karen joyce
  • Home
  • Prints
  • Book arts
  • Exhibiting history
  • Blog
  • Contact

The 'new' Victoria Art Gallery

9/6/2013

0 Comments

 
Of course, while I was in the vicinity I visited Bath's Victoria Art Gallery.  It's all changed a bit, and although that really boils down to entering the main room via the little side-gallery, it feels surprisingly different.  Not claustrophobic exactly but very much less open to the world.  I've signed up to their new  year-long exhibition pass because I'm likely to go to most of the shows but  I don't really like the new system - it gives it a not-for-all feel, something a bit too exclusive, whereas before anyone might have wandered in and discovered something new and exciting.  The main collection is still free and some smaller exhibitions in the side room will be too, I'm sure, but while you might make your way in off the street on a whim, I'm not sure how often that whim would involve you actively choosing to go upstairs.  Perhaps I've got it wrong and there will still be plenty of open-access shows.  If not, though, I reluctantly understand.  The pendulum swings and nobody can run an art gallery without sufficient funds.
 
There were three artists showing this last week, of whom the best known was Henry Moore.  He's a bit like Lowry - no, no, wait a minute, I'm not talking similar style - in that most people might think they know what his work is like, and I wasn't sure, being the idle viewer that I so often am, that I'd do much more than stroll round and move on.  I know he's a Great Artist, but I've never paid him attention or been 'drawn' to his work.  However, I really took to some of the drawings.  There was a selection of prints from his Reclining Figure album, one of which took my fancy because the (inevitably) sculptural woman looks as if she is another species that truly belongs in the landscape, as if it's her natural environment and she's at home there:    
Picture
And another of which reminded me so much of Giorgio de Chirico:
Picture
There were some fascinating sketches of shell forms, bones, and the connection between them and his sculptures - I came away liking Henry Moore more and perhaps with a little more insight, so that can't be a bad thing.  As for such sculptures as were there, I found myself thinking all the time of Michael Ayrton.  I got quite involved in following up his work (I do that) whilst writing an essay for art A-level, including an abortive trip while in London for the day to where one particular piece used to be (in Postman's Park), only to discover upon getting home that the City of London had moved it more or less round the corner.  Bah!  Better preparation needed, obviously.

There was a handful of photos of Henry Moore working, and given my general lack of interest in him I was surprised and a little spooked by how very familiar he looked - until I remembered the lifelike model of him in a portrait sulpture exhibition at the Holburne last year! 

One show down, two to go.


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Hi there

    I make prints and book arts, though nowhere near as often as I'd like - no good reason, just an inability to get on with things.  I occasionally go on about landscape (with which I am mildly obsessed) and various of its elements, and I like to pass comment on exhibitions I visit.

    Archives

    April 2022
    September 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    October 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    July 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011

    Categories

    All
    Art
    Bath
    Book Arts
    Books
    Ceramics
    Doodles/sketching
    Exhibitions
    Handmade Books
    Hot Bed Press
    Landscape Etc
    Other People's Blogs
    Print And Printmaking
    Stories
    Stuff And Things
    Theatre

    RSS Feed