May Arts Newsletter
Wisley Perennial Border, oil on canvas 120x100cm plus frame. See on website
Yippee it’s May! The best month. The trees look amazing, as do the flowers. Everyone has more of a spring in their step whilst wondering if it’s too early for the short shorts.
I have been busy in the studio with various projects and I’ve started again at my Friday life-drawing class in Putney. It’s a session full of excellent artists, really inspiring. I also spent the whole of last weekend on a deep dive into colour theory with the amazing Jane de Sausmarez, who literally wrote the book on it.
There are lots of exhibitions on, start filling your boots with some suggestions below.
V&A East
The biggest art news in London at the moment is the opening of a whole new museum, V&A East. If you have been to the OG V&A (I’m assuming you have) and V&A Storehouse (a fabulous ikea-warehouse-style display of ancient and precious objects rotated periodically), then V&A East is meant to sit somewhere in between these two.
There is a permanent collection of ‘Why we make things’ and an exhibition space on the top floor. The opening exhibition is The Music is Black: A British story. You receive headphones that are activated at different points for different music. Part exhibition part silent disco, I can’t wait to go! V&A East
Hurvin Anderson at Tate Britain
This has been my show of the year so far. Born in 1960s Birmingham, Anderson’s paintings draw on memory, his Jamaican heritage and what it means to belong. This is a full retrospective has 80 paintings made over the past 30 years, including some that weren’t finished until after hanging!
Locations jump from swimming pools in Birmingham, to barbershops in Jamaica, to country clubs in Trinidad. Many themes are recurring, and you feel like you are dipping into Anderson’s memories which shift over time, as all our memories do. As well as fascinating subject matter, Anderson’s paint handling is exquisite. There were a lot of paintings I coveted in this show, I urge you to go. Tate Britain until 23 Aug
Henry Moore at Kew Gardens
Who doesn’t love a Henry Moore? They are just so big and beautiful. This will be the biggest ever exhibition of his work in one place with over 30 of his works dotted through stunning Kew Gardens and 90 drawings/ carvings in the onsite Shirley Sherwood gallery. Moore’s connection to nature is an ongoing theme through his work and his deceptively simple abstract forms feel familiar to us all. This will be a smasher. Round of applause to the logistics people manoeuvering these works into place, no mean feat. Kew Gardens 9May - 31Jan27
Zurbaran at the National Gallery
Francisco Zurbaran (1598-1664) was one of the leading painters in Spain in the 17th century. Based in Seville, then a hub of global trade, Zurbaran’s paintings feature life-size saints, soaring alterpieces and still-lifes. His work is contemplative, serious and beautiful, this is an exhibition to nourish your soul. National Gallery 2May-23Aug
Stubbs: Portrait of a Horse
This small exhibition, also at the National Gallery, focuses around one painting of Scrub, a rearing racehorse painted around 1762. Famous for his animal paintings, particularly horses, Stubbs taught himself horse anatomy by spending part of the 1750s in a shed in Lincolnshire dissecting and drawing horses. He published The Anatomy of a Horse in 1766, some of his drawings for it are included in this exhibition.
I do feel this show could have been bigger and included more of Stubbs work. Whistlejacket, pictured and of the stars of the NG collection, is just around the corner so is sort of in the exhibition too. Whistlejacket was my Mum’s all-time favourite painting and she’d pop into see it whenever in London, so it is special to me too. This is a lovely little show, I just wish there was a bit more of it. National Gallery, free. Until 31May
Echinacea Garden, oil on canvas, 80x100 cm plus frame. See on website
One of my drawings from last Friday’s life drawing. We had Andrea, an excellent model. It’s good to be back.
Have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend
