Dear readers (whomever you may be, there seem to be quite a few of you at the moment!).
Apologies for the slight delay in recent posts, currently I am in the midst of a couple of essays and dissertation planning, which appears to be taking a great deal of time and strength! In the heat of the coronavirus, art history seems to be of little importance compared to maintaining good health!
There are a couple of exciting posts coming up very soon, but in the meantime I’ll give a little glimpse into my final dissertation project. I’ll be writing about the ballet set and costume designs by Russian Avant-Garde Artist Natalia Goncharova for the ballet Russes. I’ve loved Goncharova’s work since visiting a TATE exhibition of her work last Summer with my lovely friend Maude, an artist and stylist. Down below are a few photos I took of the Summer exhibition, which was complete with Sunshine-yellow painted walls and a wonderfully curated collection of her versatile work.
A little woodblock.
The Russian, folk-art style ballet costumes that Goncharova designed for ballet.
Her work spanning across different methods, such as lithograph.
And here below are a couple images I’ll be considering when writing and planning my research piece. They’re both ballet costumes designed by Goncharova. The seahorse, I think is a wonderful costume! Though I imagine It must have been a little tricky to dance in.
Costume for a squid. 1916. Silk, lame, wire & paint.
Down below here area a couple of her gouache and pencil designs along with designs for ballet sets.
Costume design for a peasant woman, front view. 1914. Gouache and pencil on paper.
A scene from the ballet The Firebird, 1950s. Natalia Goncharova designed the back drop. From the TATE website.
There is something about Goncharova’s work which fills me with excitement, as an illustrator and maker. It is the type of work that for me, makes me want to gather up my pencils and draw wonderfully abstract scenes with bright colours and folk-art motifs. Finally, below is one of my favourite paintings of Goncharova’s of all her works. Titled ‘Gardening‘, it takes on the style of impressionism and a bit of cubism. I find the scene very sweet and simple, and it still remains my favourite (So far).
From now, I hope to try and make a post a week, complete with illustrations and interesting research. Not only will it give me a little something to look forward to and get the old cogs turning, but hopefully be something of some use when applying towards research degrees in the future. It’s also a great way to do a bit more drawing, as sadly I’ve lost all motivation to carry on with that for a little while, really. Hopefully this will act as a ‘function’ for me to pick up the dip pen!
Mary Fedden was born in Bristol and educated at Slade School of Art under the theatre designer Vladimir Polunin. Polunin had previously worked before with the ballet Russes, which had previously commissioned Avante-Garde artists such as Pablo Picasso and Natalia Goncharova to create designs for sets and ballet costumes.
From the 1950s onwards, Fedden taught at the Royal College of Art, being the first woman to be allowed to teach in the painting school. Two of her pupils included renowned Yorkshire artists David Hockney and Allen Jones. She was the President of the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol from 1984-88 and is currently a member of the Royal Academy.
This still life painting of Fedden’s work is on display at York Art Gallery and embodies her flat and colourful style of painting. A significant number of Fedden’s work collection involve still life in an often homely setting and incorporate vibrant uses of colour to replace the original. To me, her work includes a sense of inspiration from naive folk art, due to the block shapes and flat style it harbours.
This is one of my favourite paintings in York Art Gallery, and I feel lucky to have the chance to see it often. Below are a few more examples of Fedden’s work.
And one of Mary Fedden’s early painting, with a less stylised and block-coloured look. This painting seems to emphasise the importance of observational drawing in art and creating a realistic image while offering a dream-like quality and softness to it.
Below are a few photos from a recent trip of mine to Kettle’s Yard. As an Illustration in student, Kettle’s Yard was luckily within a 30 minute walk from my University, though due to refurbishment, stayed closed for most of the 3 years I was an undergraduate.
The first time I visited Kettles Yard, I was timid, wide-eyed 18 year old making the most of my free time after an Interview for Cambridge School of Art. I handed my over-stuffed portfolio to the university reception and weaved my way through town to its door.
Now going back, it’s so nice to see how the house and galleries have been combined to create a site of both modern art and heritage.
A rather lovely embroidered bedspread on one of the beds. The gold thread shimmers in the sun.
Winifred Nicolson, Cyclamen and Primula, 1923. Painted by Nicolson in Switzerland.
Todays’ google image of Else Lasker-Schüler, by Illustrator Cynthia Kittler.
Today marks the birthday of Else Lasker-Schüler, bohemian and German-Jewish playwright and poet. She was born February 11th 1869 in Germany, and died in Jerusalem, Israel in 1945.
Emigrating to Zurich, and finally Jerusalem, after harassment from the Nazis, her life transcended into poverty, however she continued to write and create work despite her circumstances.
Poems by Lasker-Schueler in the a 1969 copy of the Jewish Chronicles.
These days, my cinema trips are sporadic. That is, until something I’ve waited for, for a while is to show in my local indie cinema. Last month it happened to be Greta Gerwigs’ Little Women. I have long loved Louise Alcott’s tale of the close-knit March family in Little Women, and their lives in Americas’ New England. Both in page form and audio-read I’ve listened and read the story many times.
Greta Gerwig’s’ adaption of the much-loved tale I think is a fresh new look into the individual lives of the March sister Jo, Beth, Meg and Amy. The constant switch between segments of the story to me creates a more rounded, exciting and captivating setting than that of a continuous-time period. There is an uncanny sense of comfort among the actors, especially the younger characters, including Timothy Chalamet’s ‘Teddy’. The chemistry is joyful and playful, while concerned expressions and body language show evidence of familiarity among the cast.
Little Women cast. Eliza Scalnen as ‘Beth’, Saoirse Ronan as ‘Jo’, Laura Dern as ‘Marmie’ and Florence Pugh as ‘Amy’.
I loved the costumes in the film, and imagine the colours and styles being identical to those of the settings’ era. It was also interesting to learn from a Hapers Bazarr interview that she allow actor Timothy Chalamet to dress himself, but first ‘to research and read essays about dandies and flaneurs—a.k.a. fashionable French male socialites—as well as the work of 19th-century poet Charles Baudelaire’. Something that I did that a bit off was the casting of French actor Louis Garrel as Professeur Bhaer. I think that the confusion was due to me having seen Bernardo Bertolucci’s ‘The Dreamers’, a beautifully shot if a slightly unnerving film, in which Garrel starred. I couldn’t quite seem to take the scenes with Garrel’s earnestly as perhaps was desired, but nevertheless, I thought he was very believable in his part as the kind and earnest German professer.
Director Greta Gerwig, having worked written and produced such films as Mistress America and Frances Ha with partner Noah Baumbach has been able to create a movie with her style of visual language. Her humour is raw, relatable and appealing to a more young audience. Though I think it could have been easy to have over-done such a classic tale that has had its share of adaptions, Gerwig seems to have taken the story and create a new, powerful dynamic that takes a more feminist stance than I think previous versions have evoked.
Corymb, 1959. Barbara Hepworth. Close to the water feature.
Barbara Hepworths’ Studio and Sculpture Garden in St Ives, Cornwall is a beautiful hidden treasure of a find. Now owned by Tate, the organisation have conserved the pace, making it feel as though you are stepping into the world of a real, live working artist. The garden, even in winter shows the promise of full bloom in the warmer months, plants and water features combining the elements of the earth into a truly tranquil setting. The garden also inhabits a lovely elderly grey cat who I met stretched out, sleeping near a heater by the garden door.
As you walk through the peaceful garden, you can imagine how only the sound of the sea, wind and water features could do wonders for the busy mind of an artist. A path, leading around the garden features an array of Hepworths’ sculptures among foliage and plants with geometric forms and shapes.
The gallery, with high white walls and cold, cornish light feels similar to that the interiors of Kettles Yard in Cambridge. It reminds me of its use of space to present artworks and ornaments. Hepworths’ sculptures and drawings, including Seated Woman with Clasped Hands, stand out beautifully against the rooms’ simplicity.
Photos in the gallery of Hepworth and her sculptures. I love the look of her workspaces, adorned with plants and books.
My favourite room in the small museum was a conservatory higher above the studio that you come to after following a path around the garden. It harbours sculptures, and an array of potted plants line the shelves. I can imagine there only being endless amounts of inspiration in living somewhere as beautiful as St Ives. I was very blessed with a sunny, clear blue (if slightly chilly!) day to visit.
My favourite room. Sculptures, plants and chairs, partly lit up by the beautiful wintery Cornish sun. The sculpture looks like a ‘Square Forms’ piece, perhaps a rendition of the original.
I find artists studios fascinating, as I think you can tell a great deal about the artists from the environment they choose to surround themselves in when working. It appears Hepworth appreciated the simplicity and natural elements in her workspace, and this reflects in her sculptures. The saying ‘less is more’, applies in her workspace, allowing the artists to rely on the natural landscapes and elements to gain inspiration.
Having been the museum and looking at the studios, I can imagine no better place for her to have worked. Now, as a preserved space for new artists to peek into, to gain a glimpse into the life of a female sculptor, it’s become one of my favourite museums.
I’ve slightly changed my writing style from one that was quite direct to what I feel is now a bit more of a thoughtful and methodical process (at least I hope). From research to writing in my journals, to writing onto my laptop, It will hopefully allow things to feel a little healthier. I abstained from copious amounts of hand-writing for a while after gaining a think piece of skin on one of my fingers from continuous drawing as an undergraduate student. I love the traditional media, but it did quite make me feel a little self-conscious of my ring finger (drawing to see). I’m much happier with this process now.
I’m not a big fan of the quick publication of text and images nowadays. I feel as though it only really captures a fleeting moment, which can change within a moment or two, and I’m not surprised that many people feel very low after witnessing the photos of other people’s lives in this parallel world of the image on a screen. It’s rather scary. As someone who enjoys every day and tries to spend as little time interacting with social media, I felt that a new method was needed to write. I’ll also upload small scans if of my writing and thought layouts. I find it funny seeing my notes looking so hurried and scrawly. I edit the pages writing after my notes, especially if I haven’t the image or feel it doesn’t quite make sense!
Anyways, after that introduction, I shall begin by talking about the Pre-Raphaelite Sisters exhibition I attended with my class at the National Portrait Gallery in October this year. The show, titled ‘Pre-Raphaelite Sisters’ showcased the lives, portraits and artwork of the female artists, models and muses of the Pre-Raphaelite sisters, not to mention the wives, Mothers and Siblings too.
It is not uncommon, I feel, for female artists of art movements to appear somewhat undermined in comparison to their male counterparts. As a student who is still very much new to the world of Art History, it’s hard to tell whether I have not done enough research to comment or to guess that they hadn’t been as represented as their males. In any case, It felt liberating, mainly to see an exhibition features on the females of the art ring that was the Pre-Raphaelites, even if some contributions had been made by their male counterparts, making it a show with art from both sexes.
I felt the show was laid out and curated in a constructive and informative way, for those who are interested in art history and creatives alike those purely curious of the past of this particular topic of female art. Divided into sections that showcased work by each female member, alongside portraits, photos and drawing of them by various other PR members, I felt it evoked a worldly, rounded view of each ‘Sister’.
On the subject of male contributors, I wanted to draw in on a couple of pieces I saw and wanted to write about.
Portrait of a girl, John Everett Millais, Oil on paper on panel 1857
A little portrait that struck me was that of Sophy Gray, Effie Gray’s younger sister. Effie Gray and John Everett Millais married after Gray’s separation from influential art critic John Ruskin, a story that may have raised eyebrows during the time. Their marriage was annulled on the basis that it had not been consummated, with suggestions that Ruskin’s attitude towards the female form may have been the culprit towards this. As an art critic, he may have studied the classic nudes which depict smooth, hairless bodies, which in reality, is quite different compared to a healthy, female body in all its naturalness.
Gray and Millais married shortly after her separation, then proceeded on to have a whopping eight children! If that does not speak for itself as making up for lost time, I’m not quite sure what is.
Jane Morris’s embroidery.
Jane Morris photographed by John Robert Parsons, 1856
Prosperine, Dante Gabriel Rosetti, 1974.
I felt particularly drawn to the segment of Jane Morris in the exhibition and felt very excited after seeing her designs in the form of embroidery.
Jane, along with her daughter May, played vital roles in the Arts and Crafts and Pre-Raphelite movement, Jane, as a model and muse, and May as an embroiderer. Jane’s eye for design is evident in these embroideries. Funnily, It was May Morris who ended up taking off as an embroiderer, taught by her Mother and Aunt Bessie at what I guess must have been an early age. She then studied and went on to become head of the embroidery department at her Father’s establishment, Morris & Co.
Other female members who were already somewhat linked to the Pre-Raphelite circle include Georgiana Burne-Jones and Evelyn de Morgan. I would not have known about these female counterparts if it has not been for this exhibition, I feel, and I enjoyed researching them a bit more thoroughly for a presentation in class.
Other female members who were already somewhat linked to the Pre-Raphelite circle include Georgiana Burne-Jones and Evelyn de Morgan. I would not have known about these female counterparts if it has not been for this exhibition, I feel, and I enjoyed researching them a bit more thoroughly for a presentation in class.
A slide I illustrated for my presentation.
Dead Bird, Georgiana Burne-Jones, 1957, Watercolour
Georgiana’s Dead Bird (of which I only took a photo of the label), shows a keen interest in art from a young age. I find it fascinating how driven these women were not only to prove themselves as artists, but to refine their skills up to such a high standard.
Whether married to, friends with or model to the male counterparts of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, I don’t feel that the movement would have had quite so much popularity and success if it had not been for these women. It was beauty and idealism that movement wanted to capture, so I think, and without the influence or involvement of these females, the works would have been model-less and fabricated.
I’m happy that light has come down onto these female artists, and I hope that galleries will continue to celebrate female work and involvement more in future exhibitions.
The new Dora Marr exhibition at Tate Britain I feel is a great step towards the exposure of women’s art in the 20th Century. I am ashamed to say I had only known Marr as a photographer and mistress to Picasso (whom I admit is an artist I’m not too fond of). She is immortalised in ‘The Crying Woman’ and many other pieces where she modelled and was ‘captured’ her lover.
Their affair was tumultuous, and I do feel her label as a lover to an influential artist has masked her real talent and profession as an Art photographer, documenter and artist. Her expertise and ambition are inspirational. Influenced by surrealism and working with a sense of humour and quiet seriousness, as well an intellectual and political influences, her collections reflect her as an artist and a person.
Born in 1907 to a Fashion Boutique owner and Architect, Henriette Theodora Markovitch already possessed the artistic promise. After studying applied arts and painting in Paris’s most progressive art school, she chose photography as her preliminary medium.
Raised between Argentina and France, her European demeanour is evident in her work through the natural portrayal of women’s bodies, sensuality and effortless, yet stylised picture-taking.
I was stunned to see the varieties and periods of her creative practices. Throughout her professional lifetime, she worked with manual camera film, collage and painting, returning to photography with expressionistic camera-less pictures. The exhibition’s photography collection spans over areas such as documentary (capturing daily life), editorial commissions and experimental work. The show itself leads you through a lifetime of different artistic and photographic periods,
She had a way of capturing women in their moat beautiful and comfortable form, evident in her black and white nudes, where we can understand her ethic as a photographer, and her relationship with her subjects. Utterly captivating, her style entrances the viewer and radiates creativity through the compositions and subject matter.
I wanted to wander around and enjoy the exhibition, so I only took a few photos, the ones I did take were my favourites, so I’ll elaborate on those first.
Untitled (Nude), Dora Maar, 1938, gelatin silver print on paper
During the Interwar boom of Illustrated press and advertising, creative professional opportunities opened up for women. Maar’s early photography work began with commissioned commercial and fashion photography. She also teamed up with photographer film set designer and photographer Pierre Kefer in 1931. The two artists worked together in fashion photographs, nudes and portraits, signing the photos ‘Kefir-Dora Maar’. Their teamwork ended in 1935, where Maar continued to take independent commissions. In the photographs of women and nudes, the women appear calm and comfortable, perhaps while being in the company of a female photographer. Maar’s sense of composition and respect for the female is evident through the empowering photographs. I liked the simplicity of this photo above, where the woman’s silhouette is shown through the simple task of the model fixing her hair.
Untitled (Pearly princess, London), Dora Maar, 1934, Photograph, gelatine silver print on paper
In 1934, Maar went to London to photograph and record the impoverished lives of those who had been affected by the economic depression. She travelled on with a solo project in Mind to embark on a short new, documentarian period of her photography. She began in Spain before then travelling to London and Paris. The photographs of this period give an insight into the hardship that many families had to with take. She also provided photos of the traditions of different cultures. Here a pearly princess stands in her embellished clothes (Decorated with mother of pearl buttons).
Untitled (Nusch Eluard behind a fence in Mougins), Dora Maar, 1936-7, Photograph, gelatine silver print on paper
This little photograph of Nusch Eluard, surrealist artist and model, emphasises Maar’s involvement with the Surrealist art scene. Eluard’s pure beauty is caught in this whimsical scene of nature, behind a fence where Ivy drapes over. She appears comfortable with having her photo taken and perhaps, Maar’s presence.
Untitled (Lise Deharme), Dora Maar, 1933, Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper
Lise Deharme was another member associated with the Surrealist movement. Deharme was a writer, and in this photograph, her poise and serious nature is captured by Maar, joined with the comedic, almost surreal landscape of the large-leafed plants begin her. I like these photos for the effect that scale has in the composition and the dream-like quality of Deharme’s Gaze.
Untitled, Dora Maar, 1980, gelatin silver print on paper
Later in her life, after experimenting with painting, Maar returned to photography, only this time, with a more impressionistic outlook. She created ‘Camera-less photos’ that played with light and texture. Here she has used little silhouetted to create a scene. I feel that her previous endeavours with paint allowed her to use a different approach towards her favoured media.
Slides of Dora Maar’s later camera-less photography.
This painting is perhaps one of my favourite on-display pieces by Winifred Nicolson. During my trips to London’s Tate Britain, I make sure to walk past it and look at it for a moment or two. The plane-like birds, shaped with striped and brush marks for faces, swoop along into the centre of the composition. The landscape is golden and textures, like warm sand, the sea in the horizon noted by it’s few frothy waves lines.
There are simplicity and charm to Nicolson’s work. The simple shapes and forms come derived from years of realistic drawing, which we know an artist has to master before developing their personal style. Her sense of colour and atmosphere is hugely present in her works, where nature and landscape take the full lead as the main subjects. Quintessentially British, the painting evoke the height of a summer’s day on the shores of a sunny England.
There is a truth in saying that we enjoy the things that reflect our own hearts and desires. This painting my Nicolson reminds me of my own childhood holidays to Cornwall, and even some hot summer days in North Wales. I remember, in both instances crossing small hills and sand dunes hill before reaching the beach. The sea is within sight and approachable, but first we must stand and gaze unto the riches that surround us, the land which is empty and now our own to explore.
Compared to British Folk art, Nicolson’s work carries the same smooth line and childish outlook onto the sometimes harsh outlines of a British scene, that a naive painter may. Her work becomes less of an exact resemblance, but instead an impression of the scene. Similar to the impressionists, it is the brush stroke which allows her to create the thick, rich textures and intuitive marks that brings the picture together.
Winifred Nicolson may be one of my favourite 19th Century female painters, for the reason I can only describe as a keen fondness for her eye and subjects. I also praise her use of colour and textures. Here are a few more of my favourite painting of hers from the Tate Collection.
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