Van Gogh to Kandinsky:Symbolist Landscape in Europe 1880-1910, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh

***Update 19/9/2012

During my stay in Edinburgh I checked out many muffins in order to arrange them in a way that would match Monet's Haystacks in the Symbolist Landscapes exhibition.  Using a print of the Haystacks as a backdrop, a plate of two muffins was arranged in front and photographed.  This was sent to the National Galleries of Scotland who tweeted it out as below.
 

National Galleries ‏@NatGalleriesSco

Thanks @ProfWhitestick for his Monet's Muffins #SymbolistLandscape photo! Not to mention best Haystack Muffin research! pic.twitter.com/bWQkF4MW

***end of update

 

30th July, 2012

This is a wonderful exhibition of Symbolist Landscapes which was the fashion after the Impressionism phase at the turn of the 19^th Century and early 20^th Century. (http://www.nationalgalleries.org/whatson/exhibitions/van-gogh-to-kandinsky)  

Many classical themes are interwoven into landscapes and while not as clear as Claude they are more accessible in the main from some of the Turner blurs which I can no longer enjoy (http://profwhitestick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/turner-inspired-in-light-of-claude.html)

Symbolist Landscape exhibition

National Gallery of Scotland

Edinburgh

This exhibition is housed in the roomy galleries of the National Galleries of Scotland in the Mound Complex (Royal Scottish Academy Building adjacent to the Tramlines. For access I climbed the steps and was greeted by a friendly guard who suggested leaving a backpack (full of books from the new Portrait Gallery in Queen St ) in lockers.  The exhibition staff were very helpful and when asked about facilities for visually impaired visitors said there was no audio headset facility at all though there were Tablet driven headsets posts in the rooms with audio input.  (I know one friend who would dread taking his sighted relatives/friends to this one), there had been an event early in the exhibition for visually impaired and if I intended to go to more exhibitions I could get a culture vulture package for 4 ticketed exhibitions.  I signed up and will be going to the other three which are:

Expanding Horizons: Giovanni Battista Lusieri and the Panoramic Landscape

Scottish National Gallery

Picasso and Modern British Art

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One)

Edvard Munch: Graphic Works from the Gundersen Collection

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two)

The pictures are varied in size and the artists include many better known for their other works.  This includes Monet, Van Gogh, Munch, Kandinsky, Mondrian, Whistler, Gaugin, Hammershoi and Strindberg.

We wandered around the exhibition and there was much to enjoy.  My companion, who enjoys Impressionism and Post Impressionism, was more animated and rather than pointing out the symbols from the picture labels asked me what I could see.  Monets Muffins may be a highlight of the trip. In this way I was asked what was up, down, left and right and I also found that using anti glare sunglasses helped me in picking up perspective lines in landscapes and town scenes, especially in Copenhagen (Hammershoi) and in Bruges. 

I did not have a pigment analyst to hand but the white pigments are really bright.  Lead White gives a buttery white but this was more of a titanium dioxide white.  In fact the helpful assistant in the shop asked me about the brightness of the exhibition as a whole. 

My sunglasses were on and off.  With the sunglasses I could make out the geometry and the removal allowed me to detect some of the colours.  This technique worked particularly well with Kandinsky’s Church in Murnau and a couple of Van Goghs (The Sower,  and Wheatfield with Reapers)

The Scandinavian input was varied with some Finnish artists working in their myths into landscapes of forests and lakes.  The Hammershoi landscape in Zeeland was familiar as I had driven my father round Zeeland, Funen, Langeland and other islands using ferries and the new bridge connecting Odense with Copenhagen via the Great Belt.  At the National Gallery in London we covered one of Hammershoi’s Interior pictures. 

The notes below were made from the picture labels which were written down by my companion with some remarks which I have been retained.  Monet’s hay stacks look like muffins which I enjoy with a coffee.  My companion mentioned that large print lists were in each room on the benches with the catalogues.  We did not try the audio system and not being able to resist touching a touchscreen discovered that the exchange of letters could be heard between Vincent van Gogh and his brother Theo.

Prof Whitestick between Van Gogh and Kandinsky

Edinburgh

Clytie c1892

Frederic, Lord Leighton (1830-96)

Leighton House, London

Quite bright, telegraph pole in bottom right hand corner

Reminds me of The Cherry Orchard

Tomyris and Cyrus c 1885

Gustave Moreau (1826-1898)

Terror Antiquus 1908

Leon Bakst

State Russian Museum, St Petersburg

Huge painting, figure of woman in bottom centre, bolt of lightning

Woman and a White Horse 1903

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Trees, three figures, one a woman on a horse

Nocturne with Cypresses 1896

Henri-Edmond Cross

Association des Amis du Petit Palais, Geneva

Diagnol lines (sails), cypress trees

The Lake, Evening c1910

Lucien Levy-Dhurmer (1865-1953)

Lucile Audouy and Galerie Elistir Paris

Horizontal lines half way, very vivid reflection of moonlight

Winter Night, c1900

Edvard Munch

Kunsthaus, Zurich

Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau - Rising above a sea of mist, 1908

Ferdinand Hodler

Musee Jenisch, Vevey

Snow-capped mountains, very very bright. I wondered if this had been painted from Murren in the Interlaken area and it had been based across the valley in Wengen/Grindelwald.  I skied this area mid 1970s.

Grain stacks/Hay stacks, Snow Effect 1891

Claude Monet

Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh

Pair of Large (name of coffee chain) muffins

Tuesday’s Wood 1893

Vilhelm Hammershoi

Ordupgaard, Copenhagen

Flat, big Scandinavian sky

The Lac d’Amour, Bruges, 1904

Fernand Khnopff

The Quay, View of the Quai Long in Bruges, 1898

Henri Le Sidaner

Flemish houses with steep triangular gables, chimneys, canal/water

Amalienborg Square 1896

Vilhelm Hammershoi

Large painting

Can make out quite a lot: plinth, man on horse, railing round plinth, house, windows, roof etc

Royal Galleries, Ostend 1908

Leon Spilliaert

A Beauvais Square by Moonlight c1900

Henri Le Sidaner

The Horses of Neptune 1892

Walter Crane

Couldn’t make this one out at all, though there was plenty of swirls indicating waves and eventually I was persuaded that some parts of the painting were in fact legs of horses.

Man and Woman on the Beach 1907

Edvard Munch

Munch Museum Oslo

Merges faces, beach is at Asgardstrand

The Sower 1888

Vincent Van Gogh

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Vision of the Sermon (Jacob wrestling with the angel) 1888

Paul Gauguin

Women on the Cliffs, St Briac 1888

Emile Bernard

Wheatfield with Reapers 1889

Vincent van Gogh

See more with spectacles, very bright

Alpine Landscape 1894

August Strindberg

Painting of Dornach in Lower Austria

Melting Snow, Elgersburg 1906

Edvard Munch

Vonder Heydt Museum, Wuppertal

Woods near Oele 1908

Piet Mondrian

Gemeentemuseum, The Hague

Hockney moment, vertical and horizontal lines

Setting Sun, Sardine fishing, Opus 221 (Adagio) from the series The Sea: The Boats, Concarneau, 1891

Paul Signac

Murnau with Church II 1910

Wassily Kandinsky

Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven

Bavarian church with onion top

Very distorted landscape, bright red top right

Cossacks, 1910-11

Wassilky Kandinsky

Rainbow said to be inspired by Wagner’s Rheingold

Lake Thun and the Stockhorn Mountains 1910

Ferdinand Hodler

Mill near Domburg 1908

Piet Mondrian

Windmill, cut of triangle like lighthouse

Sea After Sunset 1909

Piet Mondrian

Beach at Heist 1891

Georges Lemmen

There is a gift and book shop at the end of the exhibition.  A very helpful assistant asked me how I found the exhibition.  I had found a postcard of the Kandinsky Cossacks but wanted the Murnau church.  We found the picture in a hardback Taschen book of Kandinsky, on sale. We discussed Kandinsky and Bauhaus and I mentioned my visit to the Bauhaus exhibition.   In the main bookshop  in The Mound, a book on Gauguin's Vision of the Sermon is available.  The book is called Vision of the Sermon - The Story Behind the Painting and is by Belinda Thomson. 

Postcards which I bought:

Lake Thun and the Stockhorn Mountains (1910) by Ferdinand Hodler

Oil on canvas, 83 x105.4 cm

GMA1523

Haystacks: Snow Effect by Claude Monet

Oil on canvas, 65 x 92 cm

NG2283

Cossacks (1910-1911) by Wassily Kandinsky

94.5 x 130 cm

Winter Night (c1900) by Edvard Munch

81 x 121 cm

The Sower (1888) by Vincent Van Gogh

73.5 x 93 cm

Book: Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) : A Revolution in Painting by Hajo Duchting

Other Prof Whitestick posts that might be of interest include:

on Hammershoi (http://profwhitestick.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/two-paintings-and-killing-of-sister.html)

on Picasso: http://profwhitestick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/picasso-exhibition-tate-britain-13th.html

on Munch: http://profwhitestick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/edvard-munch-modern-eye-tate-modern.html

on Bauhaus: http://profwhitestick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/bauhaus-art-as-life-barbican-art.html

on Monet: http://profwhitestick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/royal-academy-from-paris-taste-for.html

Footnote:

AA Gill reviewed A History of Art in Three Colours in the Culture magazine of this week’s Sunday Times (5-8-12).  Gill did not enthuse about the programme on the colour blue.  Gill mentions the absence of any discussion concerning the Blaue Reiter group which had been led by Kandinsky (and Franz Marc).  I am grateful to a friend who read out this review for me. 

Gill takes the presenter James Fox to task over his choice of colours – gold, blue and white – given that this exhibition in Edinburgh has some very vivid gold colouring in the Van Gogh sun and very brilliant white, I think the technical term of pigment as applied to paint may be more appropriate. 

In heraldry, pedants will refer to gold and silver as metals ‘Or’ and ‘Argent’ respectively.  Non metals are referred to as tinctures.  This is another case for a lead white - titanium white discussion.

Murnau Church - after Kandinsky

coloured magnetic wooden blocks on mild steel whiteboard

8 August 2012

(Prof Whitestick 'Grand Crew' collection)

Two Paintings and The Killing of Sister George

UPDATE: 2nd November, 2011

I have sadly discovered that The Killing of Sister George should now be read as the killing of "The Killing of Sister George" .  This illustrates the famous maxim: carpe diem or in other words seize the day.  If you want to see a play and it's on, see it then and there!

Also, there appears to be some confusion regarding the dates of the picture description sessions at the Whitechapel Gallery.  One of the party on Saturday has sent me dates (hard copy) in the post which appear to conflict with the Whitechapel Gallery's website.  It may be best to call Sarah Barrett on 020-7522-7888 to check dates and to book a place.  The sessions are all the same.

Further to my quick visit to the National Portrait Gallery (NPG), I contacted someone who introduced me to portraits and we exchanged a few words about my trip.  The following is an excerpt:

I am so pleased to hear that they looked after you at the NPG and that Ramsay was there for you to see!

Thanks so much for your kind words, and, remember: The importance of a portrait lies not only in its "look" but also in what it tells us about the time from which it comes. With that in mind, vision is only one part of understanding a work.

**
The painting which was studied in the Art Through Words programme at the National Gallery in London ( http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/whats-on/art-through-words/ )

on 29 October was Interior by Vilhelm Hammershoi.  (http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/vilhelm-hammershoi)

 Having described the Anton Henning exhibition in Edinburgh, also entitled Interior, as visual overload this Interior is very much in the dark, monochromatic and minimalist stereotype of the Scandinavian.  Hammershoi painted this in 1899 so there is an element of the Fin de Siecle doom and gloom with the approach to the new century. 

Jo and Clair started by doing the layout of the painting with dimensions and positions of the figures; two doors, a table, a stove, two chairs and the back view of a woman (Hammershoi’s wife Ida)  My peripheral vision picked out the vertical lines of the doors and the stove.  The position of the woman was in line with the stove and I could only make out her neck and what seemed like the edge of a white apron and waist straps. 

Jo led a discussion on set designs and the plays of Ibsen.  Was the woman reading a letter, telegram or photo?  I mentioned Hedda Gabbler, someone else mentioned Ghosts and Jo mentioned A Dolls House.  This was my cue for the Arcola Theatre production where I was sitting near a tipped over chair.  Many of those attending the session chipped in with their comments and the later stroll through the National Gallery gives one the chance to chat to other visually impaired people.  One was going to the British Museum talk in connection with Grayson Perry and another had been to a talk for the visually impaired at the Whitechapel Gallery.  (http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/shop/index.php/fuseaction/shop.product/product_id/1010)

A big thanks to the National Gallery for the Art through Words programme. 

After “looking” at the Hammershoi painting I was in need of a portrait and on leaving the gallery turned left three times and went into the National Portrait Gallery.  I had not been in the NPG since I lost my sight 10 years ago.   The last time I visited the NPG was on the occasion of an exhibition of Allan Ramsay.  I mentioned this to Rebecca, who approached me on entering the gallery and I asked if I could meet Mr Ramsay.  Rebecca told me about the NPG’s latest exhibition as we went to the room where there is a portrait of Ramsay as well as one of Samuel Johnson. She mentioned the programme the NPG offers to the visually impaired  ( http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/events-calendar.php?filterDate=&eventSearch=visually+impaired&eventType=Event&eventKeyword=) and then showed me out another way and gave me directions to the theatre ticket information booth. 

For matinees in reasonable “finding” locations I had a choice of: 39 Steps, a play by Arthur Miller or The Killing of Sister George. I opted for the latter, a play by Frank Marcus which was made into a film starring Beryl Reid and Susannah York.  The Killing of Sister George is playing at the Arts Theatre (between Charing Cross Road and St Martins Lane. Tube is Leicester Square)  Meera Syal plays June Buckridge (George), Helen Lederer plays the Fortune Teller, Belinda Lang plays Mrs Mercy Croft and Alice is played by  Elizabeth Cadwallader.  (http://www.artstheatrewestend.co.uk/)

I found the theatre after walking round the block and the “anteroom” seems as if it as a modern pub chain of the sofa, coffee table and bar stool variety.  I bought a ticket, got a coffee and on getting  up to enter the auditorium was asked if I needed any assistance.  I was shown to an aisle seat some three rows in the stalls.  My neighbour kindly explained the set to me.  During the interval another neighbour asked if I wanted a drink from the bar.  I also enjoyed the interval chat with 3 ladies, some 20 years younger than me, who were shocked by the violence. During the interval my reproduction of Hammershoi’s painting rolled away and ended up on the stage as a prop!

Regarding the play I enjoyed it for what it is: a comedy.  The fortune teller is supposed to be hammy, two faced and a horror and sounds well played by Helen Lederer.  Belinda Lang portrays a scheming BBC apparatchik from the 1960s and the scene over scones with the references to dropped scones, girdle scones and pancakes complete with Mrs McNaught’s recipe for scones (bicarbonate of soda plus crème of tartar) sounds as fresh as a 1960s Ambridge baking competition. 

Frank Marcus wrote the play in 1964 and the film appeared some 5 years later.  I remember the shock at the time when the  film opened and it appeared from the matinee audience that it still provokes both shock horror and laughter in proportion.  I could only make out some of the movement on the stage so can’t comment on the visual detail. It sounded fine from my seat.   If you like the radio productions of Simon Brett and Mark Tavener you will enjoy this production.  If, however, you are only familiar with the Beryl Reid performance then you may be disappointed with Meera Syal.  If you do not follow The Archers you may miss out on some of the references.  For those lamenting the “Killing of Nigel” in The Archers there may be some sympathy for a much loved radio soap character.  Aristophanes could be cruel in comedy and if you enjoyed Clouds or Lysistrata you will enjoy this production. 

As usual many thanks to the public in London and the staff from Leicester Square and Green Park tube stations.