Magazine Your Guide to the new Pallant House Gallery
www.pallant.org.uk Number 9 June 2006
ÂŁ1.50
Sound of Harris, 1972, Oil on canvas, 28 x 36 inches
Leslie Marr Into the 21st Century 21st September - 14th October 2006
129 Portland Road London W11 4LW Tel: 0207 229 1099 Email: art@piano-nobile.com www.piano-nobile.com Works may be viewed in Sussex on request
Fully illustrated 30 page catalogue with introduction by John Russell Taylor available from the gallery on request. Firmly established as one of Bomberg’s Borough Group, even in his mid-eighties Marr is ahead of the game, leading the way for painters half his age.
Gallery Pangolin Modern and Contemporary SCULPTURE and SCULPTORS' DRAWINGS
Spikydog Jon Buck
Gallery Pangolin · Chalford · Gloucestershire · GL6 8NT · UK T: 00 44 (0)1453 886527 · E: gallery@pangolin-editions.com · www.gallery-pangolin.com
Contents 8
Praise for Pallant
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Wonderful Fun! Stefan van Raay, Director, talks to Vanessa Branson, co-curator of The Wonderful Fund collection
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Contemporary Art … In context The Wonderful Fund exhibition in relation to the Gallery’s collections
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Day of the Dead The origins of Dia de los Muertos
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Dia de los Muertos Festival A profile of the upcoming Festival
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Fourteen Rooms of Collection Displays A room by room guide
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Why Wittenham? Alan Wood investigates Paul Nash’s fascination with the landmark
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New Acquisitions
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Climate Change and Art Galleries Ian Milford on how the Gallery has reduced its impact on the environment
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A Letter from Lady Nicholas Gordon Lennox – Chairman of the Friends
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The Launch Week in Photographs
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Christmas Cards
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Events Programme and Booking Form
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Opening the Doors! Marc Steene outlines the Learning Programme
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Workshops Programme and Booking Form
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Christmas Shopping at Pallant House Gallery Multiples and prints, books and catalogues
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Forthcoming Exhibitions
Cover Dr Lakra, San Juan Bautista Nino (St. John the Baptist as a Boy)(detail), 2003, Ink and paint on vintage magazine 5
Pallant House Gallery 9 North Pallant Chichester West Sussex PO19 1TJ
Opening Hours Tuesday-Saturday Thursday Sunday/Bank Holiday Mondays Closed Mondays
Telephone +44(0)1243 774557 Email info@pallant.org.uk
Special Closure for Royal Opening Thursday 21 September Gallery does not open until 2.30pm. Open until 8.00pm.
Issue 9 September 2006 Editor Andrew Churchill Designer David Wynn Gallery Editorial Frances Guy, Simon Martin, Marc Steene, Harriet Wailling Guest Editorial (with many thanks) Ian Milford Alan Wood Launch sponsors
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd Dia de los Muertos sponsors Corona Extra Beer British-Mexican Society Two anonymous donors Thank you
Christmas and New Year Openings Christmas Eve Christmas Day Boxing Day New Years Eve New Years Day
10am-5pm 10am-8pm 12.30pm-5pm
Closed Closed 12.30pm-5pm Closed Closed
Free Open Days 24 September 2006 7 January 2007 Admission Prices Adults Children (6-15) Family (2 Adults 4 Children) Students Unemployed Cheap Tuesdays Friends
£6.50 £2 £15 £3.50 Free Half price Free
The Art Fund The Art Fund Members During Temporary Exhibitions
Free £3.50
The Priory and Poling Charitable Trusts, The Monument Trust, The Garfield Weston Foundation and all other Trusts, Foundations and anonymous benefactors. 6
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Wonderful Fun! Stefan van Raay, Director, talks to Vanessa Branson, Co-Curator The Wonderful Fund: Art for the New Millennium 20002005, is a collection of British and international art. The collection was the brainchild of Vanessa Branson and Prue O’Day, two London-based curators, who had the idea of forming a syndicate to buy contemporary art as a means of marking the new Millennium. Under their direction the collection has become a snapshot of art practice in the last five years, embracing a wide variety of media and contemporary concerns - the personal and the political - with works that challenge but do not bludgeon the viewer with a tirade of shocking imagery. Stefan van Raay: First of all, how much pleasure do you get out of this? Vanessa Branson: Well, Prue O’Day and I had the idea back in 1999. Just think back to the mood of the moment, of the time. The UK in particular embraced the Millennium with an enormous amount of enthusiasm, that feeling of wanting to mark the moment visually. There was such a feeling of expectation, so positive until September 11 2001 brought it all to such a shuddering halt. Prue and I were convinced that any art that was produced or anything creative that happened during that period would resonate as something really extraordinary. So we leapt into this project with great enthusiasm, and it was a pleasure from the minute we thought about it up to this moment when we are about to see it hanging in Pallant House Gallery. SvR: But what did you get out of it personally? There was this mystical feeling about what this Fund was really about. VB: There was this presumption that we had a much greater fund than we actually had. I think we made a mistake to name it ‘The Wonderful Fund’ because it implied that the idea was to see how much money we could make. That premise is wrong. Phillip Allen International (Extended Version) 2003 Oil on board The Wonderful Fund
SvR: I never read it like that. I’ve always read it as wonderful like an experience, an emotional experience, never as a wonderful investment. VB: Maybe that was because you knew us. It’s not how someone coming to us new might have read it. Maybe we should have lopped the ‘d’ off the end! Anyway, it was quite a lot of work really, doing it properly, but that was easily compensated by the stimulation of doing a job well. We set ourselves a task and it was always going to be a five-year project and actually, when you’re in the middle of that five years, it is quite a long time and we weren’t paid for doing it. What kept us going was finishing the job we’d started and doing it well and all the fun and support we got from everybody we knew in the art world. SvR: You were free weren’t you, to do what you wanted? From what I understand it was a condition that one of you two would choose? VB: When we started off, the spirit behind the venture was that we wanted to introduce others who hadn’t already collected contemporary art to the pleasure of it. In fact we asked everybody we bumped into on 1 May 1999 ‘Are you wanting in?’ and everyone said ‘Yes’, and by the end of the day we had our sixteen members! There was a great deal of optimism around and people knew that Prue and I had a good track record for spotting emerging talent, and everybody felt comfortable that we would be the sole curators. SvR: Did you have to do a lot of convincing sometimes? VB: No, none at all because it was a fait accompli. We had two or three dinners a year with talks from artists and curators, when people would come and we would show them the new acquisitions. The first one we bought was a video piece by Kenny Macleod, which is 20 minutes of quite a complicated conceptual piece, and when it finished there was just complete silence. And yet they still had faith and stuck with it.
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Clockwise from left Jake and Dinos Chapman Tinkerbellend 2002 Mixed media The Wonderful Fund Dr Lakra San Juan Bautista Nino (St. John the Baptist as a Boy) 2003 Ink and paint on vintage magazine The Wonderful Fund Dirk Skreber Untitled 2002 Oil on canvas The Wonderful Fund
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SvR: It is a shamelessly subjective collection? VB: We never felt that we had to please anybody else at all, but we were rigorous in our selection process. SVR: How did you do that? VB: Prue and I met up on quite a regular basis and would just talk about exhibitions we had been to see, certain artists who we’d seen in previous years whose work had stuck with us and who we thought had lasting quality. So we drew up wish lists: considering our miniscule budget we were quite ambitious. A lot of personalities came into play, for example there were a lot of galleries whose programmes we respected, and we also wanted to support young and emerging artists who needed a little bit of a boost. I think our purchasing was extremely considered. We were ruthless in the way we worked at the international art fairs: we would race around, wearing our trainers! You have to bear in mind the period we were in: it was a very competitive time and the good pieces would go quickly. We would reserve at speed the pieces which we thought were really interesting and then we’d sit down over lunch, go through what budget we had remaining and choose the pieces that we really wanted from our reserve list. It was a very successful way of buying. SvR: I think there is a concern in this collection with the human being. Am I right? VB: Well, always at the back of our minds we had what the final collection would look like as a whole. We were juggling an awful lot of different things in our minds, and also being human ourselves there were certain things going on in the world that were really pressing at the time. And we are two women as well. SvR: As two women did you have a certain sensitivity? Is there a feminine sensitivity in the whole group of works? Or empathy?
you have chosen and there is a sense of compassion for human beings throughout the collection. Is that true? VB: I haven’t really thought about it, but I think you are right: there is a kind of gentleness. We went in 2000 to look at art in Paris and were repelled by everything we saw: aggressive sadomasochistic art. It seemed out of kilter with the optimism of the times so we shied away from that, but we were always very interested in the theme, which is very current, of identity. But I don’t think there is any overt violence or anger in the pieces we bought. We never consciously had a theme when we were buying, but if you were looking for a theme, identity would be it. SvR: There were moments in those five years of great optimism but also moments of great despair and disappointment. There was war, there was fun, the World Cup, the Twin Towers and, in the last year of your collection, the bombing in London. We went through a lot during the first five years of the Millennium, huge ups and huge downs, and you always said that somehow, maybe intuitively, there was a relationship between what was happening and what you bought. VB: Well, it’s actually really interesting. The first five years of the Millennium only takes us to the end of 2004, so historically we’ve missed out on the last year, and it’s not quite so obvious as the world hadn’t gone as batty as it is now at the time that we stopped buying. One of the last pieces we bought was the Dirk Skreber which is the car-crash piece and there was definitely the feeling in our minds that things were skidding out of control and the image of a car impaled on the central reservation is as frightening an image you can have of an accident happening. That is about the bleakest piece in the collection, that and the photograph by Paul Seawright who was an official Afghan war artist. On the other hand, the Viz Muniz is a reminder of the fun and excitement of World Cup fever.
VB: There is very little cynicism in the work and I don’t want to get into art-speak but I think all the works are very honest and command a genuine response when looking at them. There are not many that have a cruelty or cynicism about them. I’m not sure whether that’s feminine or not.
SvR: I remember there was a great hoo-ha when the exhibition was in Marrakech about the censor taking out three pictures, and at the time I thought it could have gone a lot further, taking into account feelings about representation of human beings. The Chapman brothers piece, the Grayson Perry piece, none of that was taken out. What was your feeling about that?
SvR: Yes, it’s exactly as you say: there is no cynicism. Whatever the subject there is a kind of dignity in what
VB: The extraordinary history to that whole exhibition is that when the anti-Muslim feeling started brewing, the 13
Jonathan Horowitz The Official Portrait of George W. Bush Available Free From the White House Hung Upside Down 2001 Colour print The Wonderful Fund
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only thing that we could do to make a difference was to be proactive and use the arts to create a dialogue to help stop all the misunderstanding. So we thought about having the Arts in Marrakech Festival and to use the arts to exchange ideas and realise that we are all human, so we took over The Wonderful Fund collection to show in the Museum of Marrakech. The hoo-ha you mentioned involved a journalist from London who came over to cover the Festival and just wanted to create mischief. It just wasn’t true and we didn’t have any censorship there. I can’t emphasize enough how understanding and open everyone in Marrakech had been. SvR: That’s good to know because a lot of people might have had the wrong impression because of that story. Now, why did you stop in 2005? VB: Well, it was always going to be a five-year project. I think if you contain something and it doesn’t just slowly run out of steam, it keeps a quality and energy to it. I feel about this collection that it’s like a little closed box and inside it we have a fantastically energetic animal, and each piece sings and is making a great noise. If we’d just carried on and done other jobs and started up other things, it really would have petered out. I hope you agree, but each work of art in this collection was so precious and so carefully considered as a choice, that to contain it within a period has given it an energy it wouldn’t otherwise have had. SvR: How does it work? Does the collection circulate among the members? VB: At the end of each year members drew up lists of which works they would like to take home. Obviously some were duplicated but Prue and I managed to share things out and everyone seemed pleased with what they got that year. Over time they became very attached to some pieces. Originally we thought pieces would come back into the pool but this rarely happened. After all, some of the members didn’t want different pieces up on their walls every year. And interestingly enough, for some it’s not about possession, it’s about the fun of having been part of it. SvR: How would you advise people? What are the criteria for a group of people to work together successfully in this way? VB: It depends what the ultimate objective is. We all jumped into creating this collection and I think it was
very much a Millennium thing; there wasn’t a financial motive behind it. We had just over £50,000 a year for five years to spend, so we had a budget of £250,000 which is a miniscule budget when you think how much contemporary art costs. So we had to be very, very careful with each purchase. SvR: Actually that is quite interesting to know as it also shows how restricted you were. So with £250,000 you collected one hundred works, an average of £2,500 each which is not really very much. VB: Yes, not much money and we only bought one multiple which was the Jake and Dinos Chapman piece, and with the exception of the photographs and videos, the rest are all one-offs. Maybe we managed to put together a great collection because it wasn’t financially motivated. I think a lot of other groups getting together might have a financial motive, unless they are collecting to give to a museum, which I think could be enormously rewarding. But I would say there are no clear ideas other than you need to have people with a good eye and a good track record who’ll do your collecting for you. Being with a group of like-minded people is important because it could get really awful if someone wants to make a fortune and another person wants to donate to a museum or something. Bear in mind that whoever is running it needs a lot of love and attention, and probably some financial remuneration as well. It seems to me that a lot of people can only judge a collection’s success by how much money it has made, which is a shame. SvR: I know of people who have asked you ‘Please can you do this for us?’ As a concept, do you think it works? VB: The buying is the really good fun bit! It’s a wonderful thing to be able to buy a piece of art. Us Brits aren’t very good at understanding that by buying a piece of art, even a modest piece, just by injecting some money and endorsing what an artist is doing, you are playing quite an important part in the creative process: being a patron. It is very stimulating for an artist to have a patron behind them and so to get into a good collection. It really makes them walk to work the next day with a lightness of step and it really greases the wheels of the creative process, and it has been enormous fun for Prue and I to be part of that. The Wonderful Fund: Art for the New Millennium 2000-2005 is at Pallant House Gallery from 7 October 2006 - 7 January 2007. 15
Contemporary art does not exist in a vacuum but can be understood in the context of what has come before Frances Guy, Curator, discusses The Wonderful Fund
It is entirely intentional that the new Pallant House Gallery’s first temporary exhibition is a collection of contemporary British and international art. The Gallery’s artistic programme is designed to show the collection of Modern British art in the context of both historic and contemporary work and to illustrate how art practice in this country continues to develop in a symbiotic relationship with that of Europe and further afield. The Wonderful Fund presents the opportunity to draw out links between historic and 20th century art and the art of today: to show the continuity of subjects, themes and techniques that illustrate that contemporary art does not exist in a vacuum but can be understood in the context of what has come before. Richard Hamilton Swingeing London ‘67 1967-68 Relief silkscreen and oil on photo on board Wilson Gift through The Art Fund Opposite Page Wolfgang Tillmans Jarvis C-print 1998 The Wonderful Fund Collection © The Artist, courtesy of Maureen Paley, London
Much of the collection focuses on issues of identity as can be seen in the number of portraits. Wolfgang Tillmans’ photographic portrait of Jarvis Cocker, the lead singer of the pop group Pulp, can be compared to Peter Blake’s ‘The Beatles 1962’ and Richard Hamilton’s ‘Swingeing London ‘67’ (depicting Mick Jagger and art dealer, Robert Fraser). The cult of celebrity was born in the 1960s and has developed into the national obsession it has become today. Tillmans’ portrait is informal and relaxed, deliberately avoiding any reference to Cocker’s role as one of the leading pop stars in the late 1990s yet elevating his cult status in this depiction of insouciance, a contrast to Blake’s stylised icons and Hamilton’s reworking of an early example of a paparazzi photograph. 17
Above Victor Willing Self-Portrait at 70 1987 Oil on canvas Wilson Loan (2004) © Estate of the Artist Right Richard Billingham Untitled Fuji longlife colour print on aluminium 1992 The Wonderful Fund Collection
Richard Billingham is known for his photographic portraits of his parents, taken without artifice and exposing the dysfunctional nature of a family dominated by alcohol and poverty. The gritty realism of his portraits of Ray and Liz recall something of the cramped, dingy interiors of Walter Sickert’s Camden town paintings but also, in their poignancy, the self-portrait by Victor Willing made a year before his death in which he captures the frailty of the human body and spirit. Aside from portraits the theme of identity, particularly in relation to gender and sexuality, can be traced throughout the exhibition. The Chapman brothers’ doll ‘Tinkerbellend’ is a disturbing hybrid of a Barbie doll and a sex toy, presented like a medical specimen in a bell jar. Sarah Lucas’ self-portrait features a photograph of her boyfriend, held provocatively in front of her as a statement in defiance of accepted conventions of feminine creativity. The decorative content of the pot by Grayson Perry explores the tensions between his own childhood and that of his daughter. Kenny Macleod’s video works play with the notion of personality: in one, the viewer is presented with conflicting and confusing versions of ‘Robbie Fraser’, related by the character himself; and in ‘Twin Sisters’, 18
Macleod explores sameness in a toe-tapping celebration of self. Much of this work has its roots in Surrealism or feminist art of the 1970s, when issues around gender and sexuality were aired for the first time in ways that confronted and challenged the audience to think beyond stereotypes. The traditional subject of still-life has a place in The Wonderful Fund collection in the form of Andreas Rüthi’s knowing compositions, each juxtaposing nick-nacks with postcards representing figures from the canon of 20th century art: Mondrian, Giacometti and Morandi. In his unlikely partnering of object with artist, Rüthi has staged these still-life paintings in a similar way to those of Patrick Caulfield where each carefully chosen item has a meaning and contributes to the overall resonance of the work. Both artists acknowledge the past-masters of still-life painting: Chardin, Cézanne and Morandi. The spirit of Caulfield’s work can also be detected in the work of Emi Avora, another artist represented in the exhibition. Avora’s small scale and atmospheric interiors feature hotels, seemingly abandoned by holiday-makers and drained of the colour and vibrancy associated with them. Their stillness reflects the dead spaces
Above Patrick Caulfield Reserved Table 2000 Acrylic on board Wilson Gift through The Art Fund © Estate of the Artist Right Andreas Rüthi Morandi, Mickey Mouse, Glitter Ball 1999 Oil on board The Wonderful Fund Collection
of Caulfield’s restaurants, cafés and bars, acting as theatrical backdrops to the mundanity of everyday life. Narrative painting features in The Wonderful Fund collection, illustrated by a work by Marcel Dzama that shows a scene of execution recalling Goya’s ‘The Shootings of May 3rd’ and Edouard Manet’s ‘Execution of the Emperor Maximilian’. Here, rather than portraying a moment of historical significance, the subject appears to be a playground argument that has got out of hand with schoolgirls turning the guns on one of their own. Although these comparisons are not based in art historical fact, drawing precedents and parallels of this kind can be useful in helping to understand and appreciate ‘difficult’ works of art that are deliberately challenging and confrontational, remembering that much of what we take as acceptable now was considered controversial at its inception. The Wonderful Fund: Art for the New Millennium 2000-2005 is at Pallant House Gallery from 7 October 2006 - 7 January 2007.
A fully illustrated catalogue of The Wonderful Fund is available from the bookshop priced £12.95. Bookshop 01243 770813
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Day of the Dead Harriet Wailling explores the origins of Dia de los Muertos The notorious and widely celebrated Halloween is a popular event in the yearly calendar and rouses, without fail, excited parties of costumed children to go knocking at doors for ‘trick or treats’. But the fêted evening, and the days it signals ahead, have a history reaching back over 2000 years which weaves Celtic, Catholic and Anglican faiths into one celebration for the souls of the dead. Two thousand years ago, the Celtic festival of Samhain on November 1st celebrated the end of harvest and the imminent new year, and was preceded by an evening where the boundaries between this world and the next disappeared, allowing the souls of the dead to walk the earth. The pagan festivities evolved under the Romans and later through Christianity, when in the eighth century Pope Boniface IV elected November 1st ‘All Saints Day’. The Mass held on the day itself was known as ‘Allhallowmass’, blessing all the Saints without a dedicated day of their own. The evening before was known as ‘All Hallow’s Eve’, which eventually became ‘Halloween’. Early Christian tradition held that on All Hallow’s Eve, all the souls held in purgatory were released for two days to walk the Earth. The two-day tradition remained for the next three hundred years until the Church nominated 2nd November as All Souls Day: an official holiday in the Catholic calendar which became widely known as ‘The Day of the Dead’.
In Mexico, the rite of celebrating the dead stems back to Aztec and Meso-American civilisations, but was again combined with Christian theology after the invasion of Spanish conquistadores over 500 years ago. The native, month-long festivities honoured the dead and celebrated their return to the world with rituals involving human skulls as symbols of death and rebirth. But after the conquest, the duration of the celebrations was reduced to correspond with the Christian All Souls Day, and the hybridization of the two disparate cultures, Christian and Aztec, created the celebration which became known as the ‘Dia de los Muertos’. Dia de los Muertos remains an important and powerful mixture of rituals, beliefs and celebrations which circle around the all pervading subject of death. The festivities commemorate and respect death: wooden skull-like masks called calacas are worn in honour of deceased relatives; edible sugar skulls are bought and then eaten to ward off death; families congregate at graveyards with flowers, song and food to celebrate the lives of those past; and special altars are adorned with gifts for the dead to receive on their return. As a Cathedral city, where for nine centuries the Christian calendar has been observed, Chichester provides an apposite backdrop to the Dia de los Muertos celebrations held at Pallant House Gallery in association with New Park Cinema. Taking the Dia de los Muertos festival as the catalyst, the events around Chichester will celebrate Mexican culture through some of the country’s finest artists and film-makers. Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is being celebrated at Pallant House Gallery and Chichester Cinema New Park from 1−12 November. Harriet Wailling is the new Marketing Assistant at the Gallery.
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Dia de los Muertos Festival Focus on Mexico 1-12 November
Felix de Rooy Cry Surinam 1992 Mixed media Courtesy the artist
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For two weeks in early November, Pallant House Gallery will become the site for two Dia de los Muertos altars: one traditional, and the second contemporary. The traditional altar, created by Mexican craftsmen from San Andrès Mixquic, will be exhibited in the Garden Gallery at Pallant House Gallery and display those customary artefacts found on home altars created across Mexico for the dead to receive on the Dia de los Muertos. The contemporary altar will be produced for the Gallery by the artist Felix De Rooy who spent his adolescence growing up in Mexico, returning again many years later to bury his father in Guadalajara. His own experiences as a cancer survivor situate the element of death deep within his work, exploring the fragility of life, its proximity to death, and the inevitable ending death signals to us from the moment we are born. As part of the Dia de los Muertos season, we are also delighted to have a selection of paintings by Mexican resident James Kirkman on display in the on-site restaurant, The Pallant, for sale in aid of the Pallant House Gallery Appeal and the British Mexican Society’s charitable projects for children in Mexico. As the two altars and the display of the paintings are located on the ground floor level of the Gallery, these exhibits will be available free of charge to everyone wishing to view them. As one of the best art film houses in the UK, New Park Cinema in Chichester will be collaborating with Pallant House Gallery to explore Mexican cinema, showing the work of some of the most important film directors in Mexico. The excellent film programme will include Serguei M. Eisenstein’s ‘Thunder over Mexico’ (19301932), Luis Buñuel’s ‘Los Olvidados’ (1950) and Roberto Gavaldón’s ‘Macario’ (1959), one of the most celebrated Mexican films of its time. Pallant House Gallery will also show Felipe Cazals’ compelling documentary ‘Leonora Carrington O El Sortilegio Ironico’ and Oliver Debroise’s part documentary, part critical analysis, ‘Un Banquete En Tetlapayac’, with an introductory talk by the Director. A series of talks and lectures will extend the Dia de los Muertos season, focusing on the Mexican relationship with the idea of death and its celebratory tradition. At Pallant House Gallery, Elizabeth Baquedano will speak on the concepts of death and the afterlife in central Mexico and Teresa Margolles, an internationally acclaimed artist, will discuss her personal relationship with the tradition of death in her work. Speaking at
Painting by James Kirkman
with the tradition of death in her work. Speaking at New Park Cinema will be Jason Wood, film programmer, documentary filmmaker and author on Mexican cinema, and Alfonso Morales, a scholar, curator and writer on Mexican culture, art and film. Chichester Cathedral will hold a Sung Eucharist for the All Saints Day service at 6pm on November 1st and the All Souls Day service on November 2nd, also at 6pm. For more information visit their website at www.chichestercathedral.org.uk or call 01243 782595. The season will also include an opportunity for children between the ages of 9 and 16 to become involved, with the special ‘Make your own Day of the Dead Doll’ workshop in the Education Room at Pallant House Gallery. Tickets can be purchased in advance for this event and places are limited so book early! Young Friends of the Gallery are also invited to the incredibly popular Halloween Party on 31 October in the old House for fun and games, and plenty of trick or treating! The events for the Dia de los Muertos are supported by the British-Mexican Society and sponsored by two private donors and Corona Extra Beer. A programme of events can be found on page 39 23
Room by Room Guide Fourteen Rooms of Collection Displays Rooms 1 and 2 An Introduction to Pallant House Gallery The 16th century Heroines of Antiquity look down on you as you enter the first room in the Gallery, leading to the Entrance Hall of Pallant House with its carved oak staircase. Susie Mac Murray’s installation ‘Shell’, composed of 20,000 mussel shells stuffed with velvet, lines the walls of the stairwell.
Room 5 Landscape and Still Life Painting Between the Wars Much of British art in the inter-war period is characterised by a return to traditional subjects and a mood of nostalgia, illustrated here by Paul Nash, Christopher Wood, Henry Lamb and Matthew Smith. The House landing features a group of portraits by Glyn Philpot.
Susie MacMurray, Shell, 2006 Photograph by Susie MacMurray © Susie MacMurray
Henry Lamb, Plums on a Dish, 1939, oil on canvas Lucas Bequest (1995) © Estate of Henry Lamb
Room 3 The Historic Collections This room highlights work from the Gallery’s Historic Collections: landscapes and still-life paintings by the Smith brothers of Chichester; The Rawson Conversation Piece by Gawen Hamilton; portraits by George Romney; and William Hogarth’s The Beggar’s Opera.
Room 6 Surrealism in Britain This room, with its imposing four-poster bed, explores Surrealist dream-worlds and fantastical visual imagery from the unconscious mind, featuring the work of British Surrealists such as Eileen Agar, John Armstrong, Edward Burra, Henry Moore, Paul Nash, John Tunnard and Scottie Wilson.
Room 4 Britain and Post-Impressionism 1860- 1925 The story of Modern British art begins with Walter Sickert, with his paintings and etchings of cockney music halls and urban landscapes. The room explores the cross-channel influence of the European PostImpressionist artists on the British avant-garde, and includes Paul Cézanne, Aristide Maillol and Gino Severini alongside Roger Fry, Duncan Grant, Mark Gertler and Matthew Smith.
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Room 7 Church Patronage in Post-War Britain This room tells the story of Bishop Bell and Dean Hussey, patrons of contemporary church art. Bell supported Jewish émigré Hans Feibusch from whom he commissioned the Baptism of Christ for Chichester Cathedral. Works commissioned by Hussey include the Madonna and Child by Moore for Northampton, Sutherland’s Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalen, and Piper’s tapestry for Chichester.
Room 8 The Impact of World War II Artists commissioned as part of the war-artists scheme of World War II are represented here including John Piper and Graham Sutherland, and Henry Moore’s drawings of Londoners made in the Underground shelters. Room 9 Britain and International Modernism This room explores the connections between British artists and the work of European modernists including Fernand Léger, Georg Muche and Pablo Picasso. The display features Ben Nicholson’s 1946 (still life – cerulean) and Barbara Hepworth’s Single Form (Nocturne).
Rooms 12-14 The Wonderful Fund: Art for a New Millenium 2000-2005 Temporary exhibition – see article for more information. Rooms 15 and 16 Post-war Figurative Art There has been a strong figurative tradition based on perception in British post-war art, represented here by William Coldstream’s portraits and nudes, David Bomberg’s expressionist Last Self-Portrait, and the textural work of Frank Auerbach. Also featured are Michael Andrews’ iconic Colony Room, showing a crosssection of these artists in the infamous Soho drinking haunt; the politically engaged art of Peter de Francia; and the visionary paintings of Victor Willing.
Rooms 10 and 17 British Pop Art The Wilson Gift features iconic works by the new generation of artists that emerged fresh from art school in the late 1950s and early 1960s to make a lasting impact on the British art scene. The display includes work by artists such as Peter Blake, Patrick Caulfield, R.B. Kitaj, Eduardo Paolozzi, Colin Self and Joe Tilson. Room 11 The Reserve Collection The displays in the Lecture Room are of artworks in the Gallery’s collection that are not part of the themed displays in the other galleries. This room is densely hung with paintings by some of Britain’s best known artists, including Auerbach, Davie, Hitchens and Sutherland, and houses the two sets of model modern art galleries, which feature original miniature artworks by a range of celebrated artists.
Frank Auerbach, Reclining Head of Gerda Boehm, 1982, oil on canvas Hussey Bequest, Chichester District Council (1985) © The Artist, Courtesy Marlborough Fine Art
Contemporary Art in the Gallery Contemporary artworks are displayed in other public spaces, such as Langlands & Bell’s The Ministry (Health and Education) on the main staircase of the new wing. Other works respond to the architecture and collections, such as Andy Goldsworthy’s Hearth Stone, a light-box by Jo Ganter and Joy Gregory’s photographic series Heroines of Antiquity, commissioned in response to the 16th century Amberley Panels.
Victor Willing, Night, 1978, oil on canvas Wilson Gift through The Art Fund © Estate of the Artist
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smartgallery
A new gallery showing contemporary paintings, ceramics and sculpture 26th Sept to 4th Nov 2.00-6.00pm Tuesday-Sunday or by appointment
Paintings by Holly Frean Ceramics by Carolyn Genders Paul Jackson Christy Keeney Chris Lewis Annabel Munn smartgallery, Dumpford Farmhouse, Trotton, Petersfield, Hants GU31 5JN Tel 07767 268895 info@smartgallery.org.uk www.smartgallery.org.uk
Why Wittenham? Alan Wood
Paul Nash Wittenham 1935 Watercolour on paper Hussey Bequest, Chichester District Council (1985)
The watercolour, Wittenham, in Pallant House Gallery is one of around eighteen studies and paintings that Paul Nash made of this Oxfordshire, formerly Berkshire, landmark. He completed a first series between 1912 and 1914 and another group belong to 1935. In his final years, he returned to the subject again and at the time of his death, was engaged on another major work. The Clumps represented for Nash a lifelong and abiding passion. He was born in 1889, and to continue a family tradition, seemed destined for a career in the Navy. The coaching necessary for entry to Naval College was an unhappy experience and he failed the examination. On leaving school, he resisted his father’s suggestion that he work in a bank and instead enrolled for an art course at Chelsea Polytechnic. In 1910 he entered the Slade School of Fine Art but left after a year, disappointed with lack of progress. His early work shows the influence of Rossetti and includes visionary figure compositions, but on discovering the countryside around Wallingford and Dorchester-on-Thames, south-east of Oxford, he turned to landscape as a source of inspiration. 27
His first essays in landscape composition were drawings made of Wittenham Clumps in 1912. He knew the area well by this time from explorations made during family holidays spent at Sinodun House, the home of a great uncle. The house lies at the start of the Sinodun Hills, a ridge of chalk that extends westwards for about two miles. The Clumps, two tree-capped hills at the western end, overlook the village of Long Wittenham and the Thames. They are distinctive and visible for several miles in a predominantly flat landscape. For Nash they were full of associations and mystery. Writing to a friend in September 1911 he described them as ‘…grey hallowed hills crowned with old trees, Pan-ish places down by the river wonderful to think on full of strange enchantment---a beautiful legendary country haunted by Old Gods long forgotten’. He resolved to draw the Clumps for the first time, during the visit to Sinodun House in the autumn of 1912. Reflecting on this period in his autobiography, Outline (commenced in 1936), he described how he left his father, brother and sister and had set out not only to draw the Clumps but to capture their unique qualities. ‘There was one aspect which had I the wit to perceive it, would convey the strange character of the place, one image, which in its form would contain the individual spirit.’ The outcome of this expedition was a series of about twenty drawings that he hoped to exhibit. Nash had been fortunate to have been introduced to Sir William Blake Richmond whose father, George Richmond, had been a friend of William Blake. Sir William had taken Nash ‘under his wing’ and had become his mentor. He also provided an introduction to the most prestigious gallery in London at that time, the Carfax in St James’s. This was usually booked up for years ahead but Nash persuaded the manager to let him use a wall near the entrance as hanging space. This small exhibition, his first, achieved a modest success in terms of sales. It also brought him to the attention of the art establishment, especially Sir William Rothenstein, the painter, writer, and later, Principal of the Royal College of Art. Nash wrote that he had bounced in to the gallery, ‘earnestly scanned the drawings and then with beaming eyes proceeded to cover me with compliments and confusion’. He also bought a drawing. Henceforth Nash would ‘go in for nature’ as Richmond had recommended. ‘Wood on the Hill’, a quiet pastoral scene, was one of the drawings exhibited in the Carfax Gallery. This is Round 28
Hill, the higher of the two. Birds flock overhead and the harvest is waiting to be gathered in. The subject of the watercolour in the gallery, completed in 1935, is the Iron Age fort on nearby Castle Hill. This is altogether more complex. During the 1930s, Nash had become absorbed by the impact of civilisations on landscape. He had discovered the stone circle at Avebury in 1933, then in its un-restored state, and saw the stones as the ‘hallowed remnants of an almost unknown civilisation’. Many generations later, Iron Age warriors made their impact on the chalk hills of Sinodun with immense earthworks. The dark, cave-like entrance to the wood adds mystery to the scene. The final series (of seven oils) was painted between 1942 and 1944. From November 1942 he began to visit ‘Sandlands’, the home of his friend Hilda Harrisson, at Boars Hill, south-west of Oxford. From the garden he found he could see the Wittenham Clumps, although some eight miles away, with the aid of ‘field glasses’. In each of the paintings, which are descriptive of the perpetual cycles of nature, the Clumps are seen in the background. But the compositions are imaginative, with distance foreshortened drastically. The Clumps provide the visual focus but they are also a link to the artist’s past when they were important in launching his career as a painter of landscapes. He also painted them in the knowledge that, in all probability, his days on earth were numbered. His health deteriorated rapidly in 1942 from the bronchial asthma that had become chronic from 1935. The subjects, concerned as they are with the passage of time, are symbolic of an anticipated death. Nash left this description of ‘Landscape of the Vernal Equinox,’ this version, one of three, painted for his wife, Margaret. ‘It is early spring. The woods are diffused with the glow of buds about to break. There is a beech hedge still in its winter leaf … In the painter’s mind this place has compelling magic which makes it a sympathetic setting for the occasion of the Equinox’. Paul Nash died in July 1946. In that year he completed a further drawing and a major work on Wittenham Clumps, in oil and watercolour, was left unfinished. He died still haunted, as he had been in those happy but threatened years before the First World War, by ‘…those wonderful Downs and wild woods down by the river’. Wittenham by Paul Nash is currently on display at Pallant House Gallery. Alan Wood is a volunteer Guide and Friend of Pallant House Gallery.
New Acquisitions Frances Guy, Curator
Denis Bowen Colonel Glenn 1962 Oil on canvas Miss Betty Strutt Bequest, through The Art Fund (2004)
The reopening of the Gallery not only gave those familiar with the collections the long-anticipated pleasure of reacquainting themselves with some old friends but, aside even from the Wilson Collection, the opportunity to see new works on display for the first time. Since the closure in August 2003, new acquisitions and loans to the collections have been documented in the Magazine and many of these are now on show in the Gallery’s collections displays. These include the important group of works on loan from a private collection amongst which Edward Wadsworth’s woodcut ‘Riponelli: A Village in Lemnos’ in Room 4 - Britain and Post-Impressionism; wood engravings by Paul Nash in Room 5 - Landscape and Still-Life Painting between the Wars; Edward Burra’s ‘The Duenna’ and John Armstrong’s ‘The Open Door’ in Room 6 - Surrealism in Britain; and Burra’s ‘Havana’ in Room 9 - Britain and International Modernism. Further works by Cecil Collins, Merlyn Evans and Francis West from the same collection are on display in Room 11 - The Reserve Collection. Made through The Art Fund, the Katherine Duff-West Bequest presented the Gallery with an early work by John Piper dating from the time of the artist’s association with the Seven and Five Society, ‘Three Bathers beside the Sea’ on show in Room 9. Displayed on the landing in the House are two works by Glyn Philpot on loan from the artist’s family: ‘Portrait of Mrs. Clement Cross’ and a sculpture, ‘Negro Walking’. The Dr. John Birch Collection arrived early on loan to the Gallery, including an Edward le Bas still-life painting in Room 5 and works by Ceri Richards, Duncan Grant and Ivon Hitchens amongst others on display in Room 11. Alan Davie’s ‘Setting for the Cosmic Dance’, a gift from the artist, is also on show in Room 11. In addition, the displays feature works so new to the collections that we have been unable to publicise them earlier, including R. B. Kitaj’s ‘Girl Braiding her Hair’, a gift made by the artist through Professor Wilson on show in Room 16 - Post-War Figurative Art. A selection of prints by Doris Seidler, a pupil of Stanley William Hayter at the Atelier 17 in Paris and part of the Patricia Falkener Gift, are in storage in the Prints Room but can be viewed by appointment. Jack Smith’s ‘Inner. Outer’, a gift from a private collection, is now on show in Room 11 as is ‘Stormy Coast’ by Albert Houthuesen, a gift from Mr. Lewis Croome.
The eagle-eyed amongst you may have spotted a new work in the Pallant House Gallery Model 2000, the miniature gallery to be displayed in Room 11. Richard Hamilton made ‘Mini Orange Order’ as his contribution to ‘Sandy’s Surprise’, presented to Professor Wilson on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Visitors to ‘Magic Realities: The Artistic Marriage of Mary Fedden and Julian Trevelyan’ at Petworth House in the summer will have seen two works given recently to the Gallery: Fedden’s ‘Picnic’ presented by the artist, and Trevelyan’s ‘Dream Landscape’, the gift of Silvie Turner. ‘Colonel Glenn’, a work by Denis Bowen who died earlier this year and a gift through The Art Fund from the Miss Betty Strutt Bequest, was briefly on show in Room 13 – Post War Abstraction, during the first exhibition, ‘Modern British Art: The First 100 Years’. Other works have been presented to the Gallery but have not yet been put on display including ‘Trafalgar Square’, a print by Ceri Richards from James Farmer; a portrait of Dylan Thomas by Michael Ayrton, presented in memory of Gerald Montague Burdon; a group of early twentieth century designer bowls and drinking glasses from the Leerdam Factory in The Netherlands from Professor and Mrs. Polak; and an important early pot by David Leach, the eldest son of Bernard, from Daphne Swann. Most recently a gift has been made by Mr and Mrs Lumley of stamps designed by Ralph Steadman, Christopher Logue, Derek Boshier, Eduardo Paolozzi, Allen Jones and David Hockney, part of the ‘Culture Carrier’ campaign in support of the Postal Workers Union during the 1971 Postal Strike. The Golder-Thompson Gift has also benefited from two recent additions by Scottish artists: a pair of prints by Anya Gallaccio, ‘White Ice’ and ‘Black Ice’; and a paper-piece by Jo Ganter, part of a series of works installed in light boxes. Pallant House Gallery’s collection continues to grow and evolve through these generous gifts and loans. Those of you who saw ‘Modern British Art: The First 100 Years’ will have appreciated how these artworks complement the existing collections and help us towards our goal of presenting a cohesive story of twentieth century British art.
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Climate Change and Art Galleries Ian Milford The preservation of most works of art requires special environmental conditions. Whilst we humans can tolerate a range of temperatures, variations in humidity, poor air quality and bright lighting; paintings, drawings and many sculptures can deteriorate rapidly and irreversibly under such variable conditions. Who knows how many great works have been damaged or lost over the years because they have been subject to inconsistent environments? To make matters worse, classical works are relatively robust compared to ‘modern art’ which uses a whole range of media and materials; the long term preservation of the piece hardly being uppermost in the artist’s thoughts.
Technically, we just about have the problem of preservation under control by using air conditioning systems in galleries and stores. These systems can avoid short-term problems like mould growth and embrittlement and can slow down decay to give works the longest possible life. But why are we preserving the art in the first place? I hope it is for the enjoyment of our own and future generations. However, it cannot have escaped many peoples attention that there exists an important threat to all of our futures, and that threat is climate change.
The vast majority of scientists now agree that our climate is changing and that this change is caused by the ‘greenhouse effect’. In the same way that the glass in a greenhouse traps heat to keep the plants warm, so certain gases in the Earth’s atmosphere are also trapped. This is a normal process and it is why life on Earth is possible (unlike on Venus or Mars). But since the beginning of the industrial revolution we have been burning increasing amounts of fossil fuels, a process which releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and upsets the balance. Many believe that we are now starting to see the effects of this in the increasingly unpredictable weather, rising sea levels and, locally, in the run of hot dry summers in the south of England.
The system works by taking excess heat from the galleries in the summer and transferring it under the building. In the winter the system works in reverse, taking the heat from underground to heat the building. At the heart of the system is some refrigeration equipment, which is a larger version of the ‘fridge that we all have at home. In the summer, the inside of the building is like the inside of our ‘fridge, and the ground is like the back (the bit that gets hot). In the winter, the system is reversed with heat being taken from the ground and put back into the building. Not surprisingly, the equipment is called a ‘reversible heat pump’. However, what is so special about the Gallery’ system, is the connection between the heat pump and the ground.
A relatively small lobby of people, including scientists, engineers and pressure groups, have been trying to raise awareness of the problem for years, but to the general public it seems to be just another issue on the news. The government says a lot about its commitment to combating climate change but invariably places economic issues higher up its agenda.
The ground conditions in this part of Chichester are not good for building and necessitated the use of piled foundations 35meters deep. The clever bit was to add water pipes to the piles as a way of making contact with a larger area of ground under the building. This system is not unique but has only been used in a few buildings in the UK and much credit must go to the Engineers, Arup, their specialist consultants Naegelebau, and to the foundation contractors Skanska.
In western countries, over 50% of carbon dioxide emissions are the result of the construction and operation of buildings, and yet there is a vast amount that can be done to reduce this statistic both in new and existing building stock. The best solution is to have buildings that don’t need to use energy at all or, if the use of energy is unavoidable, to get it from renewable sources like wind, solar and wave power. And these solutions can be made to work for residential and office buildings, but then what about bespoke situations like an art gallery? One approach is to say that the gallery is an exception, and to let everyone else cut down their carbon emissions instead. This is not the approach however, at the new Pallant House Gallery, which is doing its bit for the environment. The need to control the lighting in a gallery is a good start. Avoiding windows and providing controlled roof lighting reduces the heat gained from the sun and cuts down winter heating needs. Wherever possible, including on the ground floor and in the original house, air-conditioning has been avoided. The new galleries are air-conditioned but they also have an innovative system that results in greatly reduced carbon dioxide emissions.
Of course, the heat pump does need electricity to operate, but the point is that it uses a great deal less electricity, and consequently is responsible for a lot less carbon dioxide emissions, than would be the case with a conventional refrigeration system and boiler. It was very disappointing that no financial assistance was available from the Government to fund the system, meaning that £80,000 was added to the cost of the project. The good news however, is that as well as reducing the Gallery’s impact on the environment, the system will be cheaper to run (in electricity costs), and will pay for itself in the long run. Thus the gallery is setting a good example in preserving not only our artistic heritage but also our environment, and it is setting a good example to others in considering the ‘whole life cost’ of its building. Ian Milford CEng MCIBSE FIHEEM Environmental Engineer and Specialist in Artefact Conservation. Chairman of British Standard Committee responsible for BS5454 Recommendations for the storage and exhibition of archival documents.
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Letter from Lady Nicholas Gordon Lennox
First of all, I want to congratulate everybody for the part they played in the highly successful opening of the Gallery. As Friends you have played a vital role in assuring that our plans came to fruition – without your valuable support we would not have had the stunning success that we did. In that context I feel sure you have all been delighted to see how splendidly the Gallery has been received by the press. Since the day we opened we have enrolled 500 new Friends. May I welcome you all, and say that I hope you will enjoy everything that Pallant House Gallery has to offer. Please spread the word and encourage your friends and their children to join as well. Young Friends are vital to us, for they will be the lifeblood of the Gallery in the future. We owe it to all our supporters past and present, to make sure the Gallery establishes even more firmly its position as the most important centre of modern British art outside of London.
Lady Nicholas Gordon Lennox Chairman of the Friends
William Richards of Bonhams, Lady Nicholas Gordon Lennox, Chairman of the Appeal and the Friends, Evelyn Durnford of Bonhams and Stefan van Raay, Director of Pallant House Gallery. Bonhams were co-sponsors of the launch.
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Launch Photographs
First Row José Ramón Ortiz Monasterio and Manuel Velázquez de la Cadena from the British-Mexican Society, Stefan van Raay, Director of Pallant House Gallery and James Kirkman, painter with a Rolls Royce Phantom. Prof. Sir Colin St. John Wilson and M J Long, the architects.
Second Row The designers Robin Day and Lucienne Day with Angus Hewat, Trustee Lord March with Ian Robertson of Rolls Royce Motor Cars Ltd, co-sponsors of the launch. Chris Drake and Howell James
Third Row Ben Langlands and Nikki Bell, artists Frances Guy, Curator, Vanessa Branson, Tineke Pugh, Prof. Sir Colin St. John Wilson, architect and Angie O’Rourke at the benefactors lunch. Lord Smith of Finsbury who gave the launch speech.
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Christmas Cards £5 for 10 cards The cards are printed with the following message: With Best Wishes for Christmas and the New Year They are sized at 6“ x 6” (152mm x 152mm).
This years Christmas card depicts one of the chandeliers recently located into the entrance hall of the house with Susie MacMurray’s Shell installation in the background.
They will be available for sale in the bookshop from midOctober onwards or can be pre-ordered using the form below for delivery or to be reserved for you in the bookshop. Tel: 01243 770813
The photograph was taken by Susie MacMurray. Reflecting the Gallery’s duel interests in the historic and the contemporary, the card evokes the glamour of Christmas parties, the icy winter of the season and the warm reds of Christmas decorations.
Please send me priced at £5 per pack.
packs of 10 cards
Name Address
I would like them delivered to me at £3.95 I will collect my order from the shop (please call me when it is ready) Total price I enclose a cheque made payable to ‘Pallant House Gallery Services Ltd’
Telephone
Please send this form along with your cheque to Bookshop, Pallant House Gallery, 9 North Pallant, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 1TJ. Tel: 01243 770813
Events Programme Priority Booking for Friends
VISITS
Priority booking for Friends expires on Wednesday 4 October. Public booking opens Thursday 5 October.
Tour of the Inner Temple, London Wednesday 11 October This visit provides a rare opportunity to see rooms in the Inner Temple at the Mediaeval Inns of Court which are not open to the general public. The tour begins with coffee in the Parliament Chamber with an introduction to the history of the Inn. This is followed by a tour of the private upstairs rooms with relevant paintings of portraits and landscapes. After this, there will be an introduction by the Verger to the history of the Temple Church, which was built in the 12th century by the Military Order of the Knights Templar. After the tour there is an opportunity to listen to a recital by the renowned Choir of the Temple which is held in the church each Wednesday at lunchtime. The Friends will be welcome to wander around the Inns, including the gardens. £30, 7.45am to 6.30pm approx There will be a limited number of tickets available at £20 to those who wish to join this visit in London.
TALKS Visual Excitement and Delight: Edward Wadsworth and the Challenge of Modernism Dr. Jonathan Black Thursday 12 October Edward Wadsworth was one of the most talented and experimental British painters and printmakers of the first half of the twentieth century. In 1913–14 he helped found the London Group as a forum for exhibiting stylistically challenging art; in 1914, alongside Wyndham Lewis, he was a leading member of the Vorticists. Dr Jonathan Black will discuss Wadsworth’s distinguished career and place his work within a British and European context. Dr Black’s acclaimed monograph and Catalogue Raisonné Edward Wadsworth: Form, Feeling and Calculation – The Complete Paintings and Drawings was published this year. Signed copies will be available to purchase from the Bookshop after the lecture. £7 to include a glass of wine, 6pm
The Wonderful Fund Talk Stefan van Raay, Director, in conversation with Vanessa Branson and Prue O’Day, curators of The Wonderful Fund collection. Thursday 30 November Topics will include how the collection came to be formed, the artists and their work, and a discussion of how The Wonderful Fund can serve as a model for other collectors in the 21st century. £7 to include a glass of wine, 6pm
Painting the Cosmos: Landscapes by G F Watts Watts Gallery, Compton Wednesday 15 November According to the art critic Richard Dorment, G F Watts was one of the most important British artists of the 19th century. This is the first exhibition of his landscapes ever held, and includes some previously unseen paintings from his travels in Italy, the Greek Islands, Egypt, the French Alps and the Scottish Highlands. The exhibition comes to the Watts Gallery from London and contains loans of works from the Tate Gallery, the Ashmolean Museum and several private collections. We have arranged for Julia Dudkiewicz, the Assistant Curator, to give an introductory talk about the Arts and Crafts movement in relation to the Gallery before taking us on a tour of the exhibition. There will be time afterwards to see the remarkable chapel designed in 1896 by Mary Seton Watts as a memorial to her husband. £20, 1pm to 6pm approx
A Chapel and Two Churches in Sussex A visit to Lancing College Chapel; English Martyrs Church and St. Mary’s Church, Goring-by-Sea Thursday 22 February 2007 We start the afternoon with the magnificent 19th century Gothic Revival chapel at Lancing College. Its famous rose window, one of the largest in England, measures 32 feet and is made up of 30,000 pieces of stained glass. Then we visit the two churches in Goring. The first, the English Martyrs Church, contains a reproduction of Michelangelo’s 16th century Sistine Chapel ceiling by Gary Bevans. He was inspired to paint the ceiling of his own parish church after visiting Rome in 1987 and completed the work in 1993 after five and a half years, working evenings and weekends. St. Mary’s Church contains the wall painting ‘Christ in Glory’ by Hans Feibusch, designed in 1950 and finished four years later after considerable controversy. We will finish the afternoon at Bailiffscourt Hotel at Climping, for tea by the log fires and amongst the tapestries and antiques. £22 including tea and cakes, 12.30pm to 6pm
Tracey Emin, Good Smile Great Come, 2000, C-print The Wonderful Fund
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Friends Events Friends Christmas Party Monday 11 December At last the Friends Christmas party comes home to the Gallery. There will be food, music and dancing in the wonderful new entrance hall. £20 to include a two course supper with wine, 6.30pm–11.30pm
Friends Coffee Morning Wednesday 17 January 2007 Join us for an informal morning coffee in the lecture room. A member of the Gallery Staff will give a short talk on his/her work in the Gallery. £2, 10.30am–12pm
TOURS Chichester in the Age of the Enlightenment: Art in a Georgian City Thursday 12th October 2006 Thursday 25th October 2006 A new collaboration between Pallant House Gallery, Chichester District Museum and Chichester Cathedral, this tour explores the architecture, fine and decorative arts, politics and society of the Georgian period. It commences at Pallant House Gallery, where we examine the architecture and panelled interiors of the house, the Georgian furniture, 18th century Bow Porcelain and paintings by artists such as Hogarth, Romney and the Smith brothers of Chichester. After a coffee break, the tour continues with a walking tour of Chichester’s Georgian architecture to include the historic Pallants, St. John’s Chapel, the Assembly Rooms and John Nash’s Buttermarket. It concludes in Chichester Cathedral, where we will look at the fine Georgian memorials including monuments by the sculptor John Flaxman RA. £10 to include coffee, 10am–1.30pm George Romney Portrait of Sir Henry Gough, Baron Calthorpe 1779 Oil on canvas On loan from a private collection © Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, UK
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Collectors and Collecting Friday 13th October, 10am Tuesday 24th October, 3pm Pallant House Gallery is a ‘collection of collections’, which have been donated, bequeathed or loaned by important private collectors. For this reason it reflects 20th century tastes in art. This tour explores the different collections and the personalities behind them: Walter Hussey the church ‘patron of art’, Charles Kearley, a businessman and builder of modernist architecture, Prof Sir Colin St John Wilson the architect, academic and close friend of many of the artists in his collection. It explores how these people have amassed such extraordinary collections and what drives people to collect. £4 to include morning coffee/tea Frank Auerbach Reclining Model in the Studio I 1963 Oil on board Wilson Loan © The Artist, Courtesy Marlborough Fine Art
Modern Art and Religious Patronage Wednesday 22nd November, 10am–12.30pm Thursday 23rd November, 2pm–4.30pm This tour explores the close links between the modern religious art in Pallant House Gallery and Chichester Cathedral, focussing on the role of Dean Walter Hussey and Bishop George Bell as patrons of artists such as Chagall, Feibusch, Moore, Sutherland and Piper and writers and composers such as W.H. Auden, Benjamin Britten, Leonard Bernstein and T.S. Eliot. The tour explores the religious symbolism and wider social and artistic context of the works, starting at the Gallery and continuing at Chichester Cathedral. £7 to include coffee/tea John Piper The Head of Christ n.d. Watercolour and gouache on paper Chichester District Council, purchased with support of the V&A Purchase Grant Fund (1985) © The Piper Estate
Office Use
Number of Tickets
BOOKING FORM
Cost
Dia de los muertos Festival EVENTS AT PALLANT HOUSE GALLERY Please use attached booking form EXHIBITIONS Two Dia de los Muertos altars 1-12 November (normal Gallery times apply) A traditional altar, created by Mexican craftsmen from San Andrès Mixquic and a contemporary altar created by the artist Felix De Rooy. Documentaries Leonora Carrington O El Sortilegio Ironico Saturday 4 November (tbc) £7 Un Banquete En Tetlapayac with an introduction by its director, Oliver Debroise Thursday 9 November 6pm £7 Talks Teresa Margolles Saturday 4 November (tbc) £7 Elizabeth Baquedano Saturday 11 November 1pm, £7 (tbc) These events await final confirmation. Please call before booking.
Events at Chichester Cinema at new Park Booking through Cinema. Telephone: 01243 786650 FILMs Thunder Over Mexico (12A) Wednesday 1 November 9pm Los Olvidados (15) Sunday 5 November 1.15pm Macario (15) Tuesday 7 November 9pm Y Tu Mamá También (18) Friday 10 November 8.45pm Frida (15) Saturday 11 November 3.45pm Amores Perros (18) Sunday 12 November 8pm Talks Alfonso Morales Sunday 5 November 3pm Jason Wood Wednesday 8 November 7pm
Events at Chichester Cathedral Telephone: 01243 782595 All Saints Day Service Wednesday 1 November 6pm All Souls Day Service Thursday 2 November 6pm
Gallery Talks Edward Wadsworth Thursday 12 October £7
The Wonderful Fund Talk Thursday 30 November £7
Friends Visits Tour of the Inner Temple Wednesday 11 October £30/£20 joining in London
Painting the Cosmos Wednesday 15 November £20
A Chapel and Two Churches Thursday 22 February £22
Friends events Friends Christmas Party Monday 11 December £20
Friends Coffee Morning Wednesday 17 January £2
Specialist Tours Chichester in the Age of Enlightenment Thursday 12 October £10 Thursday 25 October £10
Collectors and Collecting Friday 13 October £4 Tuesday 24 October £4
Modern Art and Religious Patronage Wednesday 22 November £7
Thursday 23 November £7
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS FESTIVAL Leonora Carrington O El Sortilegio Ironico Saturday 4 November (tbc) £7
Un Banquete En Tetlapayac Thursday 9 November £7
Teresa Margolles Saturday 4 November (tbc) £7
Elizabeth Baquedano Saturday 11 November £7
Total Cost
PAYMENT DETAILS CHEQUE PAYMENTS Cheques should be made payable to Friends of Pallant House. Please leave the actual amount open in case we are not able to provide all the tickets you request.
FREE TOURS LATE NIGHT THURSDAYS Tours, Talks and Entertainment. 5pm-8pm The perfect opportunity to unwind after work, drinks and Tapas are available at The Pallant restaurant and can be enjoyed with live entertainment by students from Chichester College.
For security “Not above £…..” can be written at the bottom of your cheque and we will advise you of the cheque total. Please cut the completed form from the magazine and send, with a stamped, addressed, DL size envelope and payment to: Friends Office (Events) Pallant House Gallery 9 North Pallant Chichester PO19 1TJ
Your Details Mr / Mrs / Miss / Ms First Name Surname Address
Postcode Daytime Telephone Friends Membership Number Email Address A duplicate booking form will be enclosed with your tickets, in case you wish to book more events in the future.
The Gallery is also offering a free (with admission ticket) monthly programme of four themed tours exploring different aspects of the Pallant House Gallery collection. (Participants should meet at reception at 6pm)
Tours Portraits: Image and Identity 12 October / 9 November / 7 December / 4 January Pallant House Gallery’s permanent collection includes many portraits from the 16th century to the present day. This tour explores developments in the art of portraiture through aspects of pose, dress, personality, experimentation and self-representation from 18th century ‘conversation pieces’ and grand portraits by the likes of George Romney to 20th century portraits influenced by art movements such as Cubism and expressionism; as well as selfportraits and contemporary photographs. Gawen Hamilton The Rawson Conversation Piece c.1730 Oil on canvas Purchased with support of the V&A Purchase Grant Fund, The Art Fund and an anonymous donor © Pallant House Gallery
Landscapes and Modernity 19 October / 16 November / 14 December / 11 January A tour looking at the changing way landscape has been depicted in art from the 18th century pastorals by the Smith brothers to the urban townscapes of Whistler, Sickert and Gore. The talk covers landscapes between the wars by Eric Ravilious, Paul Nash, David Bomberg, Matthew Smith to abstracts by Ivon Hitchens and Barbara Hepworth. Figurative expressionist landscapes by Bomberg and Auerbach to contemporary landscape art by Andy Goldsworthy are also included.
Pop Art and the Swinging Sixties 2 November / 30 November / 28 December The tour explores Pop Art and the culture of the ‘Swinging Sixties’ including the work of artists such as Peter Blake, Patrick Caulfield, Richard Hamilton, Eduardo Paolozzi, R.B. Kitaj and Colin Self. It explores the Pop artists’ interests such as celebrity and popular culture, new art materials and political protest. Peter Blake Roxy Roxy 1965-83 Acrylic emulsion and collage on hardboard Wilson Loan
Andy Goldsworthy Hearth Stone 2002 Chalk and flint Purchased with the assistance of the Friends of Pallant House, The Art Fund and the Resource/V&A Purchase Grant Fund (2003)
Still Life: The Language of Objects 26 October / 23 November / 21 December This tour explores how artists have used the still life as a means of expression and experimentation. The tour includes historic still life paintings and considers the symbolism and significance of particular objects, memento mori and the way that the still life has been used as a vehicle for artistic innovation in the 20th century. It encompasses Cubists, Surrealists, Abstract and Pop artists such as Andre Derain, Henri Hayden, Paul Nash, Fernand Leger, Ben Nicholson, Patrick Caulfield and Julian Opie.
SATURDAY HIGHLIGHTS TOUR Free Highlights Tours are put on by The Gallery every Saturday at 3pm. Please note a British Sign Interpreter will accompany the last Tour in the month
An international exhibition of contemporary painting, drawing and print held in conjunction with a series of concerts and talks
10th Anniversary 4 - 18 November Minerva Theatre Chichester Festival Theatre
ADMISSION FREE OPEN DAILY 10AM - 5PM AND EVENING CONCERT INTERVALS
Henri Hayden Cubist 1919 1919 Oil on canvas Kearley Bequest, through The Art Fund (1989)
Vote for the £1,000 Visitors Prize before 12 November
For concert information
Tel: 01243 781312 or book on-line at www.cft.org.uk
For exhibition information Website: www.chichesteropenart.co.uk Tel: 01243 533028
Opening the Doors! The Learning Programme 2006 Marc Steene Education and Outreach Officer
With the launch of the new Pallant House Gallery we will be opening the doors for the first time to the new audiences that we have engaged with over the four years of the Gallery’s closure. The challenge facing the Gallery is how to offer meaningful and creative opportunities for further involvement and a truly consultative programme that builds on the essential work carried out as a result of the Building Bridges programme, the Disability Action Plan and the work with groups such as the Disability and Access Focus Group and the Education Focus Group, both set up during the Gallery’s closure. The consultation with the Disability and Access Focus Group as well as the design of the new building has helped to provide an accessible environment for visitors to the Gallery. There are loop systems fitted in key rooms, a lift providing wheelchair access to Pallant House for the first time, audio descriptions of key artworks as well as other access resources. We have also developed eight descriptions of different routes to the Gallery from car parks and the bus and railway stations to help people find us. To find out more please contact the Gallery. Once inside the new Gallery visitors will find the Studio, a dedicated workshop space fully equipped with art materials and equipment; an art history reference Library; a Prints Room; The Pallant, the Gallery’s new restaurant; and a specialist Bookshop all of which are on the ground floor of the new Gallery which is free to enter. We hope that people will feel comfortable to come and use the Gallery whether it is as somewhere to meet friends, to use the resources or just have a cup of coffee and a chat. Here are some of the elements of the Learning Programme which highlight the opportunities that will be available for the new and existing audiences.
Community Art Club The Community Art Club is for people with disabilities or with health needs. It undertakes projects like Partners in Art, the scheme run by Pallant House Gallery that aims to help people access the arts, such as those in the local community who have difficulties in accessing it themselves due to disability, illness, injury or other reasons. The Club will operate during the early evening once a week throughout the year and will employ artists who are skilled in a range of art practices and who are familiar with working with people with a range of needs. The members of the Community Art Club will decide on the content of the workshops and activities, as well as have opportunities for exhibiting their work, and gain professional development within the Gallery. Introduction to Arts Management A truly innovative development in the Learning Programme is the Introduction to Arts Management course. The course lasts six weeks and uses Gallery staff and other professionals to teach participants how a gallery operates and to develop the skills needed to organise and run art programmes, hang exhibitions, manage a budget and organise publicity. The course will be run annually, the first year being a pilot involving members of Partners for Art who, on completing the course, will sit on a steering committee for the scheme, planning art and social events. It is intended to develop and offer the course to other groups in the future. Schools Programme We have developed an exciting programme for the school groups which visit the Gallery. We will be offering guided tours with the trained guides and creative workshops delivered by professional artist educators. The tours and workshops are tailored to meet the needs of the National Curriculum and cover a range of themes from still-life and landscape to Pop Art. This Programme has been developed in close consultation with teachers and the Education Focus Group. There are also tours, talks, children and family workshops and a range of resources to encourage a creative and fun involvement with the arts. We hope there will be something for everyone! To find out more about the Learning Programme please contact the Gallery.
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Workshops
Myself Just Looking Saturday 4 November Portrait painting with a difference, become self absorbed! Artist: Jenny King 5−8 year olds, 10am−12.15pm
Workshops for Children All workshops £4.50 per child Max. 20 children per workshop Please book in advance Sshh! Listen−They’re Saying Something!! Saturday 23 September Have fun in this drama based workshop by exploring different characters from paintings in the Gallery. Artist: Andy Brereton 9−12 year olds, 10am−12.15pm Pulsating Patterns! Saturday 7 October Explore pattern, line, colour and scale in the work of Patrick Caulfield. Artist: Suzie Darcel 13−16 year olds, 10am−12.15pm
Mark Lancaster Post Warhol Souvenir: Marilyn (10/12 Nov. 1987) 1987 Oil on canvas Wilson Gift through the The Art Fund (2004)
Make Your Own Day of the Dead Doll Saturday 4 November In celebration of the Day of the Dead Festival, make your own creepy doll. Artist: Peter Grant 9−16 year olds, 1pm−4pm Whacky Landscapes Saturday 18 November Using some of the strange landscapes in the collection as inspiration, paint your own weird landscape! Artist: Jaita Pate 9−12 year olds, 10am−12.15pm
Patrick Caulfield Landscape with Birds 1963 Gloss paint on board Wilson Gift through The Art Fund © Patrick Caulfield Right Eric Ravilious New Bungalow (verso The Back Garden at Bardfield ) c.1930 Watercolour and pencil on paper Hussey Bequest, Chichester District Council (1985)
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Looking at the Future Saturday 2 December Recreate your self-image using Pop Art and mixed media. Artist: Dinah Kelly 13−16 year olds, 10am−12.15pm
Scary Halloween Fun Tuesday 31 October Come along to the spooky house and listen to ghost stories, play ghoulish games and win a prize for the most frightening costume! Andy Brereton will explore the concept of dramatic suspense and how to scare people! Free (for Young Friends only), 5.30pm To find out how to become a Young Friend please call 01243 770815
Artwork of the Month Workshops For adults and students £4.50 per workshop. Max 20 per workshop Artwork in Focus talks are free with admission to the Gallery OCTOBER Portrait of Henry Thomas, by Glyn Philpot Part of Black History Month Wednesday 25 October 20 minute Artwork in Focus drop-in talk with Assistant Curator, Simon Martin. Free,11am Workshop with artist Teresa Mason 12-2pm Negro in Profile (Portrait of Henry Thomas) 1934-5 Oil on canvas Bequeathed by Mrs Rosemary Newgas, the niece of the artist (2004) © Susan Denny
DECEMBER The Ditchling Nativity by David Jones, Eric Gill and Joseph Cribb. Wednesday 20 December Free 20 minute Artwork in Focus drop-in talk with Martina Gingell, Volunteer Guide and Great-Niece of Eric Gill. Free, 11am Workshop with artist Rachel Johnston 12-2pm
Office Use
Number of Tickets
BOOKING FORM Workshops for children
Sshh! Listen− They’re Saying Something!! Saturday 23 September £4.50
Pulsating Patterns! Saturday 7 October £4.50
Myself Just Looking Saturday 4 November £4.50
Make Your Own Day of the Dead Doll Saturday 4 November £4.50
Whacky Landscapes Saturday 18 November £4.50
Looking at the Future Saturday 2 December £4.50
Scary Halloween Fun Tuesday 31 October Free
Artwork of the Month Workshops Portrait of Henry Thomas, by Glyn Philpot Wednesday 25 October £4.50
Rawson Conversation Piece, by Gawen Hamilton Wednesday 29 November £4.50
The Ditchling Nativity by David Jones, Eric Gill and Joseph Cribb Wednesday 20 December £4.50
young friends workshop
Total Cost NOVEMBER Rawson Conversation Piece, by Gawen Hamilton Wednesday 29 November Free 20 minute Artwork in Focus drop-in talk with Volunteer Guide, Alan Wood. Free, 11am Workshop with artist Anne Tockwell 12-2pm
Cost
young friends WORKSHOP
PAYMENT DETAILS
COMMUNITY ART EVENTS
CHEQUE PAYMENTS Cheques should be made payable to Pallant House Gallery. Please leave the actual amount open in case we are not able to provide all the tickets you request. For security “Not above £.........” can be written in the lower left-hand corner and we will advise you of the amount for your cheque. Please cut off the completed form from the Pallant House Gallery Magazine and send, with a stamped addressed envelope and payment to: Anne Beverton Education Pallant House Gallery 9 North Pallant Chichester PO19 1TJ
Your Details Mr / Mrs / Miss / Ms First Name Surname Address
Out with the Old and in with the New The Big Draw Saturday 14 October, 10.00am−12.00pm & 2.00pm– 4.00pm Sunday 15 October, 2.00pm−4.00pm Using the Georgian splendour of Pallant House and its decorations and the beautifully designed interior of the new wing of Pallant House Gallery as inspiration, create fantastic mono prints using a variety of materials and surfaces. The prints will be used to make a building structure. Artist: Louise Bristow Open to all, Free
Earth, Air and Water Saturday 14 October The event takes place at Dell Quay and the Sea Scout Hut, Prinsted. Work with four different artists using four different art mediums to explore the beautiful Chichester Harbour. You can choose from photography, sculpture, printmaking and environmental art. £10.00, 10.00am−3.00pm Bookings taken by Chichester Harbour Conservancy 01243 512301. There will be an exhibition of some of the work produced on the day and also the work created as part of an Earth, Air and Water schools project at Pallant House Gallery from 24−29 October In partnership with Chichester Harbour Conservancy
Community Art Club For Partners in Art and other community groups and individuals that require extra support. There is no charge for the Community Art Club, please contact the Education and Outreach Officer to find out more or to see if you are eligible and book a place please call 01243 770835. The first two workshops are with the artist and the third is self-led. Thursdays from 4.00pm−6.00pm Pop Art Prints 28 September & 5 / 12 October Explore mono-printing combined with collage and photo montage to create a Pop Art print. Artist: Frances Hatch Expressive Artists 2 / 9 / 16 November Discuss the work of Frank Auerbach and Lucian Freud in Pallant House Gallery’s collections and produce your own painting in response. Artist: Nadine Mahoney Lucian Freud Unripe Tangerine 1946 Oil on board Wilson Loan © The Artist
Postcode Daytime Telephone Friends Membership Number Email Address
Inspired by the Collections 23 / 30 November & 7 December Learn about the paintings in the collections and create your own masterpiece! Artist: Charlotte Walshe Self led workshop 14 December
Christmas Shopping at Pallant House Gallery Start Your Own Art Collection £215 for 4 artworks Clockwise from top Paul Catherall - Pallant 4 Colour lino print (38cm x 28cm) Signed and numbered Edition of 250 £65 Peter Blake - Pop Art 4 Enamel badges (36mm x 36mm each) Boxed, signed and numbered Edition of 2000 £25 Langlands & Bell - Frozen Sky Boxed wristwatch Signed and numbered Edition of 1000 £50 Susie MacMurray - Shell Silver-plated mussel shell lined with velvet Boxed, signed and numbered Edition of 250 £75 Pallant House Gallery has commissioned multiples and prints by leading contemporary artists, including the iconic Peter Blake, Official War Artists and Turner Prize nominees Langlands & Bell, leading printmaker Paul Catherall and a favourite of recent visitors to the Gallery, Susie MacMurray whose ‘Shell’ installation has wowed them with its complexity and beauty.
To order any or all of these pieces call the Bookshop on 01243 770813 or visit www.pallant.org.uk/shop
Priced to be within the reach of as many people as possible, many of the pieces are already being sold on for much more than their original price. A set of Pop Art badges by Peter Blake recently sold for £102. They are all signed, all numbered from limited editions and they will not always be around, so if you are interested, don’t hesitate! 47
Christmas Shopping at Pallant House Gallery Bookshop Pallant House Gallery Bookshop has probably the largest stock of books and catalogues relating to Modern British art in the country. As well as stocking new publications, the shop also stocks rare and out of print titles. This month sees the publication of several important new books on Modern British art, some of which are listed below. We will be publishing a catalogue of books on Modern British art later this year. Please contact the shop if you would like to receive a free copy. We are always interested in purchasing good books and catalogues in any quantities. Bookshop: 01243 770813 shop@pallant.org.uk
Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious Design Brian Webb and Peyton Skipwith An excellent introduction to the careers of two major twentieth-century British artists. A revised and expanded edition of a book which went out of print within weeks of its first publication. £12.50 Paperback
New Titles Artists in Britain Since 1945 David Buckman A new and much updated edition of David Buckman’s celebrated dictionary. The book is the most comprehensive source of biographical information about the artists working in Britain in the past sixty years. The number of featured artists totals 14,000. £165 Hardback (Two Volumes)
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The Green Fuse: Pastoral Vision in English Art 1820-2000 Jerrold Northrop Moore This book traces for the first time a green heritage in English art, beginning with Samuel Palmer and through to Nash, Sutherland, Piper and the Ruralists. Illustrated throughout in b/w and colour £35 Hardback
The British Library - Art Spaces Professor Sir Colin St John Wilson An entertaining and interesting account of one of the most important buildings in modern architecture Continuing Scala’s internationally renowned Art Spaces series on the architecture of buildings housing art £4.95 Paperback
Exhibition Titles The Wonderful Fund Collection A fully illustrated, full colour, 144 page catalogue for the current exhibition at the Gallery. There is an introduction by Stefan van Raay, Director of Pallant House Gallery and an informative essay by Louisa Buck. With each work from the collection illustrated it is possible to assess the range and quality of this unique collection, borne out of a desire to celebrate artists at the start of a new millennium. £12.95 Paperback
New Books at Reduced Prices Face to Face: British Self-Portraits in the Twentieth Century Phillip Vann The core of the book is a detailed examination of 100 British self-portraits from the remarkable Ruth Borchard Collection. Normally £45 Hardback SPECIAL PRICE £19.95
Rare / Out of Print Art Books Edward Burra - Complete Edition Andrew Causey Oxford, Phaidon, 1985. 310x245mm. 208pp, 504 ills, 32 col. Contains the first extended catalogue of Burra’s pictures. £350 Hardback
Shell: Susie MacMurray A unique, hand assembled book to accompany the year long installation on the staircase of Pallant House. The book is in a concertina format, with stunning large format images of the installation, which features 20,000 mussel shells lined with velvet, on one side and an essay by Dr. Catherine Harper on the reverse. The hand printed covers evoke the mussel shell form and add to a celebration of a much loved installation. £6 Hardback
Ivon Hitchens Peter Khoroche Andre Deutsch, 1990. 275x285mm. 277pp, 170 b/w and colour plates £95 Hardback.
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Forthcoming Exhibitions
31 March10 June 2007 Poets in the Landscape: The Romantic Spirit in British Art ‘Poets in the Landscape’ explores the creative links between poetry, the pastoral vision and British art in the work of Romantic artists of the 18th and 19th centuries, and the ‘Neo-Romantic’ artists of the mid20th century. Taking as its starting point William Blake’s visionary period in Sussex, when he was working for the Chichester poet William Hayley, the exhibition features the poetically inspired art of Blake and his Romantic contemporaries and followers, including Edward Calvert, John Flaxman, Samuel Palmer, George Romney and Joseph Wright of Derby. It considers Blake and Palmer’s influence on the ‘Neo-Romantic’ artists and poets whose work embodied a search for a ‘Paradise Lost’, including Michael Ayrton, Cecil Collins, John Craxton, David Gasgoyne, Geoffrey Grigson, John Minton, Ceri Richards, Graham Sutherland, Dylan Thomas and Keith Vaughan.
20 January18 March 2007 William Roberts: England at Play A unique figure in the history of Modern British art, William Roberts (1895-1980) created distinctive paintings throughout his career that focus on the leisure pursuits of the English working class- in parks, cafés, the cinema, the pub, the races and the seaside. His work captured the idiosyncrasies and social interactions of the English with humour and affection, and provides a panorama of modern life in England. This exhibition features major paintings from the 1920s to the 1970s, which chart both Roberts’s artistic development from his English Cubist origins to the monumental rounded figures of his mature work, and the way in which life in England changed dramatically in the 20th century.
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30 June17 September 2007 Eye-Music: KLEE, Kandinsky and all that jazz Searching for a new visual language at the beginning of the 20th century, many artists were inspired by musical forms and ideas in their early experiments in abstract art: Paul Klee took the fugues of Bach as the model for his multi-layered paintings; Wassily Kandinsky’s friendship with the avant-garde composer Schönberg encouraged the development of his free, expressive style; and later in the century, jazz became a model for artistic improvisation in the work of Piet Mondrian, Alan Davie and others. This exhibition and the accompanying programme of events explores these relationships and other ideas, including the phenomenon of synaesthesia and the ability to ‘hear’ colours, the spectacle of sound and light performances, and early prototypes of abstract film.