London Museums

London Art Museums: The Modern Tate, The National Gallery, The National Portrait Gallery, The Victoria & Albert Museum and The Design Museum

The amount to see in London was close to frightening, but I wanted to see the Museums the most so everyday I went to at least one museum and saw as much as I could of the city. From the National Gallery to the Modern Tate to the Design Museum, London had art museums all over and with a range of information and subject matter. I wrote in my journal about my various visits and my reactions to each different museums exhibits.

The Modern Tate Christine, Kelly and myself went to the Tate together with the main intent to see the Matisse and Picasso exhibit, but we explored the whole museum in-depth while we waited for our ticket time for the show. The Modern Tate held an amazing and broad range of art on three different floors. At the entrance we found Henry Moore's Sculptures, an artist my mother has always been a fan of, and one of Britain's most renowned sculptors. On the third floor, in the gallery titled: Still Life/Objects/ Real Life, I found Frank Aurback's "The Sitting Room." Aurbach is one of my father's favorite painters, an artist he has admired since he studied art in London during his college years. In another Gallery, titled, Nature in Action, I found work by Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner. I have admired both of their work from afar, but have never seen the two artists, husband and wife, exhibited together. I have never seen any of Kranser's work in person, and I have always appreciated it greatly, and felt it deserved as much fame as Pollock's. Seeing it next to his work, hung in one of London's premier museums was delightful. An audio accompaniment to the artwork described Pollock's life as an entity of various art forms, including or related to visual, audio and physical aspects of the art world. His gestures and freestyle images have been compared to that of the Jazz music he listened to in the 1940s; the movement with which he moved around his canvass had a dance-like gesture, which he executed sober and precisely while he painted.

The connection, which was made in the audio, is precisely the connection I find myself making between the arts I have encountered in Europe. For me, this Literary Tour has been as much about the language of the art and the expression which Europe appreciates both visually and orally that moves me the most. As a dancer, with an appreciation of visual arts, and enjoyment of literature and a passion for the world of design and fashion, London in particular impresses me with the constant connection it makes and recognizes within the art world as a unit. When I read poetry, by Joyce or Yeats I visualize the scenery, and I imagine the movement they describe in a pattern as words and as dance. Literature can be used as music, just as painting can be used as dance. The arts are about expression of ones ideas and how one sees surroundings, experiences and ideas in all forms of visualization.

The Matisse and Picasso exhibit was a lifetime of work by artists who admired each other's work as much as the audience which attended the show. The two admired each other and thus found similarities between subject matter, medium and production. The two artists held curiosity, jealousy and admiration for each other's moves and goals within the world of art. They kept track of changes in style and subject and there are clear resemblance's between the two artist's final products. From a quote in the exhibit, "We must talk to each other as much as we can. When one of us dies, there will be some things the other will never be able to talk of with anyone else." Picasso explained that "it is impossible for me not to think of him. Between him and me there is our common work of painting and when all is said and done that unites us." In a quote taken from Interpreting Matisse Picasso by Elizabeth Cowling for Tate Publishing, Matisse expressed in a conversation between Pierre Courthion in 1942 that "One day, meeting Max Jacob on one of the boulevards, I said to him, 'If I were not doing what I am doing, I would like to paint like Picasso'. 'Good heavens', said Max, 'how odd! Do you know, Picasso said the same thing to me about you?'"

The Cover to Interpreting Matisse Picasso by Elizabeth Cowling, London: Tate Publishing, 2002.

May 31st, 2002

On Friday I visited the Design Museum, which is located on the opposite side of the London Bridge, I was however, thoroughly unimpressed its contents. There was a very small collection of the top floor and a show of Gio Ponti's on the second. Ponti, a designer of many forms, including furniture, glassware, textiles, magazine, tiles, tapestries, fixtures and flatware, had an exhibit to himself which was impressive, but not as the primary content of the whole museum. I found his philosophy on art and design to be a particularly inspiring one though. Design is often overlooked as an art form, and the principle of functionality or medium within art can sometimes diminish its perceived value. Ponti explained, "Not cement, not wood, not stone, not steel, not glass is the most durable material. The most durable material in building is art." The structural component of Ponti's work is impressive and innovative. Modern chairs, dinner sets and fabric prints were creative, practical and colorful. The range of images portrayed over a few simple shapes and color schemes was clearly well planned and very successful. Unfortunately I was hoping to see more fashion merchandise and clothing products at the design museum and there was not a single piece in the whole museum. I did find information of a Fashion and Textile Museum which is scheduled to open at 79-85 Bermondsey St. SE1 # 020-7403-0222, by next summer, so hopefully I will be able to get back to visit it when it opens, on a later trip.

Above, Catherine Walker and Princess Diana. Walker designed many of Diana's dresses, including this light blue embroidered shift dress.

De La Haye, Amy.Catherine Walker Twenty Five Years 1977-2002 British Couture, England: The Chelsea Design Co Ltd, 2002.

On Saturday June 1, 2002 I visited the Victoria and Albert Museum was truly inspirational. There was an entire collection of Catherine Walker's dresses, a designer who did many of Princess Diana's dresses, which accompanied the 100 years of dress collection within the permanent collection at the museum. The original Christian Dior "New Look" outfit from 1947 with white top and black skirt was present along with a movie and samples on how the mini skirt came to be. I was thoroughly impresses and enthusiastic. I was unsure whether or not London could be considered such a fashion archival, because as Walker explained the English are known known for their sophisticated styles and the French their Sexy styles. Catherine Walker combines the two forms and creates clothing filled with lines, colors and cuts that are as classic mature, flirtatious and simply gorgeous all into one dress. I have not been so inspired to continue my pursuit of fashion this entire trip. I would seriously consider studying in London, perhaps during my junior year as a fashion student. London never struck me as the fashion capital of Europe, but I have been repeatedly impressed with the combination of style, trends, and as Walker put it, "sophistication" that London shows in its Fashion.

The Above Photograph come from the book I purchased at the V&M museum.

There are two images in this photo. To the left is Dior's "New Look" display, to the right are a few dresses of Catherine Walkers.

The National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, had an immense amount of work, but I particularly enjoyed the Portrait Gallery. I have already talked about the Portrait Gallery on my Bloomsbury Page, where I purchased the Bloomsbury Group Postcards. The Portrait Gallery had a special exhibition of Mario Testino portraits. Testino began as a fashion photographer, and the exhibition included an array of models, movie stars, designers, musicians from a Fashion Perspective. I, unfortunately do not have any photographs of this show or a book to share the images.