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Thursday, January 29, 2004
Pre-Raphaelite Vision: Truth to Nature
Pre-Raphaelite Vision is the first exhibition to focus solely on the deep fascination the Pre-Raphaelites had for the natural world and enables visitors to explore a whole new dimension of their work. The exhibition brings together around 150 works including celebrated paintings such as William Holman Hunt’s Our English Coasts (Strayed Sheep) 1852, John William Inchbold’s Anstey’s Cove, Devon 1853-4 and of course John Everett Millais’ Ophelia 1851-2, all of which explore the scientific, religious and social culture of the age.
[I don't know whether any Lear paintings are included, but, while no pre-raphaelite himself, he was no doubt influenced by Holman Hunt in his landscape painting.]
Tate Britain | 12 February - 3 May 2004
posted by Marco Graziosi Thursday, January 29, 2004
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
It's hard to share the tastes of a collector
Travels with Edward Lear - National Gallery of Scotland
AS the author of such quaintly endearing Victorian-era "nonsense" as The Owl and the Pussycat and other such silly-but-enduring rhymes, you would expect a collection of artwork by Edward Lear to reflect a particularly skewed interpretation of the world.
But not this one, unfortunately - it’s about as traditional a series of watercolour landscapes as it’s possible to imagine.
In fact, Lear did illustrate the rhymes he created, but this display shows only one particular strain of his work.
It represents the tastes of Scottish historian and art collector Sir Stephen Runciman, who passed away in 2000, and whose Lear collection was subsequently accepted by the Government in lieu of inheritance tax and passed to the National Gallery.
So what we are left with, then, is a comprehensive - but not altogether high quality - catalogue of Lear’s trips overseas during the nineteenth century.
It’s easy to see how much inspiration Lear drew from such surroundings just by looking at his range of interests - as well as being a poet, a cartoonist, and a painter, Lear included musician and traveller among his preoccupations.
Judging by these works, then, it appears that Lear saw as part of his travelling remit an obligation to catalogue some of the places and sights he saw - not bad work if you can get it, considering many of the sun-kissed hillsides and beaches on show here. But Lear saw himself chiefly as a painter of oils, and it was these which he expected to be able to sell and live off.
Therefore, a lot of these watercolours are pen drawings, lightly coloured and with little scribbled notes on them as a reminder of topographical details when it came to painting the real thing.
A quote from Runciman, at one point, expresses the irony of what eventually happened, however, with collectors in the early twentieth century doing a brisk trade in Lear watercolours, and all but letting the oils stagnate. You can only assume they were getting them on the cheap, though, because there’s very little here to actually enthuse about, never mind get excited.
Of the 34 works which formed the bequest, 20 are on display. The first of these is also the first piece which Runciman bought, a half-formed sketch of Kinopiastes, Corfu. For sure, it gives a certain air of the locale, while the sketched topography is precise enough. It’s the half-finished element which grates - presumably only collectors could get excited about this because it’s a work in progress.
There are plenty others like it, like Potamos, Corfu and Metzovo. Again, they may have brought Runciman no end of enjoyment, but not to the casual observer.
A sketch of Mount Athos from near Niacoro, meanwhile, is described as "undoubtedly one of the most charming of all (Lear’s) watercolours from the Runciman collection" - presumably only to someone who’s charmed by a box of Ferrero Rocher and a bunch of daffodils, because this near-monochrome clump of trees is not a patch on Lear’s complete work.
The exhibition does also contain a handful of finished watercolours, and they really do have a certain charm. The individually-titled Suli, Marathon and Plains of Canea, Crete and Sparta are lovely, blending blue mountains, white sky and lush green grass to gorgeous effect.
If only the whole display had been like that - but then, there’s no accounting for the tastes of a collector. [DAVID POLLOCK]
Scotsman.com News | 13 January 2004
posted by Marco Graziosi Wednesday, January 14, 2004
Monday, January 12, 2004
Exhibition shows more watercolourful side to Edward Lear
EDWARD Lear is best known as the writer of much loved nonsense verses such as The Owl and the Pussycat, but a new Edinburgh exhibition at the National Gallery of Scotland aims to showcase his legacy as an inspired Victorian artist.
Travels with Edward Lear: Watercolours from the Runciman Collection contains 32 watercolours by Edward Lear (1812-1888) and opens on The Mound. The watercolours have come from the estate of Sir Stephen Runciman (1903-2000) and were accepted by the government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to the National Gallery of Scotland last year. These particular works are all depictions of sites in the eastern Mediterranean that Lear visited during the 1850s and 1860s and provide insights into the pre-occupations of one the most engaging of Victorian travellers.
Christopher Baker, the chief curator for the National Gallery of Scotland, said Lear’s prowess as an artist was often overlooked.
He said: "Lear is best known as a writer of nonsense poems, but even The Owl and the Pussycat he illustrated beautifully himself.
"He started drawing commercially from the age of 16 and when he reached 25 he turned to landscape painting and spent the next ten years in Rome refining his skills.
"Aside from publishing travel books he was even invited to give a series of 12 drawing lessons to Queen Victoria," said Mr Baker. "This exhibition focuses on his travels around Greece and surrounding islands which he felt was a part of the world artists had yet to do justice to at the time.
"He engaged very directly with the stunning landscape around him especially in places like Corfu and once famously continued on a climb to paint Suli, on mainland Greece, when his canteen of materials fell over a steep cliff after his mule stumbled on a narrow path."
Scotsman.com News | 12 January 2004
posted by Marco Graziosi Monday, January 12, 2004
Sunday, January 04, 2004
Dr. Seuss: Way past silliness
Though he died in 1991, Seuss seems more popular than ever. 'The Cat in the Hat' is now a movie. Thanks to the publicity from the film, the book has returned to the New York Times best-seller picture book list.
The U.S. Postal Service is canceling stamps with Cat in the Hat marks. And it has commissioned a new Seuss stamp to be issued March 4, as the world celebrates the 100th anniversary of Seuss' birth.
Now you can add a new book to the list --'Dr. Seuss: American Icon' by Kansas State assistant professor of English Philip Nel...
Dr. Seuss, Nel said, is arguably America's most famous poet.
"If you quote a line of Seuss verse to someone they could not only tell you who wrote it, but probably recite some of their own," he said.
For example:
Do you like green eggs and ham?
I do not like them, Sam-I-Am
I do not like green eggs and ham.
Seuss was a genius at playing with words. With his deceptively simple rhymes he bent the language to suit his whims by coining new words. He did nothing less than change the way we use words.
"He invented the word nerd," Nel said. It appears in "If I Ran the Zoo" in 1950.
In "The Lorax" he seamlessly weaved in the words snarggled, cruffulous and smogulous in the span of three lines.
"If you think of Seuss' legacy it's to be creative," Nel said. "To think outside the box. That's part of his lasting appeal."
The Wichita Eagle | 01/04/2004
posted by Marco Graziosi Sunday, January 04, 2004
Dr. Seuss: Way past silliness
Though he died in 1991, Seuss seems more popular than ever. 'The Cat in the Hat' is now a movie. Thanks to the publicity from the film, the book has returned to the New York Times best-seller picture book list.
The U.S. Postal Service is canceling stamps with Cat in the Hat marks. And it has commissioned a new Seuss stamp to be issued March 4, as the world celebrates the 100th anniversary of Seuss' birth.
Now you can add a new book to the list --'Dr. Seuss: American Icon' by Kansas State assistant professor of English Philip Nel...
Dr. Seuss, Nel said, is arguably America's most famous poet.
"If you quote a line of Seuss verse to someone they could not only tell you who wrote it, but probably recite some of their own," he said.
For example:
Do you like green eggs and ham?
I do not like them, Sam-I-Am
I do not like green eggs and ham.
Seuss was a genius at playing with words. With his deceptively simple rhymes he bent the language to suit his whims by coining new words. He did nothing less than change the way we use words.
"He invented the word nerd," Nel said. It appears in "If I Ran the Zoo" in 1950.
In "The Lorax" he seamlessly weaved in the words snarggled, cruffulous and smogulous in the span of three lines.
"If you think of Seuss' legacy it's to be creative," Nel said. "To think outside the box. That's part of his lasting appeal."
The Wichita Eagle | 01/04/2004
posted by Marco Graziosi Sunday, January 04, 2004
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