The Arts Society Summer 2021

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DAME MAGDALENE ODUNDO Lessons in art and why role models matter

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE FAN

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THE POWER OF BLUE

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THE ARTS SOCIETY MAGAZINE SUMMER 2021 / £3.50

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On our cover: Dame Magdalene Odundo photographed in her studio

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THE ARTS SOCIETY

Enriching lives through the arts SUBS

The Arts Society House, 8 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1DA Tel: 020 7430 0730 theartssociety.org magazine@theartssociety.org

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Patron: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Gloucester Chair: Julia Charlton-Weedy President: Loyd Grossman CBE Vice Presidents: Martin Drury; Philippa Glanville OBE; Desmond Shawe-Taylor; Alison Richmond Chief Executive: Florian Schweizer

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CRISTIAN BARNETT; ANDREW MONTGOMERY; P FEWSTER RESEARCH: ARTSUPPLIES.CO.UK/BLOG/THE-MOST-GOOGLED-ARTIST-IN-EVERY-COUNTRY-IN-THE-WORLD

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THE ARTS SOCIETY MAGAZINE Published on behalf of The Arts Society by Think Media Group , 20 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JW Tel: +44 (0)20 3771 7200 thinkpublishing.co.uk Editor: Sue Herdman Group Art Director: Matthew Ball Art Director: John Pender Designer: Alistair McGown Managing Editor: Marion Thompson Digital Editor: Holly Black Listings Editor: Annie Davies Client Engagement Director: Rachel Walder Advertising Sales: Sonal Mistry, Commercial Partnerships Director, 020 3771 7247, sonal.mistry@thinkpublishing.co.uk Printed by: Walstead Roche The Arts Society Magazine is published three times a year by The Arts Society (formerly NADFAS) and circulated to its membership.

The views expressed in The Arts Society Magazine are not necessarily those of the Chairman, Trustee Board or the Editor. Every effort has been made to check the accuracy of the information in The Arts Society Magazine . However, neither The Arts Society nor NEL Ltd can accept responsibility for inaccuracies or omissions. Articles, photographs, drawings, etc in The Arts Society Magazine may not be reproduced without the written permission of the Chief Executive of The Arts Society. The Society accepts no responsibility for goods and services advertised in The Arts Society Magazine , whether the advertiser is a Member or not. Advertisements are published for convenience of Members, and Members choosing to buy or sell through the medium of this magazine do so entirely at their own risk. © The Arts Society 2021

WELCOME

This summer Charleston hosts a special outdoor arts programme

e know, in recent times, that many have turned to the internet to view art. Among research tracking this trend comes a fun piece from Ken Bromley Art Supplies. It reveals the most googled artist in each country across the world. Top of the list (for 82 countries) is Leonardo da Vinci.

For the UK – and Russia – it is Banksy. Picasso, Velázquez, Miró, Blake and Van Gogh are all there. Unsurprisingly, considering the historical under-representation of female artists, only two women feature – Frida Kahlo and Artemisia Gentileschi (the latter top of the views in Australia). This issue of the magazine bucks that lack of representation with a focus on not one, but two soaring female artists of our time: Paula Rego and Magdalene Odundo. Both tread a singular path in the world of art. We explore their work in two ways: through an in-depth interview with Odundo – an artist and educator – and via a curatorial eye on the works of Rego, as her major retrospective prepares to open this summer. We hope you find both features as enlightening as we have.

Another, more unwelcome trend has been the impact of the pandemic on our museums and arts venues. On this comes more research, this time from UNESCO. It cites 90% of the world’s museums closing during the crisis, with more than 10% possibly never to reopen. We know how such places play an essential role in society, bringing culture, wonder, education and a strong sense of community. Here in the UK, for some, the government’s Culture Recovery Fund represents support. But many, often smaller, quirkier, but equally precious sites are in desperate need of help. Inside we explore this story, revealing the role our Societies can play within it. We also share news of a new Arts Society grant, created to offer aid. As the doors of such venues, such as Charleston, in Sussex, pictured here, open again, now is the time to appreciate, more than ever, the riches these places offer us all.

SUE HERDMAN EDITOR

GET IN TOUCH!

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06 5 THINGS TO DO Inspiring arts ideas for this summer 10 INSTANT EXPERT Explore the story of a precious Japanese artwork 12 BITE-SIZED ART An expert eye on an abstract expressionist work 14 THE ARTS SOCIETY INTERVIEW We meet award-winning artist and arts educator Dame Magdalene Odundo 20 TRUE BLUE Discover why artists are so fascinated by blue 26 THE ROAR OF REGO A curator’s eye on works from the up-coming retrospective of Paula Rego’s art 30 NOTES ON A STATUS SYMBOL From fashion accessory to work of art: expert Jacob Moss explores the world of fans 38 ROADS TO RECOVERY Why The Arts Society must support our small arts institutions like never before 44 WHAT’S ON Plan ahead for arts events 51 STUDY DAYS Discover a new area of the arts 56 SOCIETIES NEWS News from around The Arts Society 63 BOOKS New arts and culture reads 65 SPECIAL OFFERS Our curated offers for you 66 10 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT… …master carver genius Grinling Gibbons

CONTRIBUTORS

DR CLARE POLLARD Clare is curator of Japanese art at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

On page 10 she tells the story of a work by Hiroshige that features in a new show there

PAUL RABBITTS Arts Society Lecturer and historian Paul is the author of Grinling Gibbons: Master Carver (Shire Publications).

Inside he reveals 10 fascinating facts about Gibbons

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JANE FINDLAY Jane is head of programme and engagement at Dulwich Picture Gallery. On page 12 she examines one of Helen Frankenthaler’s groundbreaking works of art

CLAUDE MONET, THE CHURCH AT VÉTHEUIL, 1880 © SOUTHAMPTON CULTURAL SERVICES INSET: MONET, SELF-PORTRAIT WITH A BERET, 1886, PHOTO © LEFEVRE FINE ART LTD, LONDON/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

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THE CHURCH AT VÉTHEUIL Claude Monet

Painted in 1880 from a boat on the Seine, Monet worked fast to capture the changing light and colours in this, his view of the 13th-century church at Vétheuil. The artist moved to the tiny hamlet in 1878 and thought it ‘a ravishing spot, from which I should be able to extract some things that aren’t bad’. See this work in Creating a National Collection: The Partnership between Southampton City Art Gallery and the National Gallery at Southampton City Art Gallery until 4 September 2021.

The show explores the 92-year partnership between the two. southamptoncity artgallery.com

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From art to enjoy in the great outdoors to the latest in a series of monthly films for Members, here is a taster of this season’s highlights

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DISCOVER THE BEST IN… …contemporary craft. The fourth edition of the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize has seen 30 candidates from across the globe shortlisted for their mastery and groundbreaking experimentation in craft.

Among the mediums are textile, ceramic, porcelain, wood, copper, metal, paper, glass and lacquer. Shown here is Cabeza Bicho and Cloud with Handles by Xavier Toubes from Spain. Now you can see the exhibition of all the works online, in a clever 3D modelling of both the venue, the Great Hall of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, and the works. View them through dazzling high-definition 360-degree ‘close up’ filming and augmented reality.

See loewecraftprize.com

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COURTESY OF SIR FRANK BOWLING KT OBE RA AND HAUSER & WIRTH © SIR FRANK

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COURTESY GOLDMARK; COURTESY LOEWE FOUNDATION CRAFT PRIZE

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‘My work celebrates the joy in life,’ says Jenny Grevatte. For over 50 years the artist has created works of verve and spontaneity, drawing inspiration from multiple sources. Pictured here is her collage Chimneys and Domes, Venice , while her most recent paintings have been inspired by that island of sunshine, Sicily. Coinciding with the publication of this issue, our Arts Society affiliate partner, Goldmark Gallery in Rutland, makes Grevatte the subject of its latest monthly Arts Society film. To view, go to theartssociety.tv

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COURTESY OF SIR FRANK BOWLING KT OBE RA AND HAUSER & WIRTH © SIR FRANK BOWLING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, DACS 2021; RICHARD LEWISOHN; PHOTOGRAPH: TONY TREE © LEE MILLER ARCHIVES, ENGLAND 2021. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

As galleries and museums have been busy welcoming visitors back, one of the shows best suited to the season has to be Frank Bowling: Land of Many Waters, in Bristol. Known for his signature scale and luminescent sense of colour and light, this exhibition will include new poetic work from this giant figure on the contemporary arts landscape, created during lockdowns. Seen here is his Towards the Palace of the Peacock, 2020.

3 July–26 September arnolfini.org.uk

A 4 PACK PICNIC Add in some al fresco dining to your arts events.

From the Battle Proms Picnic Concerts at Blenheim Palace to Picnic in the Park with live entertainment in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, there’s a rich choice on offer. Here, visitors dine in style in the gardens at Grange Park Opera in Surrey, which this summer is staging productions ranging from La Bohème and The Life & Death of Alexander Litvinenko to Ivan the Terrible. grangeparkopera.co.uk

ART 5 EXPLORE IN THE GREEN Get your fix of the arts outdoors this summer. Head to the riverbanks at Henley Festival (15–19 September; henley-festival.co.uk); enjoy live performances as part of Coventry City of Culture (until May 2022; coventry2021.co.uk); or join a walk exploring Buxton, before taking in music and mocktails in the town’s Serpentine Community Garden (buxtonfestival.co.uk; 8–25 July and buxtonfringe.org.uk; 7-25 July).

Alternatively, visit a sculpture garden, such as this at Farleys in Sussex (farleyshouseandgallery.co. uk), once home to artists Lee Miller and Roland Penrose. The garden’s fountain is by Penrose and his son, Antony, an Arts Society Lecturer.

See our in-depth listings from page 44 For our top arts events each month, sign up to theartssociety.org/signup Please check for latest information on openings

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OUR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS AND FEATURES DRAWN FROM ACROSS THE ARTS WORLD REPRO OP

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Head to Edinburgh for summer arts events.

See Victoria and Albert: Our Lives in Watercolour at The Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse until 3 October (rct.uk). Catch performances at the Edinburgh International Festival (7–29 August; eif.co.uk). Or plan a swim in artist Joana Vasconcelos’s art pool Gateway (pictured) and see a new solo show from Tracey Emin, both at Jupiter Artland (jupiterartland.org).

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Clear Weather After Snow at Nihonbashi Bridge, a colour woodblock print designed by Utagawa Hiroshige I in 1856

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This vibrant view of Edo (modern-day Tokyo) is by Utagawa Hiroshige.

Hiroshige was one of Japan’s greatest woodblock print designers. Born in 1797 in Edo, he was prolific, creating over 4,000 print designs over almost 50 years.

His subjects included beautiful women, kabuki actors and bird-and-flower studies, but he is best known for his landscape prints, which capture brilliantly the effects of season, weather and time of day.

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By Hiroshige’s day the Japanese print industry was booming.

Woodblock prints like this were the price of a large bowl of noodles. They were known as ukiyo-e, or ‘pictures of the floating world’, a term that referred to the fleeting pleasures of the entertainment districts in the city.

The majority depicted courtesans and kabuki actors; the landscape print was a relatively new genre, pioneered by Hiroshige’s contemporary Hokusai in the early 19th century. The title of this series can be seen in the red cartouche in the top right corner: One Hundred Famous Views of Edo. This set was published in instalments during the final years of Hiroshige’s life. It showed many of the city’s ‘famous places’, known through history, poetry and literature, and also less well-known sites, such as shops and teahouses. The series was so successful that after he died in 1858, his pupil and son-in-law, Hiroshige II (1829–69), completed the set of 118 views.

This print was the first to be published.

It sets the scene for the entire series in the way it juxtaposes the grandeur of nature, weather and the seasons with everyday

activities. It is a bright morning and a magnificent Mount Fuji, disproportionately large, rises serenely over a bustling scene.

At the centre is Nihonbashi, the ‘Bridge of Japan’.

Built in 1603, this was the official point from which distances to all parts of Japan were measured. On the river, fishing boats carry their catch to the market shown to the fore.

On the far side of the bridge stand white-painted storehouses, again exaggerated in size, perhaps to emphasise the wealth of the city under its benevolent military rulers. Crossing the print at intervals are bands of pale grey clouds, a device used to separate areas and indicate distance. Far away to the right is Edo Castle, shown as a powerful presence overseeing the city below.

Although this print is Hiroshige’s vision… …and his signature is bottom left, he was simply the designer, working in a team of craftsmen employed by a publisher, together with a woodblock carver and a printer. The print has a limited palette of bright blues and soft red, grey and brown.

Particularly striking is the vivid blue of the river and the sky, for which Hiroshige took advantage of the new European pigment Prussian blue. Although far from realistic, the colours evoke the crisp light of a bright winter’s morning.

Hiroshige layers elements within the picture frame.

See the fish market in the foreground, the bridge behind it, the storehouses and the abstract cloud bands beyond – Hiroshige

creates depth without using Europeanstyle perspective, while the cropping of objects at the edges draws the viewer in.

Hiroshige’s bold compositions and his use of strong, flat colour made an impression on late-19th-century European avantgarde artists; they were inspired by the freedom Japanese prints offered from imitative or photographic representation.

Hiroshige’s landscapes were collected by artists including Manet, Monet, Degas, Whistler and Van Gogh, who famously copied two designs from the series in oils.

SEE

Tokyo: Art & Photography , 29 July 2021–3 January 2022, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; ashmolean.org

Explore an art story twice a month with our ‘Instant Expert’ email. Sign up at theartssociety.org/signup

FROM THE SERIES ONE HUNDRED FAMOUS VIEWS OF EDO, ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM, PRESENTED BY MRS E ALLAN AND MR AND MRS HN SPALDING, EAX.4347

This beautiful print was once the price of a takeaway snack; now a museum piece, it features in a summer show about Tokyo at the Ashmolean. Curator Dr Clare Pollard reveals its story

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Curator Jane Findlay examines a masterful work by abstract expressionist Helen Frankenthaler

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elen Frankenthaler (1928–2011) trained at Bennington College, Vermont, USA in the early 1950s; 10 years later she was a leading abstract expressionist. An intuitive painter, she was in search of something beautiful, rather than predetermined ideas. She chose the exacting and technical medium of woodcut printmaking to pursue this to incredible creative heights.

Frankenthaler defied the limitations of woodcuts, finding new trailblazing dimensions through experimentation.

What resulted is an incomparable body of work. Madame Butterfly was her masterpiece.

4. ON THE SURFACE Frankenthaler was fascinated by surface. The 46 woodblocks and the three sheets of handmade paper that make up this print play a texturing and tonal role, ensuring that the ground for the print is not a neutral space but integral to the work.

1. TRIPTYCH COMPOSITION Madame Butterfly was made in 2000. It was inspired by a Japanese screen bought

by Frankenthaler in Kyoto; this starting point remains in the triptych composition.

Frankenthaler was interested in Japanese art and her works often fuse sensibilities of East and West.

2. COLOURS WITH NO BOUNDARIES Frankenthaler approached colour expansively and Madame Butterfly includes 102 different tones. From the central rainbow hues to the white and purply blues that balance each other horizontally, she pushed the boundaries of colour.

5. DYNAMIC RESULTS Frankenthaler wanted her works to feel spontaneous and alive.

The spilled and poured colours and forms that appear to almost float in space hide the complex technical multistep process it took to create this work over two years.

3. ALL IN A NAME? The artist typically named works after she had completed them. Her titles are often ambiguous but rooted in the real world.

Madame Butterfly evokes Puccini’s tragic opera but leaves space for the viewer to come to their own meaning.

6. COLLABORATION This print was created working with master printmaker Kenneth Tyler, woodblock carver and printer Yasuyuki Shibata and papermaker Tom Strianese. Frankenthaler was involved in the process, while enabling others to bring their expertise to achieve her vision.

SEE Helen Frankenthaler: Radical Beauty, the first major UK exhibition of the artist’s woodcuts.

15 September 2021– 17 April 2022, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London dulwichpicturegallery. org.uk

MADAME BUTTERFLY, 2000 (106 X 201.9CM) © 2020 HELEN FRANKENTHALER FOUNDATION, INC/DACS/ TYLER GRAPHIC LTD, MOUNT KISCO, NEW YORK. PHOTO: TIM PYLE, COURTESY HELEN FRANKENTHALER FOUNDATION

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Helen Frankenthaler’s Madame Butterfly

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Dame Magdalene Odundo in her studio in Surrey

Her own language Dame Magdalene Odundo is one of the greatest ceramicists working today.

One of her sculptural works broke a world auction record in ceramic art last year, and she is a key figure in arts education. Arts Society Lecturer Helen Ritchie meets her to discuss the alchemy of making and what we must heed for the future of teaching art

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PHOTOGRAPHY: CRISTIAN BARNETT

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in more than 40 museum collections worldwide and are hugely sought after by private collectors. Hand-built and burnished to a beautiful sheen, they are not glazed but instead showcase the natural colour of the fired clay (a rich terracotta) or, after multiple reduction firings, they turn an inky, mottled black.

This beauty can be hard won, she confides, saying: ‘As a material, clay is great, but it can also be stubborn – sometimes you have to fight with it.’

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he clay helps with healing. I think that all artists and creative people feel a lot better the minute they get back to the making.’ Magdalene Odundo is in her studio in Surrey. She’s at work on the first pots she has made since 2018 – a group of masterful new pieces about to be shipped to New York, to be shown at Salon 94. She’s happy to be at work. A spell of serious illness has stopped her temporarily from making, but she has returned to it with gusto. Her practice demands her attention. Her blockbuster exhibition, Magdalene Odundo: The Journey of Things, was exhibited to huge acclaim in 2019 at both The Hepworth Wakefield and Sainsbury Centre, Norwich. It

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showcased her own pieces as well as myriad global references that have informed her work. These included vessels from ancient Greece and Egypt, Modernist sculpture, Elizabethan dress and ceramics from Africa, Asia and Central America. And last year, along with being awarded a damehood for her contribution to arts and art education, her Angled Mixed Coloured Vesselfetched a record price at auction for a work by a ceramic artist (£240,000).

Exhibiting continuously since her graduation from the Royal College of Art in 1982, Odundo has followed her own trajectory, ignoring the fashions in ceramics that have come and gone. Her instantly recognisable vessels feature

Reminiscent of the human body, each of Odundo’s works has its own distinctive features and character. She explains: ‘I tend to refer to the work as children or as people.’ Some are asymmetric and delicately balanced, while others, such as some of her newest pieces (pictured) embrace symmetry – ‘they have the simplicity of a person growing tall on their heels and reaching out, or going to the market, carrying a pot or basket on their head, totally balanced, not holding onto it’. All of Odundo’s work takes the form of non-functional vessels, central to which are notions of containment and emptiness, where the hidden interior of the pot is just as important as the exterior: ‘When you are well inside, your exterior and poise show it. When you’re not well, everyone looks at you and knows it. It’s the same for pots.’

Born in Nairobi in Kenya in 1950, Odundo initially trained in commercial art. She then travelled to England in 1971 to take an art foundation course at Cambridge School of Art. As Kenyan schools followed the English curriculum (Kenya being under British colonial rule until 1963), Odundo knew a huge amount about the history and culture of England before she arrived, but was surprised to find that many English people knew little about other parts of the world. Yet, when visiting Cambridge museums, she was able, for the first time, to study art from around the world. She was especially captivated by the versatility of clay and the many similarities between ceramics made in disparate parts of the world.

Above: past works on show in the artist’s studio Far right: newly completed, finely burnished pieces, ready for shipment to New York for exhibition. Each hand-coiled work is weeks in the making, then must survive the risk that firings represent, making every end result all the more precious

Museums remain important to Odundo, bringing together in one place cultural material from around the globe, sparking curiosity of distant places and people.

‘Museums hold the key to helping us to develop a visual literacy,’ she says, ‘enabling the eye and brain to relate to objects and to the people who made them.’

Odundo feels that visual literacy is sorely lacking in schools today. A passion for arts education has run parallel to her career as a maker; she taught museum education at the Commonwealth Institute, later teaching ceramics for 14 years at the University for the Creative Arts, an institution at which she is now both professor emerita and chancellor. Since 2011, she has also been a patron and trustee of the National Society for Education in Art and Design (NSEAD).

‘TEACHERS NEED TO HAVE A VISION OF WHAT TO SAY TO PUPILS, AND PASSION COMES FROM THAT. YOU CAN BE TAUGHT TO TEACH, BUT YOU CAN’T BE TAUGHT TO BE INSPIRATIONAL’

A mentor to many young aspiring artists, for her, ‘teaching is a process of learning, a dialogue between the students and myself. Every time I have tried to resolve someone else’s practical issues, I have most likely been resolving them in my own studio.’

EQUALITY AND VISION

Odundo speaks eloquently, too, on the intersection between education and the racial disparities present in society – on why children from Black, Asian and ethnically diverse backgrounds need to see art and artists they can identify with.

In light of the Freelands Foundation and Runnymede Trust recent commission on racial inequality in art education, she explains, ‘role models matter. I think it’s important in a society as diverse as ours. » THEARTSSOCIET Y.ORG / 1 7

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Magdalene Odundo in Cambridge – a display at The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, to mark the 50 years since the artist moved from Kenya to the city. It brings together global ceramics from Cambridge collections chosen

by Odundo, with examples of her own work; 5 October 2021–24 July 2022; fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk

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FIND OUT MORE

For more on Magdalene Odundo’s work, see anthonyslayter-ralph.com ART

For more on the Freelands Foundation and Runnymede Trust report, see runnymedetrust.org/freelands.html

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‘ROLE MODELS MATTER. IT’S IMPORTANT IN A SOCIETY AS DIVERSE AS OURS. AND IT’S IMPERATIVE THAT THE CURRICULUM REFLECTS SOCIETY’ And it’s imperative in 2021 that the curriculum reflects society. We live in a much more mobile world now. People don’t see settling in one place as a major concern. Every society is constantly meeting other societies – we need to respect that.’

Ultimately, she says, teachers ‘need to have a vision of what they want to say to their pupils, and passion comes from that. You can be taught to teach, but you can’t be taught to be inspirational, you have to cultivate that.’ Odundo speaks fondly of many of her own teachers, not least Zoë Ellison, the pottery teacher at Cambridge School of Art who encouraged her to begin to work in clay when she became disillusioned with commercial art. Later, she was taught by potter Henry Hammond and sculptor Sir Eduardo Paolozzi. She also

trained in Abuja, Nigeria with renowned Nigerian potter Ladi Kwali (so renowned, Kwali now features on one of that country’s banknotes). ‘Good teachers don’t necessarily teach,’ says Odundo, ‘but they have the ability to observe and to detect talent. Instead of giving you the answers, they help you to work out why you are questioning. The teachers who inspired me were creative themselves, a bit rebellious and eccentric and allowed you to be eccentric or different.’ Reticent about the impact of her own role, Odundo remains an undeniably inspirational artist. Her new works, each with its own, human-like presence, are powerful and magnetic, both familiar and a little bit mysterious. Odundo has spoken previously about potters as magicians, able to transform clay. Her pots certainly seem magical to me.

Helen Ritchie Arts Society Accredited Lecturer

• Helen is a lecturer, writer and curator responsible for researching and interpreting the modern Applied Arts collection at The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge • Her interests include British studio pottery, contemporary crafts and artist/designer jewellery and metalwork. She is curating Magdalene Odundo in Cambridge at the museum, and one of her recent exhibitions there was Things of Beauty Growing: British Studio Pottery , in partnership with Yale Center for British Art • She is the author of Designers and Jewellery 1850–1940: Jewellery and Metalwork from The Fitzwilliam Museum. Her Arts Society talks include British Studio Pottery: A Concise History and A Design Evolution: Jewellery and Metalwork 1850–1940

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True Blue, 1

PA I N T E R ’ S PA L E T T E Blue Dancers, c.1899 (pastel),

by Edgar Degas

T R U E B L U E Indigo, woad, cerulean… Blue was once considered the hue of degenerates and barbarians, but today it’s the world’s most popular colour. Now there is a new blue. Arts Society Lecturer Alexandra Epps explores its discovery and our long association with this, the colour that comes with contradictions

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lue was on Picasso’s last paint order; the Egyptians used it in depictions of their god Amun-Ra; and 12th-century French monarchs demanded the hue on their coat of arms. From its earliest use, the colour represents an exploration into sensory areas for artists, past and present. And now there is a new blue.

In 2009, while conducting experiments into rare earth elements, scientists at Oregon State University serendipitously discovered a vivid blue pigment. The lead chemist, Mas Subramanian, realised this accident was an unusual breakthrough. The compound was named ‘YInMn Blue’ after its elements: yttrium, indium and manganese. In an interview Subramanian explained how YInMn Blue ‘comes with some additional advantages in terms of the durability and stability of the pigment’. Due to its chemical structure the pigment is opaque and doesn’t discolour easily, compared to cobalt or Prussian blue, which can fade over time.

This exciting discovery – now available – is the first blue since cobalt blue was discovered in 1802.

It will be interesting to see what artists do with it.

The significance and meanings of the colour have shifted over centuries of art history. It is the hue of Hokusai’s great wave, Van Gogh’s starry night sky and Matisse’s cut-out nudes. It is the colour of the suit worn by Gainsborough’s The Blue Boy and

the shade of the dresses of Degas’ dancers.

In Theory of Colours, written in 1810, Goethe expressed of blue: ‘It is powerful… a kind of contradiction between excitement and repose… we love to contemplate blue – not because it advances to us, but because it draws us after it.’ Blue is the colour of the limitless horizon, the sky and sea, suggesting tranquillity or calm, with its soulful nature reported to lower blood pressure and improve creativity. Alternatively, in line with Goethe’s opinion on the colour as contradictory, it is also associated with sadness – the notion of ‘feeling blue’. Think of Picasso’s ‘Blue Period’ in the early 1900s, in which he chose the colour to signify his own internal misery and despair, and intensify the hopelessness of the figures he depicted.

HEAVENLY HUES

The early significance of blue as a celestial colour was determined by the rarity of ultramarine, found in European medieval and Renaissance art. All the ultramarine came from one set of mines in a valley in Afghanistan, collectively called Sar-e-Sang (the Place of the Stone).

Due to its lack of earthiness, this blue was seen as having mythical properties. It became a holy colour from the 12th century, controlled by the church and subsequently used in stained glass, frescoes and other religious paintings. Giotto used

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the blue ceiling of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, completed in 1305, to represent heaven: the colour of paradise and the divine. In the Wilton Diptych, a small, portable altarpiece made in the Middle Ages (between 1395 and 1399), the striking ultramarine symbolised the otherworld of the Virgin’s realm. Ultramarine was the only paint deemed worthy for the Virgin Mary’s holy robe, the bright blue drapery symbolic of her role as the Queen of Heaven.

In 1911 in Munich, artists Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, August Macke and Gabriele Münter founded a group called Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). The rider represented the freedom felt by the contemporary artist, with the colour blue signifying spiritualism and supreme beauty. In

Clockwise from below left: immersed in colour: one of Claude Monet’s Nymphéas series, 1914–17; In Blue, 1925, by Kandinsky; Giotto’s frescoes in Scrovegni Chapel

Marc’s painting of the same year,The Large Blue Horses, the simple curved outline of the horses is mirrored by the undulating hills in the background, signifying a sense of harmony and peace, uniting the animals and the natural world. During his Blaue Reiter period, Kandinsky’s work became more abstract and expressionist; the colour blue remained important throughout his oeuvre, and he wrote that the deeper the blue, ‘the more it awakens human desire for the eternal’.

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ALL THE EYE CAN SEE

In Maggie Nelson’s 2009 book Bluets – a set of meditations on blue – she talks of being ‘introduced to a man who had one of his front teeth replaced with lapis lazuli, solely because he loved the »

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Right: brushstrokes and bold blue: Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night

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‘BLUE IS THE COLOUR OF THE LIMITLESS HORIZON, THE SKY AND SEA, SUGGESTING TRANQUILLITY OR CALM, WITH ITS SOULFUL NATURE REPORTED TO LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE AND IMPROVE CREATIVITY’

SEE Dive A film of Scottish Ballet’s new work, inspired

by Yves Klein and his famous shade of blue.

Screening now, if you are a member (which is free); scottishballet.co.uk

Naturally Brilliant Colour, exploring the origins of colour and vision, with a focus on botanical art.

Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Kew, London, until 26 September; kew.org

On Colour An exhibition devoted to colour theory.

Compton Verney Art Gallery, Warwickshire, 3 July–3 October; comptonverney. org.uk

OUR EXPERT’S STORY

Alexandra Epps Arts Society Accredited Lecturer

• Alexandra’s background is in design; she

practised as a graphic designer, running her own design consultancy for many years • She is a guide and lecturer at Tate Modern and Tate Britain and is a guide to the City of London, offering walks and talks based on aspects of the arts • Two of Alexandra’s lectures explore colour within the history of art: Red, White and Blue and As Good as Gold

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stone, and to another who worships blue so devoutly that he refuses to eat blue food and grows only blue and white flowers in his garden’.

An artist comparably devoted to the colour was Yves Klein, who was so obsessed with blue that he invented and patented his own shade of ultramarine, which he named ‘International Klein Blue’ (IKB). He had been frustrated by the way the colour lost its lustre over time, and his pigment was created using Rhodopas, a synthetic resin that is used to bind ultramarine. He used IKB to create monochrome paintings, or covered objects with it, even inviting life models to roll in the paint and leave their bodily imprints on unstretched swathes of canvas. To announce the opening of his 1957 exhibition at Galerie Iris Clert in Paris, he launched 1,001 blue helium balloons into the sky in front of the Saint-Germain-des-Prés church.

IKB wasn’t produced commercially and was Klein’s exclusive property, but he intended his art to be enjoyed by the public. In 1993 Derek Jarman took a single frame of IKB and used it as the static backdrop for his 79-minute film Blue. The film’s poetic, diaristic voice-over is used to narrate Jarman’s experiences living with AIDS-related illnesses, told through a character he calls Blue.

Jarman suffered from partial blindness through his illness and, as with all sight-affected people, his blindness was interrupted by blue light. Before his death, one of his final excursions was to Monet’s garden at Giverny, perhaps feeling a bond with the artist. Monet, too, had suffered from blindness, remarking that he saw ‘nothing but blue’ after an eye operation. If our ability when so afflicted is to see only one colour, then perhaps it is a good thing that that shade is, as the French call it, the bleu céleste. Over centuries, blue has been configured as otherworldly and transcendental. In Klein’s words, when writing on its perfect intensity: ‘Blue has no dimensions. It is beyond.’

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Dame Paula Rego’s fierce, uncompromising approach has redefined figurative work and changed the way women are represented in art.

As a retrospective of her work prepares to open, curator Dr Elena Crippa reveals the thinking behind choice works

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locates her sense of self in the imaginative age of childhood.

The presence of a mannequin, combined with biomorphic elements that seem to merge organic and inorganic matter, is reminiscent of the tropes and aesthetics of Surrealism.

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THE RAFT, 1985 The significant development in Rego’s work throughout the 1980s is clear. She abandoned collage and began to make bold, richly coloured acrylic paintings with fluid outlines. From 1984, fiercely independent, rebellious girls become the main protagonists.

The Raft, with its imposing size (242 x 192cm), stark

motifs and vivid colours, is unapologetically bold.

Two young girls set off on a raft, confident and pensive, fending off real and imaginary perils and dreams. Small, cartoonish characters, such as the bear on a sailing boat, contribute playfulness and humour to the picture.

MUSEU NACIONAL DE ARTE CONTEMPORÂNEA, MUSEU DO CHIADO, LISBON, PORTUGAL © PAULA REGO; PRIVATE COLLECTION, LONDON © PAULA REGO

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This is the first, and one of very few self-portraits Rego has made. As with most of her 1960s work, it was made by collaging cut-out drawings and overlaying them with paint and other drawings in graphite and ink.

By putting herself in the picture as a little girl, Rego

LEEDS MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES (LEEDS ART GALLERY)/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES © PAULA REGO;

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SELF-PORTRAIT IN RED, 1966

Rego, 1 LEEDS MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES (LEEDS ART GALLERY)/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES © PAULA REGO; PRIVATE COLLECTION © PAULA REGO

LISBON, PORTUGAL © PAULA REGO; PRIVATE COLLECTION, LONDON © PAULA REGO

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THE CADET AND HIS SISTER, 1988

THE ARTIST IN HER STUDIO, 1993 In paintings such as this, Rego (born in Lisbon in 1935) is exploring women’s struggle and journey towards emancipation.

This work borrows from different traditional genres: vanitas, still lives that include artefacts exploring

the passing of time, and portraiture, in which clothing, accessories and setting speak of the portrayed person’s status, occupation and character.

The central figure of the artist was inspired by French novelist George

Sand, one of the most popular writers in Europe in the Romantic era. The figure confronts the viewer with wide-open legs, smoking a pipe, as Sand did, while seemingly performing the subversion of conventions and gender binary.

Imbued with a sense of longing and imminent loss, this work shows a young soldier being sent to war, pictured pensively looking into the distance, while his older sister tends to him, seeing that everything is in order. Tenderness is combined with the menacing prospect of the war. Compositionally, the work represents a crucial turning point in Rego’s practice, as she started introducing threedimensional space into her pictures.

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LOVE, 1995 REPRO OP SUBS

The model for this is the artist’s second child, Victoria, who sat for the work wearing Rego’s dress from her marriage to artist Victor Willing (who died in 1988). The painting is one in a series of large pastels of single, female figures, which

Rego embarked on in 1994. It is typical of her approach to her subjects, where nothing is idealised or stereotypical. Her women are physically strong and charged with emotions; in this case, the comfort and pain associated with love and its loss.

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This is the last picture in a sequence of large, square-format paintings representing girls playing with dogs. There is no dog in the picture frame, but while the desire to murder has been interpreted allegorically, there is little room left for ambiguity.

The artist was at the time preparing herself psychologically for the loss of her husband, who suffered for years from multiple sclerosis. This painting expresses the artist’s need to extinguish her emotional dependency.

THE DANCE, 1988 The Dance is a piece about mourning. The figures dancing on a Portuguese beach represent real people in Rego’s life. A child dances with her mother and grandmother, and a male figure, who appears twice, stands for Willing. He is

shown dancing with Rego and a blonde lover. Solitary and larger than life, the figure on the left represents the artist, who will soon have to stand on her own. The work took six months to paint and was completed after Willing’s death.

Dr Elena Crippa is curator of modern and contemporary British art at Tate Britain SEE

Paula Rego 7 July–24 October, Tate Britain; tate.org.uk

PRIVATE COLLECTION, LONDON © PAULA REGO; PRIVATE COLLECTION. ENGLAND © PAULA REGO; TATE © PAULA REGO

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THE LITTLE MURDERESS, 1987

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NOTES ON A STATUS SYMBOL

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Favoured by pharaohs and current fashionistas, the fan has doubled as a cooling tool and miniature artwork for centuries.Jacob Moss, curator of The Fan Museum, celebrates its story, and debunks myths around it

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Left: an Art Nouveau-style French fan, with mother of pearl sticks and painted silk leaf, c.1900–10 Below: an English example with ivory sticks, c.1760, painted with a view of Covent Garden market

quality examples are genuine (although unheralded) works of art. Their history crosses the globe, extending thousands of years. Some of the earliest surviving examples were discovered in 1922, in Tutankhamen’s tomb. Of the eight beautifully crafted fans found alongside the pharaoh, it’s the so-called ‘golden fan’ that I find most alluring, despite its original crest of ostrich feathers having disintegrated. Richly coated in gold foil, the upper part depicts the pharaoh »

THE FAN MUSEUM, HELENE ALEXANDER COLLECTION/RHIAN COX XXXXXX XXXXX

t exercises the office of the zephyrs, and cools the glowing breast... It hides bad teeth, malicious smiles and frowns of discontent… in a word, it has a thousand admirable qualities and may justly be entitled one of the noblest inventions of the human mind.’ I like this description of the handheld fan, from The Grand Magazine in 1760. Functionality aside, fans touch on themes as broad as social history, art, design, fashion, ethnography and religion. The better-

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Across the Mediterranean, from Africa and into Europe, the story of the fan gathers pace in the 16th century. Fans were on the Continent before this (archaeological finds date to the 4th century BC), but it’s in the 1500s that their transition from exotic novelty to indispensable costume accessory begins. Fixed fans with jewel-encrusted handles set with colourful, exotic plumes feature in paintings of Elizabeth I and her Continental counterparts. Also of the time is the Venetian ‘ventarolo’, or flag fan, a novel invention requiring only a gentle rotation of the wrist to set the ‘flag’ to spin and conjure cooling winds. Among The Fan Museum’s earliest treasures is a late-16thcentury flag fan, its silk-fringed screen painted with a juicy, albeit naive rendition of Venus unveiled by a lascivious satyr, who Cupid takes aim at in defence of his mother (see opposite).

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Top left: spot the snail, embroidered on this fan from the 1590s Above left: the ‘golden fan’ that was found in the tomb of Tutankhamen Above right: man with a fan, the warrior Kiyomori Heishokoku by Yoshitoshi Taiso, c.1885

It’s the story of the folding fan, thought to be a Japanese invention, that we connect with best. Introduced in Europe in the second half of the 16th century, folding fans combine practicality, showmanship and frivolity. Portraits of Elizabeth I feature them, either in the hand or attached to a ribbon suspended from the waistline of her wheel farthingale. The museum has one of the few surviving examples, its silk pleats delicately embroidered with scrolling vines and flowers; look closely and you’ll notice a snail winding its way along a tendril. Such fans (in general) were not made as works of art to display and admire, but were functional objects, often used and abused. That this should have survived intact for more than 400 years is miraculous.

UNKNOWN MAKERS

The fan’s journey from rarity to ubiquity reaches completion in the 18th century – when the craft of fan making in Europe attained brilliance. Due to its artisanal nature, contemporary accounts

THE FAN MUSEUM; ALAMY; UNIVERSAL HISTORY ARCHIVE/UIG/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

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hunting ostrich. The discovery suggests that from an early point, fans functioned as potent symbols of status, prosperity and taste.

Fans, 2 THE FAN MUSEUM; THE FAN MUSEUM, HELENE ALEXANDER COLLECTION

THE FAN MUSEUM; ALAMY; UNIVERSAL HISTORY ARCHIVE/UIG/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

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of fan making are rare, but we know it was complicated, requiring many craftspeople.

The sticks were made by specialist carvers, jewellers and metalworkers, whose workmanship displays finesse and ingenuity, sometimes incorporating intricate silverwork, articulated figures and miniature timepieces. Held closed, as they often were, a fan could still facilitate a topic of conversation or attract glances of admiration or envy. The pleated leaves were by other artisans, including fan painters, whose talents and status varied from journeymen (and women) to highly skilled professionals. Working in

‘AS THE SOCIAL COMMENTATOR JOSEPH ADDISON SAID IN 1711, “WOMEN ARE ARMED WITH FANS AS MEN WITH SWORDS, AND SOMETIMES DO MORE EXECUTION WITH THEM”’

Top left: a threein-one fan based on the matryoska Russian doll concept, by Sylvain Le Guen, 2007 Above left: a detail of one of The Fan Museum’s earliest fans, featuring a satyr, Venus and Cupid Above right: close up on the fine canepin leather leaf of a FrenchRussian fan of 1875, showing an 18th-centurystyle ball

relative anonymity, these painters rarely signed or dated their work and were unjustly derided.

The London Tradesman of 1747, for example, dismisses fan painting as a ‘trifling branch of the arts, which requires not great skill nor fancy to make a workman’.

In the 18th century fans with printed leaves (as opposed to painted) emerge. Produced in volume and at speed, they captured the market, according to one aggrieved fan painter, who, in 1751, noted that ‘Ladies of Quality down to Kitchen Maids’ were ‘pleasing themselves with the cheapness of their bargains’. Printed fans reflect the social and cultural mores of the time, their paper pleats engraved with topical subjects such as fashion satires, military propaganda, popular dances and parlour games. A well-known example from 1797, named ‘Fanology’ or the ‘Ladies Conversation Fan’, proposed a complex system of communication based on numerical and alphabetical values. If the aim were to converse unobserved then this code, which demanded its ‘speakers’ adopt unnatural postures and movements, would prove largely » THEA RTSSOCIET Y.ORG / 3 3

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FANS AS WEAPONS

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The notion of clandestine communication based solely on the positioning of a fan infers forbidden liaisons. There is, however, little evidence to suggest the language of fans was anything more than a mild amusement and, if practised at all, then only by a small number. What is certain is that women throughout history have artfully manipulated fans to display character and convey emotion. As the social commentator Joseph Addison said in 1711, ‘Women are armed with fans as men with swords, and sometimes do more execution with them.’

In the West, the popularity of fans declined post the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars.

They did not return to fashion until the 1850s, and then in spectacular manner. The era marked prosperity in Europe, particularly in France, where a revived aristocracy and rising class of aspirational entrepreneurs displayed position and wealth through material means. As fans reflect the tastes of their period, the best examples incorporated the finest Belgian lace, paintings by renowned artists and monogrammed sticks enriched with goldwork, guilloché enamelling and gemstones. Among The Fan Museum’s most ostentatious fans from the mid to late 19th century (the fan’s ‘second golden age’) are those

by Maisons Fabergé and Alexandre. The latter,

OUR EXPERT’S STORY

Jacob Moss Arts Society Accredited Lecturer

• Jacob gained a BA in fashion at Reading School of Art, then studied fashion curation at the London College of Fashion • As curator at The Fan Museum, he is involved in its 30th anniversary this year • Among his talks for The Arts Society are Seduced! Fans and the art of advertising and Painted pleats: a history of European fan painting

Top: Woman with a Fan, c.1879

by Renoir Above: a 2017 fan by street artist Giacomo Bufarini/ RUN and Sylvain Le Guen

established in 1849, furnished crowned heads of Europe with fans considered today to be among the finest decorative articles of their period.

Fashion is capricious; the decline of the fan gathered pace in the early 20th century. In 2017, the Heritage Crafts Association categorised fan making as a critically endangered craft, at risk of no longer being practised in the UK. That same year The Fan Museum launched ‘Street Fans’, a pioneering project linking two disparate fields: street art and fan making. Working with fan maker Sylvain Le Guen, artists decorated fans with the same rebellious energy they devoted to making art in the streets. The results – 60 handcrafted folding fans – were exhibited, attracting record audiences. Fans are quietly returning to fashion, carried by models of all genders walking runways for top fashion houses.

Makers such as Maison Duvelleroy (founded in 1827, relaunched in 2010) and Le Guen are spearheading the revival. Although the fan’s status has been usurped by other items – the handbag and sunglasses, which go for extravagant sums – could it be that a greater appreciation of the exquisite craft of fan making is coming?

SEE

The Fan Museum is in Greenwich, London; thefanmuseum.org.uk

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counterproductive. But it is with ‘Fanology’ and similar types of ‘speaking’ fans that the so-called ‘language of fans’ first takes root in public imagination.

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DON’T MISS

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Scented roses, butterflies and the hum of bees – this is the season for garden visits. From London’s Kew to Derbyshire’s Chatsworth; Scilly’s Tresco Abbey to the (more than) 200 sites cared for by the National Trust, the choice is dazzling. Seen here is the White Garden at Sissinghurst in Kent (nationaltrust.org.uk).

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ROADS TO RECOVERY

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Visitor footfall, once again, is filling the spaces of small galleries, museums and arts sites. Yet, after nearly a year of closure, they are reopening forever changed.

Jessie Johnson investigates the ways The Arts Society shows support at grassroots to such precious places ILLUSTRATION: CLARE NICHOLAS

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ver the past year, friends of Gainsborough’s House in Suffolk were sent postcards and a packet of wildflower seeds – tiny tokens of connection at a time of national crisis. As fate would have it, the museum and gallery had closed its doors for major refurbishments in October 2019. Yet, when lockdown struck in March 2020, forced redundancies together with the museum’s ineligibility for emergency funding saw the small team scrambling for fresh fundraising ideas. While the team eagerly look forward to welcoming visitors next spring, they fully acknowledge the current situation. ‘We never expected income over this time, but lockdown slowed the project down and we will feel this impact further down the line,’ admits Mark Bills, Arts Society Lecturer and executive director at the house.

During the pandemic our museums and galleries have been closed for the longest time since World War II – and it’s the smallest sites that now face the biggest threats. Independent museums and galleries make up around 71% of the sector, attracting some 24 million

visitors every year. Yet coronavirus has resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs, cuts to budgets and the near closure of iconic sites. Earlier this year the Fashion and Textile Museum in London was saved from the brink when a nail-biting crowdfunded bid for £42,000 came good, while the Florence Nightingale Museum, just a few miles west, will offer weekend openings only from June, while the museum undergoes a major review of operations.

During lockdown, our cultural venues have pivoted beyond measure to stay connected – from virtual offerings such as Beamish’s Victorian classrooms to family bubble tours at the Roald Dahl Museum in Buckinghamshire. The idea of a society without these cultural touchstones – the places we go to feel inspired, see friends and volunteer – is a devastating prospect to behold.

In response, Arts Society Members are working in new and creative ways to support their local gems. The newly published Fifty Treasures book, compiled by the West Midlands Area, spotlights some of the most inspiring local places to visit, including – government restrictions willing –

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guided tours at the Rugby School Chapel and the Red House Glass Cone Community Museum in Stourbridge, set to open in spring 2022. ‘Many of the places featured have had a really tough time, but we think they’ll come through because of people’s love for the arts,’ says a representative from the team.

For independent sites, the guidance of charities such as the Association of Independent Museums (AIM) has been invaluable. Emma Chaplin, who was in post as head of AIM until this summer, believes the agile, creative make-up of smaller cultural venues could be key to their longevity. ‘It’s fair to say with government schemes and emergency funding for arts, most places are afloat, but they are battered, and a lot will depend on the success of reopening.’

The Arts Society is committed to helping our nation’s cultural sites on their roads to recovery. This autumn, we will be offering a grant of £250 for each Society to donate to a local organisation with whom they either work or wish to support. Until then, our museums, galleries and arts venues are relying on us to come back and reimmerse ourselves in the cultural wonders on our doorstep for their survival.

Turn the page to discover just some of the ways Arts Society Members are supporting these places.

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For more on The Arts Society’s grants, visit theartssociety.org/grants

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In addition to the Fifty Treasures of the West Midlands publication, there are also the Fifty Treasures of the North West, South West, North East, Wessex, Beds & Herts, East Surrey and Chiltern Hills Area books. To purchase, email enquiries@theartssociety.org

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Discover more about Heritage Volunteering at theartssociety.org/ heritage-volunteering

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‘THE ARTS SOCIETY WILL BE OFFERING A GRANT OF £250 FOR EACH SOCIETY TO DONATE TO A LOCAL ORGANISATION’ A DONATION DELIVERED

HANDS-ON HELP

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Multi-artform venue Chapter in Cardiff Hilary Olleson is Head of The Arts Society (chapter.org) is home to over 40 of Heritage Volunteering and has Wales’s most dynamic creative witnessed the myriad ways Members companies. It’s also the muchmake a difference to their local loved meeting place for arts venues.

THE ARTS This summer Members in The Arts Society Cardiff.

SOCIETY IN South Ayrshire will resume work During lockdown, Members ACTION with the Tam O’ Shanter project, were able to stream virtual cleaning, photographing and meetings through Chapter’s transcribing memorabilia owned by operational hub, which linked the Robert Burns Museum for digitisation.

Lecturers to Members at home, hitch-free.

At the Henry Moore Studios & Gardens When concern started to grow for Chapter’s unfolding financial difficulties, in Hertfordshire, Heritage Volunteers will the Society made a one-off donation of guide students, once more, around the £500 which, explains former Chair Dianne site’s iconic sculptures. In Staffordshire, Griffiths, was a symbiotic way of showing Volunteers from two local Societies will support when it was needed most. resume posts at The Wedgwood Museum, ‘Chapter has been important in our some helping to log Josiah Wedgwood’s Members’ lives as it is a wonderful arts very own trials in clays and glazes. centre, celebrating its 50th anniversary ‘Our training is constantly upgraded by experts and this year,’ she says. ‘Its vision from the volunteering becomes a big part beginning was a space for artists to produce and present work, free from of Member’s lives,’ says Hilary. commercial pressures. As it’s been a hub ‘For smaller sites, a team of people for so many of us it was vital that we helping with your book collection continued to support this special place.’ or archives for free can be a lifeline.’

Read about The Pickling Project at theartssociety.org/arts-news-features/ pickling-project

FINE SPECIMENS When a collection of plant and animal specimens preserved in fluid were rediscovered in a quiet corner of St Albans Museum, conservators knew they had to save them from certain extinction. Enter The Pickling Project. Thanks to a grant of £1,500 from The Arts Society, 16 volunteers – a mix of students and locals – were able to undertake training in the art of pickling and research, culminating in a three-month display at the museum over summer 2019.

‘The central aspect was to get volunteers involved, but to do that we had to give them specialist skills,’ explains Caroline Eldred, who was chair of St Albans Museum at the time of this project. ‘One of the volunteers has gone on to become a professional conservator. It’s due to The Arts Society grant that we could get volunteers involved at all and we were so grateful for the help.’

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Our guide to this season’s arts and culture events

As You Like It The Globe Theatre UNTIL 29 AUG

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The Globe Touring Company presents the tale of pastoral romance and mistaken identities. Look out, too, for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (until 30 Oct), Romeo & Juliet (until 17 Oct) and Twelfth Night (29 Jul–30 Oct). shakespearesglobe.com T: 020 7401 9919 _

Within the Reach of All: The Century Guild William Morris Gallery PRODUCTION

UNTIL 31 AUG

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Exploring the key figures and influences of The Century Guild, founded in 1882 as a forum for designers and artisans. wmgallery.org.uk T: 020 8496 4390 _

Michael Armitage: Paradise Edict Royal Academy UNTIL 19 SEPT

For news of The Arts Society events near you see theartssociety.org/ events For our monthly ‘top 5 events’ and ‘Instant Expert’ e-talks, sign up at theartssociety.org/signup *Details correct at time of going to print; please check with all sites before you visit

Rich, multilayered paintings from the artist who works between London and Nairobi. His art reflects on his Kenyan experiences and current events, drawing on contemporary East African art and European art history. royalacademy.org.uk T: 020 7300 8090 _

the gallery its 50th, this show explores the art of photojournalism via the Guardian picture library. thephotographersgallery. org.uk T: 020 7087 9300 _

Nero: the man behind the myth The British Museum UNTIL 24 OCT

The true story behind Rome’s fifth emperor.

Was he really as bad as he is painted? britishmuseum.org T: 020 7323 8000 _

Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits National Maritime Museum UNTIL 31 OCT

In partnership with the National Portrait Gallery, a show that uncovers more than 500 years of royal portraiture, featuring works by Holbein, Reynolds and Warhol. rmg.co.uk T: 020 8312 6608 _

Remember the Future Orleans House Gallery UNTIL 14 NOV

The Photographers’ Gallery

Addressing the ecological crisis, artists-in-residence set up studio in this historic gallery on Richmond’s riverside. The first residents, until 18 July, are Ackroyd & Harvey, who we interviewed in our summer 2019 issue. orleanshousegallery.org T: 020 8831 6000 _

UNTIL 26 SEPT

Sophie Taeuber-Arp

As The Guardian celebrates its 200th anniversary and

Tate Modern

The Picture Library

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15 JUL–17 OCT

DON’T MISS

MUSEUM OF THE HOME Formerly the Geffrye Museum, the Museum of the Home reopens after a transformative £18.1m reimagining. With 80% more exhibition space to display the collections, and 50% more public space, the Grade I listed 18th-century former almshouses remain the heart of the site. Explore the new Home Galleries, the much-loved Rooms Through Time, the replanted gardens and more. museumofthehome.org.uk T: 020 7739 9893 Taeuber-Arp was one of the foremost abstract artists of the 1920s and 30s. This is a long-overdue recognition of her pivotal contribution to modern art and design. tate.org.uk T: 020 7887 8888 _

Tosca Crystal Palace Bowl 27–29 AUG

From English National Opera: picnic on the grass and enjoy Puccini’s story of love, lust, murder and political intrigue as the sun sets over Crystal Palace Park, part of the South Facing Festival. eno.org T: 020 7836 0111 _

THE SOUTH AND EAST OF ENGLAND

Matisse: Drawing with Scissors Willis Museum and Sainsbury Gallery, Basingstoke UNTIL 17 JUL

Work by Matisse when in his 80s, a time when he could no longer paint, sculpt or make prints, but turned to cutting shapes with scissors. hampshireculture.org.uk/ willis-museum-andsainsbury-gallery T: 01256 465902 _

All Souls: The Outside In Co-Commission Pallant House Gallery, Chichester

Poussin and the Dance

UNTIL 18 JUL

The National Gallery

The second co-commission

by Outside In and the Pallant, inviting applications from artists facing barriers to the art world. Artist Julia Oak explores spirituality and the work of Madge Gill,

9 OCT 2021–2 JAN 2022

Plan ahead and expect revelry and drama in a show dedicated to Poussin and dance. nationalgallery.org.uk T: 020 7747 2885

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Yayoi Kusama: I Want Your Tears to Flow with the Words I Wrote Victoria Miro, London; until 31 Jul This is Kusama’s On Hearing the Sunset Afterglow’s Message of Love, My Heart Shed Tears, 2021, which will be on display in this major presentation of the artist’s work. Expect dynamic paintings, soft sculptures and bronze pumpkins. victoria-miro.com; T: 020 7336 8109

who created thousands of spiritual ink drawings. pallant.org.uk T: 01243 774557 _

Art for Life Firstsite, Colchester

© YAYOI KUSAMA, COURTESY OTA FINE ARTS AND VICTORIA MIRO; WILLIAM ROBERTS, THE SEASIDE, 1965–6. IMAGE COURTESY OF THE ARTS COUNCIL COLLECTION, SOUTHBANK CENTRE, LONDON, © ESTATE OF JOHN DAVID ROBERTS, COURTESY OF THE WILLIAM ROBERTS SOCIETY, BY PERMISSION OF THE TREASURY SOLICITOR

UNTIL 5 SEPT

The result of a Firstsite project in which key workers worked with artists to explore their experiences of the pandemic. firstsite.uk T: 01206 713700 _

A Passion for Landscape: Rediscovering John Crome Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery

1 JUL–OCT (DATE TBC)

Summer of Sound

Artangel puts extraordinary art in unexpected places. This summer Orford Ness hosts a series of new works by poets, artists and musicians. nationaltrust.org.uk/ orfordness T: 01394 450900 _

Wakehurst, Haywards Heath

South Pacific Chichester Festival Theatre 5 JUL–4 SEPT

The theatre reopens with Oscar Hammerstein’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical masterpiece. cft.org.uk T: 01243 781312

9 JUL–12 SEPT

Giant megaphones in the woods and robotic ‘woodpeckers’ creating a live soundscape – the gardens at Wakehurst offer a special aural experience this summer with largescale sound installations from award-winning artists. kew.org/wakehurst T: 01444 894066 THE MIDLANDS

The city gets into its stride with a summer of events.

Plan ahead for The Walk (27 Oct), when Coventry welcomes Little Amal, a 3.5-metre-tall puppet, who arrives after a journey of 8,000km through eight countries to focus attention on the plight of refugees. coventry2021.co.uk T: 0344 581 4950 _

A Curator’s Choice: The Jerwood Collection The Harley Gallery, Worksop

VARIOUS DATES

UNTIL 5 SEPT

Celebrating one of Britain’s great Romantic artists, on the bicentenary of his death. museums.norfolk.gov.uk T: 01603 493625 _

Put together by Lara Wardle, director and curator of the Jerwood Collection, including paintings, prints, drawings and sculptures by artists such as Maggi Hambling, Chantal Joffe, Rose Wylie and Peter Lanyon. harleygallery.co.uk T: 01909 501700 _

John Nash: The Landscape of Love and Solace

A Very Special Place: Ikon in the 1990s

Towner Eastbourne

UNTIL 30 AUG

UNTIL 26 SEPT

The fourth in a series of surveys looking at Ikon’s artistic programme, this time focused on exhibitions and projects from the 1990s, featuring work by Antony Gormley, Lisa Milroy and Yinka Shonibare. ikon-gallery.co.uk T: 0121 248 0708 _

Towner reopens with the most comprehensive exhibition of John Nash’s work for 50 years.

Overshadowed by his brother Paul, Nash was one of the most versatile and prolific artists of the last century, despite having no formal training. townereastbourne.org.uk T: 01323 434670 _

Artangel presents Afterness Orford Ness, Suffolk

Ikon Gallery, Birmingham

DON’T MISS

SEASIDE MODERN: ART AND LIFE ON THE BEACH Hastings Contemporary UNTIL 31 OCT

Curated by Arts Society Lecturer James Russell, discover how, while developing modern British art, artists made the beach their focus.

For more, read his upcoming online ‘Instant Expert’: sign up at theartssociety.org/signup. hastingscontemporary.org; T: 01424 728377

Making a Mark: Dutch and Flemish Drawings from the Royal Collection The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham An exhibition including works by Rubens, Van Dyck and Jan Brueghel the Elder. barber.org.uk T: 0121 4147333 _

Scale Museum of Making, Derby UNTIL 28 NOV

The first exhibition at the new Museum of Making, once the Derby Silk Mill, exploring the scale and impact of the site’s legacy. derbymuseums.org T: 01332 641901 _

Peter Eugene Ball: Farewell to All That Southwell Minster, Southwell 8 AUG–12 SEPT

Modern Mercia: Post-war art in Coventry and Warwickshire 1945–1970 Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum

Showcasing the rich variety of architecture, art and design created in the area after World War II. warwickdc.gov.uk/ royalpumprooms T: 01926 742700 _

UNTIL 26 SEPT

UNTIL 8 AUG

Coventry, City of Culture 2021

UNTIL 19 SEPT

Sculptor Peter Eugene Ball’s work is an intrinsic part of our spiritual landscape. His final exhibition will feature more than 50 new secular and sacred works. southwellminster.org T: 01636 812649

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Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham

DON’T MISS

CHALLENGING CONVENTION: VANESSA BELL, LAURA KNIGHT, GWEN JOHN AND DOD PROCTER

25 SEPT–2 OCT

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The world premiere of the Northern Ballet’s magical new production. trch.co.uk T: O115 989 5555

Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne UNTIL 21 AUG

An exploration of the lives and work of four 20th-century women artists who broke boundaries to make their mark in a fastchanging world. Seen here is Vanessa Bell’s The Tub. laingartgallery.org.uk T: 0191 2781611

WALES

ART

Tarek Lakhrissi: My Immortal Mostyn, Llandudno UNTIL 26 SEPT

PRODUCTION CLIENT

The first UK institutional solo exhibition from Lakhrissi, who takes over the gallery with a multidimensional installation inspired by Milton’s Paradise Lost . mostyn.org T: 01492 879201 _

exhibition tells the story of how Richard Jenkins from Port Talbot became an international star. museum.wales T: 0300 111 2 333 _

chapter.org T: 029 2031 1050 _

Becoming Richard Burton

Art In The Bar: Sarah Taylor Silverwood

MOMA Machynlleth

National Museum Cardiff

Chapter, Cardiff

UNTIL 3 OCT

25 JUN–7 NOV

Using diaries, papers and personal objects from the Richard Burton Archives at Swansea University, this

The artist mixes animation and sculpture to explore the classical Greek myth of Daphne and Apollo.

Two exhibitions from two artists with strong ties to Wales and its culture. moma.cymru T: 01654 703355

Brangwyn Hall, Swansea

Russell-Cotes Art Gallery, Bournemouth

23 SEPT

UNTIL 12 SEPT

Sir Tom Jones and Bon Iver are fans. Find out why, when acoustic rock-folk sisters Emily, Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor kick off their UK tour. brangwyn.co.uk T: 01792 635432

Over 80 lesser-known works from the RussellCotes collection, reinterpreted through the lens of lockdowns. russellcotes.com T: 01202 128000 _

Haegue Yang: Strange Attractors

THE WEST OF ENGLAND

Tate St Ives UNTIL 26 SEPT

Veronica Ryan: Along a Spectrum Spike Island, Bristol UNTIL 5 SEPT

ENJOY MORE ART ONLINE

Ceri H Pritchard: Paradoxes Ruth Jên: Gwlana: To gather or pick wool.

18 SEPT–13 NOV

Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason

All that glisters: the historical appeal of metal thread embroidery

The Barbican Hall, London

Royal School of Needlework online talk

Music for cello and piano by Bridge, Rachmaninov and Britten – one of a series of performances by artists, available to live and online audiences all summer. barbican.org.uk _

30 JUN, 7PM (BOOKINGS CLOSE AT 3PM ON THE DAY)

Using objects from the school’s archive, Amy Hare examines goldwork embroidery and explores its appeal throughout history. royal-needlework.org.uk

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4 JUL (AVAILABLE ONLINE UNTIL 8PM, 6 JUL)

William Morris and the Kelmscott Press ONGOING

A major exhibition of new art from the Montserratborn British artist. Her category-defying works (expect cocoa pods and orange skins, seeds and plants cast in bronze or clay, or simply left to dry) come with multiple messages. spikeisland.org.uk T: 0117 929 2266 _

Hidden Highlights: Life in Lockdown

It’s 125 years since the publication of the Kelmscott Chaucer, the pinnacle of William Morris’s bookprinting venture. The William Morris Society marks the anniversary with talks, workshops and exhibitions. williammorrissociety.org _

Scottish Opera Online ONGOING

Includes Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte and Opera Highlights , a new production taking a playful look

The work of the South Korean artist, bringing together her extraordinary sculptures, drawings, collage and more. tate.org.uk T: 01736 796226 _

Island Life: Photographs from the Martin Parr Foundation Bristol Museum and Art Gallery UNTIL 31 OCT

Parr not only creates photographs, he collects them too. This exhibition features over 60 images, mixing scenes of everyday

at the joys and frustrations performers face in a Covid world. scottishopera.org.uk/what-s-on/ opera-on-screen _

Visit a studio ONGOING

Ceramic artists Martin and Siobhan Miles-Moore, working with digital designer Rich Stevens, offer a visit to their studio online.

Explore their works and processes and learn about their inspirations. milesmooreceramics.com/ enriched

TATE © ESTATE OF VANESSA BELL. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, DACS 2021. PHOTO CREDIT: TATE

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Northern Ballet: Merlin

life with significant events, including the Black Lives Matter movement and the Aberfan disaster. bristolmuseums.org.uk T: 01179 223571 _

Appledore Book Festival Various venues 16–25 SEPT

Appledore 2020 was the UK’s first-ever drive-in book festival. This year it goes outdoors again, either as a drive-in or under canvas, in various village venues. Authors confirmed include Gavin Esler and Reverend Richard Coles. appledorebookfestival. co.uk T: 01237 424949 THE NORTH OF ENGLAND

Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life

The streets and children of Townhead in Glasgow, and her home at Catterline on the coast of Scotland, were both subjects for Eardley.

See her works in this rare show, which marks the centenary of her birth. scottish-gallery.co.uk T: 0131 558 1200

The Hepworth Wakefield UNTIL 27 FEB 2022

The museum marks its 10th anniversary with the largest exhibition of Hepworth’s work since her death in 1975. hepworthwakefield.org T: 01924 247360 _

John Hoyland: The Last Paintings Millennium Gallery, Sheffield 3 JUL–10 OCT

The series of paintings made in the last years of the leading British abstract painter’s life. museums-sheffield.org.uk T: 0114 278 2600 _

Lucian Freud: Real Lives

DON’T MISS

CROSSINGS: COMMUNITY AND REFUGE Various UK locations and dates

The Lampedusa Cross is on tour, for the first time, care of the British Museum’s Spotlight Loan. Made from remnants of a refugee boat wrecked near the island of Lampedusa, this piece holds messages about kindness, community and indifference. Also see 12 tiny boats by artist Issam Kourbaj, made from bicycle mudguards, packed with burnt matches, representing the fragile vessels used by refugees. On now at the People’s History Museum, Manchester, until 5 Sept. phm.org.uk; T: 0161 838 9190

NORTHERN IRELAND

Ambera Wellmann: UnTurning; Maya Balcioglu; Jaap Pieters: The Eye of Amsterdam The Mac, Belfast UNTIL 8 AUG

Tate Liverpool

Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh

Time and Tide: The Transformation of the Tay

Baltic Open Submission

24 JUL 2021–16 JAN 2022

UNTIL 25 SEPT

The McManus, Dundee

Baltic, Gateshead

Paintings, etchings and photographs featuring the artist’s best-known sitters, including Kitty Garman. tate.org.uk/liverpool T: 0151 702 7400

Marking the artist’s 70th birthday year with an exhibition of powerful works that focus on the Scottish landscape. dovecotstudios.com T: 0131 558 1200 _

UNTIL 3 OCT

Islander: the Paintings of Donald Smith

Aberdeen Art Gallery

City Art Centre, Edinburgh

The five-yearly contemporary art exhibition arrives in Aberdeen before travelling to Wolverhampton, Manchester and Plymouth. aagm.co.uk T: 03000 200293 _

UNTIL 5 SEPT

Celebrating the creativity of the north east with an exhibition of work from 150 artists and makers from the area. balticmill.com T: 0191 4781810 _

SCOTLAND

Portrait of a Town

The Galloway Hoard: Viking-age Treasure

The Granary Gallery, Berwick-upon-Tweed

National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

UNTIL 10 OCT

UNTIL 12 SEPT

Father and son photojournalist team Davie and Ian Smith document six decades of everyday life in Berwick (also available online at photocentre berwick.co.uk) berwickvisualarts.co.uk T: 01289 330999

The richest collection of rare and unique Viking-age objects ever discovered in Britain or Ireland. nms.ac.uk T: 0300 123 6789 _

Jock McFadyen: Lost Boat Party

UNTIL 26 SEPT

The Lewis-born artist painted from his studio on the island for 40 years until his death in 2014, creating intense studies of the local people. This is the first major exhibition of his work. edinburghmuseums.org.uk T: 0131 529 3993

An examination of the influence of the River Tay on Dundee and its people. mcmanus.co.uk T: 01382 307200 _

British Art Show 9 10 JUL–10 OCT

Joan Eardley: Centenary The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh 28 JUL–28 AUG

Three shows by artists working in different media: Wellmann’s fantastical paintings; Balcioglu’s largescale works with paper, latex and fabric; and Pieters’s film works using Super 8mm film. themaclive.com T: 028 9023 5053 _

Belfast International Arts Festival Various venues 13 OCT–2 NOV

The festival returns to live performances this year.

Dancer and choreographer Eileen McClory is the 2021 artist-in-residence. belfastinternational artsfestival.com T: 028 9033 2261 _

Rag ’n’ Bone Man Waterfront Hall, Belfast 19 OCT

The artist takes his second album, Life By Misadventure, on the road. waterfront.co.uk T: 028 9033 4400

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The Bolette is one of Fred. Olsen’s newest ships

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Smooth sailing The new series of Arts Society Tours from Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, says Jacky Ferneyhough, offers the chance to travel in style to fascinating locations

A

rresting art and breathtaking scenery await you on a cruise with Fred. Olsen.

The 2022–23 programme takes in heritage and history, from the lochs and legends of Scotland to the colourful buildings of Cuba.

More Fred. Olsen cruises depart from a UK port than any cruise line – and whether you’re seeking Scandinavian splendour or imperial Morocco, natural wonders or

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architectural gems, there will be a destination to suit all tastes.

Local culinary delights are also on the menu – discover the origins of coffee in Colombia, taste delicious tapas in Cadiz or drop by for a Guinness in Dublin. On the special Arts Society Tours, you are invited to be guests on cruises where experts in art, archaeology and ancient civilisations share their knowledge.

An Arts Society Accredited Lecturer will give talks, lead onshore tours and, on selected cruises, host a private drinks party. Among the other many benefits is the free on-board spend credit of up to £200 per person – and the sheer pleasure of meeting others who share your interest in exploring the stories of places new to you.

Above all comes the reassurance that each cruise is meticulously planned. Award-winning Fred. Olsen is a fifth-generation, family-run business with over 170 years of maritime experience.

The company’s long history and commitment to excellence shows in the quality of its ships and travel itinerary, with solo, couple and group travellers enjoying travelling on

THE NEXT STEP IS IN THE PLANNING… EXPLORING ICONIC SITES OF CROATIA AND ITALY Leave Southampton in October 2022 to visit ancient towns in Italy and Croatia, many ports only accessible by smaller ships. Explore the rich history of the area, and see the walled cities of Split and Dubrovnik, the canals of Venice and Chioggia, and the scenic ports of Šibenik and Kotor. Alice Foster is the knowledgeable art history lecturer on board.

Prices for a twin cabin start from £4,199pp TOURING SCENIC IRELAND Setting sail in May 2022 from Rosyth, this cruise takes in a glacial fjord, majestic cliffs, loughs navigable only by smaller ships, and the sights of two cities, Belfast and Dublin. Your guide on the early cultural history of Britain and Ireland is Professor Michelle Brown, a world expert on manuscripts.

Prices for a twin cabin start from £1,399pp

The brightly painted streets of Morocco

MOROCCO AND MOORISH SEVILLE Sailing from Southampton in November 2022, this fortnightlong cruise takes you to Tangier and Casablanca, with optional tours to the Atlas Mountains, and the Alcázar of Seville, a royal palace still used as a residence. Lecturer Ray Warburton OBE will be on board with talks to enrich your enjoyment of each destination.

Prices for a twin cabin start from £1,799pp

LATIN AMERICAN CIVILISATIONS Starting in Cuba, in January 2023, Fred. Olsen will take you to visit Mayan treasures in the company of Dr Diane Davies, a Maya archaeologist and anthropologist. You’ll have the opportunity to tour the Mayan ruins of Chichén Itzá on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, and learn the story of coffee in South America’s Colombia.

Prices for a twin cabin start from £2,669pp BLACK SEA DISCOVERY AND MEDITERRANEAN ADVENTURE Visit five stunning cities in five different countries in September or October 2022. The cruise will stop off in Malta, Turkey, Spain, Greece and Russia, where guests can visit Sochi, the nation’s ‘summer capital’. On board will be John Osborne, expert on Classical history, architecture and languages, and ancient civilisations.

Prices for a twin cabin start from £4,499pp

SHUTTERSTOCK

‘WHETHER YOU’RE SEEKING SCANDINAVIAN SPLENDOUR OR IMPERIAL MOROCCO, NATURAL WONDERS OR ARCHITECTURAL GEMS, IT’S ALL WITHIN REACH OF A FRED. OLSEN SHIP’ either short breaks or world journeys.

The company’s smaller-sized ships are able to navigate more places and ports than larger liners, and, with fewer passengers, each cruise offers a truly personal and friendly service.

Excitingly, two new ships are joining the fleet, the Bolette and the Borealis, offering the same high quality of leisure facilities, gourmet dining and accommodation as their sister ships. Book today for a voyage full of discovery, treasures and beauty.

FIND OUT MORE

For more information, contact the Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines Reservations team on 0800 0355 116, quoting The Arts Society AFN0001, Mon to Sat 9am–5pm. For bespoke group bookings, call 01473 746169, Mon to Fri 9am–5pm; fredolsencruises.com/ group-travel/the-arts-society-cruises

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ADVERTORIAL

Upcoming Study Days, courses and events from The Arts Society

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SOUTH WEST

Decoding art – a guide to art history 23, 30 SEPT AND 7, 14, 21 OCT, 10.30AM–3.30PM

SUBS ART PRODUCTION

Tutors: Geri Parlby and Jeni Fraser Greek art in the archaic and classical period; the art of the Byzantine East; the work of women artists across the ages; the diversity of Aboriginal art; and medicine in art and a toxic tale of poisonous pigments.

Museum of Somerset, Castle Green, Taunton £130 (full course) E: yatesdavid135@ gmail.com GREATER LONDON

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Caravaggio: genius or villain?

A commemoration of Caravaggio’s birth, 450 years ago 20 JULY, 10AM–1PM

© JOHN BETHELL/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

Study Days, 1

SPECIAL COURSES

Thank you for supporting Arts Society activity during Covid-19.

Please be aware that cancellation or postponement is still possible, according to government advice.

These events are just a taster of those on offer: book the latest on our Society and Area sites.

For more, see theartssociety.org/studydays-and-courses or call 020 7430 0730

Tutor: Clare Ford-Wille Much has been written about the man, the artist, his impact and influence; publications, films and articles have sometimes created confusion, rather than clarification. Look at recent discoveries, and reappraise his life and work.

Two lectures via Zoom, with coffee break £20 E: Shahida0504@ outlook.com _

The Romanovs: the public and private lives of Russian royalty in Tsarist Russia

27 SEPT, 10.30AM–3.30PM

Tutor: Dr Rosamund Bartlett The reigns of the most illustrious of the 16 tsars and four tsarinas who ruled Russia under the Romanovs. Explore the art patronage, politics and pageantry – and look behind the closed doors of their palaces.

The Linnean Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly £38 E: psavours@gmail.com _

The two faces of Russia – Moscow and St Petersburg 27 SEPT, 10.30AM–3.30PM

Tutor: Dr Rosamund Bartlett Like the imperial emblem of the double-headed eagle, Russia’s two capital cities faced different directions before 1917: Moscow towards Asia, St Petersburg, Europe.

This led to Russia’s divided soul, split between the Western-looking, modern metropolis of St Petersburg, and the oriental-styled, ancient city of Moscow.

The Linnean Society (as before) £36 E: psavours@gmail.com

SOUTH WEST

DECODING ART – A GUIDE TO ART HISTORY 4, 11, 18, 25 NOV AND 2 DEC, 10.30AM–3.30PM

Tutors: Geri Parlby and Jeni Fraser

The Renaissance period from Duccio in early14th-century Sienna to the Elizabethan period in the 16th century, covering France, Germany and England. Includes lectures on Fifty Shades of Blue and Mass and Form – sculpture from Rodin to the present day.

Exeter Central Library, Castle Street, Exeter £130 (full course)

E: ridge.farm@btconnect.com

HAMPSHIRE AND ISLE OF WIGHT

Fiat Lux! Images of light and darkness in the Middle Ages 4 NOV, 10.30AM–3PM,

Tutor: Dr Sally Dormer

Light and dark in St Albans Cathedral, Hertfordshire

The first of five Study Days of the Jean Bolton Memorial Study Course 2021. Explore the ways in which light and darkness were expressed visually in the medieval world: how imagery brought biblical references of darkness and light to life; how churches were illuminated by light, both natural and artificial; and how artefacts that provided light – chandeliers and

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THE MAESTÀ, FRONT, 1308–11 (TEMPERA ON PANEL) BY DUCCIO, MONDADORI PORTFOLIO/ELECTA/ANTONIO QUATTRONE/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

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The beautiful city of Venice, often called the ‘queen of the Adriatic’

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this event in future Arts Society newsletters. _

Light and darkness: reality, narrative and symbol, 1400–1600

Tutor: Rosamund Bartlett The mysteries behind some of Russia’s most remarkable artistic creations.

Via Zoom Price and contact as above

12 NOV, 10.30AM–3PM

ART PRODUCTION

Tutor: Paula Nuttall The second day of the course reveals how Renaissance painters approached light and darkness, exploiting it for realistic effect to tell a story, or to convey meaning. The work of artists such as Van Eyck, Leonardo, Bosch, Raphael, Titian and Tintoretto are explored.

Via Zoom Price and contact as above _

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Light and darkness: drama and change, 1600–1850 19 NOV, 10.30AM–3PM

Tutor: Clare Ford-Wille The third day looks at how new approaches to light and darkness reformed religious painting, architecture and sculpture in the 1600s; how in northern Europe and Spain artificial light effects were used; and how such artists as Chardin, Friedrich and Martin used light and dark in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Via Zoom Price and contact as above _ 26 NOV, 10.30AM-3PM

Please look out for title and lecturer details for

Divine Light and Revolutionary Darkness in the Russian Arts 3 Dec, 10.30AM-2PM

EAST SURREY

A brief story of wine, with wine tasting 9 JUL

Tutor: David Wright The story of wine and how it has been part of society for over 7,000 years. After the lecture, taste and discuss Côte du Danube Viognier 2020, Forgeron Dubois Syrah Rosé 2019, Languedoc, France and Terra d’Alter Red, Alentejo, Portugal.

Via Zoom £5, with three wines to purchase and taste; tickets available on Eventbrite For details and start time: E: esaartssociety2020@ gmail.com T: 07758 097003 _

From Downton to Gatsby – jewellery and fashion, 1890–1929 Two two-hour lectures 12 NOV, 10AM–1PM

Tutor: Andrew Prince Andrew created jewels for the TV series, and this talk is inspired by Downton and the styles of the times portrayed, when the great fashion houses

GREATER LONDON

THE ARTISANS OF VENICE 5 NOV, 10.30AM–3.30PM

Tutor: Anne Haworth

Venice’s beauty, unique topography and carnival have earned it praise as ‘the queen of the Adriatic’ or ‘the city of masks’. It can also be described as the city of silk, gold, mosaics, glass, lapis lazuli, bookbinding, musical instruments or gondolas.

The Art Workers’ Guild, 6 Queen Square, Bloomsbury; £38 (including coffee)

E: shahida0504@outlook.com collaborated with the finest of jewellers. Pieces used in Downton Abbey will be shown.

This event may happen via Zoom; otherwise, location to be confirmed £20 for live event; cost to be advised if via Zoom; tickets available on Eventbrite E: esaartssociety2020@ gmail.com T: 01737 932274 WESSEX

The Splendours of China 12 OCT, 16 NOV 2021 AND 18 JAN, 15 FEB, 15 MAR 2022

Various tutors

12 October Marie Conte-Helm: an introduction to the arts of China: tradition, continuity and change; travellers among mountains and streams: masterpieces of Chinese landscape painting; sunken treasures from the East: tales of Chinese shipwreck porcelain.

16 November David Rosier: China’s first emperor and his terracotta afterlife (221–209 BC); the Emperor Qianlong (1736– 96); the Dowager Empress Cixi (1835–1908).

18 January Viv Lawes: the Honourable East India Company and

East-West trade; chintz, Chinese export and chinoiserie, 1600–1800.

15 February Patrick Conner: tea, opium and Hong Kong; the Imperial gardens of China; and Jon Cannon: sacred art of ancient China.

15 March David Rosier: origins, evolution, 21st-century legacy: Chinese imperial art collection In venue and via Zoom, available up to 72 hours from start date £15 per day (for three lectures) E: wessexcoursessouth@ gmail.com

SHUTTERSTOCK

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candlesticks – were embellished with imagery.

Via Zoom £12 per day E: hiowsd2@gmail.com T: 01264 358065 _

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Travelling light

ART PRODUCTION

In Paris, meanwhile, there will be double reason to visit, as in September there will be major shows of the work of Georgia O’Keeffe and of Sandro Botticelli. The Musée JacquemartAndré is taking an unusual and illuminating look into the ‘business’ of being Botticelli, and his life as lead designer and entrepreneur of a flourishing artistic studio.

Along with his own paintings and those of his contemporaries, visitors will see his drawings for embroideries, marquetry, prints and illuminations; they’ll also discover how his designs were disseminated by his assistants.

Catch it from 10 September 2021– 24 January 2022 (museejacquemart-andre.com/en).

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Soak up the culture on offer in Europe: Vermeer’s Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window, c.1657–59 (far left); the lakeside village of Hallstatt in Austria (left); and the Renaissance city of Florence (above)

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SANDRO BOTTICELLI (1444–1510), PORTRAIT DE JULIEN DE MÉDICIS, 1478-1480,

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ith a successful vaccination programme, fresh opportunities to travel and world-class exhibitions opening, it feels like the right time to be planning a holiday once again. New art shows offer fresh perspectives on classics and enticing insights into the rarely seen.

In Dresden this coming September, the fascinating Johannes Vermeer: On Reflection, featuring a painting altered after Vermeer’s death, is planned to open at the Zwinger (gemaeldegalerie.skd. museum). Only recently restored, within Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window restorers have discovered another, original painting; this reveals the artist’s first intentions for the work.

AKTUELLER ZWISCHENZUSTAND DER RESTAURIERUNG ZUM 16. JANUARY 2020, ÖL AUF LEINWAND/CURRENT INTERMEDIATE STATE OF THE RESTORATION ON 16 JANUARY 2020, OIL ON CANVAS © SKD, FOTO: WOLFGANG KREISCHE

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We all want to travel with an easy mind. Award-winning insurance provider Staysure makes that a surety, says Jacky Ferneyhough, with tailor-made policies for over-50s

SANDRO BOTTICELLI (1444–1510), PORTRAIT DE JULIEN DE MÉDICIS, 1478-1480, DÉTREMPE ET HUILE SUR BOIS, 59.5 X 39.3CM, FONDAZIONE ACCADEMIA CARRARA, BERGAMO © FONDAZIONE ACCADEMIA CARRARA, BERGAMO

LEINWAND/CURRENT INTERMEDIATE STATE OF THE RESTORATION ON 16 JANUARY 2020, OIL ON CANVAS © SKD, FOTO: WOLFGANG KREISCHE

If visiting Paris, make time to see the work of Botticelli, including his Portrait of Giuliano De’ Medici (right)

As we look at travelling further afield to visit such shows and other cultural sites, Staysure is there to support the holiday dreams of over-50s explorers, with single-trip and annual policies to 99% of global destinations. Staysure has earned the top rating of any insurance provider on Trustpilot, while its comprehensive policies and excellent customer service have earned it a British Travel Award for best travel insurance for a fifth year running.

And, as there’s no upper age limit, the adventures can go on for longer.

Staysure’s multi-award-winning insurance covers Covid-19 and pre-existing conditions – and policies can be tailor-made. Customer testimonies underline the quality of the service. When David needed travel insurance, he chose Staysure:

‘Despite my medical conditions I was able to buy insurance from a company that cares and is understanding to your needs,’ he says, adding: ‘They offer a good price for peace of mind, with good customer service. Hopefully I will not have to use the policy, but if I do, I have the knowledge I am in safe hands.’

Should you need to make a claim, Staysure aims to make this stressfree, paying out 95% of claims within five days. When Marten fell ill on a trip to Vietnam, he was glad he’d taken out Staysure insurance: ‘I was able to claim back on all the expenses very easily by uploading some receipts as proof, and the funding was put into my account shortly after. The Customer Service responses were timely and professional…’ Over 105,000 satisfied customers, and independent industry experts Defaqto, have given Staysure a five-star rating. So, as the world of art and culture re-emerges after long periods under wraps, perhaps it’s time for you, too, to step out and join the travel renaissance?

SPECIAL MEMBER DISCOUNT A trusted travel affiliate of The Arts Society since 2017, Staysure specialises in the over-50s traveller, offering single-trip and annual cover. To receive 20% off your quote, state that you are a Member of The Arts Society and quote ‘ARTS20’ when you call, free of charge, on 0800 014 7862; staysure.co.uk

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Staysure advertorial, 1

ADVERTORIAL

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YOUR SOCIETIES

Societies news and a message from our new Chair

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BIRMINGHAM AID SUBS

Two special projects bringing arts to children have been supported by The Arts Society Birmingham.

Ex Cathedra’s weekly ‘Singing Medicine’ initiative brings singing play (currently via Zoom) to children in hospital receiving challenging treatment for illness.

As one staff nurse at the hospital explains: ‘The children need to hear more than hospital beeps.’

This project received £1,000. The second has seen Birmingham Royal Ballet Dance Track – which gives children unlikely to have the chance to participate in dance the opportunity to do so – supported with £1,500.

Dance Track works with more than 40 schools in the city annually, giving workshops to all Year 1 pupils. Each year 80 children who show dance and musical promise are invited to join the Dance Track programme.

The children participating also visit the Birmingham Royal Ballet to go behind the scenes, meet dancers and attend performances.

ART PRODUCTION CLIENT

The charity Koestler Arts (koestlerarts.org. uk) works to encourage prisoners to find a positive direction through making art.

Its recent exhibition My Path: Art by People in the Criminal Justice System, held at the Millennium Gallery, Sheffield (museums-sheffield.org.uk), has been supported by three Arts Societies: Huddersfield, Hambleton, and Hull and East Riding. Funds from those Societies went towards the Young Offenders curation programme and several individual awards.

Pictured is A Good Day’s Fishing (Bird of Prey, Osprey) from HM Prison Hull. This work received The Arts Society Hull and East Riding Highly Commended Award for Sculpture.

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A SEVERN PROJECT The Arts Society Severn Valley has co-sponsored (with the Rotary Club of Yate and District) North Road Primary School’s 170th anniversary project – the making of a mosaic.

Working with TomatoJack Arts, every pupil had the chance to participate in its making. This vibrant project helped reconnect pupils with their school, after time being homeschooled.

PAUL TELLER; , COURTESY KOESTLER ARTS

ART BEHIND BARS

Societies News, 1

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begin by thanking my whom have been on predecessor, Julie periods of furlough.

Goldsmith, who has It is amazing how been an outstanding they have brought Chair. Good governance the Society through is fundamental to every a range of daunting business or charity. Julie challenges in this time. has worked tirelessly We are bound by our to ensure that The Arts charitable objects, Society’s governance but the past year is exemplary; we are has taught us there hugely grateful for are different ways her selfless dedication of achieving our to making us more purposes. We are professional. Thank FROM OUR CHAIR confident that you, Julie, from your technology and digital OF TRUSTEES fellow Trustees and delivery will aid us as Julia Charlton-Weedy Society Members. we look to the future From a personal with imagination and perspective, The Arts open-mindedness.

Society has long been an important At the same time, our experiences of part of my life. My mother, Rosemary lockdown in Covid-19 highlight there Redfern, was a founder member of The is nothing to compare with face-to-face Arts Society York, where I have filled human contact. a range of committee appointments, We all look forward to rejoining serving as its Chair before becoming our Societies, meeting our friends a Trustee in 2016. and reopening our lives to the arts As we emerge into the daylight that we have missed so much. Let us after a year of restrictions, I wish to head into the future with joy and praise our headquarters staff – many of renewed enthusiasm.

EMILY DIXON

NEWS FROM AUSTRALIA In Noosa, Queensland, 14-yearold ballet dancer Alfie Shacklock has long held a dream to get a place at the Royal Ballet School, London. He has been supported in this by ADFAS Noosa since 2016, and is one of its Young Arts recipients.

He has now started at the Royal Ballet School and is pictured here in a London studio. Members of ADFAS Noosa will be watching his progress with pride.

IN BRIEF

YOUNG TALENT IN SPAIN The Arts Society Benahavis runs an annual exhibition called Art in Action – along with a competition for young artists. Lockdowns prevented the exhibition being held, but the competition, involving four international schools and one Spanish primary school, has been run digitally.

The talent, says Jane Norrie, one of the judges and the Society’s Young Arts organiser, ‘was exceptional’. Seen here is one of the entries, inspired

by Picasso.

NORFOLK HELP Societies have continued to help schools with donations of arts materials during the pandemic, with reports that some 1,375 young people have received such aid.

One example comes from The Arts Society North West Norfolk, where 50 Year 12 and 13 students at Fakenham Academy were funded with take-home art packs.

‘Lockdown was made so much easier with this help – it’s a treat to be able to carry on creating,’ reported one student.

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KENT CATWALK LEGACY

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Each year a third year BA Fashion Design student at University of Creative Arts Rochester benefits from a £2,000 bursary, funded by the Elizabeth Hammond bequest, from The Arts Society Mid Kent.

Shown here is the work of Amy Walters, the 2019/2020 recipient, whose collection

‘Reflective Form’ focused on the health and safety of construction workers.

The results were garments that protect parts of the body, while incorporating a streetwear element.

The bursary recipient for 2020/2021 is student Lidia Zakowska; it will help her fund her final collection.

MARSH AWARDS WINNERS

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Congratulations to all The Arts Society Marsh Awards winners 2021. The Marsh Christian Trust (marking its 40th anniversary this year) recognises outstanding contributions made by volunteers in heritage conservation and arts education.

Zoom classes during Covid that have provided ‘a lifeline’ to arts followers of all ages.

International Society Committee Award Newcastle ADFAS, Australia, for its encouragement to its Members to learn more about the heritage of their local community and work to protect it; and for its many initiatives, including support for the Musica Viva in Schools programme, which brings live music to schools. Pictured above are Newcastle ADFAS Members.

Outstanding Contribution by an Arts Society Volunteer during 2020 Richard Lebus, The Arts Society Richmond, for his work in enabling Arts Society activity to be shared online during the pandemic.

Group Award The Arts Society Stourbridge Heritage Volunteers, who have given 1,844 hours over two years at Harvington Hall.

Individual Award for Arts Volunteering Cheryl King, The Arts Society Guildford, for creating art

Highly commended for Arts Volunteering Liz Collins, The Arts Society Guildford for her work with Art @ The Station.

Individual Award for Trails of Discovery Gill Murphy, The Arts Society Dukeries.

Individual Award for Society Committee Member Peter White, The Arts Society Harborough.

Beatrice McIntosh, The Arts Society Southport.

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STAR STUDENTS

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Developed with the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA), the RBA Star Students competition encourages aspiring young artists identified by The Arts Society’s local Societies.

Their artworks are entered for the competition and the RBA then selects the best pieces for exhibition.

Congratulations to the 20 finalists chosen – and to those who have won special awards. The Arts Society Award went to Charlotte Crosby, discovered by The Arts Society South East Suffolk, for her painting, Grandad, seen here. The RBA President’s Award was given to Coco Huang, spotted by The Arts Society Sheffield, for her painting 7 Deadly Sins. For more, see theartssociety.org

ART

SURREY COLLABORATION

PRODUCTION CLIENT © NISHA HAQ PHOTOGRAPHY

LOCKEDDOWN ART Thank you again to all Members who have been sending examples of artworks created during lockdowns. Inspired by a past V&A exhibition on board games, Erica Middleton of The Arts Society Charnwood has crafted this, her own version of the game Snakes and Ladders.

Share your news! The deadline for our next issue is 27 August. Send to magazine@ theartssociety.org.

Only a selection can be featured and the editor reserves the right to edit content.

The West Horsley Place Trust – formed to save Grade I listed West Horsley Place and its estate in Surrey – has announced a collaboration with The Arts Society East Surrey Area, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

This will see the recording of 10,000 books in the library by Heritage Volunteers from the Society. West Horsley Place’s ownership was generously transferred by historian Bamber Gascoigne and his wife, Christina, to the trust, after he had inherited it.

The house and estate will become a space for community, with arts and culture, history and nature at its heart. ‘Heritage Volunteers play an important part in helping save Britain’s heritage,’ says Hilary Ely, Heritage Volunteer Coordinator, East Surrey Area. ‘The care of the collection will prove a wonderful opportunity for our volunteers to learn new skills, while ensuring its preservation for the future. A library such as this has grown and changed over time, and undoubtedly discoveries will be made.’

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Societies news

YOUR SOCIETIES

Books, 1

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GOOD READS

Our pick of the season’s latest arts and culture titles

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PHILIP HUGHES: PAINTING THE ANCIENT LAND OF AUSTRALIA SUBS

Philip Hughes; foreword by Glenn Murcutt (Thames & Hudson, £40)

ART PRODUCTION CLIENT

The way artists approach landscape is as diverse as the topography of our world.

The Romans favoured the medium for the beautification of their buildings, creating vistas on walls. The Chinese made it one of their top art forms. In the 16th century European artists chose to make landscape painting a speciality; and in the 19th century the Impressionists embraced it with verve and colour.

This new publication brings us landscape seen through the eyes of contemporary artist Philip Hughes. Hughes has long focused on the natural environment, but with a twist.

In his spare, sophisticated style, with exquisite use of colour, he records, too, the impact of climate change and human intervention on the land.

Inside this book, Hughes, who is UK-based but a regular visitor, over 60 years, to Australia, reveals his ways of working. Like allen plein air artists from history, he works outside, making drawings, applying paint later in the studio; and always ‘when walking in the land,’ he says, ‘a notebook is with me.’ Where he differs from artists of the past is through his use of aerial photography (shots often taken personally, from a helicopter or small aeroplane) and maps to inform his art.

Described as ‘a love letter to Australia’, this book is lavishly illustrated with examples of Hughes’s work, created over three decades. From Karijini via Kimberley to Tasmania, he records the extremes and nuances of the lay of the land of this fascinating continent, with its sacred sites, miles of coastline, verdant rainforests and arid, orange outback. He commits to canvas, too, the scars left upon it through mining for opals, the bushfires of 2019-2020 and the natural force of wave power on shores. Hughes says of his approach that it is not ‘to define the landscape I portray, but rather to express the different ways one can see the land’.

Soutine / de Kooning: Conversations in Paint Edited by Simonetta Fraquelli and Claire Bernardi (Paul Holberton Publishing, £40) This summer, restrictions willing, an exhibition opens exploring the affinities between the art of Chaïm Soutine and Willem de Kooning (barnesfoundation.org; musee-orangerie.fr). This beautiful and informative catalogue accompanies the show, giving readers deeper insight into the career and work of these titans of 20th-century art.

Creating Photographs Albert Watson (Laurence King Publishing, £14.99) Photographer Albert Watson has captured some of the best-known names in public life. From Malcolm X to model and human rights campaigner Waris Dirie, featured on the cover, he creates images that are truly iconic. Watson’s oeuvre includes over 100 Vogue covers and atmospheric landscape imagery. In this book he combines images with anecdotes and advice on the medium he has made his own.

Living in Nature: Contemporary Houses in the Natural World Phaidon editors (Phaidon, £29.95) More than half the world’s population lives in urban areas, yet the urge to live close to green spaces is common to us all.

This new title feeds into that need, featuring 50 architect-designed homes from across the globe that have a particular relationship with nature. Take your inspiration from treetop houses and subterranean spaces, desert and jungle dwellings, and homes created for dazzling riparian or oceanic settings.

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SPECIAL OFFERS

BENEFITS, DISCOUNTS AND TREATS FOR MEMBERS AND SUPPORTERS OF THE ARTS SOCIETY REPRO OP

WIN!

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© JONTY WILDE, COURTESY YORKSHIRE SCULPTURE PARK; COURTESY OF HENRY MOORE STUDIOS & GARDENS

10% OFF

BUCKINGHAM PALACE: A ROYAL GARDEN

A VISIT TO YORKSHIRE SCULPTURE PARK

It’s the little details that make a book so fascinating – and for horticulturalists, this rare glimpse behind the garden walls of Buckingham Palace is rich in offerings.

The garden has 85 species of oak, holds the National Collection of mulberries, and once homed one of the first zebras in England. Author Claire Masset also reveals how this most urban of gardens manages to host such outstanding flora and fauna.

• Published by Royal Collection Trust (rct.uk), you can win one of three copies by emailing your name and address to magazine@ theartssociety.org with ‘Buckingham Palace’ as the subject, or sending a postcard marked ‘Buckingham Palace’ to The Arts Society Magazine, Think Media Group, 20 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JW, by 30 August 2021.

Enjoy one of the UK’s most unique art museums: 500 acres of formal gardens, woods and parkland where you’ll find some 100 sculptures.

This giant 2018 work is Solitaire by Joana Vasconcelos, on display until January in Joana Vasconcelos: Beyond – look out for our exclusive interview with the artist in our next issue. Also showing are Annie Morris’s tapestry works and sculptures in The Weston Gallery and, in the 18th-century chapel, Rachel Kneebone’s monumental 399 Days.

• Yorkshire Sculpture Park is offering Members 10% off entry. Enter ‘ARTSSOCIETY’ when booking online at ysp.org.uk/visit until 31 August 2021.

25% OFF

WIN!

HENRY MOORE STUDIOS & GARDENS’ NEW EXHIBITION

ETHEL ROSENBERG: A COLD WAR TRAGEDY

For our summer 2020 issue we spoke to Edmund de Waal about his work and curation of a new exhibition at Henry Moore Studios & Gardens.

The pandemic intervened, but now This Living Hand: Edmund de Waal presents Henry Moore is open, exploring the role of touch in Moore’s sculpture with works expressing the symbolism of the hand.

• Members are offered a special 25% discount on online bookings for up to four standard adult or concession tickets. Enter the code ‘ARTSMAG_21’ into the code field at checkout at henry-moore-foundation. arttickets.org.uk. Valid until 31 October 2021, for visits on Wednesdays to Sundays and bank holidays.

In 1953, Ethel Rosenberg was executed, convicted for conspiracy to commit espionage for the USSR. Using prison letters and new interviews, historian, broadcaster and Arts Society Lecturer Anne Sebba explores this controversial story in her new book (published by weidenfeldandnicolson.co.uk).

• For a chance to win one of three signed copies, email your name and address to magazine@ theartssociety.org with ‘Rosenberg’ as the subject, or send a postcard marked ‘Rosenberg’ to The Arts Society Magazine, Think Media Group, 20 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JW, by 30 August 2021.

For our special offers online, see theartssociety.org/member-offers Subscribers to our mailing list are notified through our monthly e-newsletter: sign up at theartssociety.org/signup

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FOR YOU

Grinling Gibbons, 1

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its beautifying by Charles II. Gibbons practised his trompe l’oeil technique here, in which a strikingly realistic bird was carved on top of a complacent rabbit, with a garland trailed across the bird.

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Grinling Gibbons

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In the tercentenary year of the death of master carver Grinling Gibbons, Arts Society Lecturer Paul Rabbitts looks at the man and his art

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Gibbons was born in Rotterdam to British parents in 1648. He has been dubbed the ‘British Bernini’ – sharing with the Italian an ability to breathe life into still material – and the ‘Michelangelo of wood’. Horace Walpole called him ‘an original genius’.

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In 1667 Gibbons moved to England, later settling in Deptford, where he ‘follow’d ship carving’. It was here in 1671 he was discovered, by chance, by diarist John Evelyn, who had powerful connections.

The master carver’s design for a Hampton Court fireplace, 1689–94

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With such patronage – and dazzling skill – Gibbons realised his first royal commission, for works at Windsor Castle as part of

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Gibbons worked with architect Hugh May at Windsor Castle but was ignored by Christopher Wren for years, despite Wren saying that he ‘faithfully promised to employ him for the future’.

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Gibbons’s Ludgate Hill workshop was a leading London site for the commissioning of pieces in wood and stone. Such was the success, Gibbons took on as many as 50 apprentices; this can make it difficult to establish what work was his and what was theirs.

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Gibbons spoke poor English and was not fully literate, but this did not hinder him. By 1678 he had a fine house in Covent Garden, which he would keep for the rest of his life. His wife, Elizabeth, bore at least 12 children.

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Wren and Gibbons eventually worked together at Whitehall and St Paul’s Cathedral, and on churches Wren rebuilt after the Great Fire of London. Gibbons

All in the detail: Gibbons’s work at St James’s Church, Piccadilly

ordered the wood by size, based on drawings from Wren and associates, then sketched designs directly onto the wood, allowing enough depth for the deep cutting and sinuous shaping that was his signature style.

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Gibbons’s work at Petworth House is among his finest. He produced ‘the most superb monument of his skill’, described as ‘gloriously flounced all round with whole length pictures, with much the finest carving of Gibbons that ever … eyes beheld. There are birds absolutely feathered: and two antique vases with bas relieves, as perfect and beautiful as if they were carved by a Grecian master’.

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In the 15 years before his death on 3 August 1721, Gibbons focused more on stone sculpture, in which he didn’t actually excel. What he is remembered for is the way he raised decorative carving to prominence – inspiring his contemporaries and far later artists, including Alexander McQueen.

SEE Grinling Gibbons 300: carving a place in history, a year-long festival from August; grinling-gibbons.org

BRIDGEMAN IMAGES; COURTESY GRINLING GIBBONS SOCIETY; © SIR JOHN SOANE’S MUSEUM, LONDON

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10 AMAZING FACTS ABOUT...

Gibbons introduced the use of limewood to England. Its grain structure made it suitable for curviform leaf, fruit and flower shapes.

Limewood has an arresting, pale appearance – the paleness bringing a sharp visual contrast between decoration and background, spotlighting the carving.

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