The Bowes Museum

A fascinating visit. The museum is the result of the collecting and planning of one couple, John and Josephine Bowes. Furniture, paintings and other assorted curiosities are housed in a purpose built chateau with magnificent grounds. The showpiece is a swan automaton that plays daily at 2pm.

The paintings reflect the tastes of the collectors. Of most interest was The Tears of St Peter by El Greco, a reflective work depicting a tearful Peter seeking forgiveness for his denial of Christ. Seems this was once a popular theme as it points to the Sacrament of Confession in the Roman Catholic tradition.

Also interesting were two complete altarpieces in good condition. Being familiar with many paintings that started life as parts of such works it was good to see the whole in this setting - they were low enough on the wall to see and unlike those still in churches you can get much closer.

Two further exhibitions, David Hockney's prints and Shafts of Light, brought a contemporary touch to an essentially Victorian experience. The latter, which brings together paintings by and of miners gave a sense of the lives of those who lived and worked in Britain's coalfields. A way of life now largely history itself.

New territory, old friends

At Leeds Art Gallery today. I came looking for Stanley Spencer - four paintings, three of them on the staircase which made viewing and note taking interesting. Also the unexpected opportunity to renew aquaintance with the Neo Romantics Keith Vaughan, Graham Sutherland and Paul Nash. 

Current displays have been organised to show how the Great War affected art, especially landscape painting. Nevinson and the Yorkshire painter Roberts were significant here. I'm reminded that my sabbatical studies frequently found war a part of the story of individual paintings.

While travelling this week Radio Four has been airing 'Month of Madness', a programme tracing the events of July 1914 that led to the outbreak of war in Europe. Wars and rumours of wars and now, 100 years on, we still struggle to make sense of it all.

First stop Birmingham

A return visit to Birmingham's City Art Gallery (BMAG). I first called in April 2011 when there were gallery refurbishments underway...there still are! As last time the signage to the gallery was poor and when we finally arrived we were immediately evacuated due to a fire alarm.

It was worth the hassle. The gallery has significant holdings of PreRaphaelite works including two large scale works by Burne Jones. The Last Judgement is a three panel cartoon for a stained glass window, The Star of Bethlehem an enormous work on paper commissioned for the museum itself.

Symbolism, beauty, and wonderful imagery. Just one question - why do all the characters look so glum?

Also in the gallery is one of Stanley Spencer's Resurrection paintings. Sheer joy and not a long face in sight.

And in this centenary year of the Great War two works by Christopher Nevinson caught my eye. He like Spencer was a medical orderly during the 1914-18 conflict but the work of the two men couldn't be more different. Nevinson is appalled, shocked, overwhelmed by the inhumanity of this technological war while Spencer celebrates the ordinary and looks to a more hopeful future.

What makes the difference?

Back on tour very soon

Three years on and the tour is about to resume. I'll be revisiting some of the galleries I made it to briefly last time and looking at some new ones. Interest has been revived due to the recent purchase of a book by Richard Harries, a planned holiday in the North East with asociated road trip, and an exhibition at Chichester's Pallant House Gallery.

At the Pallant we were able to see Stanley Spencer's WW1 paintings currently on tour while the Sandham Chapel is being restored. Once again I was struck by Spencer's celebration of daily life in conditions of war. So different from the usual images of mud and devatation.

Harries' book has just arrived and will go with me when the trip begins. More of that later. First stop will be Birmingham where I made a rushed stop early on the original tour. Looking forward to reconnecting with the PreRaphaelites there and spending time with whatever else the City Gallery has to offer.

So long, and thanks for all the fish

Summer 2011 will be remembered for many reasons. News today is that this was the coldest summer for 18 years. We have seen riots in Britain's cities, revolution in Libya and repression in Syria. The East Coast of the USA was hit by earthquakes and a tropical storm. And then there was The Art Tour.

Three months of travelling around the UK by road and rail. Gallery visits and library work. Time spent with family, with friends. Getting to know the beautiful city of Cambridge a little better. Paintings, places, and people.

It has been a privilege and a joy to have this special time made available. The art has been inspiring and the reading instructive. People, both friends and strangers, have welcomed and encouraged. There have been shared meals, church services and other encounters. It's been a pleasure to share this time with so many of you.

The Tour is ending now. There are still books to be read - I bought one in Cambridge last week - and more galleries to visit. I never made it to Liverpool (too big a detour), to the Sandham Memorial Chapel (ran out of time) or to London (so much to see, so little time) and missed out on Dundee (due to poor research). For now though, it really is so long, and thanks for all your interest, your company, and your support.

If only they could talk

Paintings at Hogwarts School have characters that move around. They also talk to Harry Potter and his friends sometime supplying useful information. If only the characters in some of the paintings I've looked at this summer could do the same.

I'd love to ask the six figures in Francois de Nome's King Asa of Judah a few things.

1. Where is the church building in which the artist has put them? France or Italy seem likely but which is it?
2. Are the three soldiers defending the place or invading?
3. Who is the figure running from the explosion? Is he an early seventeenth century terrorist/rioter or just an innocent bystander?
4. Are King Asa and his henchman heroic reformers or representatives of a dictatorial regime?

Perhaps the answers to these questions would help solve the mystery of the painting's meaning. Then again, if the characters are anything like those at Hogwarts maybe not.

Desert Island Pics - the final countdown

Time to finish the selection for Desert Island Pics. The BBC programme that inspired these thoughts is on holiday, presumably on a desert island, but I'm still here.

Added to Dali's 'Christ of St John of the Cross', Degas' 'Red Ballet Skirts', Francois de Nome's 'King Asa', Sutherland's 'Noli me tangere' and Hughes' 'The Nativity' I choose:
The Glen, Port Glasgow by Stanley Spencer
Discovering Spencer's work has been one of the pleasures of the Tour. I hadn't realised just how much religious work he had produced and the range it covers. Resurrection paintings are so interesting and will bear further study in the future. But on the desert island I choose this small picture of everyday life in Port Glasgow during WWII. It's full of joy and will cheer me up as I sit alone under the palm trees.

Apples and Pears by Ben Nicholson
Nicholson and the other St Ives artists have no place in my sabbatical study but their work kept crossing my path in various galleries. Last week I returned to the amazing Kettle's Yard Gallery in Cambridge and this one caught my eye. It's so calm and serene and will help me chill out in the heat.

Le Printemps (Springtime) by Claude Monet
Monet has a been a favourite since my teens. It's been a great sadness that the Impressionist room at the Fitzwilliam has been closed all summer so to make up for the disappointment I'm going to borrow this painting from the store and take it with me. Beautiful colours, always a delight.

When do I leave?