Tuesday, November 11thI spent the great majority of this morning journaling… then later went to my international studies class which today, was at the Tate Britain, much better than the Tate Modern.
I have a tendency to take lots of notes in these museums, unable to take photos, and then I forget what all of these notes are about when I write my journal entries a few days later… that makes me sad. I’ll try to decipher a few of them…
I was really taken back by a lot of the Tudor portraits, by the blending and smoothness to them. I do a lot of portrait painting so I have tried to put a lot of time into studying the subject while I have been here. I have a bit of an obsession with everything needed to be blended perfectly and with very smooth transition, a bit OCD really… so I have really tried to study a lot of these very closely to attempt to pick up some of the technique.
I spent a great deal of time throughout the ‘Historic British Art’ section of the museum. There were again, lots of Hogarth paintings- many of his ‘conversation pieces.’ These are informal paintings of a small group of people carrying on with everyday tasks, such as drinking tea or a family gathering. He had a few other pieces, contrasting his usual ‘conversation piece’ work. One was a self portrait of himself and a pug, and another that was a collage of his servants. This piece in particular was different for its time because it showed humanity toward his staff. The paintings themselves also contrasted the style of all the others I have seen due to the fact that they were all much larger and focused in than the ‘conversation pieces.’
‘O the Roast Beef of Old England’ is another Hogarth ‘conversation piece’ that we studied in my history class. It shows the contrast between the scrawny French soldiers and a fat friar during wartime.
Another piece I really enjoyed was ‘Samuel Richardson, the novelist seated, surrounded by his second family,’ by Francis Hayman. This is also a ‘conversation piece’ similar to Hogarth’s, and was influenced by the painter Gainsborough. What really caught my attention was the cute faces of the children, and the almost too large of eyes that add to it. The girls wore shiny, elegant, bright dresses, contrasting with the warm background in the landscape behind.
I was able to see some of the original sketches by Rubens done for the ceiling on the Banqueting Hall at Whitehall Palace. I will hopefully get there before this trip is done. It is right in between Trafalgar Square and Westminster.
Another gallery I visited was focused on nature and landscape. It showed that traditionally, the purpose of the paintings were for owners to document and celebrate their property. However, this also allowed opportunity for painters to use more expressive qualities, which were actually praised.
I enjoyed a new artist introduced to me: Phillip James De Loutherbourg. ‘Battle of the Nile’ and ‘The Vision of the White Horse.’
Another room had quite a bit of Turner’s work, which I really enjoy for its rich color and texture, along with its strong message and emotion behind each concept. The Napoleonic War spurred Turner to create paintings of elemental catastrophe and diving retribution. Another artist, Gericault, also followed this style and voice. I am very much looking forward to seeing their work again when I return to the Louvre next week.
I learned a bit about Benjamin West, who came to London from America to paint historical scenes and promote biblical scenes.
The famous English painter, John Constable was also ever-present in the Tate. He was famous for paintings of outdoor daily life, landscapes and a very rich style. He always has great texture, thick paint, and much buildup of color. There are lots of layers. One thing I also paid attention to was the lack of detail in the figures the farther back you go, not needing to fully form each face or expression. (this is more of a note for me than for the audience… as is most of my rambling about these pieces… I apologize if it bores you. :) ha)
There was another room, entirely dedicated to Constable. This room was primarily displaying his work from the 1820’s when his wife fell into poor health. In his efforts to restore her from sickness, he and his wife moved from London to the three different estates in Brighton, Hampstead, and Salisbury in hopes that the fresh air would do her good. This room was full of different paintings from his times in these places, and it was interesting to see the paintings of Brighton because I recognized a lot of the places since I visited there not too long ago.
Pre-Raphaelites: This group of individuals were frustrated by the work of older generations and wanted to expand to subject matter outside of religion and history. They began to study landscape and modern life and made everyday objects into symbols. The viewer sees paintings with small brushes and bright colors in imitation of purer vision from earlier artists.
I saw more paintings we learned about in history, by Rossetti, ‘Ecce Ancilla Domini! (the Annunciation).’ This was a radical attempt at the Annunciation and shows Mary awkwardly sitting in a nightdress receiving the news from Gabriel. The angel points a flower at her womb to tell her. The piece was very controversial at the time, as Rossetti uses his sister as a model- usually prostitutes ensued this role. Critics claimed it was a ‘perversion of talent.’
Other Paintings to Note:
-John Brett- ‘Glacier of Rosenlaui’ (detail, layers in rock, emotion)
-THE ART OF LEISURE- Artists started having more leisure time and enjoyed painting everyday life. Critics said this was not suitable and art needed a clear, moral purpose. Tissot- ‘The Gallery of HMS Calcutta’ (naval officer flirting, detail in dresses and rail of boat)
-LANDSCAPES- John Linnell, Samuel Palmer, Francis Danby, John Martin (very Turner-esque)
-George Clausen- ‘The Girl at the Gate’
-John Collier- ‘The Last Voyage of Henry Hudson’ (Man realizes his fate of no survival in his boat in the arctic. Incredible detail)
-Herbert Draper- ‘The Lament for Icarus’ (Dead Icarus comforted by sea nymphs. His wax wings melt as he becomes too full of pride, flying too close to the sun. He meets his punishing fate when he crashes into the earth.)
-John Wm. Waterhouse- ‘The Lady of Shalott’ (very famous painting)
-MODERN- various pieces, notable application of paint, materials used, dynamic movement, 3D vs. flat
I ate dinner in the café at the Tate Britain and left directly for the National Theatre, where our Theatre Class would be seeing ‘War Horse’ that evening. This is hands down, the best play I have seen in London so far! It sounds a bit cheesy because it is the story of a boy and his horse who get separated, go off to war, and eventually meet up again, but it was soooo good.
The acting was great- not too dramatic, but not bad either. The set and effects were amazing. It really seemed like some of the characters loomed out of the darkness, and the war scenes were terribly dramatic and convincing. The emotion behind the entire play was soo intense and had the viewer sitting on the edge of his seat the whole time. It was incredibly affective in all that it could have achieved. I wont lie... I cried. It was that good.
The music was awesome as well. There was a man who would come out on stage during the scene and sing in a beautiful songs, sometimes accompanied with an accordion. His voice reminded me of James Taylor, but his style was more solemn, and peaceful, and sometimes rather dramatic to fit the scene… if that didn’t seem contradictory at all… He sang folk tunes. It was so soothing, and such a smooth, soft voice. I loved it. The way it echoed in the hall and the acoustics of the place in general made me very happy. It was an incredible sound.
After a bit of research, I found some videos with him in his own band, the Tim Van Eyken Band. The first video is more of the style of what he sang in the play, and the second is a bit more upbeat. (hint: let the video upload a bit and then scroll backwards to get it to play without skipping)
Very good stuff:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6jD0vkIgusQ
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ngou3SP6Ycs
The horse was a giant puppet with people inside and puppeteers walking it around. You would think that it would be cheesy or distracting, but it was really affective and I was so impressed with the realism behind his movements. The puppeteers had to make the noises for the horses as well, and that was really cool too. I cannot stress enough how impressed I was with the movement of the horses, and the dynamics on stage. There were even times when they were supposed to be moving in slow motion, or moving through time (for example when the foul grows into a full grown horse), and it was sooo affective and realistic. The entire play had such good effects that I almost felt like I was watching a cinematic production rather than a play.
I could go on forever about how much I enjoyed this play, but I will spare you… Long story short, it was amazing! Drama, humor, visual aspects, choreography, everything… this play had it all.
Here is a short youtube video to show a bit of it:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=trIFlkJBFhw
I wish there were a way to effectively describe the emotion you feel after seeing a play or a concert or whatever the circumstance, that is absolutely incredible. I am literally speechless… I don’t know how to describe the level of happiness and amazement I had after this show, or a few other circumstances of other events throughout my life. Everyone knows what I am talking about, and I am sure has experienced it at some point in their life, or at least I hope so. All I can say is that I am so happy that I am so involved in the arts because it has developed such a passion in me. To be on stage experiencing them myself is also a dream come true.
Anyway, now that I have gotten far too sappy for a simple travel blog…
After a short stop at TESCO to pick up some more groceries, Cody, Rachael and I went home for the night. I love walking across the bridges on the Thames at night, lit up so beautifully. It helps me to relax a little bit, and realize wow, I’m in London. Look at the beauty in front of me. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment