9-ucIhkEwl6LKC-swN9H4oRxEkTnhADAq-2DDdhjkN/s1600/2386_1000.jpg" height="320" width="266" /></a> There are a few <a href="http://www.waterman.co.uk/artists/97-Diarmuid-Kelley/video/" target="_blank">interview</a>s where he talks about his work online, but not many ( he defines himself as shy). One of the most notable points he has talked about for me is his strategy of stopping work on a painting as soon as he feels he is just "colouring in ": he often leaves areas of the painting untouched. I find this is most interesting when it happens in the figure rather than in the background, like in the hands of this work, Untitled ( Tessa) from 2007.</div>
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Kelley's vision is inspired by Hamershoi, Vermeer, Caravaggio. Although, as he says, there is a "loaded stillness" in the paintings, I find they paradoxically have a cinematographic quality in the way atmosphere is created, as if the model was the still element and everything else was moving around him/her.</div>
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In order to achieve the dim directional light he depicts, he has built a little self contained room in his studio, a room within the room, with a window that allows him full control of the luminosity in the setting..</div>
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As you can see from the glare in my photos, he plays with matte and glossy areas, working some times on white canvas, some others on raw linen, like in this 2013 still life, Untitled ( Beetroots).<br />
Works on raw canvas have a more subdued light ( students please note!).<br />
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Pencil lines are an integral part of the surface, often substituting paint and delineating a careful drawing. Paints are some times diluted to the point that they drip down, while in some other areas they have a much thicker body. Marks suggest a predominant use of square brushes, particularly when defining the form of a round object.<br />
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Straight lines result from a process of simplification of the form, to a point where they almost contradict anatomy ( see the jawline of Martina, from 2012).</div>
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This piece was my favourite in the show, so lyrical !</div>
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Don't forget to earmark his <a href="http://www.waterman.co.uk/artists/97-Diarmuid-Kelley/works/" target="_blank">page</a> !<br />
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<br />Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-46980113361142696292014-01-19T15:00:00.000-08:002014-01-29T11:04:13.505-08:00Piero and Plato<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVRmfHE_kDUhjoTs3WA9Ke7P53MUPu9xl60nkY9SlUI6bu6akb9jy3pURuyGaDHwin9jmc0nMO3XT3eQuVI28LS1Zler0No84w8zl_9ZKb3E6IFWb8KBWhGdC4yk6Tfl0yQ2OYUfkndnqn/s1600/malatesta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVRmfHE_kDUhjoTs3WA9Ke7P53MUPu9xl60nkY9SlUI6bu6akb9jy3pURuyGaDHwin9jmc0nMO3XT3eQuVI28LS1Zler0No84w8zl_9ZKb3E6IFWb8KBWhGdC4yk6Tfl0yQ2OYUfkndnqn/s1600/malatesta.jpg" height="640" width="480"></a></div>
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I thought about writing this post after stumbling on an article about the <a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/press-room/exhibitions/2014/piero-della-francesca" target="_blank">recent display</a> of Piero della Francesca's paintings at the Met. I read the first paragraphs of this <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/17/arts/design/piero-della-francesca-in-devotion-at-the-met.html?_r=0" target="_blank">review on the NYT</a> and something didn't sound quite right. This is the incriminated bit:<br>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Perspective is a way of constructing how the world appears to a single person. Its appearance in art coincided with the rising philosophical idea that all we can know about the world must come through the senses of our uniquely located bodies."</span></span><br>
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This idea of knowledge could be perhaps applied to artists such as Leonardo, who through his closeness with the Dominicans can be ascribed to the Aristotelians, but is a big blunder when referred to Piero.<br>
I am recalling memories from my school days: Aristotele said that there were two ways of acquiring knowledge, through the intellect and through the senses, although the first one was the most important. Indeed Leonardo investigated reality and the laws that regulated it through his empirical studies.<br>
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Piero's work stems from radically opposite premises. Bear in mind that in the powerful courts of the 15th century princes surrounded themselves with intellectuals and artists; the former ones dictated to the latter themes, iconographies, symbols. For the first time the artist actually becomes an intellectual through his artistic practice.<br>
Piero is a perfect example of Renaissance artists. His life long friendship with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luca_Pacioli" target="_blank">Luca Pacioli</a>, the mathematician whose work is still in use today ( he invented double-entry book keeping) testifies to his interests. Piero studies maths and geometry independently during his life and in his last years writes a treaty on perspective and one on calculus. He is aware of the new humanistic culture that flourishes all over Italy in those years, there is no doubt that current Neoplatonic ideas were embodied in his work.<br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQCejsG1_C7CK8ve_rD9If-CmJwr4bFcuNfogAib9HinRYa43w8vFBCVjN74H_-eceFAU9pZub1hMSLpAIAYtP_ZO9iuCVCSWRyOhABk8OAYHKJTl19NbVvSM1YIKDXV2rw7SqI9x9Ts0W/s1600/Piero_-_The_Flagellation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQCejsG1_C7CK8ve_rD9If-CmJwr4bFcuNfogAib9HinRYa43w8vFBCVjN74H_-eceFAU9pZub1hMSLpAIAYtP_ZO9iuCVCSWRyOhABk8OAYHKJTl19NbVvSM1YIKDXV2rw7SqI9x9Ts0W/s1600/Piero_-_The_Flagellation.jpg" height="448" width="640"></a></div>
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An important character at Piero's time was Cardinal Bessarion ( that some identify with the character on the left in the Flagellation trio), a very influential Greek intellectual who lived in Italy moving among the different courts, most notably in Urbino and Ferrara. Bessarion was a philosophy scholar who contributed to the diffusion of Platonism, which had a new breath of life during early Renaissance. In his writings he tried to reconcile Platonism with Christianity.<br>
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The concepts expressed by Plato are fundamental to understand Piero: reality is a pale and imperfect version of archetypes, ideas, that exist in a different realm. What we perceive through our senses helps us remember those perfect forms, of which we are aware deep in our conscience but we have forgotten as we came into our worldly existence.<br>
Viewed through the lens of Platonism Piero's idealized forms acquire a deeper meaning. All of his paintings, although they contain striking realistic details, carry us in a metaphysical reality, where an almost unnatural light reveals perfection.<br>
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<br>Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-38007739165471890902014-01-15T14:38:00.002-08:002014-05-07T07:04:36.707-07:00Portrait Painters Today - The Show<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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The opening this evening was a great success, the gallery was full and the show has been hanged really well.<br />
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Here are some iphone images of the evening:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguqvg_Mf9BCa4l8m3OiZSkcC6cOGx_NRSxmkT27Hr4nLhIxSetMoG_7k4bf5qjAMjZ0hzPOyjWKAvPDK6pCkefYkFlcE7dhbFY3CTZv5ZWDmKLqzQTkDLmKEL77xmxyfWLxD0PTh5Zs85I/s640/blogger-image--477833957.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguqvg_Mf9BCa4l8m3OiZSkcC6cOGx_NRSxmkT27Hr4nLhIxSetMoG_7k4bf5qjAMjZ0hzPOyjWKAvPDK6pCkefYkFlcE7dhbFY3CTZv5ZWDmKLqzQTkDLmKEL77xmxyfWLxD0PTh5Zs85I/s640/blogger-image--477833957.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguqvg_Mf9BCa4l8m3OiZSkcC6cOGx_NRSxmkT27Hr4nLhIxSetMoG_7k4bf5qjAMjZ0hzPOyjWKAvPDK6pCkefYkFlcE7dhbFY3CTZv5ZWDmKLqzQTkDLmKEL77xmxyfWLxD0PTh5Zs85I/s640/blogger-image--477833957.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2SjjzpuIrj89qrxn3Qk-MvraBkpjqptlXi-rdPPUQ_LsBbSwyDovqIwhLPsezqy5cDuL-7d4sJwUAx5MjuCCJ6DFH0XCJQ3hV0hccNCLqQiu2KafA69qvNhxa2rtu-LNfRsGBk83saUSB/s640/blogger-image-673288201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2SjjzpuIrj89qrxn3Qk-MvraBkpjqptlXi-rdPPUQ_LsBbSwyDovqIwhLPsezqy5cDuL-7d4sJwUAx5MjuCCJ6DFH0XCJQ3hV0hccNCLqQiu2KafA69qvNhxa2rtu-LNfRsGBk83saUSB/s640/blogger-image-673288201.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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With <a href="http://timbenson.co.uk/" target="_blank">Tim Benson</a> in front of his paintings.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhorldaAlfuQZ8jy5GxRymEzJXUR_fki4qaSz4IukoZtjEtbFJ6MQCKkfN7IovyZY7jqZxm4NBeUxljGeSUMyxjSm1QJvsYZhs2DH6IKVxRKOoI83HQ_B97FL7810gwJunFhNuD_FNfVN9Q/s640/blogger-image--495975539.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhorldaAlfuQZ8jy5GxRymEzJXUR_fki4qaSz4IukoZtjEtbFJ6MQCKkfN7IovyZY7jqZxm4NBeUxljGeSUMyxjSm1QJvsYZhs2DH6IKVxRKOoI83HQ_B97FL7810gwJunFhNuD_FNfVN9Q/s640/blogger-image--495975539.jpg" /></a></div>
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Tim with <a href="http://maureennathan.com/" target="_blank">Maureen Nathan</a>.</div>
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Yep, that's him. Handsome !</div>
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<a href="http://www.adebanjialade.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Adebanje Alade</a> checking out Jonathan Yeo's portrait installation.</div>
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<a href="http://www.petermonkman.com/Peter_Monkman/Home.html" target="_blank">Peter Monkman</a>, winner of the 2009 BP Portrait Award in front of his haunting paintings. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsfk1gEEAKO0U_22V_Zk-fa3SUzPA-kMZ2zztTXjco4o8Qr5h69uQBH3yidiGJN9a531ub-jEA4b4746M-4YzI5IzQscINwIoJ6sI18QgFYbqsXV8yxsO5SSGVJK8e-wB6jOd8ku41t69R/s640/blogger-image-1316127343.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsfk1gEEAKO0U_22V_Zk-fa3SUzPA-kMZ2zztTXjco4o8Qr5h69uQBH3yidiGJN9a531ub-jEA4b4746M-4YzI5IzQscINwIoJ6sI18QgFYbqsXV8yxsO5SSGVJK8e-wB6jOd8ku41t69R/s640/blogger-image-1316127343.jpg" /></a></div>
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This row of portraits <a href="http://www.adelewagstaff.co.uk/" target="_blank">Adele Wagstaff </a> paintings was particularly beautiful.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLTb46Q-CZHht5Y8w8FvsiWPcPCeyHYyiXw-jtt1lGz2biUWqn5ZsOSc7gM-daUYAQst9NbkYjeOstVw5PxCP3IUtvmp7WNizHJy5bcusiODdrGVBfuKyPw-Kw3xlhMa42GOGFXgICG3-U/s640/blogger-image-947568532.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLTb46Q-CZHht5Y8w8FvsiWPcPCeyHYyiXw-jtt1lGz2biUWqn5ZsOSc7gM-daUYAQst9NbkYjeOstVw5PxCP3IUtvmp7WNizHJy5bcusiODdrGVBfuKyPw-Kw3xlhMa42GOGFXgICG3-U/s640/blogger-image-947568532.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.annabelcullen.com/Annabel_Cullen/Home.html" target="_blank">Annabel Cullen</a>, you might remember <a href="http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw08110/Tessa-Ann-Vosper-Blackstone-Baroness-Blackstone?LinkID=mp08021&role=art&rNo=0" target="_blank">this</a> beautiful portrait on display at the NPG.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0C_bPVnXjBXTVrKLRvmeBXEYWl0fNPZcpQET7PgFdYaq3YTcFnyJEqHqHZC55kBIxhja3sOEZcjZ27A7Kp98fr8lTNUll_hBbucqKGCS6hCZZVj7ADSxoGeWqF_3UnEovHYYo-Asfonu2/s640/blogger-image--111624326.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0C_bPVnXjBXTVrKLRvmeBXEYWl0fNPZcpQET7PgFdYaq3YTcFnyJEqHqHZC55kBIxhja3sOEZcjZ27A7Kp98fr8lTNUll_hBbucqKGCS6hCZZVj7ADSxoGeWqF_3UnEovHYYo-Asfonu2/s640/blogger-image--111624326.jpg" /></a></div>
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Two poignant works by <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/artists/michael-croker" target="_blank">Michael Croker</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQe08d0nYtcIGz54ZTkivmRqyBGutu9lEr73vRHiXO499brTNmdfrW0ED106Omc9kmDovUQKJ-qLhTtZv0Ly99L5BfoeUgsfxU1oxfOcmWRrzzTJkoVWthPhyphenhyphenqFmAa5zYOBWkBzLx_G9dN/s640/blogger-image-1508658922.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQe08d0nYtcIGz54ZTkivmRqyBGutu9lEr73vRHiXO499brTNmdfrW0ED106Omc9kmDovUQKJ-qLhTtZv0Ly99L5BfoeUgsfxU1oxfOcmWRrzzTJkoVWthPhyphenhyphenqFmAa5zYOBWkBzLx_G9dN/s640/blogger-image-1508658922.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.heatherleys.org/staff.php" target="_blank">Ian Rowlands</a> couldn't be at the opening because he was teaching, here are his paintings.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_iyy3x3O7SBq79Y6hCTwGQVk0R4uICtjpWnN1EN1QHEAPX2JcrujkIRjtEkqGMZg-s993H9fVBbEQnhfjmn-wyE-_IHF4xiBbKF3wNd7jrIa9Wb7LVQochMtYLAjmN-_9h1cu0sMvkIv0/s640/blogger-image-1832204707.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_iyy3x3O7SBq79Y6hCTwGQVk0R4uICtjpWnN1EN1QHEAPX2JcrujkIRjtEkqGMZg-s993H9fVBbEQnhfjmn-wyE-_IHF4xiBbKF3wNd7jrIa9Wb7LVQochMtYLAjmN-_9h1cu0sMvkIv0/s640/blogger-image-1832204707.jpg" /></a></div>
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I really regret that my phone doesn't do justice to the silvery light of these portraits by <a href="http://www.scottmillerart.com/home/melissa.php" target="_blank">Melissa Scott Miller</a>.</div>
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Thank you to all the people who came to the opening ! The show will be on for three weeks. If you are in London and want to see it just go to St. Paul's School ( Mon. to Fri. 9-6) and at the reception desk they will be happy to point you to the gallery.</div>
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Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-82474428136783030932013-12-15T07:14:00.002-08:002014-01-06T06:38:27.823-08:00Exhibition: Portrait Painters Today I am delighted to have been invited to show in this upcoming exhibition of portrait artists.<br />
This humbling group includes two BP Award winners as well as several BP award exhibitors and very well respected artists. We will show four or five paintings each, so all in all there will be plenty of very diverse works to look at.<br />
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Milton Gallery is a large and light space in the core of St Paul's School and its beautiful grounds in Barnes, London, UK. St Paul's is one of the most well known educational institutions in the country, an independent school founded in 1509. The gallery is named after the poet John Milton, who studied at St Paul's, and hosts a busy program of exhibitions during the whole academic year.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjaOex7zqwG7wDqhyphenhyphenNfPHPTKF7FAH0xZb3D5j3u8esdTnreEtQwfsVDgAcYi-AUh75sIv5vci1j5rwKuMQaUIfKRCK41C6CEm5z_drY7nHCutkF7hnOguMnUVcso6mPY_5GcgprtvcJB6M/s1600/Portrait+Painters+Today+flyer+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjaOex7zqwG7wDqhyphenhyphenNfPHPTKF7FAH0xZb3D5j3u8esdTnreEtQwfsVDgAcYi-AUh75sIv5vci1j5rwKuMQaUIfKRCK41C6CEm5z_drY7nHCutkF7hnOguMnUVcso6mPY_5GcgprtvcJB6M/s640/Portrait+Painters+Today+flyer+copy.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Portrait Painters Today:</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.adambirtwistle.fr/" target="_blank">Adam Birtwistle</a></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://timbenson.co.uk/" target="_blank">Tim Benson</a></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/search/painted_by/michael-croker" target="_blank">Michael Croker</a></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.annabelcullen.com/Annabel_Cullen/Home.html" target="_blank">Annabel Cullen</a></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"><b><u>Tom Flint</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.petermonkman.com/Peter_Monkman/Home.html" target="_blank">Peter Monkman</a></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.ilardt.com/" target="_blank">Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco</a></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2009/sep/20/tutors-guide-to-painting#/?picture=353148750&index=0" target="_blank">Ian Rowlands</a></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.scottmillerart.com/home/melissa.php" target="_blank">Melissa Scott Miller</a></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.artsunwrapped.com/artsunwrapped_studio.php?wk=wk2&st_idb=21&ar_id=498&artistsec=work" target="_blank">Adriana Swierszczek </a></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.adelewagstaff.co.uk/" target="_blank">Adele Wagstaff</a></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;"><u><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.jonathanyeo.com/" target="_blank">Jonathan Yeo</a></span></b></u></span></div>
<br />Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-7161831038225812042013-10-24T02:43:00.000-07:002013-10-24T02:43:38.830-07:00The Beauty of Small <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinaLcu_qgJ3g7kMsU4g_e0Fu4-DVqRkARV5q1LTutdd192GlvYeFhIV2DRzmurjAqmf3Z0JygV-Mu2XbLpxTu-UyntR7RTBTR1j-H_UcCf9Ga57zIq-sC34LIvHkheXlKQ7d_L0rsfVQIT/s1600/0927w.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinaLcu_qgJ3g7kMsU4g_e0Fu4-DVqRkARV5q1LTutdd192GlvYeFhIV2DRzmurjAqmf3Z0JygV-Mu2XbLpxTu-UyntR7RTBTR1j-H_UcCf9Ga57zIq-sC34LIvHkheXlKQ7d_L0rsfVQIT/s640/0927w.jpg" width="490" /></a></div>
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Ingres' Bather at the Phillips Collection in Washington</div>
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How large do you think this painting is ?</div>
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Recently I was chatting with a friend who was interested in buying my monotypes. As I explained about the works she interrupted and said, " but the thing is... they are small...".<br />
"Why was the size a negative point ?" I asked myself (incidentally she did buy a small one when she came to have a look at them). <br />
Small format in painting is probably one of the most misunderstood characteristics: is seen as less important, easier ; small works are much cheaper and often overlooked.<br />
I have had beginner students arriving in class with the tiniest little canvas under the mistaken impression that "finishing" might be quicker and simpler, and struggling to understand that they were putting themselves in a far more difficult situation.<br />
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Lat month I visited the <a href="http://www.phillipscollection.org/index.aspx" target="_blank">Phillip's collection</a> in Washington and found two real masterpieces I knew from books. I was taken aback by their size. The Ingres bather at the top of the post is in fact titled " Small Bather" and at 32x25 cm is about the size of an A4 sheet, Degas' "Melancholy", 19x24 cm, even smaller.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAjuRA5xGQ2FySqyQXW-YzIarbsed3myM1Oaou-XvArwdgB7QcSO-5-ROQy_l5s5TgziwEMaP3hysOZVTzlX14BEayscLwzVbbs73nA-WUf_eTdRugLTAaRxFP2xQMmjzStHdvxuLhqikQ/s1600/Edgar_Degas_-_Melancholy_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAjuRA5xGQ2FySqyQXW-YzIarbsed3myM1Oaou-XvArwdgB7QcSO-5-ROQy_l5s5TgziwEMaP3hysOZVTzlX14BEayscLwzVbbs73nA-WUf_eTdRugLTAaRxFP2xQMmjzStHdvxuLhqikQ/s640/Edgar_Degas_-_Melancholy_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The strength of these paintings is incredible. In Ingres the small canvas is dominated by the figure that appears monumental despite the diminutive size. It is in small works that the problem of scale can be really addressed.<br />
Degas' painting is unusually dramatic compared to his normally collected women portraits, but the understatement of the little format lessens the anguish and contains emotion.<br />
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I find that small works are particularly successful when they depict a large space, still life or a figure, rather than something "life size", like a tiny object that would fit neatly on the canvas ( when, a few years ago, many artists started selling "daily" paintings online often picturing single small objects, I felt they completely missed the point of small format, dangerously drifting towards trompe l'oeil). Of course a small work is never "a reduced version" of a large work, the painting process is intrinsically different.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEP3fa529G-bVgrM0StxyGKtDaBp4KC2aKv_ktlrWdcdbccvD_tG5dak7GkeCvGp5wnzodG6IHrv5b3Qp3YKO6Jhu7G4zz71h7dUfGVBrmZl7UljPovS1oOUYaRopuApxhEyyNQHpSHHbG/s1600/jones-wall-naples-NG6544-fm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEP3fa529G-bVgrM0StxyGKtDaBp4KC2aKv_ktlrWdcdbccvD_tG5dak7GkeCvGp5wnzodG6IHrv5b3Qp3YKO6Jhu7G4zz71h7dUfGVBrmZl7UljPovS1oOUYaRopuApxhEyyNQHpSHHbG/s640/jones-wall-naples-NG6544-fm.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thomas Jones, A Wall in Naples, 11,4x16 cm<br />one of the most beautiful paintings in the <a href="http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/thomas-jones" target="_blank">National Gallery</a></td></tr>
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Describing space in a small painting is an acrobatic exercise and needs a deft hand: the amount of details in and around the small head paintings by Vermeer draw us in the cosy Dutch rooms where they live, while a thin simple strip of blue at the top of Thomas Jones' almost abstract Neapolitan wall is sufficient to suggest the clear daylight and large skies of the South of Italy.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTuHcdQH8Em1XveufSqX2FCWtu_sY4qhDju8jBqzYpKY6EyU7KxNPaOY_m1MAT0JD5WJgPB0KJzDP5FmY6fxSBZq4vYpnhZecQE8L9gqBF9F1Ozpj-4UmCStNa8S5eV_1pf9geM7h2qq2d/s1600/Vermeer_-_Girl_with_a_Red_Hat.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTuHcdQH8Em1XveufSqX2FCWtu_sY4qhDju8jBqzYpKY6EyU7KxNPaOY_m1MAT0JD5WJgPB0KJzDP5FmY6fxSBZq4vYpnhZecQE8L9gqBF9F1Ozpj-4UmCStNa8S5eV_1pf9geM7h2qq2d/s640/Vermeer_-_Girl_with_a_Red_Hat.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vermeer, Girl with a Red Hat, 22x18 cm</td></tr>
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Small format is extremely difficult and takes a long time. Little paintings draw the viewer very close and need absolute perfection to pass such a close scrutiny. Small compositional shifts might turn into disasters and "touch", the way paint is deposed on the surface, is paramount. Paint doesn't necessarily need to be manipulated with small and controlled strokes, on the contrary it is often a free brushwork that makes these paintings stunning and keeps them clear of the boundaries with miniature.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5w0DTRtpNyhVFwi1_SQN0KgmZJ5NB_UP1rsG_uGWE7Uxbf_34rDBqFTbIQ8tCwk3ZbXSz05sb3u5PkTSCIPDxX_s26x_jGSu6NmTX4JdMau6EE5cDiAzk5h0QgHzbWrG-hcoXIk5W9D08/s1600/Giovanni_Fattori_027.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5w0DTRtpNyhVFwi1_SQN0KgmZJ5NB_UP1rsG_uGWE7Uxbf_34rDBqFTbIQ8tCwk3ZbXSz05sb3u5PkTSCIPDxX_s26x_jGSu6NmTX4JdMau6EE5cDiAzk5h0QgHzbWrG-hcoXIk5W9D08/s640/Giovanni_Fattori_027.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />La Rotonda Palmieri ( 12x 35cm) by Giovanni Fattori is considered one of the most important paintings of the Ottocento Italiano. Volumes, lights and darks are pitched to perfection.</span><br />
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Even Grayson Perry, in <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03969vt" target="_blank">the first of his Reith Lectures,</a> briefly mentions the unfair treatment that small works get. An exceptional work in this size invariably beats a larger one. You would make a bee line for it from the other side of the room, it will fascinate and astonish you. Everything is measured and compressed, ideas and paint as dense as collapsed matter.</div>
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The reduced size, the fact that one can hold a little canvas in the hands adds to the captivating charm of the object, makes it ownable.</div>
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Small paintings are intimate, can be looked at by only one person at the time, involve you in a one to one relationship with the image, they are painted just for The Viewer, you. </div>
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<br />Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-47699514161111558142013-10-13T11:53:00.001-07:002013-10-16T15:19:06.156-07:00DVD review: Patrick George, "A Likeness"<br />
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<a href="http://patrickgeorgefilm.com/" target="_blank">A Likeness</a>, a film by Hero Johnson and Andrew Warrington, has just been released on DVD. It is a documentary about Patrick George: at 90, George is among the most significant living artists in England and probably the most elusive one.<br />
The DVD is really an important document because so little has been published about George's work;<br />
I think he has always been very unwilling to concede interviews and a comprehensive publication on his work is inexplicably missing.<br />
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Patrick George was a student of William Coldstream and a contemporary of Euan Uglow at the Slade School of Art. You can see images of his paintings <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/search/painted_by/patrick-george" target="_blank">here</a> and on the Browse and Darby gallery <a href="http://www.browseanddarby.co.uk/artists/george-patrick" target="_blank">website</a>. An interview can be found on the <a href="http://paintingperceptions.com/interviews/patrick-george" target="_blank">Painting Perception</a> website.<br />
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The film is extremely enjoyable and shows George discussing some of his works, briefly talking about his story and going about his painting routine. In a way, the film reminded me of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N172cmoSsGc" target="_blank">El Sol del Membrillo</a>, the exceptional film about Antonio Lopez Garcia.<br />
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In A Likeness, George doesn't lose his characteristic reticence: he talks at length about paintings, how he conceived them, how he went about working on them, but in fact he does not disclose much. Hiding behind understatement, he presents his work as a straight-forward activity.<br />
" I try and paint things as they are, but there are things which are impossible, you can't pin it down and say that is how it is, you can only suggest how it might be. It looks something like this, to the best of my ability". <br />
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George conceals himself but so much can be learnt by the careful viewer about his vision, about the poetics of his works, which for me resides exactly in their apparent simplicity.<br />
He has a modesty about his paintings as if not to reveal their technical side thus shattering their lyrical impact. It seems to me though that his restrained small talk is the only way his paintings can be spoken of, all the rest can only be done by looking. I think most serious painters cringe at the prospect of "explaining" their work !<br />
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Only here and there we get a glimpse of how complicated and sophisticated his art is, for example when he explains about the background in "Betsy"and even more when he discusses "At Arm's Length". The themes of his work are all touched upon in the film: the preoccupation with the picture plain, the struggle to represent reality, the effort to mantain interest, the quality of paint, the search for an inherent luminosity in the painting.<br />
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I found it very moving to see an ageing artist at work, on his own. It gives a sense of the incredible<br />
physical stamina that painting requires. We watch him methodically and almost painfully setting up his easel outside: George is known to stand six hours without breaks in the field, in freezing weather.<br />
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I absolutely recommend this film ( I had to watch it more than once, there's more to it than one can take in on one view), it will broaden your understanding on the brilliant group of painters that gravitated around the Slade and it will renew your determination to work hard reminding you how high the bar was set.<br />
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<a href="http://patrickgeorgefilm.com/buy-a-copy/" target="_blank">The DVD is available to order HERE</a></div>
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PS: If you are interested in English painters from this period please consider <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/887121708/sargy-mann-probably-the-best-blind-painter-in-peck" target="_blank">pre-ordering</a> the excellent book about Sargy Mann that is being turned into an eBook.<br />
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<br />Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-83472126814062078782013-09-25T01:55:00.002-07:002013-10-16T15:19:24.647-07:00A Book You Have to Have<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Sargy Mann is one of the living painters I admire the most. He was born in 1937 and was a student at Camberwell School of Art. Mann is a thoughtful and dedicated artist who interrogates himself on how we perceive the world around us. His works bear a sophisticated beauty that soothes the soul. I saw three of his shows and he never fails to mesmerise me and send me back to my easel with humbleness and determination.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sargy Mann The Fields at Lemons, oil 28x36 in., 1972, originally in the collection of Kingsley and Jane Amis<br />( image courtesy of Peter Mann)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /> Five years ago his son Peter, himself a visual artist, produced a book in which Mann analyses several of his paintings. He goes through his life and career, talks about the work and his painting language. This is a fantastic book, a go-back-to text, a real insight in the life of a painter, where Mann explains about the search for his motif, how he proceeds from it to conceiving a work, the difficulties in realising his ideas and finally the completion of the painting. Spacial tension, rhythms, the language of light, are all taken into consideration as he traces the process of painting. He also takes the reader through his moments of excitement, of disappointment, creation and distruction that we all experience at the easel.<br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Reproductions of the pictures are included as well as drawings, studies and many photographs of Mann working. Every painting is also photographed on the wall where it permanently resides, giving a sense of the scale and the beauty of these pictures.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /> The reason why I am re-reviewing the book, which I had written about in 2010, is that, as Mann has continued to paint and evolve since it was published, there's a lot of material that was not included. Peter, Sargy Mann's son, wants to add a new chapter and make the book available to more people by turning it into an eBook, and<u> he is fund-raising in order to complete the project.</u> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /> <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/887121708/sargy-mann-probably-the-best-blind-painter-in-peck" target="_blank">ON THIS PAGE </a>you will find a very clear statement and explanation on what he is going to do with the money as well as reviews of the existing book and a video preview of some of the pages. Peter is basically giving people a chance to pre-order the eBook: pledge £5 and you will be able to download a copy once the project is complete. Pledge a little more ( £50) and you will receive a signed copy of the printed edition as well as the eBook download when it will be ready as well as signed post cards and other goodies. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU3fgTAoiEC_17b3Bq1tLSe9QV4lLY1wLFmdB1iaimI2q4PUQEJJ31vpsQ9wwHY3KCRkaVjxxIR-1wbs6wh1h1rbdiC5JMB_eWanU8LCXiSvhg6VA8iLBQ86IX_bYsTW0fbx3QJQsCn9YE/s1600/three+bathers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU3fgTAoiEC_17b3Bq1tLSe9QV4lLY1wLFmdB1iaimI2q4PUQEJJ31vpsQ9wwHY3KCRkaVjxxIR-1wbs6wh1h1rbdiC5JMB_eWanU8LCXiSvhg6VA8iLBQ86IX_bYsTW0fbx3QJQsCn9YE/s1600/three+bathers.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sargy Mann, Three Bathers, image courtesy of Peter Mann</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /> Oh, and there's one thing you should know, the first painting on this page was done early in Mann's career just before his eyesight started to deteriorate, finally leaving him completely blind in 2005. This second image belongs to his latest body of work. The progressive deterioration of his eyesight has sharpened is research on perception. He has never stopped painting and <a href="http://www.cadogancontemporary.com/artists/MANS/" target="_blank">had three successful shows</a> since the <u>total loss</u> of his vision. His work, rather than being left limp by the disability, is more beautiful, accomplished and respected than ever.<br /><br /><br /><i>" As long as one has the ability to organise materials and is able to discover new experiences, art can be made. I have always believed that artists are people who can act with precision in a state of extreme insecurity. It is not always easy or comfortable but it is what we like doing and I hope to keep going."</i><i> </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><i style="font-family: inherit;"> Sargy Mann</i></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i>Please consider contributing to the publishing and buy the eBook with or without the printed version, it is an inspiring and thought-provoking read that any painter could benefit from. Hurry up, the campaign has just started and will only last one month.</span><br />
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<br />Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-87312012982056517442013-03-24T05:01:00.000-07:002013-09-11T09:03:02.644-07:00Monotype/7This is the last post following the progress of my monotype course. In the latest classes we experimented further with coloured inks, embossing, offset printing.<br />
After starting out with earth coloured inks, we were then given saturated colours: cadmium yellow, cadmium red and a very tinting cyan. These can be used on their own or mixed, and they can either be painted on the plate at the same time or one at the time.<br />
It was interesting to work with pure colours but very difficult for me, and I didn't really produce any passable work.<br />
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In order to produce a print with several colour layers we learnt offset printing, a technique that allows one to work with one colour at the time and printing them opaquely one on top of the other.<br />
Monotypes can basically be printed once, and after that some ink remains on the print: barely enough for a second print but definetely enough to get mixed up with subsequent layers.<br />
With offset one can transfer a very faint trace ( ghost image) from one plate to the other so that the image can be cleanly reworked and printed again on the same piece of paper.<br />
Offset is much more complicated to describe than to do, so I won't venture in all the passages here ( take the course!).<br />
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Other techniques we have been experimenting with have been printing patterns with different materials such as netting, lace or corrugated cardboard. These can be used also to emboss the paper and obtain different effects. We also have tried working with white opaque ink over black sugar paper, and using it on warm rose paper to produce highlights.<br />
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I was very happy to be back at the printing press after twenty years, now that I have more experience with producing images.<br />
I have coined a phrase for printmaking, that the plate is the ultimate battlefield for composition: it's small and the edges are sharp, there's no escape, particularly when working with monochrome, all aspects need to be considered.<br />
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There are a lot of decisions to make, the weight of lights and darks, empty areas, the dynamics of the composition, the four corners, the quality of the marks. Once the work has started, there's only about one hour to complete the work, and, coming from oil painting, I found it particularly difficult.<br />
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One cannot put the work aside and have a think about it, there is a moment when you need to stop and print, and that's final. The plate can be reworked straight away and printed again but there's always a time limit. I felt that working under pressure yielded surprising results and I am very keen to keep working in this medium as I find it a wonderful way of investigating the subject further, before and after painting it in oils.<br />
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<br />Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-91586576048581446092013-02-22T08:14:00.004-08:002013-09-11T09:03:28.692-07:00Monotypes/5Colour !!!<br />
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Colour made its appearance today.<br />
We had some earth colour available to work with today, ochre, burnt sienna, black, raw umber, and later on some blue.<br />
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I worked with positive technique but I now learned to combine some inking of the plate with the roller that I can use as a light background and unifying layer as I did in this three colour print<br />
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Also, coloured inks have their own personality one needs to learn, just as oils. Umber is weak and dries fast, the ochre was very difficult to manage as it had a tendency to splodge. I guess that one slowly learns and reins in their behaviour. I charged on for the first print with ochre and black but hit a brick wall: I intended to use black as my cool and ochre as my warm but it didn't quite work out: of course, there was no white to mix the black with !<br />
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Adding colour was indeed very complicated as inks are different in use both from watercolours and oils. Yes of course they can be mixed but it's very difficult to predict the intensity of the tone, so one is never sure how dark the area you are paintig will turn out in the print.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">I am left in doubt on whether colour adds something to this method of work, and if the same prints would have looked better in monochrome, but that's the whle point of a ten weeks course, to learn about all the tecniques so that one can choose. </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">I have to add that the input of the tutors on matters of composition, luminosity, mark making and many other aspects is invaluable, really a course worth attending ! </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Three prints from the same plate reworked in between pulls:</span></div>
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<br />Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-80527810670878467612013-02-20T07:45:00.000-08:002013-09-11T09:03:28.686-07:00Monotype/4Oh well, sooner or later I had to have an off day...<br />
While everyone was producing really nice works, I did very bad in the fourth session. The artist we looked at was Matisse and some beautiful prints with a simple white line on pure black ground.<br />
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The major difficulty for me was that I was always terrible at work that veers toward graphic as opposed to painterly I am not gifted with an ability for synthesising, as you might understand from my verbose posts !)<br />
I can probably manage line when it is accompanied by tone, but line on it's own I find it difficult and I get very frustrated. On top of this we were working with a white line on black: now, for me white signifies light, so my tendency was to use the line to pick out the lights. What I should have done though was using the line as contour, so to mark the darks with a white line as well.<br />
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I always see in terms of darks and lights, this was an impossible situation for me, and I threw a tantrum on the plate and started scribbling furiously all over.</div>
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I basically scribbled until the morning was over, the only good element I got from this exercise was experimenting with the initial inking of the plate. In this larger plate ( right) I only lightly inked the sides of the plate so that I could have some texture and shades of gray as a background of my line.<br />
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In the afternoon we worked on a double plate again but what really cheered me up was that I managed to produce some prints at home !<br />
I pulled out of the cupboard my small old etching press: a bit dusty and rusty after fifteen years of oblivion a but still working !<br />
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I worked on a copper plate ( I learnt they are more delicate than zinc but because they are polished the surface is more slippery so ink application is smoother ) and these are my first efforts. The first and second ones are from Muybridge photos, the third and fourth ones are form drawings of Pontormo and Rembrandt.<br />
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Next week, colours !<br />
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<br />Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-62419260629126510672013-02-12T14:53:00.001-08:002013-09-11T09:03:28.684-07:00Monotype/3 In the next session we were looking at Degas again and encouraged to experiment with the positive version of what we did the previous lesson, which meant literally paint with the brush on the polished plate. The ink can be thinned with cooking oil or vaseline.<br />
Although it might seem easier than wiping away ink, we all found it harder. I think this was basically because of the difficulty of manipulating ink and forecasting what the print will look like. I think it is a bit like painting on an imprimatura, it's easier at the start.<br />
Both tutors went very much in depth analyzing the depiction of space and light, the dynamic use of the brushwork and the composition and the tonal balance.<br />
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We work under time pressure because the ink is drying, even more so when one is painting with a thinner layer.<br />
With this technique it is easier to use a range of marks, working with a brush ( hog) or dabbing with a cloth.<br />
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Again I was quite surprised when I printed this one, it reminded me of the atmosphere in the drawings of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Hubbuch" target="_blank">Karl Hubbuch</a>, a German artist who showed at the <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">"Neue Sachlichkeit'</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"> show in 1925. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">I bought a book of his drawing ages ago and I always loved this work. Christopher Isherwood has always been one of my favourite writers and this drawing for me embodies the spirit of that time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">It's strange some times how images resurface in the work without one being aware until later on.</span></span></div>
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In the afternoon we worked on two plates, so we had the chance to work on a larger format. It was interesting to include both the model and a bit of landscape from the garden. </div>
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These are the two separate plates, and again I re-worked and re-printed afterwards.</div>
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Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-2725239776843446672013-02-11T12:52:00.000-08:002013-09-11T09:03:28.681-07:00Monotypes/2The second and third lessons in the course is where things got really interesting. We looked at Degas and worked with the techniques he used in his stunning monotypes.<br />
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Examining Degas from up close one keeps finding extraordinary touches, the most sensitive marks and sophisticated composition choices. </div>
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Humbled by this example we proceeded to ink our plates and worked in the "dark manner" or "dark field" technique, which means proceed by removing the ink. </div>
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The plate needs to be covered by a good layer of ink which can than be wiped off with a bit of cloth or moved around with a brush ( the stiffer the better). Vaseline and cooking oil can be used ( sparsely!) to thin the ink and clean the plate. The plate is then placed on the etching press and printed on hot pressed watercolour paper.</div>
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I have to say things were made much easier by our model who had a strong presence and was set against the light thus being in strong contre-jour lighting.</div>
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When working on the plate it is quite difficult, particularly at the first experience, to predict the result. The darkness of the print depends upon the quantity of the ink, how dry it is and also on whether one chooses to print on wet or dry paper. Once printed a first monotype there is still time to rework the plate without having to obliterate the work previously done, and obtain a second pull.</div>
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Blotches of ink are always a danger because they are not very easy to spot on the inked plate and on the paper for a very dark flat stain, but I have to say that perhaps because of the slight improvement when the print is dry, or perhaps because after the initial shock one gets use to how the print looks after a while, I now notice them less.</div>
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This is another couple of prints from the last pose of the day. The lessons take place in the beautiful studio the chool has in Kensington Palace ( no I didn't bump into Prince Harry yet ) and there's a strict discipline. We start on time at 10 and plough on until just before 5 pm, lunch break is well timed and no phones allowed in the studio, so the concentration is intense.</div>
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As it happens often the best works are done towards the end, when weariness takes over and I am in a hurry to finish. I like these last two as I think I really loosened up.</div>
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In the second print from the same plate I started making marks in all directions ( compare with the first prints where most marks are vertical) and I had the feeling that I was really moving the ink round with an illusion of control. </div>
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As I peeled the paper from the plate I realised an accident had happened and something quite wonderful appeared. While in the first print I had carefully produced a good likeness of the model's head, in the second one I was being less specific and I wanted to treat the head with the same energetic marks I had used in the body without realising that there were some little blobs of ink.</div>
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After a first disappointment at the black blotches I became aware that one could read something else and that a man with a weird ferret mask had appeared. I am very fond of this mistake now !!</div>
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Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-90482194553466085892013-02-10T12:48:00.000-08:002013-09-11T09:03:28.689-07:00Monotypes/1<br />
This year I finally fulfilled a resolution I made a couple of years ago after watching this video of <a href="http://www.stuartshils.com/index2.html" target="_blank">Stuart Shils</a> making monotypes. I had the privilege of meeting Stuart a couple of years ago and was captivated by his work, and I often look at his catalogues just to remind myself of the impact that a flawless use of colour has. Until this video I had come across the word monotype but I didn't really know what it was.<br />
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View part 2 of this video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6oJO7pyL6w" target="_blank">here</a></div>
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I had done a little bit of etching in my twenties, and used to enjoy everything about it. In fact I was studying illustration at the renowned printing house<a href="http://www.ilbisonte.it/nuovosito/eng_storia.html" target="_blank"> Il Bisonte</a> in Florence, and the printmaking was what I really liked best of that year and what stayed with me. After that course I bought a small printing press with which I worked for a couple of years in Italy. Kids and acids don't really go together so I put my kit away twenty years ago.<br />
The first thing I realised when looking at Stuart's video was that the acid part of the printing process was missing and that it seemed like something I actually could do in my studio.<br />
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When I read that the Prince's Drawing School was offering a montype <a href="http://www.princesdrawingschool.org/programmes/public/westlondonday.asp?courseid=311&dweek=4" target="_blank">course</a>, tutored by <a href="http://www.markcazalet.co.uk/index.html" target="_blank">Mark Cazalet</a> and <a href="http://henrygibbonsguy.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Henry Gibbons Guy</a>, I signed up straight away.<br />
We are now halfway through the course so I thought I would post some of my works.<br />
I am sure I have annoyed both tutors with my swot behaviour but I just completely fell in love with this printmaking technique. I am keen to learn and understand as much as I can so I can then work on my own.<br />
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What captivated me in this form of printmaking is the contiguity with oil painting: printing inks can have a flat quality and an intensity that recalls the feel of oil, they have a certain body and they show the brush marks. There's an element of surprise every time because there are many variables so it's not easy to predict exactly how the ink and the paper will behave, and then of course the image is reversed so looks totally new and unexpected.<br />
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During the first lesson we were shown some examples of monotypes by the masters and introduced to the most simple monotype technique, for which there's no need for a press. Gauguin and Klee produced some works in this way, some call it trace monotype.<br />
The zinc plate is completely or partially inked with a roller and a sheet of cartridge paper is placed on top of it and secured with some tape on one of the sides ( essential if one needs to lift the paper for checking the print). A drawing in pencil is then made on what will be the reverse side of the print and the ink would transfer to the paper by the pressure of the pencil.<br />
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The difficulty here is that I needed to push on the pencil so the lines are drawn slowly and clumsily, and of course there's no coming back once a mark is made. One can also push on the paper with the hand to create a tone. </div>
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You will recognise this technique in Tracey Emin's monotypes as well, its charm is in the softness and " hairyness" of the line. I have tried it at home with rice paper, it's fast and easy to set up - ink, plate, roller and paper is all that is needed. </div>
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In the next post, enters the printing press.</div>
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<br />Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358587224172165839.post-22598718827673345072013-01-24T16:20:00.000-08:002013-01-27T11:38:52.243-08:00Michael Andrews, ArtistThis blog gets several hits from people who are googling the painter Michael Andrews, whom I mentioned in <a href="http://ilardt.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/pallant-house.html" target="_blank">this post</a>. I thought I'd write about him and add a few links to his works.<br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Andrews_(artist)" target="_blank">Michael Andrews</a> has a rightful place among major British artists of the late twentieth century. He was famously a very slow painter, which is why, if you are looking for his work on line, you won't find much: simply because he didn't actually produce a lot. His comprehensive retrospective at the Tate in 2001 included 95 paintings made over 45 years.<br />
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Michael Andrews was a student at the Slade and friend of the artists in Swinging London: Lucien Freud, Victor Willing, Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon, Leon Kossoff.<br />
He was particularly fascinated by the work of R. B. Kitaj, who as an American was a bit of an outsider, and was the one who identified the " School of London" as such in the introduction to the show "The Human Clay"in which Andrews' work was included.<br />
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Although very different, these artists all shared a preoccupation with the human figure and the practice and process of painting. These two issues are present in all of Andrews' works.<br />
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I am using the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Michael-Andrews-William-Feaver/dp/1854373684/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359054336&sr=1-1" target="_blank">catalogue</a> the Tate show as the basis for this post ( thank you <a href="http://www.alexanderfowler.co.uk/" target="_blank">Alex</a> for lending it to me).<br />
His production can be split in four major groups of paintings, to which we need to add his early works and his portraits.<br />
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Early works:<br />
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<a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/andrews-a-man-who-suddenly-fell-over-t00169" target="_blank">A Man Who Suddenly Fell Over</a>, together with <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/august-for-the-people-41891" target="_blank">August For The People</a> are his most significant early works, painted in his final year at the Slade and both inspired by poetry. Andrews' work always mantained closed links with literature.<br />
Other beautiful and remarkable paintings from this period are <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/digswell-man-ii-63053" target="_blank">Man in a Landscape ( Digswell Man II)</a>, Little Boy Running and Lorenza Mazzetti in Italy.<br />
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PARTIES:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyE0GUCjUmaM8UbspbcWKYOv4jocmTvvftNag1i1597CxlGqOUouNNqWzeWlJpTuev_osTKaTDT20Cd8-ls2_h-JZCxM8XIEhnMXfoEpn-qDUkKhNZcc5q8uqw49cIEsSORiKXsUWqTqP9/s1600/ws_palg_008_010_624x544.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyE0GUCjUmaM8UbspbcWKYOv4jocmTvvftNag1i1597CxlGqOUouNNqWzeWlJpTuev_osTKaTDT20Cd8-ls2_h-JZCxM8XIEhnMXfoEpn-qDUkKhNZcc5q8uqw49cIEsSORiKXsUWqTqP9/s320/ws_palg_008_010_624x544.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Study for The Colony Room, 1962 ( 31x48cm)</td></tr>
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The painting "Late evening on a Summer Day" prefigures his famous parties paintings from the Sixties. As an observer of London social scene, Andrews embarked in a series of works depicting groups of figures in social occasions. He painted the Colony Room, a club in Soho that was a meeting point for people from the literary and artistic cliques.</div>
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I have to say that these are my favourite ones. He sourced figures from observation and from all sorts of printed material like magazines, catalogues etc. </div>
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In <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/andrews-the-deer-park-t01897" target="_blank">The Deer Park</a> ( 214x244cm, title from Norman Mailer) Rimbaud features as the central figures. These works are about human relationships and interactions. Characters are observed from the outside, one can hear the buzz of the evening. Monroe, Bardot and Ian Fleming also appear.<br />
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Study of a Head With a Green Turban ( I saw this and other Andrews paintings at the beautiful show <a href="http://haunchofvenison.com/films/the_mystery_of_appearancehaunch_of_venison_london/" target="_blank">The Mystery of Appearance</a> at Haunch of Venison gallery, London, last year)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_s0lshkiNcdG3sOxWdN6vjjxMPkohvxxdSk7r_mMYjxJ9jUuyQnq1bTsRpRuTrK-VM-bJ7_tSbilQhkE77tnEnHbnZa-Ys3Hdid5UIVLsDY3jJtnvRu2_wBM8m1LJ4L2rKKfCMnscf3GF/s1600/nfk_ncm_nwhcm_1968_820_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_s0lshkiNcdG3sOxWdN6vjjxMPkohvxxdSk7r_mMYjxJ9jUuyQnq1bTsRpRuTrK-VM-bJ7_tSbilQhkE77tnEnHbnZa-Ys3Hdid5UIVLsDY3jJtnvRu2_wBM8m1LJ4L2rKKfCMnscf3GF/s640/nfk_ncm_nwhcm_1968_820_large.jpg" width="638" /></a></div>
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"The Lord Mayor's Reception in Norwich Castle Keep on the Eve of the Installation of the First Chancellor of the University of East Anglia" was a commission. The picture is painted on top of a collage of photos, there's clearly some social satire involved !<br />
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The seed for the following series of works is Good and Bad at Games ( now at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra) where the characters, among which Paula Rego, her parents, Victor Willing, Andrew's wife June, Craigie Aitchison, look like inflated or deflated balloons tethered over a silkscreened background. The painting is a commentary on the mutual influence of people in social interactions, the idea they have of themselves in relation to others.<br />
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LIGHTS:<br />
The new series, 1970/1975 has a balloon as main character. It represents the ego and reflects Andrews interest in Zen philosophy. The human figure is not painted but still present, as a silent observer of the haunting scenes and as the passenger of the balloon, floating over land and water.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg405B-TnsR8WIBEpEloQT0wuFh-0oZr5uIdWS04-c1rfky2i6RK5PV8qI0dOUH6ccIKsOPSR9lUTQqthckmKfPVq9zL_lr_98jBHwK8Tv_qLCVG8g9GjIWzIhsSwQscFM8WYfws9IMGCW_/s1600/Scan+1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg405B-TnsR8WIBEpEloQT0wuFh-0oZr5uIdWS04-c1rfky2i6RK5PV8qI0dOUH6ccIKsOPSR9lUTQqthckmKfPVq9zL_lr_98jBHwK8Tv_qLCVG8g9GjIWzIhsSwQscFM8WYfws9IMGCW_/s640/Scan+1.jpeg" width="523" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lights II: The Ship Engulfed 183x135</td></tr>
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A progressive liberation of the self is depicted, a journey of illumination where the artist will ultimately reveal things "as they are". <br />
The series comprises only seven works. Frank Auerbach said that although Andrews did not produce many works, "he only painted masterpieces".<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjatyUoE9Gn3T8_paEPeKw1M1_IDIcH5bk3HN7ff5OzShQQs-XqcVEvXWBbl8ZVDB9ytougpGxhQzzkTdR19f0ZBd1oAs5ZcbRfe0Wapy4KKkZer5US__0RT3vBE_dRMyUSRvKlSWMwei7J/s1600/Scan+2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjatyUoE9Gn3T8_paEPeKw1M1_IDIcH5bk3HN7ff5OzShQQs-XqcVEvXWBbl8ZVDB9ytougpGxhQzzkTdR19f0ZBd1oAs5ZcbRfe0Wapy4KKkZer5US__0RT3vBE_dRMyUSRvKlSWMwei7J/s400/Scan+2.jpeg" width="395" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lights VII: A Shadow, 182 x 182</td></tr>
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SCHOOL<br />
Identity and relationships among members of a community, are the themes of this series ( I think they should be called series rather than group as, like the ones from Lights, are numbered progressively).<br />
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Andrews continues to use a technique he had debuted in Lights, the spraying gun, perhaps another way of losing the "self" of the painter.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihvvWyx7DD5AN5KAIrjme9A2t4FXiKpHEwE28yEMFKisuXt03xQv_AMewDw2RmvLUdUlVsDlFB8ZwiCWq9MC75GAOHfT0Sgf8qKBDPbGyirRe5GLcE6zErXgz9Cl8BGZsa8CHu07qPEGnR/s1600/Scan+3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihvvWyx7DD5AN5KAIrjme9A2t4FXiKpHEwE28yEMFKisuXt03xQv_AMewDw2RmvLUdUlVsDlFB8ZwiCWq9MC75GAOHfT0Sgf8qKBDPbGyirRe5GLcE6zErXgz9Cl8BGZsa8CHu07qPEGnR/s320/Scan+3.jpeg" width="316" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">School IV: Barracuda Under Skipjack Tuna, 175x175</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguRqvMvr6ZPfJvqp2FVT-U-rPZ98cYJjJSBIhQlvWvfL4KCUA95XxpqbHjXXB7PLRmBbIdlI7yJWePG7UIZ3R3xTxvHpua1eaTcHupD39wprX3YHX_V6S9Bsrp1zCjXgxSGyjk7W2ZTwNS/s1600/Scan+4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguRqvMvr6ZPfJvqp2FVT-U-rPZ98cYJjJSBIhQlvWvfL4KCUA95XxpqbHjXXB7PLRmBbIdlI7yJWePG7UIZ3R3xTxvHpua1eaTcHupD39wprX3YHX_V6S9Bsrp1zCjXgxSGyjk7W2ZTwNS/s320/Scan+4.jpeg" width="316" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/andrews-melanie-and-me-swimming-t02334" target="_blank"><span class="title" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: TateNewRegular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Melanie and Me Swimming</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: TateNewRegular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span><span class="datetext" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: TateNewThin, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">1978-9</span></a></span></td></tr>
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HOLIDAY<br />
In the late Seventies Andrews started to spend his holidays in Scotland, where he painted the estate of his hosts and went stalking. He was intrigued by the ritual of this ancient activity and produced many works from photographic records.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1LXmmHrqsV_0a3epjwAt7868BbKkKze6usStH4Rt5riDPR7xVTSW80G25c3a3WK_8kHa96TW28PlA2kycKteHGFjhFpoRPHARhwnShEFi92-ema0xyJOOVpo254HRNVfRP0-_YmYt-3Sm/s1600/Scan+5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1LXmmHrqsV_0a3epjwAt7868BbKkKze6usStH4Rt5riDPR7xVTSW80G25c3a3WK_8kHa96TW28PlA2kycKteHGFjhFpoRPHARhwnShEFi92-ema0xyJOOVpo254HRNVfRP0-_YmYt-3Sm/s400/Scan+5.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Give Me The Rifle...!<br />
6.30 pm 17th October Glenartney<br />
30x40cm</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWQULL2K_IE3CMTE6zivyXIxLVb-82A29hj1CjlqVWTgbnckfq6th_WGD4O0cEwYsjXdfloNf1eUYALtUG1glXvosDpMiStmLZemAbNVt25G6eAessCXMIz6BQA69v9GA0AEVBOzXD0MUW/s1600/Scan+6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWQULL2K_IE3CMTE6zivyXIxLVb-82A29hj1CjlqVWTgbnckfq6th_WGD4O0cEwYsjXdfloNf1eUYALtUG1glXvosDpMiStmLZemAbNVt25G6eAessCXMIz6BQA69v9GA0AEVBOzXD0MUW/s400/Scan+6.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Forest Beat Through a Telescope 35x40</td></tr>
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ROCK OF AGES CLEFT FOR ME<br />
Another very famous series of large paintings stemming from a 1983 trip to Ayers Rock in Australia. Keep it big, keep it simple, be bold said a sign in Andrews studio. The paintings of this sacred place were executed upon his return in England. The title comes from the lyrics of a religious hymn that resonated with the particular interdependence between man and environment Andrews found there.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP-1wUvJzQMPJ81872IDZLu9lHV35wCVdoD8NdJrW9IEmYf9K8eFP8INDLzW1-pRkQs_xDLBcn9LHndX9j9wFNl8HfXT_NGBt4vR-uZ-x5Jr8mRWPAr7XvLDculwtsmQ8BS05s7iQNIllB/s1600/Scan+7.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="566" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP-1wUvJzQMPJ81872IDZLu9lHV35wCVdoD8NdJrW9IEmYf9K8eFP8INDLzW1-pRkQs_xDLBcn9LHndX9j9wFNl8HfXT_NGBt4vR-uZ-x5Jr8mRWPAr7XvLDculwtsmQ8BS05s7iQNIllB/s640/Scan+7.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Laughter Uluru( Ayers Rock)/The Cathedral, I 228x274</td></tr>
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LATE PAINTINGS<br />
Landscapes of the Thames, in which paint is manipulated in a way that is akin to the subject: diluted with turps is poured on the canvas on the floor and moved around.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIVwRcmX6jnTJ_XQjyX-osTq_HVRtm_YFbwJw5uR0IRS0Yro8LGgBa-RXo5tpUtuzBBfE1txrUxKxzRt6aHUK4G6y4ZGKg3GxusrOB9L3UV1kAAqGXkE01IjpG4cc2l9QbQpgFaEDNArxi/s1600/Scan+9.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIVwRcmX6jnTJ_XQjyX-osTq_HVRtm_YFbwJw5uR0IRS0Yro8LGgBa-RXo5tpUtuzBBfE1txrUxKxzRt6aHUK4G6y4ZGKg3GxusrOB9L3UV1kAAqGXkE01IjpG4cc2l9QbQpgFaEDNArxi/s640/Scan+9.jpeg" width="585" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Thames at Low Tide, 182x167</td></tr>
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Figures taken from Victorian photographs are added in the final work , The Thames Estuary.<br />
In this period Andrews painted a series of beautiful heads of friends and family.<br />
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Michael Andrews died of cancer on the 19th of July 1995, aged 66 years.<br />
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Further readings: some very interesting essays on the School of London and what ties them together is in the<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-School-London-Their-Friends/dp/0930606914/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1359099653&sr=8-6" target="_blank"> catalogue</a> of the collection amassed by Elaine and Melvin Merians, a couple of Americans who fell for these painters and owned pieces by all of them.<br />
The eminent architect Colin St. John Wilson was a friend and a collector of Andrews work ( his collection is on display at Pallant House, Chichester, UK). Andrews painted his portrait in 1993/95 and he wrote about sitting for Andrews, as well as for Coldstream, in the book <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Artist-Work-Working-Methods-Coldstream/dp/0853317593/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359100144&sr=1-3" target="_blank">The Artists at Work</a>.<br />
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<br />Ilariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06881396758041492772noreply@blogger.com6