I mentioned the
other day that I'd been to see
All Too Human at Tate Britain.
Tate does suggest in its guides at the signs within that Photography is not sanctioned - seems increasingly difficult to Police this (we've got the same rule at Museum of Brands), I don't mind too much especially as when it is permitted many visitors seem to take it that capturing an image on their camera is the same as looking - generally that's not the case and most of us don't go back and look at the pictures we took..
Any way here are the notes I made about what I thought was a pretty good exhibition
Room 1
The crowds always cause congestion at the start of exhibitions and there was a fair reason to gather here - work by Soutine (I saw some of his at
The Courtauld at the start of the year) , Sickert's Nuite D'Été stood out for me as did Bomberg's Self Portrait and two portraits by
Stanley Spencer's of Patricia Reece (she was his second wife and
her life appeared to be one of a high degree of drama and intrigue).
Room 2
Again a busy room but only two artists on show here, Giacometti in sculptural mode (
not a special favourite of mine) and Bacon whose work I'm increasingly drawn too -
Study of a Baboon (1953) seemed definitively impressive and I began to recognise the
Velazquez influence.
Room 3
Was all about
FN Souza an Indian artist who is new to me - I liked
the painting Citadel which reminded me of a stained glass window.
Room 4
Was about
William Coldstream who when he was Professor at The Slade School of Fine Art, his work was
considered analytic and he employed Lucien Freud as a visiting teacher..
Room 5/6
There's a real connection between several of the artists in this exhibition and Bomberg who taught at The Borough Polytechnic had amongst his students Kossoff and
Auerbach who are in room 5 - both artists embraced Bomberg's ideas around physicality of the painting experience - key for this were Auerbach's
Rebuilding Empire Cinema(1962) and Kossoff's
Building Site Victoria Street(1961)
Room 9
Had work from Michael Andrews and R B Kitaj – I liked To Live in Peace (The Singers) by him and found that Andrews's work was evocative (Melanie and me Swimming felt very warm)- both artists were interested in their own personal family and social groups as subjects,
R B Kitaj was an American but spent much time in the UK.
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| All Too Human - going into Tate Britain |
Room 10
Paula Rego in this room made quite an impression with her unsettling works (and her back story around her Portuguese nationality and her husband's illness ) - I liked the Hogarth link in
The Betrothal .
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I certainly preferred 'All too Human' to the 'Aftermath' exhibition - Tate Britain is strong on context and history of the large exhibitions it puts on and that one felt to me to be more about the history than the work (perhaps that was their goal anyway).
[There's a room by room
video of the exhibition by Rober Dunt here which is not too bad at all.]
