Look - Don't Touch!

One of the reasons I wanted to see Barbara Hepworth: Sculpture for a Modern World exhibition at Tate Britain, was because the website stated it included some of her "rarely seen textiles" alongside sculptures and other artworks.  I have to say the textile component of the exhibition was limited and I cannot now remember much about them.  Luckily I was not disappointed with the sculpture that was the "main event".  I think the textiles were just to show that like many artists, Hepworth worked in a variety of mediums partly to try out new ideas, but perhaps also because it was commercially viable. 

What the exhibition did highlight to me, was that Hepworth's sculptures do share something in common with textiles - the tactile nature of her work.  As anyone who has ever visited a textile art or embroidery exhibition knows it is the desire to touch that is the most difficult to control and much of Hepworth's work has the same effect.

I have read a few reviews complaining that the works were in perspex - to be honest I am not sure how the Tate would have managed to control everyone coming in and stroking the work if they hadn't.  For me I think this "untouchability" adds to the appeal - something you would like to touch but you can't. I know Hepworth herself wanted people to be able to touch and it is one of the reasons much of her work is in public spaces.  For this exhibition, I quite liked the experience of knowing you can only imagine the smoothness of the wood, the coolness of the stone, etc.  

There was another "textile" element to the work - the threads (or strings) that appear in some of her sculptures - like huge stitches, as if they are pulling the pieces of work together and creating a tension. They reminded me of strings on a musical instrument - would they make a sound if you could touch them?  Within the major exhibition there was the normal "no photography" rule, but luckily a piece from the permanent collection was on display, and also had these strings.

It seems galleries generally have been thinking about the idea of whether seeing painted artworks is enough for visitors. There seems a particular interest in exploring how to engage all the senses with art primarily created to be visual. Earlier in the year I visited (and blogged about) the Soundscape exhibition at the National Gallery but now Tate Britain has its own Sensorium, which had not opened when I went to the Hepworth show.  Unfortunately the nature of this show means that it is not an exhibition you can guarantee entry, but I am intrigued to know if eating a chocolate or smelling a scent and at the same time looking at a specific artwork will alter the experience.

Is it just a gimmick or will the scientific data the collaborators are collecting tell us something new about art as they hope it will? The Tate website also provides a list of other works which, in the traditional sense refer to the senses, but leave it to the viewer to imagine the sound, taste, smell or texture.  There are many historic artworks where the five senses are alluded to, not always obvious to someone who has not studied art history so perhaps these novel approaches are just what are needed to make people look more closely and more importantly think about the work on display.


Soundscape at the National Gallery has now closed.
Barbara Hepworth: Sculpture for a Modern World continues at Tate Britain until 25 October 2015 (see website for admission fees, etc).
Tate Sensorium is on until 20 September 2015 - free but entry restricted, tickets available on arrival at 10am and 2pm.

Listening to paintings to look closer

Visiting the National Gallery in London nowadays is often a noisy, busy experience.  Not the quiet , reflective environment some galleries have.  One of their current exhibitions, Soundscapes, provides another, alternative way of experiencing art.  Six paintings have been selected by six artists (or artist teams), who then created an audible accompaniment to play alongside the chosen artwork.

Each "soundscape" had been created differently.  Chris Watson, wildlife sound recordist, created a "collage" of natural sound to go with his chosen work (Lake Keitiele (1905) by Akseli Gallen-Kallela), Jamie XX created some electronic music that worked brilliantly with Coastal Scene (abt 1892) by Theo Van Rysselberghe - both of them dotty and vibrating with colour or sound. St Jerome in his Study (about 1475) by Antonello da Messina was enhanced not just by the background noise you might have expected to hear, but by a 3D version of the painting the artists had created alongside their soundscape (Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller).

But what has this to do with textiles?

Well it was only while "listening" and looking at The Ambassadors (1533) by Hans Holbein the Younger (sound work by Susan Philipsz), that I realised how much closer you look when you just look at one image in a darkened room while you have to listen so intently.  Standing fairly closely to the figure on the left (Jean de Denteville), I was reminded how skilled Holbein is at painting textiles - the black velvet jacket and the pink silk shirt; the white linen of the undershirt; the black silk robe with fur trim; the carpet that covers the table and the green fabric that the two figures stand in front of.  Like the objects on the table between the two figures, here was another collection, this time of fabric technology.

Coming out of the exhibition, I came across a very different display that was also about close looking.  This time the galleries annual Take One Picture schools project.  For twenty years the gallery has been encouraging primary school children to look at a specific painting from their gallery - the exhibition which is currently running over the summer period displays some of their responses.  The image chosen this year was Saint Michael Triumphs Over the Devil (1468) by Bartolome Bermejo.  The children had looked at patterns, colour, and ideas about heroes.  Not all my images (taken without flash) were sharp enough to publish, but here is a small selection.  The display is on in the gallery (free) until 20 September 2015.

Soundscapes continues until 6 September 2015.