Peploe exhibition - Portland Gallery, London

14^thNovember 2012

I called up the Portland Gallery in advance to check out opening times, got instructions on how to get there and finding the gallery, was taken to the Peploe pictures which are on show until 29^th November. I was guided and introduced to some of the landscapes from Barra and the Hebrides and could make out the machair-traigh on Barra.

The two Barra paintings are hung together. On top is the Barra beach showing a scene from the Atlantic side of the island. The west coast beaches of the Outer Hebrides are renowned for their shimmering sand. Barra is the southern end of the archipelago. Peploe met his future wife Margaret Mackay, who was from Loch Boisdale (the next main island north in the chain), on one of his trips to the island. The lower painting has some rolling hills. Having been to the beaches of the Outer Hebrides many times, I recognise this scene.

Landscape in the Hebrides
signed (verso)
Oil on panel
6 x 9 ins
Painted circa 1903

 

There are some street scenes from Paris and Brittany and still life paintings. While left to enjoy them I was invited to ask the curator of the exhibition, Emily Johnston, if I had any questions.

After my studying of the pictures I was introduced to Emily who took me round and we discussed some of the pictures. Peploe’s use of colour is something he is obviously famous for, though it was almost the sparing use of colour in some examples which stood out. Certainly the still life pictures stand out clearly with interesting geometries for the fruit and angles of the other objects in these compositions.

Still Life with Wine Decanter, Glass and Apples
Signed (lower left)
Oil on canvas
12.5 x 15.5 ins
Painted circa 1905


 

I discussed the coffee pot picture with Emily, explaining how much I could discern and detect. We then moved on to a picture which had attracted my attention.

While Peploe’s use of colour is outstanding, this picture titled By Firelight stood out for me. It was painted around 1908, is oil on canvas and measures 20 x 16 inches. It shows a woman seated by a fire, although the fire itself is not shown. Instead, a pink tinge on the white can just about be discerned. When I went back to this painting I put on my sunglasses and it is amazing the difference this makes. I noticed this effect with some of the Symbolist Landscapes in Edinburgh in the summer.

Rocks, Iona
Oil on board
15 x 18 ins
Painted circa 1920

Peploe’s picture of Iona shows the rocks and the water in clarity of lines though the colours are almost verging on being suggested. This picture is titled Rocks, Iona and was painted around 1920. It is oil on panel and measures 15 x 18 inches. I went to Iona a lot in the 1970s and have been back once since I lost my sight. The island of Iona is off the coast of Mull and has interesting geology and had a marble quarry, the remains of which can still be visited.

At the end of my visit, I bought the sales catalogue which has some interesting biographical notes as well as the provenance of the pictures. For reference, the paintings which I found attractive are listed below:

There are two small pictures of scenes in the Hebrides, one on a Barra beach. The first is titled Landscape in the Hebrides and was painted around 1903. It is oil on panel and measures 6 x 9 inches. The second, called Barra and painted around the same time, is also oil on panel and measures 6 ½ x 9 ½ inches.

A Street in Paris painted around 1911. It is oil on panel and measures 10 ½ x 14 inches.

The Silver Coffee Pot painted in 1904. It is oil on panel and measures 10 x 16 inches.

Ile de Brehat, Brittany painted around 1911. It is oil on canvas board and measures 13 x 16 ins.

Roses painted around 1920. It is oil on panel and measures 16 x 12 ins.

White Roses and Fruit painted around 1921. It is oil on canvas and measures 20 x 16 ins.

The Portland Gallery has a continuing programme of exhibitions and sales and the catalogues are a mine of information. The gallery has the catalogue for the Peploe sale online and this can be viewed on http://www.portlandgallery.com/exhibition/371/S_J_Peploe/works

There is also an exhibition of paintings by Oliver Akers Douglas who paints landscapes in the field.  (http://www.portlandgallery.com/exhibition/345/Oliver_Akers_Douglas)

Many thanks to the staff of the Portland Gallery and to Emily Johnston for discussing and describing these pictures and also for sending me the three images used in this post.  Pictures credit: Portland Gallery, London.

There is an exhibition on Peploe currently on in Edinburgh. Details are as follows:
 
The Scottish Colourist Series: S.J. Peploe
3rd November 2012 - 23 June 2013
Modern Two (Scottish Gallery of Modern Art)
More information can be found on:
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/whatson/exhibitions/the-scottish-colourist-series-sj-peploe/

Turner inspired - in the light of Claude: National Gallery, London

I had promised myself a visit to this exhibition and had worked out that if that all went to schedule, I would be able to manage it after my hip operation and without using a crutch.  Concessions are available for visually impaired visitors and the National Gallery, in common with other organisations, allows a companion or even more than one, free entry.   Being a companion to a visually impaired visitor can be hard work, but there is an audio system which I used when there was an audio post, so my friend was also able to enjoy the paintings! 

This exhibition uses a series of paintings by Claude and sets them up with those of Turner.  Claude Lorraine is rated to be the foremost landscape painter in the 17^th Century.  In my Dutch pictures of the same period I have noted the Italian influence of Claude on Dutch painters who went to Italy and then influenced Dutch painters who stayed at home.  About 100 years later Turner was fascinated by Claude and in making his own landscapes used some of the techniques in faithfully copying topography while making a composition. 

Turner had used Claude originals as models for his own landscapes and there are paintings by Turner with the Thames remodelled as a French River.  I found that Turner’s picture of Linlithgow Palace resembled the Enchanted Castle of Claude more than his Solitude. 

The arrangement of the exhibition is such as that many of the Claude paintings have a Turner “version”. These are by no means pastiches; rather, Turner has used Claude’s lighting and conventions and recast them as time moved on. By the time he tried to ingratiate himself with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, his style was too far removed from others at the time.

A few years ago I went to Tate Modern for an exhibition of Turner.  I have also seen some of the Turner collection at the Tate.  I have always enjoyed his paintings but during this exhibition I found I could make out so much more detail in the Claude “original”.  After the Solitude picture by Turner I stopped comparing and contrasting the two painters and enjoyed the Turner’s for what they have always meant to me, even when I was fully sighted.  Sometimes the imagination has to be used and as with some of the David Hockney paintings, the visually impaired can make their own impression.

This exhibition closes soon and I can highly recommend it. When we went there were no queues and no advance booking seemed to be necessary.  I was glad that I had checked out the exhibition times with the National Gallery staff beforehand.  While exhibitions such as this one are large and can be crowded this was not the case.  http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/turner-inspired

The audio guide was prompted by my friend and each audio prompt allows options for more details.  My friend read out the captions and though we inspected some of Turner’s sketches and notebooks I was more interested in some of the objects in the last room.  In some exhibitions the last room can be an anticlimax or a real thrill.  (I found the last few rooms of the Kusama exhibition a real surprise after a rather slow beginning)  In the Turner exhibition there are some enlarged drawings and photographs of old National Gallery shows.  There is a painting by Frederick Mackenzie illustrating a collection of paintings (shades of Zoffany and Lawrence Dundas).

This exhibition shows that some visually impaired visitors can feel included in a social setting.  In the special gift shop I bought the hardback catalogue of the show with some postcards:   

Catalogue: Turner Inspired: in the light of Claude

Postcards:

Claude:

Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba, 1648

Seacoast with Perseus and the Origin of Coral, 1674

Joseph Mallord William Turner:

Sunrise, a Castle on a Bay: Solitude, 1845-5

Tivoli: Tobias and the Angel, c1835

Modern Italy – the Pifferari, c1838