London Retrospective llI: The Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood

For many years I’ve wanted to visit the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood, a branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum. But with so much on in London, and insufficient time to experience but a fraction of it on any one visit, this somehow got put off until the next time, and the next... It’s hard enough simply trying to reconnect with all the places you already know and love. And so the decades passed.

Now that I’ve finally made it there and discovered what a magical place it is, I’m trying to convince myself that it’s a case of better late than never, rather than berating myself for not going years earlier. Please indulge my lack of restraint regarding the number of pictures. Believe it or not, I did several edits; I could have posted dozens more.

Also on view was a temporary exhibit, My Giant Colouring Book, a suite of etchings by Jake and Dinos Chapman. To see a selection of the works, visit Moth Woman Press HERE.

(Pictured above: Quote by Carl Jung on Bethnal Green Museum blind. Click on image to enlarge.) The museum's website can be viewed HERE.

Pictured above:

Images 1 and 2: Exterior and interior views of the museum

Image 3: A Praxinoscope

Image 4: My companions Bev Murray and Shane Jones pose with Robbie the Robot

Image 5: Victorian clockwork monkeys

Image 6: 19^th century Pantins (Jumping Jacks)

Image 7: Struwwelpeter Jumping Jack, 1983

Images 8-9: Marionette puppets

Image 10: Background: marionnetes; foreground: Charlie Chaplin Jumping Jack

Image 11: Display case including Oriental dolls and silhouettes

Image 12: Detail from above: silhouettes with moving parts by German animation pioneer Lotte Reiniger; used in her film Papageno, 1935, based on Mozart’s The Magic Flute

Image 13: A selection of rag books, 1910-72 

Image 14: One of many spectacular dolls houses that were on display

Image 15: The Royal Punch and Judy Show

Image 16: Punch and Judy detail

Image 17: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by John Tenniel, 1885 edition, with Mad Hatter’s Tea Party playset, 1900-20

Image 18: Elder Mother Tree, 1932 by Arthur Rackham, watercolour illustration (from Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales)

Image 19: Victorian novelty cards

Image 20: The glove puppet-magician Sooty and assorted magic tricks

Image 21: More magic tricks, including Der Kleiner Zauberer (The Little Conjurer) c 1910 and Maskelyne’s Mysteries, 1950-59

Image 22: Theatrical posters. Note the central poster advertising the magic act of Cleopatra, c 1900-30. To quote the museum’s label: A woman’s role in the world of magic is usually confined to that of assistant but there have been women magicians in their own right. These were usually magician’s wives, such as Adelaide Herrmann, The Queen of Magic, or daughters, such as Ionia The Enchantress. Cleopatra  was probably French but is something of a mystery. Far right: photograph of Tommy Cooper.

Image 23: THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!

London Retrospective ll: Tate à Tate

A standout at Tate Modern was Poetry and Dream – Dark Humour. Suites of Marcel Dzama’s drawings and Louise Bourgeois’s prints were included, along with works by David Shrigley and Jake and Dinos Chapman. The exhibition directly linked the artists’ singular brands of humour to the Surrealists, for whom dark humour was central. Anthology of Black Humour, edited by Surrealist leader Andre Breton (first published in 1940 and still in print) identified gallows humour as ‘the mortal enemy of sentimentality’. Dzama’s fragmented narratives, partly influenced by his voracious childhood consumption of comic books, typically incorporate hybridised animals and plants interacting with humans; Bourgeois characteristically used humour to undercut traumatic subject matter.

Above, from top:

Marcel Dzama: All works Untitled, 2000-2003, ink, pencil and watercolour on paper

Marcel Dzama: Untitled, 2003, ink, pencil and watercolour

Louise Bourgeois: From Autobiographical Series, 1994, Drypoints on paper

Top row, left to right: Sculptress; Sewing; Birth; Paternity; Children in a Tub; Woman in a Bathtub; Woman and Clock; Bottom row, left to right: Man, Keys, Phone, Clock; Sleeping Man; Empty Nest; Woman with Suitcase; Scissors; Toilette

Somewhat thematically connected to this exhibition were the photographs of Diane Arbus, whose work I’ve long admired. It’s been many years since I’ve seen such a substantial exhibition of her unnerving, powerful imagery.

Pictured above: 

Diane Arbus, from A Box of Ten Photographs: Identical Twins, Roselle, NJ, 1967, 1967, photograph, gelatin silver print on paper

In complete contrast were the introspective, melancholic portraits of Gwen John, one of my favourite artists. In this context, John’s portraits also serve as a bridge from one Tate to the other.

Above, from top:

Gwen John at Tate Modern: Chloe Boughton-Leigh (with loose hair), 1905-08, oil on canvas

Gwen John at Tate Britain: Left to right: Nude Girl, 1909-10 and  Self Portrait, 1902, both oil on canvas

The installation view at Tate Britain directly below includes several other well-loved paintings.

Second and third from top:

One of the pictures that over years has consistently captured my imagination:

British School, The Cholmondeley Ladies, c 1600-10, oil on wood

Marcus Gheeraerts ll, Portrait of an Unknown Lady, c 1595, oil on wood

Richard Hamilton is one of several very fine artists who sadly died this year. As a tribute, Tate Britain exhibited a handful of his key works, including these two:

From top: Ostensibly his most iconic image, Just what was it that made yesterday’s homes, so different, so appealing? 2004 (upgrade) Inkjet print on paper 

Interior II, 1964, oil paint, cellulose paint and collage on board (with Shane Jones in foreground)

Another work with dark overtones (supposedly it is an anti-war protest) is Mark Gertler’s Merry-Go-Round, one of the paintings that I’ve most revered since my first visit in 1973 to what was then the one and only Tate Gallery. I used to hang out there a lot back in those days. As far as the London Tate Galleries go, for me it is still the one and only.

Pictured above: Mark Gertler, Merry-Go-Round, 1916, oil on canvas

London Retrospective: Room 55, The National Gallery

Invariably The National Gallery is one of my first stops when in London. The Sainsbury Wing, added in 1991, focuses on early Renaissance Art. This facet of the collection has had a profound affect on my own work since my first visit in 1993.

Within the extensive Sainsbury Wing is the relatively miniscule Room 55. For my partner Shane and I it is the beating heart of the National Gallery. Its most famous inhabitant is Jan van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434 - a fine picture to be sure.  But these are my own favourites:

From top: 

Robert Campin, A Man and a Woman, c 1435

Workshop of Rogier van der Weyden, A Man Reading, c 1450

Jan van Eyck, Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?) 1433

Workshop of Rogier van der Weyden, Portrait of a Lady, c 1464

Rogier van der Weyden, The Magdalen Reading, before 1438

A Guiding Hand at the Art Gallery of Ballarat

My linocuts Ladies Glisten and Ex Votive Offerings are currently on show at the Art Gallery of Ballarat.

They are part of the ‘curator’s choice’ section of the recent exhibition (now concluded) A Guiding Hand – prints and directors 1967-2011 curated by Anne Rowlandson. It was timed to coincide with IMPACT 7, Monash University’s interdisciplinary print conference that was held back in September. A Guiding Hand celebrated the development of the gallery’s extensive print collection under its five Directors, beginning with James Mollison (1967-1968) through to Gordon Morrison (2004–present) under whose directorship several of my works were acquired in 2009.  Other artists whose works are in the show include Raymond Arnold, Jessie Traill, Geoff La Gerche, Eric Thake and (pictured above) Noel Counihan.

On Sheridan Jones’s lively blog The Laundry Room Press and Studio there is a link to a review of A Guiding Hand recently published on Kent Wilson’s blog Golden ArtNet. To read the review, click HERE. Kent's blog focuses on the visual arts in the Western Central Highlands, including Ballarat and Bendigo. I thank Sheridan for drawing my attention to the review and to this informative blog, which, as a sometime regional artist, I’ll be following with keen interest.

Top: Installation view with Noel Counihan linocuts

Second from top (left) Ex-votive Offerings, 2002, screen print on sized Chinese silk, needle threaders, interfacing, hand stitching;

Second from top (right) ...Ladies Glisten, 2002, screen print on sized Chinese silk, artificial pearls, interfacing, hand stitching

The Wonderful Creative Things Fair

This artists' fair, the second to be presented by Rona Green in association with St Heliers Street Store and Gallery, takes place this coming Sunday, November 27 from 11 am - 4pm. Although the event has been expanded to include a wider range of artist-made wares than the previous fair, our stall will continue to focus on book-related arts published by Moth Woman Press, including zines and book plates.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a one day only event. Click on the poster for TWCTF directly above for full details.

Unmasked at Banyule Arts Space

Unmasked, 2011 Pencil and chinagraph, 76 x 56 cm

Photograph by Tim Gresham

Unmasked, 2011 (above) has been selected as one of 30 finalists in Duality - The 2011 Banyule Award for Works on Paper.  The exhibition’s theme is one I have frequently explored in my own work. The drawing was developed during August/September in my studio at Ballarat. I also include some stages in its progress (see below). It’s been many years since I've used pencil as a medium, and plan to work with it some more. I was in Berlin when Duality opened on November 11, but look forward to calling in soon.

Duality – The 2011 Banyule Award for Works on Paper runs from 11 November – 14 December at:

Banyule Arts Space

14 Ivanhoe Parade

Ivanhoe VIC 3079

Visiting hours: Wednesday – Saturday 11 am – 5 pm

In Suspense/Goodbye to London

Below is an invitation to a group exhibition at Hand Held Gallery that I have some work in. In Suspense was curated by Hand Held Gallery Director Megan Herring, and there are some wonderful artists in the show. I hope that those lucky enough to be in Melbourne on the evening of November 3 (sadly, this excludes me) will pop in and have a glass of wine with the artists, or call in during its run. To see the two zines I made for In Suspense and for full details of the show, visit Moth Woman Press HERE. (Scroll down to the 29 September Blog Post).

In the meantime, we leave London for Berlin this morning, which we are very much looking forward to. Fortunately we will still be back in Melbourne in plenty of to see In Suspense before it closes on November 26.

Felicity Powell at The Wellcome Collection

'... wax gives rise to thoughts of mortality; it burns, it melts down, it suggests the vanity of the world, the weak candle flame of hope, the deliquescence of flesh. The material implies organic change ... Wax cheats death, it simulates life; it proves true and false ... " (Marina Warner, from Phantasmagoria: Spirit Visions, Metaphors, and Media (Oxford Universty Press, 2006).

On Saturday, along with our friends Barbara and Sue, we paid our very first visit to the Wellcome Collection in Euston Road. It certainly won't be our last.  The current temporary exhibitions Mexican Miracle Paintings and Felicity Powell's Charmed Life - The Solace of Objects were both stunning, two of the most memorable we've seen here. 

Powell's exquisite wax images on circular black glass (actually the backs of mirrors) are essentially her response to the Wellcome's collection of over 1400 amulets or charms that were amassed by amateur Edwardian folklorist Edward Lovett. 

Her exhibition also incorporated an installation of a selection of these amulets grouped loosely into categories, including hearts, miniature shoes, horse shoes, etc. Some were beautiful, some like the dried mole's feet sheep's heart with pins and nails rather less so. Still, it was possible to sense the potency all of these much touched objects must have had for their original owners.

Images from top:
Water, Stars, Antlers, 2006
Tentacled, 2006
Spaghetti Head, 2006
All wax on glass, 5.9 cm/15 cm diameter

Leighton House

In the 70s I lived for some years in the Holland Park area of Kensington. Nineteenth century Leighton House was a leisurely and scenic walk away, through beautiful Holland Park. It was (and still is) one of my favourite places. The house is named for its original owner, the Victorian artist Frederic, Lord Leighton (1830-1896). It was designed by George Aitchison, although Leighton added extensions and alterations over the next 30 years.

Justifiably, it is best known for the extraordinary Arab Hall, which displays Leighton's astonishing collection of over a thousand Islamic tiles, most which he brought back from Damascus in Syria.

Other interiors incorporate equally opulent peacock feather-coloured tiles by William de Morgan. Leighton's impressive studio, with its huge northern facing window, dome and apse, are located on the first floor. Paintings and drawings, mostly by Lord Leighton, are on view throughout the house. It is several years since I last visited, and it was even more gorgeous than I remembered, with the added bonus of an additional room being open to the public: Leighton's pretty, but (compared to the rest of the house) small and relatively simply furnished bedroom.

Leighton was one of the leading High Victorian artists, and walking around his house is uncannily like stepping into one of those impossibly exotic paintings that typified the era. I'm not as much an admirer of his work as I am of this house, which in my opinion is his masterpiece. Never much of a minimalist myself, for me a visit there is always a sheer delight.

Pictured above, from top: Leighton House (exterior view) and two views of the Arab Hall.