Textiles at the Tate

An evening event in London meant I either went up to town just for a couple of hours in the evening or I used my train fare wisely and looked for something to visit on the way.  I decided to catch one of the free daily tours at Tate Modern - in particular I was interested to see if there were any textile art works to be found. 

The tour I joined was to look at the Energy and Process Gallery on the fourth floor.

One of the works we looked at was by an artist Georgio Griffo (b.1936) and called Segni Orizzontali (1975). The title translates as "horizontal signs".  I picked this work out because its textile qualities are so obvious.  The canvas is not fixed on a stretcher and the folds in the fabric not only make the qualities of the medium very obvious but are very much a feature of the work - a line not in paint but in memory.  

The canvas looks quite coarse - I did not look closely enough to see if it was in its natural state or artificially coloured.  The painted dashes of colour are very evenly and regularly painted - a line of blue, green, a pinky mauve and then a deeper pinky mauve.  Then a line of blue starts again but runs out half way.

What our guide told us was that here the artist expects the audience to "finish" the work - first by mentally "painting" the rest of the blue dashes.  We might then imagine the next line - and most likely follow the pattern in the same recurring colours.

What this piece seems to reference is our human instinct for order.  The textile artists amongst us might also wish the creases were ironed out.  I expect some of us might also wish to see it framed and ordered.  

During the guided tour, which took about 45 minutes (they run daily at 11am, 12 noon, 2pm and 4pm), we looked at about eight art works and I am not certain if the same tour by a different guide would include other works.  Certainly these tours make you look much more closely at works that you might otherwise have walked past.  

When I came out to go to my next destination I walked back through the Christmas Market situated in front of the gallery (it is there until 23 December) and across the bridge towards St Paul's.  The twinkling lights made for a very festive atmosphere and put me in just right mood to go on to a Christmas party where I could catch up with friends, old and new.

Stunning textiles in pastel and enamel

In London, with time on my hands, I decided to visit the Royal Academy's exhibition of the 18th century artist, Jean-Etienne Liotard.  Until technological developments to overcome the difficulty of displaying his favoured medium of pastel were overcome, his work has been difficult to exhibit. It is this medium that gives his pictures a particular luminosity, yet equally it has made him less well known that he should be.  

Born in Geneva in 1702, Liotard spent much of his early life travelling across Europe painting for people on their Grand Tours.  John Montagu (4th Earl of Sandwich) and William Ponsonby (Viscount Duncannon) commissioned him to travel and draw souvenirs of their journey to the Levant, in particular the local costumes.  Not only did this display his talent for attention to detail and love of painting textiles it also gave him contacts that later in life helped obtain even more prestigious clients.

Liotard spent four years in the Levant and when he returned to Europe he dressed in an Oriental style. This made him stand out and attract customers, but they were also impressed by his artistic skill. His other eccentricity was that until his marriage he sported a very long beard.  This was removed at his new wife's request.  On her death (in 1782) the beard returned.  He was still painting in old age and, like Rembrandt, he recorded his own changing features in several self-portraits.  Liotard died in 1789.  

Although an exhibition of mainly portraits, this exhibition that could be viewed for the costumes alone.  Many of his western clients would wear for costumes purchased abroad, to give themselves an air of exoticism.  He had a particular love of a beautiful blue in which many of his sitters were dressed.

I think what I particularly enjoyed with this exhibition was looking at the difference in images looked from a distance and then close up.  In one painting of Katherine Furnese, Countess of Guilford (1754), a diamond at her throat looked so realistic seen from afar. Close up it seemed to be a brown oval with black and white marks - it was almost magical.  

Not only was Liotard skilled with pastel but also talented as a miniaturist working in enamels but both were difficult media.  On the audio guide there was a section that told how until recently it was difficult to transport pastels for exhibition and it is only with new developments in understanding the physical properties of this technique and advances in art transformation that made this exhibition possible.

Liotard drew and painted royalty across Europe including the young Marie-Antoinette, and the British Royal family.  He also painted more ordinary bankers, physicians, actors and singers.  He had no desire to idealise his sitters and the faces are informal and real.  There were so many beautiful images it would be hard to pick just one favourite.

It would also be impossible to finish this review without mentioning his trompe l'oeil, in particular his painting on silk of two plaques and sketches on what appears to be a wooden mount.

This exhibition continues until 31 January 2016, but be warned because the Ai Weiwei exhibition is in its final days (finishes 13 December) there is currently some queueing at the door.  This is partly for bag searches and then ticket purchase.  It was only about 15 minutes when I arrived around lunch time on Wednesday, but by the afternoon the queues were considerably longer.  

Finding Faults of Love

Today I visited the Foundling Museum and while I was there I had a further look at The Fallen Woman exhibition.  I first saw this fascinating exhibition in September and now it is in its last few weeks.  The exhibition looks at the lives of real women of the Victorian era who turned to the Foundling Hospital in their hour of need.  Real petitions are displayed alongside paintings, prints and stereoscopic photographs to look at how women of the time were portrayed in art.  Additionally there is a sound installation. 

The stories from the petitions show girls who were naive, gullible or in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Whatever the story it seems it was always the women who were at fault and for some the hospital allowed them their only hope of a second chance in life.  

The art works show how in Victorian England there was often only three types of women - the totally virtuous, the tempted woman (was she weak or strong?) and the fallen woman.  In art the only way the fallen woman could redeem herself was in death.  The dress you wore was frequently an indicator of which of these types of woman you were thought to be.  

Alongside this thought provoking exhibition was another smaller display - Unpinned. This included work by First Year BA Jewellery Design students from Central Saint Martins, who had used the museum and its archives as a as their inspiration.  I particularly liked the image at the top of this page.  Made from cotton and pins it was a really fascinating technique.  There were other textile pieces on display, some of which are shown below.  

The Fallen Woman continues until 3 January 2016

Unpinned is on display until 31 January 2016

The museum is normally open every day except Monday but is closed between Christmas Day and New Year.

Fashionable figures

Until last week I had never really visited Rome - only ever passed through.  By chance when I did visit, the Palazzo Borghese it just happened to have a temporary exhibition on with a textile theme. Couture/Sculpture was a display of 65 stunning gowns and outfits set between the statues and the paintings.  Text was sparse so you could only look and admire.  The whole exhibition was the work of Tunisian born couturier and shoe designer, Azzedine Alaia.  

I am not certain any of the items could have been worn - the effect appeared to be emphasise the sculptural and the dresses had the tiniest of waists.  With all the other paintings and sculpture, it was difficult to know what to look at first - the art (especially Bernini), the architecture, the dresses.  It seemed that I failed to pay attention to everything as I missed the stairs up to the first floor - just too many distractions.

The  photographs I took show just some of the items on display, and a little of the permanent collection too.  The painting behind this gown is a Caravaggio - "St Jerome Writing".  Caravaggio is of course known for his use of light, and equally the dresses were enhanced by the way they were lit emphasising the curves and texture of the fabrics.

These next two reminded me of the recent Alexander McQueen exhibition at the V&A.  One making use of what appears to be a whole alligator and the other with what appears to be suede and horse hair.

In the image above, I tried to capture the shadow, which added an extra dimension to the display.

These next two seemed particularly sculptural and elegant.

And lastly one of my favourites, with its intricate beadwork - which sadly I could not pick out, with only my camera phone at hand.

Sadly the exhibition has now closed - it finished the day after we visited.  

While in Rome I threw a coin in the newly renovated Trevi Fountain, and if the legend is correct I will get back to for another visit some time.  Next time I will pay more attention and ensure I visit the upstairs of any galleries I visit.

Indian fabric - craftsmanship and splendour

The Fabric of India was an exhibition I visited on the same day as I visited Shoes: Pleasure and Pain (see last week's blog) at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.  Of the two I have to say I enjoyed this one the most - although both were worth a visit.

The Fabric of India looked at Indian textiles from a wide range of viewpoints - craftsmanship, historical, contemporary, status, political and social issues.  It was also the exhibition where I learnt that for the ancient Greeks and Babylonians, the word 'cotton' was synonymous with India.

The entrance includes a huge seventeenth century "summer carpet" flanked with two mannequins dressed in very contemporary versions of Indian fashion.  It was a good introduction to an exhibition that looked at such a historically diverse subject.

In the next section, which was large and spacious, the exhibition concentrated on the craftsmanship behind textile production - growing, weaving, dyeing, printing, embroidery.  I liked the fact that they showed family businesses still producing cloth or textile products - highlighting the craftsmen (and women) as well as the techniques and products themselves.  

There were sections that showed courtly splendour, textiles with sacred attributes, global trade, and contemporary designs.  It was also good to see that they included a section about how Britain exploited the trade, to the point that the Indian textile tradition was severely damaged - a side of textile history that in the past might have been ignored.  

There were some very beautiful pieces and fascinating items on display.  A favourite of mine was the embroidered map shawl, dating from the 19th century.  Even the exhibition graphics, which included stitched words, were worth admiring.

After a visit to the shoe exhibition in the morning this was a big exhibition to take on.  If I get the chance I would love to go back.  Next time I would take my notebook.  

Again no photographs so the images for the blog are from the V&A's permanent collection of South Asian textiles.  The exhibition continues until 10 January 2016.

Shoes - a pleasurable experience but not without some pain

Any textile artist would probably tell you that the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London is one of their favourite museums in the capital because of its permanent collection which includes a vast number of textile pieces, but also because of its focus on textiles for many of its temporary exhibitions.  Perhaps Shoes: Pleasure and Pain is not really a textile exhibition per se, but it certainly included a lot of textile items.

The categories of display in the lower galleries included transformation, status and seduction.  One display focused on shoes supposed to have magical properties to transform the wearer - like a crystal slipper for Cinderella.  The "status" section shoes that were intended to display wealth or the ability to have so little need for walking you could wear shoes that were completely impractical. The "seductive" shoes included sexy heels and fetish wear.  This was certainly a very broad display and anyone interested in shoes from a social, historical or design perspective would find plenty of interest.

Unfortunately this downstairs section of the exhibition was the most crowded area and with people trying to peer at the displays it made the viewing experience not as pleasurable as it could have been.  This was for me the "pain" of the exhibition but certainly not as painful as I imagine some of the shoes might have been. 

In the more airy upper gallery the focus was on the creation of shoes - showing how a shoe is designed and developed. There was also a collection about shoe collectors.  It was interesting to see the range of shoes that people collected and also how some displayed them like art objects and others kept them safely in boxes.  Some collectors wore shoes their collections while others just kept them as objects of beauty.

There were some audio visual displays including filmed interviews with shoe designers talking about inspiration and working practices which wss worth watching. Other imagery around the walls showed shoes being made - step by step.

This was an interesting exhibition and one I would have liked more with a little more space.  There was a warning at the entrance to leave coats in the cloakroom and it would have been wise words to heed.  

Unfortunately no photography allowed in the temporary exhibition, so the shoe image at the top of this blog is from the permanent collection - of which there are several in the costume display.

This exhibition at the V&A continues until 31 January 2016.  If you combine it with the Fabric of India exhibition you may want to save longer for this much bigger exhibition, of which I will say more in my next blog.

Amazing materials - combined and destroyed

Although my link between art and textiles is rather tenuous this week, I felt after seeing the amazing Ai Weiwei exhibition this week I could not avoid giving it a mention.  In fact the strongest link was the chair that was set beneath the trees in the Royal Academy courtyard.  This chair was not of course made of a textile, not even leather - it was carved from marble.  A marble chair is not good - especially on a winter's day.  It is rather cold.  In fact in this photo I seem to have the expression of someone on a marble chair, while my friend Melinda looks much more comfortable.

This was not the only chair in the exhibition as Ai Weiwei son's stroller also made  an appearance - this too was made of marble and set surrounded by a marble lawn.  The creases in the "fabric" looked so real.  It reminded us of a piece of work made by fellow E.A.S.T member, Susan Canfield for our "Making a point!"

If there was a central theme surrounding the Ai Weiwei exhibition it was "materials".  Whether he was protesting about the tragedy of the Shanghai earthquake or "celebrating" the authorities decision to destroy his artists' community building, or even to explore Chinese culture through its craftsmen and women, the materials used were the key to interpretation.  He combined antique furniture with pieces of temple, he mixed rubble with furniture, he used straightened rebars, he compressed tea into a metre cube.

He also used destruction in a creative way - famously breaking a Ming vase or grinding neolithic pots to dust.  Or did he?

One of my favourite pieces was a material of a different kind - a crystal cube, a metre cube.  As people passed by it reflected and fractured, and although I realise there must be a scientific explanation for its properties, it felt as if it was a magic trick - cutting someone in half.

Of course there is much more to this exhibition than the use of materials and many more pieces on display.  It was thought provoking, sometimes challenging and moving.  I came away having a great respect for the bravery of the artist, and other artists who challenge the system.  There were also items that were just amazing in their construction like the bicycle chandelier.   

This is an exhibition I would thoroughly recommend - it is on until 13 December 2015 at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.