“Vanessa Bell: A Pioneer of Modern Art” - Courtauld exhibition

I recently visited an exhibition on Vanessa Bell: she was described as a “Pioneer of Modern Art”.

I was initially apprehensive about her being a so-called "pioneer". But, she truly is. The mantle is deserved.

She was a leading artist among the avant-garde Bloomsbury Group. They were an eclectic bunch who advanced literary and artistic modernism in Britain at the beginning of the 20th century. Her connections among the Bloomsbury Group are defining: wife of art critic Clive Bell, sister to Virginia Woolf, and the lover to Roger Fry (long-time companion of painter Duncan Grant).

Vanessa Bell is considered pioneering for her contributions to modernist art, the Bloomsbury Group, and the artistic and cultural landscape of her time.

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A Conversation

A very charming and engaging oil painting. It makes you ask questions. 

For me, as with Studland Beach (which I've just blogged about), I get some vague impression or feeling of exclusion.

Vanessa Bell gives us three ladies (everyday female experience) in some purposeful conversation with a flattened perspective. The forms of the ladies is rather abstract in shape and with muted colours. 

I do love the arched-and-raised hand — with the other resting nonchalantly. It’s an interesting & intuitive posture which I haven’t seen much of in paintings.

But, ultimately, the viewer is kept at bay.

The arrangement of flowers at the background adds a beautiful contrast to the darker atmosphere of the ladies. Also positioned near the ladies’ mouths which suggests real colour to be gleaned there.

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Design for a folding screen - Adam and Eve

This is about sexual freedom.

Reminded of the vibrant colours and flattened forms of Henri Matisse.

This depicts Adam and Eve in a verdant Eden — with no serpent in sight. According to the Courtauld, it’s related to the sexual freedom embraced by the Bloomsbury set:

The scene appears to encapsulate the sexual freedom embraced by Bell and other members of the Bloomsbury group. The dynamic nudes appear to be dancing in an enveloping golden light, wholly at ease in their bodies and their environment.

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Arum Lilies and Iris

Beautiful. 

The arrangement of lilies (“still life”) has been matched by such a beautiful ceramic vase which seems to have been painted with even more resplendency. According to the Courtauld:

Giving the vase such attention underscores the importance of every element of the domestic environment in creating the aesthetic of the Bloomsbury interior.

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Still Life at a Window

Vanessa Bell likes the subdued colours. This was painted in Paris — after WW1.

The way the light floods into the room through the window is beautiful. The white reflecting sheen on the base of the ceramic vessel is subtle but amazing.

Amazing flowers and patterned curtains.

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The Omega Workshop Rugs

At 33 Fitzroy Square in London. Founded by Roger Fry, Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant in 1913, the Workshop was a design enterprise. 

Embracing the vibrancy & simplified forms of the then contemporary movements (e.g., Cubism, Fauvism etc.), many of the designs can be considered British art’s earliest forays into abstraction. (None of the designs were signed. Roger Fry believed they should be anonymous, believing their art should sell entirely on their own merits rather than on the reputation of a particular artist.)

 

Left – The design for Lady Ian Hamilton’s rug 1914.

The squared paper provided a framework for working out the abstract design.

Right – As per Courtauld, the use of collage “to create discrete blocks of colour reveals Bell’s interest in Cubist collages”.

Bell was interested in obtaining the effect of mosaic in her paintings. 

She noted how the white spaces left between the patches and black lines were introduced to add brilliance to the colours.

In this application, she was indebted to Cézanne.

While her designs don't hold much personal interest, I do recognise her broad skills and accomplishment as a designer. She seems to have produced innovative textiles and furniture designs that blended post-impressionist fine art with applied arts.

Vanessa Bell - Studland Beach (1912)

Took this some time ago at the Tate.

A deep painting — it feels dramatic and emphatic ... even to us today.

But, I do get some unpleasant feeling of exclusion. Perhaps anomie? Ostracism or prohibition?

It is leavened by the warmth of the sand and the cute summer straw-hats, and a general feeling that this is a family by the beach with their mother.

Things of note:

• I didn’t recognise - until a bit later - that the 2 figures at the fore were topless/naked.
• Everyone has their backs to the viewer. Which feels v. uncomfortable.
• I came to notice the visual & emotional impact of deliberate space across a canvas through Degas’s paintings. The canvas is practically devoid of life. No characters seem to touch or interact with one another.
• Is that the sea or sky?
• I think this is a painting about mothers and daughters?
• The white tent (?) feels disjointed because of the departure from orderly recession and a sense of perspective.

The empty space reminds me of Paul Gauguin’s “Vision of the Sermon” (which I have written about).

Jacopo di Cione - The Crucifixion

Amazing and beautiful adaptation of a polyptych. 

Jacopo di Cione was a Florentine Gothic painter. Documented between 1365-1400.

Christ is shown crucified on the Cross — alongside the two thieves. And a vast crowd around, and Roman horsebacks around.

To his right, the thief — who mocked him — with burning coals over his head.

To his left, the “good” thief’s soul is taken to heaven by angels.

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At the foreground, the mourning Virgin (in ultramarine) is supported by Mary Magdalene (in red robes) — the three Maries — and St. John the Evangelist (hand raised to his face).

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Duccio - The Virgin and Child with Saints Dominic and Aurea

I loved this.

This exquisite portable altarpiece was intended for private devotion. For me, it depicts a very moving tenderness and humanity to the traditional Maestà.

Duccio di Buoninsegna (1278-1319) was a key early Sienese painter. Duccio influenced all those artists that followed him (just as Giotto influenced Florentine artists).

According to my art history book:

Duccio is not as innovative in style or technique as Giotto, who was his contemporary, but he is a better narrator of events. 

I think this can be seen in the way the Madonna and Child are musing over each other — which fills the main panel. The painting has a warmth which I found absolutely beautiful. As with the Met, the Christ seems to be moving towards his mother for an embrace. The traditional Maestà seemed to show the Madonna pointing to Christ. Here (see below) she is wrapping her arms around him.

The Byzantine tradition can be seen in the long, straight noses, small mouths, and almond-shaped eyes (which can give an inscrutable expression). Having said that it shows just how ornate and beautiful Byzantine art is on its own terms. 

The decorative gilding of the Madonna’s headscarf is just delicious.

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On the left, St. Dominic appears.

On the right, St. Aurea, an early martyr killed by drowning. 

In the gable above is King David, accompanied by Old Testament prophets holding
their prophesies concerning Mary’s virginity and Christ’s birth.

Lorenzo Monaco - The Coronation of the Virgin

An altarpiece with such a beautiful vivid colour scheme — luminous blues and gilding. Such attention to detail.

The Virgin’s robes have faded its original pinkish mauve.

“Lorenzo the Monk”: actual name is Piero di Giovanni. He was a monk at the Camaldolese monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Florence. This ascetic order had been founded in 1012 by a Benedictine monk, Saint Romuald. He was shocked at the decadence of his own monastery, and refashioned it after the mountain locality of Camaldoli in Tuscany where he built a hermitage. 

He was born c. 1370 in Siena — but spent his professional life in Florence. Giotto died 1337. So, he was obviously influenced by Giotto’s portrayal of real-life incidents as though enacted by people expressing believable emotions.

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At the centre, the Coronation of the Virgin following her Assumption to Heaven. On a delicate throne, Christ places a gilded crown on his mother’s head. This scene was depicted in 13th-century France and extremely popular in Florence at this time (although not mentioned in the Gospels). And since the Madonna sometimes personifies the Church, Christ vesting her with a regal crown confirms the authority of Church and Pope. 

Below them, angels make heavenly music in perfect symmetry.

At the left, St. Benedict (6th-century founder of the Benedictines) is shown. The book in his hand inscribed with the opening words of the Prologue of his Rule, which the Camaldolites as reformed Benedictines observed. In his left-hand, the birch he used to chastise errant monks. At his side, sits St. John the Baptist and St. Matthew with his Gospel. 

At the right, St Romuald in his white habit (as was his wont) — with St Peter and Saint John the Evangelist beside him. St Romuald on equal terms — some institutional self-promotion?

Master of Saint Francis - Crucifix

The Master of Saint Francis was active around 1272.
Crucifix was painted around 1265-70.

This is an absolutely beautiful & mesmerising work of art.

Christ hangs in a painful way across the cross. The Christ is depicted as hanging on the cross. Blood drips down the cross in torrents. His legs have buckled from under the weight. The Medieval portrayal of the human body was focused on the feeling as opposed to its accurate form.

On his right, the Madonna is comforted by Mary Magdalene and another holy woman.

This work predates Giotto.

This crucifix is an example of Christus patiens (Christ suffering) which emphasizes the pain/full weight of Christ’s sacrifice. Contrast against earlier iconography of Christus triumphans (triumphant Christ) where Christ was portrayed as healthy and strong to emphasize his divinity and/or resurrection. The curved legs are a stylistic choice to show that Christ is hanging and also severely weakened by his time spent suffering on the cross.

Giotto (di Bondone) - Pentecost

Note: This post is part of the “Gothic and Proto-Renaissance period” on the National Gallery collection. These are some of the oldest works of art in the museum’s collection.

Giotto is regarded as the father of Western painting because of his shift away from Byzantine stylisation and introduction of naturalism and creating a sense of pictorial space and perspective.

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Pentecost by Giotto (and Workshop) — probably about 1310-18

Beautiful.

This is a biblical rendering of the 12 (count them) apostles receiving the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove and tongues of fire. 

The two witnesses (orange & blue robes) are listening in and marvelling at apostles now-found ability to preach the gospel in different languages. This is the universal mission of Christ’s disciples and is described in the Acts of the Apostles (2:1-13):

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

What makes this special is how — unlike other earlier painters — he seems to introduce a 3D reality and space to his personages and their settings. 

Different faces in looking in different directions, hand raised as though in the middle of speech. The 2nd row is positioned lower giving the illusion of greater distance. To the right, a dove high above giving some spatial depth (due to the pillars painted) and an ornate ceiling above it.

He seems to involve the viewer as a witness in the unfolding Christian dramatics. According to the NG, “his skill at bringing biblical stories to life was hugely influential and he is regarded as the founder of Italian Renaissance painting”.

The Holy Spirit is represented as (1) flames on the apostles heads; and (2), more commonly, as a dove, with rays emanating from it. 

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The Dead Christ and the Virgin by Neapolitan follower of Giotto — probably 13305-40s

The Virgin Mary touches the wound in the side of the dead Christ, while two mourning angels appear above.

The way Christ has been painted is v. morbid. Blood dripping down his stomach forming a pool, only just visible. The way his eyes roll back slightly in their sockets. His gaunt appearance. It’s rather evocative of his suffering.

The interlocking arms and the way Mary’s robes fold, over her head, as they cover her suggests the 3D.

The gold is beautiful.

“Discover Degas & Miss La La” - beautiful National Gallery Exhibition

I went to a wonderful exhibition recently on Degas’s painting of “Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando”. 

The National Gallery is currently celebrating its bicentennial birthday. And this exhibition is a lovely touch. It combines drama and spectacle with art and race. What makes this show so refreshing is that it is free of our present day identity-politics and ideological framing. 

I had already covered this painting some years back on a visit; so it was a pleasure to see it again.

It was based on newly discovered information about the painting and its sitter.

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Part 1 - The “Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando” painting by Edgar Degas

A stunning painting.

Miss La La (the acrobat) is ascended towards the rafters of “Cirque Fernando” via a rope clenched between her teeth. Captivating, and slightly horrifying. 😳

The architecture intensifies the dramatics. Her real name is Anna Albertine Olga Brown. Born in 1858 in Prussia (Poland) to a white mother and African American father. She died in 1945. In her time, she reached international fame.

In 1879, aged 21, Degas had attended one her performances at the Cirque Fernando in Paris. He found her mesmerising & painted her suspended gracefully at her most perilous moment.

Her sketched her many times, and invited her to pose in his studio.

This painting was then dispatched to 4th Impressionist exhibition in Paris in 1879.

The Wilton Diptych (1359)

Absolutely spectacular & joyously beautiful. 

This is one of England’s earliest portraits and pleasure to blog about.

The vivid ultramarine against the resplendent gilding is just so incredible.

The Wilton Diptych is an example of international gothic art & was a personal devotional altarpiece of King Richard II. 

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The King is portrayed kneeling — in my goodness, such magnificent textured robes with white-gem studded crown and jewels — in the panel to the left. 

As he prays, he flanked by saints, Edmund and Edward the Confessor, England’s patron saints (both former Kings), and his personal patron, John the Baptist. His family emblem being the stag around his neck. The sheer detail is incredible!

And King Edward the Confessor is holding his own ring which became the coronation ring of King Richard II.

I imagine King Richard II being a devoted and reverent man. He must have looked at this masterpiece and felt reassured as he prayed for guidance.

And, on the other side ...

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The ultramarine-robbed retinue of angels & saintly beings appear — on the right-hand panel — as if from heaven. 

Christ raises his hand to bless the King Richard II.

It’s interesting that all the angels are identical and all wear the King’s emblem. The wings seem amazingly bird-like which is unexpected to me (and a bit strange as it suggests the angels are part of the natural order). 

How lucky to have access to such beautiful art. A beautiful window into the soul of another time.

Cimabue - The Virgin and Child with Two Angels

Florentine Gothic painter Cimabue was born into the Byzantine tradition (gold backgrounds, iconography etc.). Art had favored narrative and symbolism over naturalism. It was a didactic tool for the Bible. The medieval period saw heavily-stylised almost-exclusively religious scenes; viewed largely by an illiterate population. It didn’t matter that it didn’t look “realistic” — as long as it was easy to interpret. Important characters needed to be readily identifiable across all art forms and symbols were the means of comprehension.

Cimabue marks a shift towards what will be termed the renaissance. Giotto was Cimabue’s apprentice and he would push these developments further. 

Interesting things to note:

1. The throne is painted at an angle which gives some sense of depth. It is revolutionary compared to the more traditional Hodegetria. In the maestà, the Madonna has one foot on one step and the other on a lower step. The angle of uppermost step points her foot/shoe in a direction.
2. The golden aureate background is there — but it seems a bit awkward. It disjoints the illusion; the angel’s foot and the last leg of the throne can’t be seen.
3. As opposed to the Madonna pointing at Christ, there is some tenderness with the baby touching his mother’s hand.

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NOTE: This post is part of the “Gothic and Proto-Renaissance period” on the National Gallery collection. This is the oldest works of art in the museum’s collection.

The domed reading room at the British Museum

From my recent trip to the BM.

Another one: