Why History?

In 1976 I arrived from my country grammar school at the Historical shrine of Peterhouse. At the time, although the smallest of the colleges of Cambridge, it had the highest number of History dons.

The study of History was taken seriously and the effect on me was to be lifelong. The key people for me were Maurice Cowling and Brian Wormald. Sitting in front of these strange, intense men reading an undergraduate essay was profoundly challenging. Historical writing involved seeking to understand the reality behind why men acted in the way they did; and that reality was hugely complex and not to be confused with the descriptions of it in the work of historians. For those writing about the past always have an agenda. The identification and evaluation of that agenda is part of the reader’s challenge. The effort to abandon – or at least admit to – that agenda is part of the historian’s challenge.

Robin Ironside at Pallant House

Went to see the Robin Ironside exhibition at Pallant House in the pouring rain yesterday. A small show, rather dimly lit, presumably because of the fragile medium used in most of the pictures. But a treat to see a group of his work, as it is remarkably hard to come by in the art market or in any public gallery and it is also remarkably individual.

Ironside was, par excellence, a Romantic artist. One might group him with David Jones in a number of ways: the slightly esoteric/mythical subject matter and the highly detailed, pale watercolours used to depict it. He also wrote about Jones amongst other things. The pictures require a lot of close study to unravel them and without the (hard to read) notes, one would have little chance of deciphering what the subject matter was.

He is interesting not only as a particular type of British mid-century artist, but also because he worked at the Tate under Rothenstein and wrote an important short book on British art since 1939, which came out in 1947.

The show came with a supporting catalogue which I haven’t had a chance to read yet. All credit yet again to Pallant House for its tremendous series of shows of 20th C British artists.

Posted Monday, March 5th, 2012, filed under: 20th century British art, David Jones, Pallant House, Robin Ironside

Nicholson/Mondrian at the Courtauld

I am not in favour of the attitude towards Ben Nicholson which treats him as one of the most important artists of 20th Century Britain. He worked in a wide variety of styles, including completely abstract. British artists have a problem getting taken seriously as pure abstract artists, as anything they did was done many years earlier on the Continent. So it is hard for them to avoid the allegation of being derivative. In Nicholson’s non-abstract work, I am wary of treating him as any sort of draughtsman, as well.

This exhibition had a mission. It wanted us to think that the titanic reputation of Mondrian as one of the greatest ever abstract artists was in some way to be compared to our little domestic champion during the few short years they were overlapping with each other, before and during the early part of the War. And it has a good go at this. The 2 rooms in the Courtauld are used to good effect and there are a number of excellent works on display by both artists, as well as some interesting archive material. But the reality remains that in a wider context and time period Mondrian is a giant in this area and Nicholson is not. Nicholson’s father was the artistic giant of the family, to my mind.

Posted Wednesday, February 29th, 2012, filed under: 20th century British art, Ben Nicholson

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham

Went to a Curator’s Tour of the nice show at the Fleming Collection last night.A good range of pictures from her long working career is on display.To my taste the earlier stuff was the more interesting;the later descent into abstraction being less easy to like,although her powerful use of colour was notable throughout.She moved to St Ives quite early in her career and stayed there quite a long time,being drawn back to Scotland after inheriting a large house there.There was an attempt by the Curator to demonstrate her Scottishness as an artist,with suggestions of the influences she had received from that brilliant group of Edinburgh painters just slightly older than her (Gillies,Maxwell and MacTaggart).There was also the occasional hint of influence from the Scottish Colourists.

All in all a good show and an interesting artist.

Posted Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012, filed under: 20th century British art, Scottish Art, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham

David Hockney

I have been a couple of times to the RA and will no doubt have to go a few more times to take it all in.There is a very refreshing quality always to Hockney’s work. He is a brilliantly varied and experimental artist in some ways.He seems to have a huge facility as a painter, able to take on and master all sorts of styles and challenges. It is hard to imagine that there are many artists as powerful and effective as him operating in this country at the moment. His talents put to shame a lot of the second rate work one sees all the time in London from contemporary artists.

When the time comes for a full retrospective, we will get a chance to see this blistering talent in all its glory. That will really be a great experience.

Posted Friday, February 10th, 2012, filed under: David Hockney

Edward Burra, Michael Andrews and Barbara Hepworth

Recently been to Pallant House in Chichester to see the wonderful Burra show there. He is getting a great deal of well-deserved attention now and this show will have done his reputation no harm. There were plenty of pictures from each of his well-known painting phases. There was also an interesting film running of him being interviewed at some time late in his life. He was, shall we say, an unprepossessing sight by then, with long dark hair and living in what might be said to have been squalor. In his kitchen he was shown preparing sausages; he poured himself what appeared to be a neat whisky, emptied one bottle into his glass and topped it up with another already opened bottle from the table, commenting archly to the camera something like “There, that’ll make a good impression!”

Hepworth gallery, Wakefield, UK In the rest of Pallant House were 2 large Michael Andrews’ canvases. He is ripe for a major exhibition. I vividly recall seeing a show of his, I think at the Hayward Gallery, in the 1980’s and trying unsuccessfully to buy a picture afterwards from his dealer.

Yesterday to Wakefield to the new Hepworth Gallery. Very bleak outside on a grey day, but very splendid inside. A thoroughly fascinating display; a good comparison with FE McWilliam in Northern Ireland, in terms of showing the working conditions of a 20th C British sculptor (not to mention Perry Green and Paolozzi’s studio recreation in the Dean Gallery).

Posted Thursday, January 12th, 2012, filed under: 20th century British art, Barbara Hepworth, Edward Burra, Michael Andrews, Pallant House

Exhibitions in 2012

Diary starting to fill with next year’s stuff. John Piper will be having more publicity. “John Piper and the Church” is going to be at Dorchester Abbey from 21st April to 10th June. “John Piper:the Gyselynck Collection” will be at the River and Rowing Museum, Henley from 3rd March to 8th October and “John Piper: The Mountains of Wales” will be at Cardiff from 11th February to 13th May.

Hockney of course will be at the Royal Academy from 21st January to 9th April and I am hoping to get down to the Southampton City Art Gallery in February for “Roland Penrose and the British Surrealists”, which is on from 9th February to 13th May. Tate Britain has “Picasso and Modern British Art” from 15th February to 15th July. “Lucian Freud Portraits” will be at the NPG from 9th February to 27th May.

Finally,the great prize would be to get to Australia in November for the big Francis Bacon show there!

Posted Thursday, December 22nd, 2011, filed under: 20th century British art, David Hockney, Francis Bacon, John Piper, Lucian Freud

Sine Mackinnon

I have been contacted by Antoin Murphy from Dublin. He is interested in the very neglected Sine Mackinnon, who was from Northern Ireland. Her work is always interesting. One glimpses it in sale catalogues occasionally, but there is, as with so many artists from Northern Ireland, shamefully little written about her.

If anyone has anything interesting to say about her,please would they get in touch with him direct, on aemurphy@tcd.ie.

Posted Monday, November 14th, 2011, filed under: Sine Mackinnon

John Craxton at Bonham’s

Bonham’s in New Bond Street (the old Phillips) has a small exhibition of works by John Craxton in the room leading to the sale rooms. This is worth seeing as it contains loans from the estate of works which are not easily seen otherwise. The particularly nice thing about the show (and the works are not for sale) is that it manages to span Craxton’s long career, from the early work of the 1940’s, when Sutherland/Samuel Palmer were influences, through the Greek influenced later pictures.

Posted Monday, November 14th, 2011, filed under: 20th century British art, John Craxton

⋅ Jankel Adler ⋅ Eileen Agar ⋅ John Aldridge ⋅ Adrian Allinson ⋅ Michael Andrews ⋅ Edward Ardizzone ⋅ Arthur Armstrong ⋅ Frank Auerbach ⋅ Michael Ayrton ⋅ Francis Bacon ⋅ Wilhelmina Barns-Graham ⋅ Edward Bawden ⋅ Adrian Berg ⋅ Basil Blackshaw ⋅ David Bomberg ⋅ Louis le Brocquy ⋅ Jean Bullock ⋅ Edward Burra ⋅ George Campbell ⋅ Prunella Clough ⋅ Geoffrey Clarke ⋅ William Coldstream ⋅ Cecil Collins ⋅ Robert Colquhoun ⋅ John Craxton ⋅ Alfred Daniels ⋅ Alan Davie ⋅ Gerard Dillon ⋅ William Gear ⋅ Wilfred Dudeney ⋅ Richard Eurich ⋅ Hans Feibusch ⋅ Lucian Freud ⋅ William Gear ⋅ Mark Gertler ⋅ William Gillies ⋅ Beatrice, Lady Glenavy ⋅ Duncan Grant ⋅ Richard Hamilton ⋅ John Hayward ⋅ Thomas Hennell ⋅ Patrick Hennessy ⋅ Paul Henry ⋅ Barbara Hepworth ⋅ Josef Herman ⋅ Patrick Heron ⋅ Derek Hill ⋅ Tristram Hillier ⋅ Roger Hilton ⋅ Ivon Hitchens ⋅ David Hockney ⋅ Frances Hodgkins ⋅ Robin Ironside ⋅ Augustus John ⋅ David Jones ⋅ Karin Jonzen ⋅ Eric Kennington ⋅ Laura Knight ⋅ Peter Lanyon ⋅ Wyndham Lewis ⋅ Laurence Lowry ⋅ John Luke ⋅ Robert MacBryde ⋅ Sine Mackinnon ⋅ Norah McGuinness ⋅ William McTaggart ⋅ FE McWilliam ⋅ Bernard Meninsky ⋅ Oliver Messel ⋅ Colin Middleton ⋅ John Minton ⋅ Henry Moore ⋅ Cedric Morris ⋅ Rodrigo Moynihan ⋅ John Nash ⋅ Paul Nash ⋅ Christopher Nevinson ⋅ Algernon Newton ⋅ Ben Nicholson ⋅ Sir William Nicholson ⋅ Winifred Nicholson ⋅ Daniel O’Neill ⋅ Eduardo Paolozzi ⋅ Victor Pasmore ⋅ John Piper ⋅ Eric Ravilious ⋅ Alan Reynolds ⋅ Ceri Richards ⋅ William Roberts ⋅ Michael Rothenstein ⋅ Kenneth Rowntree ⋅ William Scott ⋅ Matthew Smith ⋅ Stanley Spencer ⋅ Gilbert Spencer ⋅ Rowland Suddaby ⋅ Graham Sutherland ⋅ Julian Trevelyan ⋅ Fred Uhlman ⋅ Leon Underwood ⋅ Keith Vaughan ⋅ Edward Wadsworth ⋅ Alfred Wallis ⋅ Evan Walters ⋅ John Ward ⋅ Carel Weight ⋅ Gerald Wilde ⋅ Kyffin Williams ⋅ Edward Wolfe ⋅ Bryan Wynter ⋅ Jack Yeats ⋅

20th Century
British and Irish Art

Art Commentator and Historian
Adrian Clark