I visited this exhibition last week.It is an excellent display of the whole range of Dillon’s work.He produced a lot of work in his comparatively short life and was always an experimental and thoughtful artist.I would urge anyone within reach of Northern Ireland to visit or to get hold of the excellent catalogue.The gallery itself is a treat,with the pictures well [Read More…]
Results for search of category: 20th century British art
James Torrington Bell at Lord’s
Another year, another roam down that obscure corridor in the Pavilion at Lord’s where they hide the more recondite 20th C cricket pictures (see last year’s entry on Adrian Allinson). Many of them appear to be amateur works showing grounds in former Imperial spots: sweet but ludicrously badly painted. A game of cricket presents quite complex spatial challenges to an amateur [Read More…]
Gerard Dillon
Alongside other 20th century Irish artists, Dillon’s prices have suffered a bit at auction recently. He had a large output across his comparatively short life and examples come up regularly at auctions in Dublin and, to a lesser extent, in London. Now a real treat has appeared. At Adam’s in Dublin there is a large Dillon exhibition during July, moving [Read More…]
British painters in Iceland
Interesting to note which of our group of artists worked in Iceland. One, Ravilious, is well-known for his Icelandic work and he died there in an accident in 1942. He had been there as an official War artist. His replacement was Thomas Hennell and there are gorgeous examples of his watercolours done in Iceland. By coincidence, he was another War [Read More…]
Peter Watson and Horizon
On 1st February 2013 I gave a lecture at the Sotheby’s Institute in Bedford Square, under the auspices of the Burlington Magazine, about the art contributions to Horizon. This is a very brief synopsis. A transcript of my lecture is available on request. Founded at the end of 1939, Horizon was funded by Watson. The initial editors were Cyril Connolly [Read More…]
Harry Epworth Allen
For Christmas the John Basford book about Harry Epworth Allen. I love his work, particularly the landscape scenes of Derbyshire and Ireland. He often painted in tempera, which gives a smooth, silky feel to his stylised depictions of the countryside. Lived in Sheffield most of his life, which may have restricted his chances of making progress in the London art world. [Read More…]
Peter Watson and Francis Bacon
As work on Watson’s biography continues, one thing which is becoming apparent is the importance to Bacon at certain points in the development of his reputation of his link with Peter Watson. It is unknown when they actually met. They moved in the same part of the London art world and may well have met during or shortly after the [Read More…]
John Luke
Very excited to see that the Ulster Museum in Belfast has a big John Luke show. He is one of the most extraordinary British artists of the 20th century and I encourage anyone who can get to Belfast to go. There is also a separate Luke drawing exhibition on at the Naughton Gallery at Queen’s, which is nearby, so the [Read More…]
Algernon Newton
There is a small show of his work on at the Daniel Katz Gallery in Old Bond Street at the moment, which is worth catching. Newton’s work appears occasionally in the sale room. It is not, and can never have been, fashionable, but it is painting done by a serious, trained artist and merits attention on that basis. Throughout the [Read More…]
175 Years at the RCA
I went to this at the weekend and would urge you to go if in the area. For those with an interest in 20th C British art, it is a great treat. Sculpture by Moore and pictures by Hockney, Auerbach, Bawden, Ravilious, Minton etc etc. By the latter is the enormous and very rarely seen Death of Nelson, owned by [Read More…]