'Octoquentinicious'

Exhibition leaflet signed by Quentin Blake

I was lucky enough to attend the private view of children's illustrator Quentin Blakes selling exhibition, 'Octoquentinicious,' at Chris Beetles gallery the weekend before last. Not only did the exhibition feature over 100 signed drawings and watercolours by Quentin, but he himself was there! 

Best known for his 15 year partnership with Roald Dahl and his unforgettable illustrations for Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, The Twits, The Witches and The BFG - many of which can be seen in the exhibition. 

I hadn't however appreciated quite how many other books he has illustrated, sitting on the cornice above the pictures were lots of other books he has worked on. The exhibition includes 75 new and unseen works, many created specifically for this exhibition, the majority of which sold before it even opened. Prices range from £250 - £5,000.

I did feel a little foolish having queued up for his autograph and declared I was his biggest fan, when I asked who his favourite character was that he had drawn over the years. Presuming it would be a Roald Dahl character I knew well he responded 'Clown,' to which I drew a total blank, never heard of that one.

Music was provided by the Jelly Roller and there were several sweet mountains...

The exhibition runs until January 5th 2013 at the Chris Beetles Gallery, 8-10 Ryder Street, London SW1Y 6QB.

Man jailed for defacing Mark Rothko

Black on Maroon - Mark Rothko

Polish national Wlodzimierz Umaniec was yesterday jailed for two years for defacing Mark Rothko's 'Black on Maroon,' worth tens of millions of pounds, at the Tate Modern. On October 7th gallery visitors saw the man casually walk up to the painting and scrawl 'Vladimir Umanets, 12, A Potential Piece of Yellowism' before fleeing the gallery. Mr Umaniec pleaded guilty but insisted he was not a vandal as he had added to the work's value?!

The Tate have said the damage was much worse that initially feared and could take up to 20 months to restore and cost about £200,000.

Mr Umaniec co-founded the bizarre artistic movement 'Yellowism.' What on earth is that I hear you ask, well you may well ask, its described as 'neither art, nor anti-art,' something I can't quite make sense of, all it makes me think of is Coldplay.

Black on Maroon was donated to the Tate in 1969 by Rothko himself. Earlier this year one of his works sold for £53.8m, the highest price paid for a piece of post-War art at auction.

Record selling price of any drawing, ever!

Head of an Apostle, 1519 - Raphael

As a result of crashing the Sotheby's Christmas party on Monday night I was lucky enough to have a close look at Raphael's 'Head of an Apostle,' 1519. Tucked away from the main rooms, dimly  lit, I found myself utterly transfixed on this beautiful drawing...delicious apple and pear martini in hand which I was terrified of sloshing over it. I remember thinking this was something very special and it turns out I wasn't the only one...

The drawing sold at auction yesterday for a record breaking 29.7 million, the most any drawing has ever sold for in art history. The man in charge of the auction said he was not confident it would go for even half of this as its estimate suggests. The small scale chalk drawing was a study for Raphael's Transfiguration and was part of a private collection at Chatsworth House.

Last chance to see 'Bronze'

The Pharisee, St John the Baptist and The Levite from The
Sermon of Saint John the Baptist, 1511
Giovanfrancesco Rustici  

I went to see the Bronze exhibition at the Royal Academy last month and highly recommend going before it closes on December 9th if you haven't already.

Not surprisingly this blockbuster exhibition celebrates Bronze, bringing together  more than 150 works spanning three continents, Asia, Africa and Europe, and 5,000 years - never has there been an exhibition of this medium on such vast scale. Iconic works date back to the Ancient Greek, Roman and Etruscan periods, through the Middle Ages and Renaissance, right up to the 19th century and today.

Bronze is an alloy in which copper is usually mixed with tin and is both durable and ductile meaning artists can achieve gravity defying sculptural effects that would be impossible in stone. In addition, artists working in bronze can create supple surfaces with great detail thanks to the 'lost-wax technique.' This complex process which was first used by the ancients allows artists to perfectly replicate a wax model in bronze.

Instead of exhibiting the works in chronological order they have been arranged thematically with each room focusing on something different, one is full of figures, another of faces, groups, reliefs, animals, gods, heads, busts. What this means is works from completely different time periods and movements, though of the same subject, can be seen next to each other, making it possible to contrast and compare a Greek Satyr against a futuristic figure by Boccioni. 'The resulting chronological confusion is discombobulating, exhilarating and educational by turns.'

Dancing Satyr, Greek, Hellenistic period,
C4th BCE

Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, 1913
Umberto Boccioni

Curator Professor David Ekserdjian said, 'The idea sprang to me by considering the relationships and correspondences that are especially evident with bronze - it has both range and kinship across different cultures.'  He had dreamed of putting this show for around 20 years though was unsure anyone would accept it given the wide range of works and sheer number of institutions involved in lending them. There were of course lots of works that were 'too iconic' to move and this is therefore a selection of a huge genre.

And the winner is...

Many thanks to everyone who has subscribed, check your e-mails as the winner has been notified!

Subscribe and win a ticket to the Manet exhibition preview!

A Bar at the Folies-Bergere 1882

All subscribers will have the chance of accompanying me to the evening preview of the 'Manet: Portraying Life' exhibition on January 23rd at the Royal Academy.  Winner to be announced next week!

Edouart Manet, 1832-1883, was a French painter and one of the first 19th century artists to approach modern-life subjects. He played a key part in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.

New Orleans to Notting Hill

Henry Butler live at Preservation Hall, New Orleans

Last night I went to the private view of a fantastic exhibition of Music Photography held by two friends at The Tabernacle in Notting Hill. Edu Hawkins and Jamie Foale of Foale & Sons collaborated to bring together the music photography of Edu, combined with the innovative gilding technique of Foale & Sons. The exhibition depicts music photography from New Orleans to Notting Hill, via music events from around the world.

After Foale & Sons' debut exhibition at the Tabernacle in November 2011, Jamie approached Edu with the idea of holding an exhibition that would combine their gilding technique with his musical photographs.

Edu and Jamie met at Leeds University, since graduating Edu has been working as a photographer, capturing some of the biggest names in the music world, both in concert and behind the scenes. During this time Jamie established the arts company Foale & Son with his mother and brother. Their aim was to experiment with different gilding techniques, applying them to art and furniture, all of which is handmade from their studio in Kensal Rise. After investing in a high quality inkjet printer they developed a technique of mounting printed images onto acrylic and gilding behind them with silver leaf. 

This process added another dimension to the photographs, giving them a real depth and luminosity which they previously didn't have. Most of the photos portray Jazz musicians, hence the exhibition being held during the London Jazz Festival.  

Musicians you can expect to see are, Gil Scott-Heron, BB King, VV Brown, Lauren Hill, Abram Wilson, Henry Butler, Elvis Costello, Jarvis Cocker, Friendly Fires, Mumford & Sons plus many more.

The image illustrated at the top of this post was one of my favourites, it shows Henry Butler, a blind New Orleans pianist, playing an intimate midnight show in New Orleans' most famous venue, Preservation Hall. Butler is described by possibly the greatest living ambassador for New Orleans music, Dr John, as "the pride of New Orleans...a visionistical down-home cat and hellified piano plunker to boot." Another favourite of mine was this image,

Gil Scott Heron Portrait

Scott Heron is regarded as one of the pioneers of hip-hop and rap, often referred to as 'The Godfather of Rap,' a title he shunned. Above is an exclusive dressing room portrait following his final performance in the UK before his death in May 2011, aged 62. This image clearly shows off the gilding process behind the photo, really bringing it to life! 

Happy Birthday Rodin!

The 172nd birthday of August Rodin, widely thought to be the father of modern sculpture, has been celebrated with a Google Doodle. The search engine has replaced the multicoloured Google logo on its homepage with an illustration depicting Rodin's famous sculpture The Thinker.

Rodin's Thinker is perhaps his best known monumental work, first conceived c 1880-1881 as a depiction of a poet Dante although the image evolved until it no longer represented Dante but all poets/creators.

Mercredi

Having been rather unlucky/disorganised with gallery opening times I was feeling rather pressured to cram on our last day. With slight deja vu we jumped on the bus to the Centre Pompidou which is not only the largest museum of modern art in Europe but also houses a vast public library and IRCAM, a centre for music and acoustic research. It was to be a nerve centre of French art and culture, uniting different forms of expression under one roof. Designed by Italian architects Renzo Piano, Gianfranco Franchini and British architect Richard Rogers in the style of high-tech architecture, 1971-1977, and named after the French President at the time George Pompidou.

The resulting look was no doubt 'high-tech' in appearance, it was like nothing I had ever seen before. The building appeared to have been turned inside out showing an exposed skeleton of metal work and brightly coloured tubes that resembled hamster tunnels making it look more like a machine than a building.

Centre Pompidou from the front

Centre Pompidou from the back

This guy was also painted on a building round the corner who I thought was quite cool...

Once we were inside, rather pleased with ourselves for sneaking in free by telling a wee white lie that we were a year younger and playing the dumb foreign card we headed up, through the maze of hamster tunnels, to level fives permanent collection. This floor charted modern arts development from 1905 to the 1960's. Painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, cinema, design and architecture filled the huge gallery space. The works on show illustrated the main movements at the beginning of the 20th century - Cubism, the birth of abstraction, Dada, early Surrealism - along with monographs. The post-1945 period saw the emergence of new movements: the new French realists and American Neo-Dadaists, kinetic art, design and architecture.

There were so many fantastic works I got a bit carried away taking photos.

Ten Lizes, 1963 - Andy Warhol

Electrical Prisms, 1914 - Robert Delaunay

Picasso

'La Jambe,' 1958 - Giacometti

Back down the hamster tunnel led to the other half of the permanent collection, 'Contemporary Art from 1960 to the Present,' renewed every two years to keep it 'contemporary.' It offered a chronological journey with recent acquisitions given pride of place. The exhibition began with work by several well know artists, moving onto lesser known ones. Lastly architecture, design, photography new media and cinema were presented. By definition modern art is always in motion -  new artists emerge and trends surface, it is the museums aim is to bring these things to the public eye so as to write a history of the last fifty years of art in the present tense.

Before catching our eurostar at 7 I didn't really feel we could come to Paris without popping into the Musee d'Orsay, even if it was a flying visit. Arriving to rather a large queue we really didn't have much time at all so had to be selective, choosing to spend most of our time in the 'Gallerie Des Impressionnistes.'

Inside the Musee d'Orsay from the 5th floor

The Musee is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, an impressive beaux-arts railway station, 1898-1900. It holds predominantly French art dating from 1848-1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture and photography. Most famous for holding the worlds largest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works by artists such as Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cezanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Sisley plus many more.

On the ground floor was the  'Galerie Symboliste' which had some fantastic pieces by Toulouse-Lautrec, one of my all time favourites.

The Dance at the Moulin Rouge, 1895 - Toulouse-Lautrec

Femme de Profil (Madame Lucy)

Up a level was the 'Galerie Neo et Post-Impressionniste' holding a few more favourites by Van Gogh, as well as a sculpture gallery with the plaster original of Rodin's Gates of Hell, 1888-1917.

Self-Portrait, 1889 - Van Gogh

L'eglise d'Auvers-sur-Oise, vue de chevet, 1890 

La nuit etoilee, 1888

The Gates of Hell, 1888-1917 - Rodin

On the 5th floor was the 'Galerie des Impressionnistes,' the collection traces the history of the movement from its origins in the 1860's, to its continuing influence into the 20th century. In 1873 Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cezanne, Sisley, Pissarro and Berthe Morisot organised an exhibition outside the official Salon. The first exhibition in 1874 was met with shock as their works were considered unfinished sketches, using the term 'Impressionist' for the first time.

Nympheas Bleus, 1916-1919 - Monet

Although they didn't follow a coherent programme they depicted changes in the modern world, concentrating in the 1870's on the stations, dances and cafes of Paris, as well as its suburbs - a place for both leisure and industry. They prefered a style of painting that captured moment, that conveyed a personal and subjective impression of the changing world. The brushwork is rapid and visible; the framing is often off centre; the colours are light, seeking to capture the atmospheric effects outdoors in contract to the precise, highly polished paintings produced in the studio that were exhibited at the Salon.

Dance Class at the Opera, 1874 - Degas

By 1886 eight collective exhibitions had been organised, in spite of increasing divergences between artists who, from the 1890's on, were moving in new and personal directions. After several difficult years, when the Impressionists were particularly reliant on the support of a small group of committed art lovers, dealers and critics, the beginning of the 20th century saw these painters, who had overturned traditional methods of representation, achieve success and international recognition.

Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1890 - Cezanne

There were so many iconic works on display I could have spent all day there. Sadly time did not allow - oh well I will just have to visit again.

Mardi

Feeling slightly fresher than the previous morning the three of us set off to the Pompidou Centre to be greeted by a big fat FERME MARDI sign, not a good start. Something that was open and close by was the 'Paris, seen by Hollywood' at the Hotel de Ville de Paris. Paris is by far the foreign city most frequently portrayed in Hollywood cinema, since the beginning of American cinema it has been represented on screen more than 800 times. The exhibition explored various visions of the French capital in American films displaying a collection of photographs, film extracts, costumes and posters - quite the cinematic journey!

Hotel de Ville de Paris

After a croque monsieur on the bank of the seine we headed to the Musee Rodin, only to find out its staff were on strike, at least this time we could console ourselves that no guide book could have warned us of this, something we were beginning to feel we were distinctly lacking.

A glimpse of Rodin's The Burghers of Calais 

Worry not, the afternoon was not wasted, we still managed to amuse ourselves visiting Notre Dame, one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture on the Ile de la Cite, built between 1166 - 1345. We also popped into Saint-Sulpice, not much smaller than Notre Dame making it the cities second largest church. Built in several phases from 1646-1745 it illustrates a variety of architectural styles, clearly seen in its classical fascade and mis-matching towers. 

Notre Dame

Saint-Sulpice

I loved exploring the many winding back streets Paris has to offer, every shop was so beautifully presented, so French, and round each corner would be another suprise whether it be another incredible building or group of musicians, jollily busking away...

  

Macarooooons

Gateau

Lundi

The next morning, with a rather sore head, Harriet and I headed straight to the local Patisserie before hitting the Musee D'Orsay. On arrival we realised it was Monday, the only day of the week it was closed. Though I probably shouldn't admit this, being the sun worshipper that I am I was quite pleased not to be going inside and missing out on the good weather. We therefore decided to soak up some rays, opting to see various sights from the outside (cheapskate tourists); we had both been to Paris before though so it was totally allowed. After a stroll through the Tuileries Garden, passing the iconic pyramid entrance to the Louvre, we headed up, past Le Palais Garnier, to Montmartre, stopping at a nice little cafe for a 'tartine.'

Tuileries Garden

Louvre

The hill up to the Sacre-Coeur was so steep we ended up having a siesta on a couple of benches. The climb was well worth it, the views out over the city were amazing. Montmartre was the old artisty quarter, filled with quirky cafes to sit and watch the world, lots of second hand and souvenir shops, artists drawing caricatures - something I declined, scared by the one I had done on a school trip aged 13.

Sacre-Coeur

Apres, we walked past the Moulin Rouge. Back at the turn of the 20th century this was a very fashionable place to be seen, plus the birthplace of the can-can, these days however it seems to have become a bit of a tacky tourist attraction.

Re-united with our tour guide Fran, we later went to a delicious restaurant near the Bastille - beef carpaccio, dauphinoise potatoes and salad for 8 euros - best 8 euros I ever spent.