Re-hanging Tate Britain
April 30 2013
Picture: Mark Bramley/Mail
They're putting the finishing touches to the Tate Britain renovation, which opens next month. The Daily Mail was invited along to watch the re-hanging.
Analysing Van Gogh
April 30 2013
Picture: Van Gogh Museum
It's all go in Amsterdam at the moment - following the re-opening of the Rijksmuseum, tomorrow sees the re-opening of the Van Gogh museum. The museum will open with a new exhibition devoted to Van Gogh's techniques. Nina Siegal in the New York Times reports:
By using an electron microscope and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, which reveals the parts of pigments without taking invasive samples, researchers found that early on van Gogh used perspective frames as a guide and drew on the canvas to correctly render proportions and depth of field in his landscapes. Later, as he gained mastery, he abandoned these grids. Like many artists, he reworked certain paintings repeatedly to perfect his desired effect. The most important insight was into his palette, said Nienke Bakker, curator of the show.
“We now know much more about the pigments van Gogh used and how they might’ve changed color over time,” Ms. Bakker said. “That’s crucial to our understanding of his works, and to know better how to treat them. The colors are still very vibrant, but they would have been even brighter — especially the reds. Some of the reds were much brighter or have completely disappeared since he painted them.”
Apparently The Bedroom, above, was originally painted with brighter, violet walls.
Auctioning in Dubai
April 30 2013
Video: Christie's
They applaud after every lot!
Today...
April 29 2013
...I'm filming for 'Fake or Fortune?', so I'm afraid won't be posting till later on. Got a treat of a story for you though...
If you're in Tuscany...
April 25 2013
Picture: Palazzo Strozzi
...then Andrew Johnson of Renaissance in Tuscany says a new exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi on 'sculpture and the arts in Florence 1400-1460' is well worth a visit.
One that got away?
April 25 2013
Picture: Art Institute of Chicago
A reader alerts me to the Art Institute of Chicago's acquisition of Ludwig Richter's 1832 The Fountain at Grottaferrata, and notes that the National Gallery tried to buy it in 1989. It was eventually sold at Christie's in 2010 for £181,250 with premium, placing it affordably (for the National) at the lower end of the estimate of £150,000-250,000. It's an interesting case of how an institution's taste can evolve over time.
Andy Warhol does Van Dyck
April 25 2013
Picture: Steve Wood, via The Guardian
A series of photos of Andy Warhol have been published - in one of which he poses a-la Van Dyck with a sunflower. Suddenly, he's gone up in my estimation. More here.
Update - a reader writes:
Fascinating to contrast your interpretation of Warhol posing with a sunflower as homage to Van Dyck and J. Jones' interpretation of Warhol posing as homage to Van Gogh!! Does one versus the other change how one interprets the photo, and hence how one reads Warhol? Or is it both at once, as a kind of triple pun on three artists together? And was it perhaps the photographer who created the photo, with or even without Warhol realizing that Van Dyck portrayed himself with a sunflower? Would that make it a quadruple visual pun, about four artists being brought together?
Want to work in the art world?
April 25 2013
Then blimey the competition is stiff. We recently advertised in The Guardian for a front-of-house position here at the gallery - and promptly got over 400 responses. Many of the candidates were exceptional, and we had a tough time making our choice.
The Raising of the Van Dyck?
April 25 2013
Video: De Standaard
The above video is in Dutch, but the jist of it is that a recently restored Raising of the Cross (in a church in Tienen, Belgium), has been suggested to be a work from the studio of Van Dyck. It was previously thought to be a later copy. It's impossible to say much from the video, but it does look like it has a chance of being a studio replica of the undoubted original in the Church of our Lady, Kortrijk. The original is exceptionally well documeted. The Canon who commissioned the Kortrijk picture was so pleased with it that he sent Van Dyck 12 waffles in gratitude. Yum.
Re-opening the Rijksmuseum (ctd.)
April 24 2013
Video: The Economist
Fiammetta Rocco, the arts editor of the Economist, discusses the new renovation.
ps - is that furry thing a microphone, or an accessory?
Re-opening the Rijksmuseum
April 24 2013
Video: BBC
Cool fireworks.
If you're going soon, let us know what it's like.
Turner on the telly
April 24 2013
Picture: BBC
'Orff with their frames'
April 23 2013
Picture: NPG
The Grumpy Art Historian reviews a new book on the history of London's main galleries in the early 20th Century, 'Stewards of the Nation's Art' by Andrea Geddes Poole, and relates this interesting tale:
The future King Edward VIII was briefly a trustee of the National Gallery, and I'd heard that he was somewhat disengaged. But I had no idea that the NG acceded to his request to borrow a few pictures for his own house - which he proceeded to re-frame! It seems only by good fortune that the original frames were found in a bedroom. It's a great story that she tells well, highlighting the dereliction of duty by the board.
BP Portrait Award shortlist
April 22 2013
Pictures: (left to right): 'The Uncertain Time' by John Devane © John Devane; 'Pieter' by Susanne du Toit © Susanne du Toit
Two pictures have been shortlisted for the BP Portrait Award. From the National Portrait Gallery press release:
The two artists shortlisted for the 2013 BP Portrait Award 2013 are John Devane for The Uncertain Time and Susanne du Toit for Pieter.
John Devane (17.08.1954) for The Uncertain Time (1720 x 2490mm, oil on canvas).
A painter who also teaches at Coventry University, John Devane, has an MA from the Royal College of Art. He has been shortlisted for his large group portrait of his three children: Lucy, 25, Laura, 20, and Louis, 15. Painted over three years, the picture sets out to show how children emerge from childhood and begin to assert their independence revealing something of their adult selves. He says: ‘The composition suggests an almost stage-like shallow space constructed in two zones with the three figures presented as if they are awaiting some kind of event’. The artist’s key points of reference are the works of Courbet, Chardin, Degas, Balthus and Samuel Beckett. This will be the second time John Devane’s work has been exhibited at the BP Portrait Award, his In the House of The Cellist was seen in the 1995 exhibition.
Susanne du Toit (05.03.1955) for Pieter (1080 x 830mm, oil on canvas).
Educated at the University of Pretoria and the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Susanne du Toit is an artist now based in Crowthorne, Berkshire. She has been shortlisted for her portrait of her eldest son Pieter, aged 35. The sitting took place in the artist’s studio, as part of a series of portraits of her family. Susanne du Toit says she allowed Pieter to find his own pose, with the condition that his hands would appear prominently in the composition – she says she has always found hands essential to communicating personality. ‘I look to the body to provide as much expression as the face’, she says. ‘Having said that, the averted gaze of this portrait, which was his choice, struck me as characteristic of his reflective character, and became intensely engaging’.
This year the competition received 1,969 entries from 77 different countries. 55 portraits have been selected for the exhibition (National Portrait Gallery, London, 20 June - 15 September 2013).
Hard to say much about the pictures from the photos so far, but they both look pretty good to me. The main thing is, they're not photo-realist works. Encouraging...
More details here.
Louvre Abu Dhabi
April 22 2013
Video: AFP
Here's a preview of pictures the Louvre will be lending to the new Louvre Abu Dhabi museum, due to open in 2015. More details here.
What's on at Tate next year...
April 22 2013
...Turner, Matisse, Mondrian. The usual stuff. More details here.
Update - a reader writes:
Did you miss the British Folk Art show that Tate are planning? I think it was in the Guardian report - and I know that they have already enquired about two pieces at Bangor: a tavern sign, The Four Alls (Seen, I think on the BBC Your Paintings sites, and one of our carved slates - so that show might be something out of the ordinary, for Tate at least.
Charles I's Garter sash?
April 22 2013
Pictures: Royal Collection
An interesting little story in the Mail on Sunday for Van Dyck-obsessed Stuart fans (i.e., me):
The blue silk garter ribbon worn by Charles I in his famous van Dyck portrait may have been discovered - attached to a book.
Researchers believe four pieces of cloth could be the sash owned by the monarch after one was radiocarbon dated to the mid 17th century - the period when the King ruled.
The discovery was made after [Sir] Anthony van Dyck's portrait, which features three images of Charles, was selected for a new exhibition and Royal Collection Trust curators decided to examine the silk pieces which were attached to a book about the King.
The news comes ahead of the Royal Collection's new Tudor and Stuart fashion exhibition, which I'm looking forward to. More images of the sash here.
Update - a reader adds:
It may interest readers of AHN to know that another reliquary of King Charles I is at large, but this one is somewhat more latently gruesome than the blue sash. It may be seen (sitting silently in a small glass display-case) by any member of the public visiting the small and somewhat obscure mueum of 'Fort Paull', which lies on the noth Bank of the River Humber some miles east of Kingston-Upon-Hull.. It was on the site of this museum that the King made camp in order to lay seige to the town at the commencement of the English Civil-War, This singular object is no less than a small section of neck vertebrae, reputedly removed at the time of the tragic King's execution, and then, after passing from hand to hand, latterly finding new employment as.. guess what..? A salt-cellar.
Penny on Master Paintings Week
April 19 2013
Video: Master Paintings Week
This year sees the fifth anniversary of London's Master Paintings Week (28th June - 5th July), of which we here at Philip Mould & Company are enthusiastic participants. For the first time, the event now has a sponsor, the Crown Estate, and it also continues to enjoy the blessing of National Gallery director Nicholas Penny, who can be seen in the above video. The London art trade is very fortunate to have support from such an influential figure.
The High Art of the Low Countries
April 19 2013
Picture: BBC
The excellent BBC4 series The High Art of the Low Countries, presented by Andrew-Graham-Dixon, is well worth catching on iPlayer if you missed it. All the major names are engagingly discussed; Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer, Hals. Sadly, Van Dyck doesn't get a mention.
He does, however, make an appearance in Graham-Dixon's programme on the re-opening of the Rijkmuseum (also worth a watch if you missed it). Sadly, the programme makes a bish with the sitters of the above Van Dyck; the sitters are William II of Orange and Mary Stuart, daughter of Charles I, not William III and Mary Stuart, daughter of James II.
Met buys Ritz Le Brun
April 19 2013
Video: Christie's
The Metropolitan Museum in New York has emerged as the buyer of Charles Le Brun's Sacrifice of Polyxena, which was sold at Christie's this week for EUR1.4m. It will be the Met's first work by Le Brun. The picture had been discovered in the Coco Chanel suite at the Ritz in Paris.
One might have expected the French authorities to pre-empt the picture, though I suppose there's no shortage of Le Brun's in France.
Update - more details here on Joseph Friedman's website. Joseph first discovered the picture.
