Artist chosen
Graham Sutherland
I am
particularly interested in the following:
St Ishmaels,
Forest with Chains, Untitled Wavelike Form,
Trees with
G-shaped Form I, Untitled G Shaped Form,
U Shaped Form
with Blue sky
January
An enjoyable group
visit to Cardiff. I had specifically wanted to see some works by Graham
Sutherland .I had been previously interested in his brooding, dramatic work
produced during the war, down the mines of West Cornwall and the open cast coal
mining of South Wales particularly as a daughter and granddaughter of coal
miners myself but was unsure if many of these were available at the Museum.
Nine artists,
including Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson, Eric Kennington, Muirhead Bone
and Charles Pears made prints for the “Efforts”
portfolios, each producing six images under a single theme such as Making Soldiers, Building Ships, Work on the
Land and Making Guns.
These prints offer a fascinating overview of many war activities, including the
vital role that many women played. I was particularly drawn to the latter
section. My Mother worked in a munitions
factory, a perilous job, during the Second World War, like so many other women
from the South Wales Valleys. Although I enjoyed the exhibition and may well
return to this area, I didn’t feel that this was something I would take further
at this point.
It was
especially exciting to go into the vaults, dragging out rows of paintings
including a number by Sutherland.
In the
“Davies Galleries” works by Brenda Chamberlain, Ivor Hitchens, John Piper,
Peter Lanyon and Ben Nicholson all took my eye.
In the
private gallery set aside for our visiting group
I was
particularly drawn to the painting "The Wood" by Max Ernst.
I had seen
his frottage drawings previously at MOMA, New York, which I liked very much.
Living in the middle of a forest as I do, there is a definite pull towards this
subject matter. The surface texture, the mark making within the painting
intrigued me. The trees, totemic.
The final
visit to the prints and drawings room was a particular hilight.
Andrew
looking at the sketchbook of Thomas Jones, Eleanor viewing exquisite prints by
Daumier. Bryony had pulled out a number of small studies by Sutherland,
expressively drawn in black ink with delicate washes of colour - studies in a
tin mine, limestone quarries, a bombed farmhouse at St Mary’s Church to debris
and twisted girders.
I also had
the opportunity to look at a few examples of the extensive NMW sketchbook collection.
These were picked at random. Pages and pages of rocks, marks and gestural
drawings by Terry Setch and delicate pencil studies by Gwen John.
I could have
happily spent days in this section. I find there is something so revealing and
intimate about sketchbooks pages. I remembered scouring the sketchbook pages by
Louise Bourgeois down in the basement at the Guggenheim, tickled by her
scribblings within the margins of some of the pages, alongside her wonderful
drawings, "remember to turn the gas boiler off "and musings of how
she was dreading her opening night of her latest exhibition.
I had gone to
Cardiff with an open mind. A number of questions had been considered. I had
wondered how important the starting point is for everyone involved in the
project. Is there a right or wrong choice or simply a choice, which we will all
make something of? What is the value of transcription -what will it mean as an
artist to use the work of another as a starting point?
Personally,
working in printmaking primarily for many years, I did not feel the need to
begin with a print as such. I also wondered how closely do we need to adhere to
the original work- how broad can our interpretations be?
Much to
ponder on.
No comments:
Post a Comment