Culture

Culture

FIRSTS: London’s Rare Books Fair

Books in Bloom

This May, Firsts London returns to the Saatchi Gallery with a burst of colour, curiosity, and craftsmanship. The theme? Books in Bloom – a celebration of all things botanical in the world of rare books.

From ancient herbals to avant-garde floral art books, over a hundred rare book dealers from around the globe will gather to showcase the intertwined histories of books and botany. It’s the literary companion to the Chelsea Flower Show, blooming just down the road – but with more vellum and fewer tulips.

Expect everything from medicinal manuscripts to pressed flower albums, poetic tributes to roses, and gorgeously illustrated plant encyclopaedias. Botanical books tell a story far richer than just plants on a page. They chart centuries of exploration, science, superstition, art – and obsession.

Once used to treat fevers and fend off spirits, early plant drawings became tools of classification, trade, and desire. By the Victorian age, they were full-blown objects of beauty, their detailed engravings and watercolours capturing the global explosion of flora newly ‘discovered’ and imported.

Justin Croft Antiquarian has brought an exquisite edition of Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal,…

Culture

Rolls-Royce Goes Wild

Britain's most famous luxury car marque brings woodland magic to London Craft Week

At this year’s London Craft Week (12–18 May 2025), Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is bringing a captivating artistic display that reimagines the British countryside in exquisite detail and craftsmanship. Created by artisans at the marque’s Goodwood headquarters, the triptych artwork draws on the flora and fauna of the British Isles, presenting a woodland scene across three […]

Culture

Stephen Cox: Myth

Mesmerising mythology at a major new sculpture exhibition in Norfolk

Mythological beasts stalk the grounds of Houghton Hall – in a good way. The stately home in Norfolk is presenting Stephen Cox: Myth, an absorbing new exhibition of the work of the British sculptor. Arranged across the park gardens and interiors, this is the most comprehensive retrospective ever of the Royal Academician’s sculpture. Covering more […]

Culture

FRIEZE LONDON 2022

12th – 16th October. Regent’s Park, London NW1 4HG.

Considered one of the most important art fairs in the global calendar, Frieze London and Frieze Masters bring together galleries from 42 countries, presenting art across the ages, from ancient and old masters to modern classics and the contemporary. Featuring some of the most exciting artists working today, as well as expertly curated selections from art history, both shows this year will celebrate the depth and breadth of London’s creative community. The event is supported by global lead partner Deustche Bank and by luxury Swiss watchmaker, Breguet, a company historically linked to art and artisan crafts.

Eva Langret, Director of Frieze London said, “So many of our participating galleries are planning ambitious solo presentations and curated shows that really promise to stimulate, delight and challenge – and I am so excited to see such a diversity of talent all under one roof. Frieze Week also promises to be a major draw, with truly unmissable exhibitions across the city in both galleries and museums. This year’s fairs really reflect our commitment to celebrating the creative life of London.”

Nathan Clements-Gillespie, Director of Frieze Masters added, “Following the stellar launch of Frieze Masters in Seoul, we can’t wait to be back in London to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Once again, we will see Frieze Masters’ signature formula of showcasing the very best art throughout the ages. In addition, I am so looking forward to the discoveries that the fair provides each year – particularly in our Spotlight section, curated in 2022 by Camille Morineau and the AWARE team. Beyond the fair, Frieze Masters’ presence will be felt throughout the city – with our talks programme taking place in galleries and museums throughout London for everyone to enjoy.”

Frieze London will present the world’s leading galleries, showcasing ambitious solo, group and themed shows that offer an opportunity to discover up-and-coming talent and engage with work by some of today’s most celebrated names. Highlights include:

James Cohan, with a solo exhibition of Elias Sime’s ‘Tightrope’ series, which weaves repurposed materials – computer keyboards, motherboards, and electrical wires – into abstract compositions.
Sadie Coles HQ will show a solo presentation of Ugo Rondinone’s “Mattituck” series of paintings that was first first initiated in 2020.

Pilar Corrias will stage a solo show of work by Hayv Kahraman that continues her exploration of embodied experiences of “Otherness”, particularly in relation to the female body.

Thomas Dane Gallery has invited Anthea Hamilton to curate the gallery’s booth which will include recent works by Hamilton, alongside major pieces by artists including Hurvin Anderson, Lynda Benglis, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Barbara Kasten, Phillip King, Ella Kruglyanskaya, Jean-Luc Moulène, Dana Schutz, Amy Sillman and Caragh Thuring.
Stephen Friedman Gallery will present the first solo survey of Jeffrey Gibson in the UK, whose mixed-media paintings and sculptures combine indigenous artisanal handcraft with narratives of contemporary resistance, drawing on protest slogans and song lyrics.

Ryan Lee Gallery is bringing to the UK for the first time the work of Emma Amos whose figurative paintings often use her own likeness to engage with racial and feminist politics.

Indra’s Net will feature 10 dedicated presentations, as well as a number of displays scattered throughout the main section of the fair, and will feature artists including: Muhanned Cader (Jhaveri Contemporary); Dorothy Cross (Kerlin Gallery & Frith Street Gallery); Shirazeh Houshiary (Lisson Gallery); Jamilah Sabur & Oscar Santillán (Copperfield); Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio & Clarissa Tossin (Commonwealth and Council); Martha Atienza (Silverlens); Teresita Fernandez (Lehmann Maupin); Claudia Andujar (Vermelho) and Tomás Díaz Cedeño (Peana) among several others.

Oscar Santillán, Antimundo 00G, 2022. Oil on canvas. 120 x 80 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Copperfield, London-Detail.

Celebrating the 10th anniversary of Frieze Masters, the fair will bring together a snapshot of art history, from rare antiquities and Old Master paintings to luminaries of the 20th century. Highlights include:

De Jonckheere, with a solo presentation of works by Pieter Brueghel the Younger.
Gisèle Croës is focusing on a collection of Tang dynasty precious gold and silver cups, bowls and utensils historically used for banquets and feasts.
Helly Nahmad, London will present Joan Miró – After The War; a selection of paintings, works on paper and painted textiles executed between 1946 and 1973, emphasising Miró’s unique and ever- evolving approach to material and form.
ACA Galleries bring us an exhibition of pre-eminent African American artists of the 20th century including Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawerence, Faith Ringgold, Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson and Charles White.

Elliott Fine Art presents Portrait of a Zulu, 1897. Oil on canvas by Frans David Oerder.

Galleria Tommaso Calabro will present the exhibition ‘Casa Iolas. Citofonare Vezzoli’, curated by Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli, which will pay homage to the legendary Greek art gallerist Alexander Iolas (1907-1987) and include work by Victor Brauner, William Copley, Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst and Leonor Fini.
Richard Nagy will create a Gesamtkunstwerk with works and furniture of the Viennese Secession movement including works by Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt.
Another first-time exhibitor Martin Beisly Fine Art will show Pre-Raphaelite and Victorian paintings made between 1830-1910, including works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown, and Edward John Poynter.

Cesare Fracanzano, The Liberation of Saint Peter, late 17^th century. Oil on canvas.Courtesy of the artist and Artur Ramon Art.

Standout

Returning to the fair for the second year, the Standout section of the fair this year explores the idea of ‘Global Exchange’. Once again, the section is curated by Luke Syson (Director and Marlay Curator of the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge) who describes the makers of art objects as “open-minded, even large- hearted, to a degree that is unusual in the arts’, explaining that ‘they embrace ideas, materials, designs and techniques that might have originated very far from home. In a world that today feels both more joined up and more culturally fraught than ever before, the histories of these works trace a complex and fascinating history.” Highlights include:

Oscar Humphries, with a special focus on Isamu Noguchi’s relationship with Japan, featuring works he created while visiting as well as collaborations with Japanese contemporaries.
Prahlad Bubbar brings a selection of “The Cosmic Dance” pieces, ranging from mother goddess figures of the Mauryan period (300 BC) in Northern India to a 16^th century royal canopy from Golconda in the Deccan region, amongst others.
Peter Finer is presenting culturally diverse examples of steel weaponry dating from antiquity through to Japan’s Edo period.
Raccanello & Leprince will show a selection of Renaissance-era Maiolica, featuring pieces by makers including Nicola da Urbino and Francesco Xanto Avelli and their followers, as well as productions of the Fontana workshop.

Amir Mohtashemi will showcase a pair of 19th-century Indian watercolor paintings of ducks, from an album of “Company School” paintings by local artists commissioned by Europeans to record the likenesses of flora and fauna.

Spotlight

The much-celebrated Spotlight section of the fair is this year curated by Camille Morineau and the AWARE team. Featuring 26 solo presentations by female artists of the 20th century, the section will draw attention to previously overlooked names and allow a reconsideration of recent history. Highlights include:

Ab-Anbar, with their solo show of works by Iranian artist Sonia Balassanian.
DAG will showcase paintings by self-taught Indian artist Madhvi Parekh.
The Gallery of Everything will present works by Sister Gertrude Morgan, whose work was featured in this year’s Venice Biennale.

Kó will show rarely-seen work by Nigerian artist Nike Davies-Okundaye, featuring embroidery, batik, weaving, patchwork, painting, and mixed media from the 1960s to the 1980s.

Partners and Collaborations

Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank is the Global Lead Partner for Frieze Art Fairs for the 19th consecutive year. Works by Shezad Dawood will feature in the Deutsche Bank Wealth Management Lounges at Frieze and on Frieze Viewing Room. The works, consisting of neons, painting, sculpture, and virtual reality, delve into themes of climate change, migration and mental health using a combination of fact and science fiction.

Breguet will present a specially commissioned artwork by the artist Pablo Bronstein, continuing his panoramic installation series launched at Frieze New York in May, followed by Frieze Seoul in September. The third iteration for London will reference the art of watchmaking’s endurance since the industrial revolution, whereby visitors will witness Bronstein’s artistic vision. The work will be displayed alongside historical watches from Breguet’s archives, as well as new timepieces from their collections. An artisan from Breguet’s workshop will also be present at the booth performing guillochage demonstrations.

Pablo Bronstein’s, Scenic Wallpaper with Important Machinery of the 18th century, generated huge interest in Frieze New York.

BMW Open Work Commission 2022: curated by Attilia Fattori Franchini ‘BMW Open Work by Frieze’ invites an artist to develop an ambitious project utilizing BMW design and technology to pursue their practice in innovative new directions. For the 2022 commission, artist Nikita Gale will present 63/22, a sculptural installation comprising a series of electric guitars imagined in collaboration with BMW i7 designers and activated by live performances in the lounge.

Nikita Gale, Private Dancer,2020. Installation view, California African American Museum, Los Angeles. Photo: Elon Schoenholz.

Maison Ruinart has given carte blanche to Jeppe Hein, who will translate his first impressions of Ruinart’s terroir into fragments of matter and emotion that both awaken senses and touch hearts, while placing each of us at the centre of a delightful participatory experience. A collective experience that is unique each time. An artistic installation to live RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.

La Prairie will highlight emerging women artists, inviting five young female artists to create digital works inspired by the codes of Bauhaus. The Women Bauhaus Collective by La Prairie celebrates the legacy of the women in Bauhaus and empowers greater equity for future generations of talent. As part of the collective, Talia Golchin, a London-based artist and recent graduate of Central Saint Martins, has created a digital sculpture entitled “Euphoria“, inspired by the synergy of the body, mind and the universe. A physical representation of “Euphoria“ will be on display within the La Prairie lounge at Frieze London.

To keep up to date on all the latest news from Frieze, sign up to our newsletter at frieze.com, and follow @friezeofficial on Instagram, Twitter and Frieze Official on Facebook.

Opening picture: Linda Nylind. Courtesy of Linda Nylind/Frieze.

Words: Julia Pasarón

Culture

Araba Opoku

Whispers Down the Lane

Araba Opoku is a multi-disciplinary artist who was born and currently resides in Accra, Ghana. Her body of work ranges from dreamy abstract paintings to more specific projects, from her self-reflective works, to referencing socio-economic adversities such as the challenges in Ghana over the lack of water and the direct link to mental health issues within individual and familial frameworks.

“The mind is a map, an entire world waiting to become tangible in form, I explore how and why I want to make that possible.”
– Araba Opoku

Opoku’s art is not only concerned with suffering and anguish. Her commentaries on the water crisis also captures the freedom, joy, and abundance that water signifies, exhibited by graceful flows of paint and a plethora of colour. Her paintings in general reference her immediate environment by representing specific streets, home gardens, and daily scenes in the community she lives in. Characterised by fluid shapes, flowing lines, and blended hues which produce an effect that almost resembles richly painted textiles, the subtlety and precision of her art allows her to speak to the fullness of life as well as its decay.

Opoku takes a textile-like approach to painting, merging various forms and colours from the world around her onto her canvases.

Early influences derive from Araba’s mother’s association with the fashion industry – their home was always filled with an abundance of diverse styles and textured fabrics – and the encouragement of her school art teacher who recognised her talent for neat lines and creative thought. Balancing her art practice with her on-going studies in Psychology at the University of Ghana, her work was showcased at Art X Lagos in 2021, and resides in several collections in New York, London, and Ghana. For her artistic talent she was awarded the inaugural Yaa Asantwewaa Art Prize by Gallery 1957 in 2021, dedicated to woman artists living and working in Ghana. Opoku is also the creative director and member of the art collective Artemartis, which has done much to highlight and platform emerging artists in Ghana.

Gallery 1957, based in Accra, Ghana, has a curatorial focus on Africa and its diaspora. Presenting a programme of exhibitions, installations and performances by the continent’s most significant artists, the gallery serves as avital platform for promoting Africa’s presence within the art scene by hosting ambitious exhibitions, providing resources for residencies and participating in international art fairs. Founded by Marwan Zakhem in 2016 with an initial focus on supporting the West African arts scene, Gallery 1957 has since expanded to collaborate with leading artists globally and now hosts three spaces in Accra – one in the Kempinski Hotel and two in Galleria Mall – as well as a London outpost in Hyde Park Gate. See more details HERE.

Araba applies multiple layers of blue and green acrylic paint, introducing distorted subjects and texts that create an illusion of fluid motion and depth.

Curated by Katherine Finerty, the London-based Art Historian and Writer, Gallery 1957 announces its first solo exhibition of new works by Araba Opoku, running from September 24 to October 22, 2022 entitled “Whispers Down the Lane”. The immersive show presents new canvases alongside video projections, textiles, installations and sounds creating a sensory experience of the artist’s night-time vigil. Across an abstract, ethereal body of work, Opoku’s paintings of aquatic blues and vegetative greens subtly evoke her ritualistic experience of collecting water, which began when she moved to Dansoman with her mother and sister a decade ago. From awaking in a dream-like state at midnight to fetch water, to the stupor that continued the rest of the day, her work captures the warped state of life amidst water scarcity. Exploring this tradition across generations, the exhibition considers the effects of moonlight, the cyclical nature of being, lost twins and symmetry, the passing of transitory memory and constellations made from stars to spiders. For this new body of work, the artist turns towards these nocturnal creatures, connecting the intricate worlds she creates in her art to the expansive blankets ensuing from their webs; textile-like places that make you feel comforted and capable of imagining new and endless possibilities.

The subtlety and precision of Araba’s art allows her to speak to the fullness of life as well as its decay.

The artist’s process starts with collaged collections of everyday objects relating to her midnight fetching ceremony, from sinks and streets to plants and the moon. She then transfers these collages to the computer, creating warped compositions that serve as maps to her physical and psychological processes. When Opoku finally transports these sketches to paper, she relishes in pouring splashes of water and paint directly onto the canvas. This aqueous foundation is then built up through layers of acrylic colour and web-like borders, their undulating surfaces mirroring the effects of water with collaged details recalling our dream states. The end result of thickly layered paint and gracefully warped subjects represents water as both life-giving and an enduring source of uncertainty and suffering.

Araba Opoku Exhibition at Gallery II space, Gallery 195, Accra, Ghana 24^th September – 22^nd October, 2022.

Words: Shelley Campbell

Opening picture: Araba Opoku Headshot, Image Courtesy of Gallery 1957, Photo © ãNii Odzenma.

Culture

Queens Of The Art World

By Nick Foulkes

“I will show your most illustrious Lordship what a woman can do!” This quote, from one of her letters, functioned as something of a strapline for last year’s Artemisia Gentileschi show at the National Gallery. If you managed to dodge Covid lockdowns and get to this stunning exhibition, you will have enjoyed a visual banquet of drama from what Artspace.com called the “best baroque feminist painter you’ve never heard of”.

Judith chopping off Holofernes’s head can probably be spun as a feminist call to action, but it could be argued that she is ‘just’ a great baroque painter. After all, it sounds trivial and limiting to refer to Caravaggio as a proto-masculist icon of manliness, because he got into fights (even killing a man), liked living it up, and painting pictures of young men that are considered highly sexualised.

There is no doubt that gender is one of the defining issues of our times…
– Nick Foulkes

Self-portrait as the Allegory of Painting by Artemisa Gentileschi.

There is no doubt that gender is one of the defining issues of our times and one of the great dividends of a more diverse approach to programming is that some great art is being brought into the public eye. In May, Tate Britain opened a show of Cornelia Parker’s magical suspended installations that seem to be snapshots of explosions in the split second after detonation; and later in the year will be bringing back a major, Covid-shortened, survey of Lynette Yiadom- Boakye’s oeuvre. Tate Modern currently has Laubaina Himid. The Hayward has a Louise Bourgeois show.

And before lockdown, if you can cast your mind back to that era of prelapsarian innocence, Cindy Sherman had a major retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery. The Barbican, meanwhile, showed Lee Krasner, the Abstract Expressionist who, in other times, might have been known primarily as the wife of Jackson Pollock. But 2019 also held more recondite delights. There was a jewel-like Faith Ringgold show at the Serpentine and a superb exhibition of Dorothea Tanning at Tate Modern. To my shame I knew next to nothing about either artist before visiting the shows and came away enlightened and enriched.

Spider (1997) by Louise Bourgeios. Steel, tapestry, wood, glass, fabric, rubber, silver, gold and bone. © The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London 2021. Photo by Maximillian Geuter.

Too often it is easy to focus on the artists and forget that both as a business and a field of cultural endeavour there is a talented matriarchy that has long been an important part of the London art scene working as dealers, auctioneers, gallerists and museum directors. The capital has been inestimably lucky to have had Iwona Blazwick running the Whitechapel Art Gallery for two decades during which time, the gallery doubled in size and regained much of its international importance – you can also cite her as a godmother of the YBA movement, giving Damien Hirst his first show at the ICA back in 1992.

Before moving to the Whitechapel, Blazwick was head of exhibitions at Tate Modern, where she worked with Frances Morris, with whom she devised the then controversial, since influential, hanging of works for the opening of the museum thematically rather than chronologically. When Morris was announced as the director in 2016 the Guardian recorded, “She has already had a far greater influence on its identity than any of the three men who have served as director since it opened in 2000.”

There Could Be an Endless Ocean 2018, by Lubaina Himid. Courtesy of the artist and Hollybush Gardens

When thinking of the Serpentine Gallery, I experience a Pavlovian reaction and an image of Julia Peyton-Jones leaps to the front of the mind. Even though she left in 2016, for more than a quarter century she transformed a young exhibition space housed in a quondam tea-room and thrust it into global art spotlight. With Hans Ulrich Obrist at her side, she was one half of an artworld Fred and Ginger, a double act that defined a crucial period of not just the history of art, but the history of the art market.

And in London, the art market is in no small part shaped by women. Victoria Miro and Sadie Coles are better known than many of the artists they represent and if you look out of the front window of Hauser & Wirth on Savile Row, you look into the eponymous gallery of Pilar Ordovas.

Ordovas began her career at Christie’s in 1996. “That was a time when it was all much more of an old boy network and more traditional. I think I was one of the first women to be head of a department at Christie’s.” She goes on to add, “I suppose there was a certain amount of sexism, people would ask about pregnancy in job interviews, things like that,” she says, adding that times have changed considerably. “Women and minorities are what is relevant and important commercially, but I am not sure how helpful it is if we are highlighting things solely because they are topical. I have never really liked to think in terms of gender.”

I have never really liked to think in terms of gender.
– Pilar Ordovas

Instead, she likes to subvert accepted norms and challenge received wisdom, which is probably why she is so excited about her current show. Called Stitched, it concerns 20th century and contemporary artists who use needlework in their practice. In order to avoid preconceptions, Ordovas explains, “Although you might think the majority, if not all the artists, would be women, in fact it is evenly split between men and women.”

Culture

HRH Queen Elizabeth II

THE United Kingdom's longest-reigning monarch has died aged 96

All of us at I-M Intelligent Magazine would like to express our deepest condolences for the passing of HRH Queen Elizabeth II. She was a tower of strength and a monarch that always put duty first. We thank you for your service. Rest in peace.

Culture

Democracy and Happiness

Costa Navarino welcomes thinkers and thought leaders

The story of Costa Navarino is as old as Greece itself. It was King Nestor, legendary ruler of ancient Pylos, who first gave meaning to the word “hospitality” when he befriended complete strangers, but it is most famous for being the site of the Battle of Navarino in 1827, which turned the tide for Greek independence,

Situated in Messinia, in the southwest Peloponnese, Costa Navarino has one of the most unspoiled and breath-taking landscapes in the Mediterranean. Its philosophy is driven by a genuine desire to promote the region, whilst upholding the highest standards of environmental and social responsibility throughout all developmental stages, from construction to operation. As a world-class lifestyle travel destination in Greece, it aims to offer a world of authentic experiences, blending the finest hotels, private homes and extensive leisure amenities, always with respect for the natural environment, the local community, and the region’s rich history and cultural heritage, which spans over 4,500 years.

At a time when daily life is punctured by a series of global crises – from climate change to the pandemic, to all-out war – the quest for happiness seems ever more elusive, and even a bit indulgent. However more people than ever are seeking it out.

For the seventh year, Costa Navarino welcomes world-acclaimed authors and speakers to lead discussions and debates during “The Democracy and Happiness Weekend”.

In partnership with the Athens Democracy Forum, the cultural event takes place from the 30th of September to the 2nd of October 2022 at the brand-new W Costa Navarino – a vibrant resort located on the 13-hectare Navarino Waterfront site.

This stunning location is the setting for a series of events where attendees can immerse themselves in thought-provoking discussions and benefit from the unrivalled natural landscape, while enjoying a session of beach yoga, a philosophy walk or a cultural experience.

W Costa Navarino offers guests attending” Democracy and Happiness” a wide array of extra activities, including beach yoga.

The annual weekend explores the role of happiness in public life, through discussions and talks featuring motivational speakers, such as Pascal Bruckner, acclaimed author who penned the book Perpetual Euphoria: On the Duty to Be Happy; Wolf Singer, award-winning German neurophysiologist, and Yascha Mounk, professor, esteemed author and one of the world’s leading experts on the crisis of liberal democracy and the rise of populism.

The sessions are moderated by three key journalists at The New York Times: Roger Cohen – author, Chief Correspondent Paris and former Op-Ed columnist; Liz Alderman, Chief European Business Correspondent; and Steven Erlanger, Chief European Diplomatic Correspondent. The speakers will cover a variety of topics exploring whether a happier society equates to a more resilient democracy.

“Democracy feeds on argument, on the discussion as to the right way forward. This is the reason why respecting the opinion of others belongs to democracy”
– Richard von Weizsaecker

In addition to the series of talks and book readings, Costa Navarino offers curated cultural experiences for guests to enjoy, including philosophy walks with academics discussing modern-day ethics through the lens of ancient Greek philosophers, amidst the idyllic Messinian setting. Visitors will also be able to take full advantage of the spectacular coastal location, from swimming in the Ionian Sea, to diving, sailing, kitesurfing and more.

Just a stone’s throw from the long white-sand beach, the new resort’s design is inspired by the region’s traditional residential areas and committed to use local, natural materials such as stone, wood and reed. W Costa Navarino, exclusively for adults and young adults over 12 years old, offers 246 stylish rooms, two- bedroom suites and threw-bedroom villas with private infinity pools, staged in the Bay of Navarino with stunning Ionian Sea views.

The outdoor pool at W Costa Navarino is right next to the beach and offers unparalleled views of the bay.

Join a host of innovative thinkers and award-winning thought leaders from 30th September – 2nd October 2022, for a weekend of debates, discussions and meditations. More information about “The Happiness and Democracy Weekend” HERE.

Words: Shelley Campbell

Culture

The Art of Movement

Van Cleef & Arpels at the Design Museum, London

The Art of Movement features for the first time in the UK, nearly 100 creations from the Van Cleef & Arpels archive collection, plus numerous historical documents, gouache illustrations and lender masterpieces. The exhibition displays emblematic pieces alongside new acquisitions and historical pieces that reflect lifestyles of days gone by. Together they show the evolution and reflection of French elegance over the decades since the Maison was founded in 1906.

The Art of Movement is part of a 2022 celebration in London that began with the French jewellery brand’s Dance Reflections Festival in March and follows on from its participation at the Masterpiece Fair in June and July. Nicolas Bos President & CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels, said, “Whether it is artistic, mechanical or first dreamed before being drawn and masterly rendered in precious materials, movement has always captivated and still fascinates Van Cleef & Arpels. Capturing the ephemeral has become one of the Maison’s ultimate quests throughout its history. Such a tradition is today demonstrated for the first time in Great Britain in collaboration with the Design Museum”.

The Art of Movement at the Design Museum continues Van Cleef & Arpels’celebration of movement initiated in 2022 in London with the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival and the participation in Masterpiece.

Van Cleef & Arpels is famed for its artistry, craftsmanship and pieces of high jewellery that infuse movement into precious materials making them light and dynamic, almost “alive”. It is not surprise then that to display this rare set of creations, the scenography echoes the theme of movement. To welcome visitors at the entrance, a floating matte ribbon takes the shape of an ethereal flower and unfolds to guide visitors on their journey throughout the exhibition. This shape is inspired by the Silhouette Flower clip, an emblematic design imagined by Van Cleef & Arpels in the 1930s.

The flower anamorphosis at the entrance of the exhibition is inspired by the Silhoutte Flower clip, an iconic Van Cleef & Arpels design from the 1930s.

The four themes explored by the Maison in this show: Nature Alive, Elegance, Dance and Abstract Movements, are given pride of place thanks to a unique setting inspired by the world of couture. Each showcase is entirely made of pleated fabric and assembled on a vertical floor-to-ceiling support. Like abstract paintings, it attracts the eye and kindles a thoughtful dialogue with the jewels, as the textile folds and curves echoing the designs of the pieces.

Left, 37 clip from 1937 in yellow gold, rubies, and diamonds; Right, Trois Clochettes clip from 1964 in yellow gold, rubies and diamonds, both pieces part of the Van Cleef & Arpels Collection.

Tim Marlow, Director and CEO of the Design Museum, commented,“We are delighted to be able to showcase Van Cleef & Arpels’ remarkable collection at the Design Museum. We celebrate design in all its forms and this new exhibition will be a wonderful opportunity for UK audiences to enjoy and explore the exquisite craftsmanship that has gone into their work for over a century.”

The Art of Movement

Design Museum, London

224-238 Kensington High St, London W8 6AG

23th September to 20 October 2022

For more information and tickets, visit designmuseum.org

Opening image: Leaf secret watch, 1956. Yellow gold, platinum, sapphires and diamonds. Van Cleef & Arpels Collection.

Culture

NEW MUSIC BRITAIN

The London Symphony Orchestra celebrates the best of British

Sir Simon Rattle kicks off the new LSO season with the best of British – from the sweeping landscapes of Elgar and Frank Bridge to the dynamic sounds of Daniel Kidane. New Music Britain is a celebration of the medley of cultures that forms the historical and contemporary sonic life of the country.

“I have always mentioned in my own biographies and writings that I’m from a mixed background,” explains Daniel. “My father was from Eritrea, my mother is Russian, and I was born in London, so that medley of cultures is ever-present in my thinking and where I get my ideas and inspiration. To draw from a Caribbean poet, Kamau Brathwaite, about the idea of heritage and paternal lineage came very naturally to me and resonated with the ideas that I wanted to explore in the music.”

Sun Poem, the piece by Daniel that will be played at this inaugural concert, was co-commission by the LSO and debuts on Sunday 11th in London. “Sun Poem is a personal journey as I look at my own heritage and how that is interconnected with becoming a father.,” Daniel shares, “I wanted to reflect the idea and the journey of fatherhood up until the point when the newborn comes into the world – the excitement but also the trepidation and worrying.”

The piece is divided between two ideas: faster exciting writing, and slower more meditative writing. There is a push and pull between the fast and slow, which Daniel explains reflects the culmination of his earlier interest in more energetic music and how is own has been slowing down slightly over the last few years.

“New Music Britain is such a broad and inclusive context that I hope listeners would be eager to go and explore and hear different types of music.”
– Daniel Kidane

The concert starts with Enter Spring by Frank Bridge (yes, we know it’s September, but British music has always made its own rules). This orchestral rhapsody evokes the burgeoning charm of nature and the celebration of a season in renewal. Surges of sound glow from across the orchestra, echoing the dynamic energy of the countryside rather than that of a peaceful idyll.

Daniel Kidane dances on the edge, in the latest innovative creation from a composer as imaginative – and as dynamic – as 21st century London itself. His history with the LSO started many years ago.” Through my involvement in the LSO’s schemes for composers, I have had the incredible pleasure of working with lots of great musicians,” he comments. “It has been a great space for me to explore my own musical language. There is an openness to creativity and trying new things. Being on that journey together with the LSO has been very special.”

For many people, Sir Simon Rattle is British classical music – and as the LSO’s Music Director, he makes a point of beginning each new season with a celebration of British music in all its diversity, past, present and, most importantly, future.

“The LSO is all about looking forward. They ask what is next, what can we do that’s new.”
– Sir Simon Rattle.

Finally, Edward Elgar delights us with his epic Second Symphony, which begins on the crest of a wave – then watches as the clouds gather and the light begins to fade. He referred to this work as “a passionate pilgrimage of the soul”. Tender moments of reflection carry emotional darkness while leaping angular melodies capture passionate energy, spurring the drama on. By containing such contrasting sections, the symphony captures the grandeur and expansiveness of British music as well as the essence of the soul.

“There is music in the air, music all around us, the world is full of it and you simply take as much as you require.”
– Edward Elgar

London Symphony Orchestra
2022/23 Season Launch Concert with Sir Simon Rattle

New Music Britain
Sunday 11 September 2022 7 pm
Barbican, London

Frank Bridge Enter Spring
Daniel Kidane Sun Poem* (LSO co-commission; London premiere)
Interval
Edward Elgar Symphony No 2

Sir Simon Rattle conductor
London Symphony Orchestra

Rebirth. Innovation. Grandeur.
Tickets £65 £49 £35 £24 £18

Book online at https://lso.co.uk/whats-on/icalrepeat.detail/2022/09/11/2290/-/new-music-britain.html

Culture

FAST LADY

The extraordinary Dorothy Levitt

On the centenary of her death, Butterfield Press presents Fast Lady, a biography about Edwardian trailblazer Dorothy Levitt, written by self-confessed “motor head” Michael Barton.

Born Elizabeth Levi in West Hackney in 1882, Dorothy Levitt was the portrait of a go-getting 21st century woman. Independent, dare-devil and stereotype breaker and challenger of social conventions, she became a pioneer lady motorist, racing driver, motor yacht racer, aviatrix, author and newspaper columnist. Between 1903 and 1910 she reached the zenith of her fame, being honoured at home and abroad for her ground-breaking motoring triumphs.

At the age of 18, this beautiful and stylish young woman was working as a temporary typist in the New Burlington Street showroom and offices of Selwyn Edge – a leading light in racing and selling cars such as the De-Dion Bouton and Napier marques. At a time when motoring was in its infancy and when the few women who drove tended to be wives of the landed classes or early automobile designers (such as Carl Benz’s wife Bertha), Edge soon spotted that Dorothy’s aptitude for cars was ripe for nurture. With him as her Svengali, a whole new world opened up to her. Pre-dating circuit track racing, it was a world that would see her pit her wits at sprints, hill-climbs, reliability trials and long-distance rallies; one in which she would compete and win against men and take the women’s land speed record twice. Her first reported motor car success came in May 1903 when she completed a 400-mile, two-day reliability run from Glasgow to London via Leeds driving a 12hp Gladiator. That October, she then became the first woman in Britain to win a competitive motor event when she entered the Southport Speed Trials.

The presence of Dorothy Levitt with her 6hp De Dion Bouton caught the public’s imagination. Her ebullient passenger is Wilfred Broom, Secretary of the Herefordshire Automobile Club, who was the local ‘brains’ behind the trials.

One could say that Dorothy is as much an inspiration for the #MeToo generation as for the budding suffragette of yesteryear, her story equally warning against the dangers of squandering promise and success. In this book, Michael Barton goes in search of an explanation for how she ended up living in greatly reduced circumstances; forgotten by the public and estranged from her close-knit Jewish family; keeping company with lowlives where once she had mingled with aristocracy and eventually dying alone at the age of just 40.

To put things into context, we must understand that Dorothy didn’t just master speed but mechanics too, writing the authoritative handbook of the day, The Woman and the Car. Advising of the need for a hand-mirror to check on the traffic behind, she effectively introduced the rear-view mirror. Her other “safety recommendation” of keeping a small pistol – specifically a Colt 45 – in the glove compartment hasn’t fortunately stood the test of time. When designing her racing coat and hat she balanced practicality with style. She was a keen shot, cyclist and fisherwoman and when she took to the water at Cowes her ability at motor yachting caught the attention of Queen Alexandra. When she took to the skies, she learned by trial and error being among the first to test their teeth at aviation as there was no one yet in a position to instruct.

Frontispiece of The Woman and the Car, written by Dorothy Levitt.

Unfortunately, it was a short journey in time from her glory days to the fading of her star quality. All her sporting achievements were a very far cry from appearing in the dock on numerous occasions for motoring offences when driving around town, a stint as a chorus girl, becoming involved in illicit gambling and relying on morphine.

Fast Lady
Published by Butterfield Press Hardcover, £40

Fast Lady is a biography for the reader likely to be fascinated by the triumphs and ultimate tragedy of a woman ahead of her time who refused to be bound by the tenets of her gender, ethnicity and class – as much as it is a book for the historical motoring enthusiast. A previously unseen collection of photography by Horace W. Nicholls, renowned for his World War I images, also brings Dorothy Levitt’s story into sharp focus. Buy HERE.

Words: Julia Pasarón

Opening picture: Dorothy Levitt at the wheel of a 26hp Napier at Brooklands, 1908, Desktop News.

Culture

For the Glory of Books

Firsts London’s Rare Book Fair returns to the heart of Chelsea

This year marks the 65th edition of one of the most popular and prestigious rare book fairs in the world. Whether you are a collector looking for the next masterpiece to add to your library, or a bibliophile who loves browsing second hand classics, Firsts London is the book fair for you.

“We are very lucky to have this kind of fair…. It’s not elitist, it’s not specialist, you don’t have to be a scholar, you just have to be someone with an immense thirst for the glory of books” – Stephen Fry, actor, writer and book collector

Firsts London’s Rare Book Fair, organised by the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association (ABA), returns to the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea with 120 international dealers exhibiting, 49 of them being new to fair. Among these is Sam Fogg, a leading dealer in the art of the European Middle Ages, who will be showing a selection of illuminated medieval manuscripts.

Rare copy of Ulysses from 1933 with a painting on the fore edge. Available at Johnson Rare Books.

This year’s theme for the fair is “Banned Books” which was inspired by the 100th anniversary of the publication of Ulysses – one of the most famous censored books in modern times – but also responds to contemporary conversations around censorship across literature, the media and online. Pom Harrington, ABA President and Chairman of Firsts London, explains: “Now is an ideal opportunity to celebrate Ulysses and others like it, that were suppressed, banned or led to their authors being ostracised for expressing views that were different from what was acceptable when they first appeared. One tends to think of forbidden works as an issue of another era, but it’s a subject that is very much of our time. The printed word has always remained a powerful vehicle for enshrining an acceptance of plurality of views. We thought it was a topic that remains very current and worthy of shining a light on.”

In addition to examples of “Banned Books” across the centuries (both fiction and non-fiction), exhibitors will present a vast treasure trove of items: rare books, objects and memorabilia, maps, illuminated manuscripts, incunabula, fine bindings, illustrations, maps, historical documents, prints and print ephemera.

French playing cards circa 1760, “Paris pattern”. Image courtesy of John Underwood Antiquarian Books.

Among the highlights of the fair is a first edition of Copernicus’ De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, a signed first edition of D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and a true first edition in Russian of Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. “In a time when print books and ephemera have mattered more than ever and continue to serve as a source of comfort and escape during a period of uncertainty, this fair has never been more relevant”, write the fair organisers.

www.firstslondon.com

Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Road, London SW3 4RY
Preview night: Thursday 15 September, 5pm – 9pm
Public opening: Friday 16 September, 11am – 8pm – Tickets £10 on the door; Saturday 17 September, 11am – 6pm – Free entry; Sunday 18 September. 11am – 5pm – Free entry.

Words: Shelley Campbell

Opening picture courtesy of John Underwood Rare Books

Culture

FIRSTS: London’s Rare Books Fair

Books in Bloom

Rolls-Royce Goes Wild

Britain's most famous luxury car marque brings woodland magic to London Craft Week

Stephen Cox: Myth

Mesmerising mythology at a major new sculpture exhibition in Norfolk

FRIEZE LONDON 2022

12th – 16th October. Regent’s Park, London NW1 4HG.

Araba Opoku

Whispers Down the Lane

Queens Of The Art World

By Nick Foulkes

Spider (1997) by Louise Bourgeios. Steel, tapestry, wood, glass, fabric, rubber, silver, gold and bone. © The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London 2021. Photo by Maximillian Geuter.

There Could Be an Endless Ocean 2018, by Lubaina Himid. Courtesy of the artist and Hollybush Gardens

HRH Queen Elizabeth II

THE United Kingdom's longest-reigning monarch has died aged 96

All of us at I-M Intelligent Magazine would like to express our deepest condolences for the passing of HRH Queen Elizabeth II. She was a tower of strength and a monarch that always put duty first. We thank you for your service. Rest in peace.

Democracy and Happiness

Costa Navarino welcomes thinkers and thought leaders

The Art of Movement

Van Cleef & Arpels at the Design Museum, London

NEW MUSIC BRITAIN

The London Symphony Orchestra celebrates the best of British

FAST LADY

The extraordinary Dorothy Levitt

For the Glory of Books

Firsts London’s Rare Book Fair returns to the heart of Chelsea

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