Culture

Culture

Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels

Passion and support for choreographic arts

The artistry will be glittering at the second edition of the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival, which runs in London from 12th March to 8th April at the Royal Ballet and Opera, Sadler’s Wells, South Bank Centre and Tate Modern.

Following on from the hugely successful inaugural event in 2022, this iteration of the festival created in partnership with the world-famous French luxury jewellery company features 15 dazzling shows from a whole gamut of different cultures.

Taking place at iconic venues in our capital city, Dance Reflections showcases artists who, in the words of Catherine Renier, President & CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels, have specialised in, “Collaborations with prestigious partners, contributions to major choreographic events, support for emerging and touring artists… These various commitments, in keeping with the values of creation, transmission and education dear to the Maison, all meet the same objective of celebrating contemporary choreographic art.”

Including repertory works, dance workshops, artist forums and awareness-raising initiatives, all emphasising the connections between dance heritage and modern choreography, the festival highlights imaginative ways in which dancers have evolved exciting new…

Culture

Hélène de Beauvoir: The Woman Destroyed

A tribute to the work of one of the fundamental figures of French Modernist painting

After three years in the making, the Amar Gallery is bringing to London Hélène de Beauvoir: The Woman Destroyed, a unique exhibition featuring paintings and works on paper from the 1950s to 1980s by this French artist, crucial to the feminist movement. Often overshadowed in the past by her older sister, Simone – the groundbreaking […]

Culture

Sigmar Polke. Affinities Revealed

The artistic encounter of two masters

Despite being separated in time by nearly 200 years, Sigmar Polke felt a deep admiration for Francisco de Goya. The show at Museo del Prado, Sigmar Polke. Affinities Revealed, explores how the Spanish master influenced the work of the German painter, after he saw for the first time Goya’s Time and the Old Women in […]

Culture

The Renaissance Nude

The Sackler Wing of Galleries. The Royal Academy, London.

Until 2 June 2019

key 73 Raphael, The Three Graces, © 1517-18. Red chalk on paper, 20.3 x 25.8 cm. Royal Collection Trust Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Arranged thematically, The Renaissance Nude exhibition brings together around 90 works in a variety of media and from different regions of Europe, examining the emergence of a dynamic visual tradition that permanently altered the character and values
of European art.

Works by artists like Lucas Cranach the Elder, Albrecht Dürer, Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci and my favourite, Andrea Mantegna, can be admired in this show. There are also many stories surrounding this exhibition. The most famous probably is that of Michelangelo’s monumental Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Soon after its completion in 1541, the mural’s vast array of nudes proved to be so controversial that, shortly after the artist’s death in 1564, Pope Pius IV ordered concealing draperies to be painted over some of the figures. Until then, the nude had flourished in Renaissance Europe.

Key 56 Agnolo Bronzino, Saint Sebastian, © 1533. Oil on panel, 87 x 76.5 cm. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.

It appeared in sacred and secular contexts, from small, intimate objects to monumental decorative programmes filling church interiors and stately palaces. The Renaissance Nude considers the developments that elevated the subject to such a pivotal role between 1400 and 1530, exploring the way humanist culture, new artistic attitudes and spiritual beliefs shaped the appearance, meaning and reception of the nude.

Key 134 Albrecht Dürer, Adam and Eve, 1504. Engraving, 25.1 x 19.4 cm. Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The exhibition is organised around five main themes:
The Nude and Christian Art, which focus on episodes from the Old and New Testament that provided artists with the opportunity to depict the nude figure. Humanism and the Expansion of Secular Themes, devoted to mythological stories and the rediscovery of the antique. Artistic Theory and Practice explores life drawing and the study of anatomy and proportion. Beyond the Ideal Nude looks at the vulnerability of the human condition. Finally, Personalising the Nude, highlights the role of Renaissance patrons, focusing on Isabella d’Este, Marchioness of Mantua, one of the few female patrons of the time.

The show features works in a range of media, including paintings and sculptures as well as drawings, prints and illuminated manuscripts. Highlights include Italian masterpieces such as Titian’s Venus Rising from the Sea (‘Venus Anadyomene’), c. 1520 (National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh) and Agnolo Bronzino’s Saint Sebastian, c. 1533 (Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid), alongside celebrated works from the north of Europe including Albrecht Dürer’s engraving Adam and Eve, 1504 (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), and Jan Gossaert’s Hercules and Deianira, 1517 (The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham, Birmingham).

Key 54 Titian, Venus Rising from the Sea (‘Venus Anadyomene’), ©. 1520. Oil on canvas, 75.8 x 57.6 cm. National Galleries of Scotland.

Visitors also have the chance to admire drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo
(Royal Collection Trust).

www.royalacademy.org.uk

Culture

SOROLLA, Master of Light

Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery, London.

Until 7th July

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863- 1923) is one of my favourite artists of all times. Not often the object of solo exhibitions outside Spain, this show put together by The National Gallery, in association with The National Gallery Ireland and the Museo Sorolla, Madrid, is the first of its kind in the UK since 1908, when Sorolla himself mounted an exhibition at London’s Grafton Galleries, where he was promoted as The World’s Greatest Living Painter.

A rich diversity of works by Sorolla have been masterfully arranged across 7 rooms by curator Christopher Riopelle, with the assistance of Consultant Curator Blanca Pons, from the Museo Sorolla. Portraits, scenes of Spanish life, landscapes, garden views and of course, the beach scenes for which he is best known are all part of this fascinating show, that comprises 60 works spanning the artist’s career, including important masterpieces on loan from public and private collections.

His portraits and his sun-drenched depiction of Spain sealed his fame as an artist, after earning international recognition for major works tackling social subjects – The Return from Fishing (1894, Paris. Musée d’Orsay), Sewing the Sail (1896, Venice. Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna di Ca’Pesaro), and Sad Inheritance! (1899, Valencia, Colección Fundación Bancaja), which was kept in the Church of the Ascension in New York’s Fifth Avenue until 1981.

© Sorolla 1894 (oil on canvas 151.4 x 204 cm)

A third of the paintings in this exhibition come from private collections, and another third has been generously lent by the Museo Sorolla, which occupies the house and garden Sorolla designed and built for his family in Madrid. The first room focuses on Sorolla’s portraits of his wife Clotilde, his daughters María and Elena, and his son Joaquín. Clotilde was the daughter of his first patron, and his favourite model, appearing to barely age over the decades. The second room evolves around the work of the artist in the 1890s, when Spain experienced serious social unrest and the collapse of its overseas empire. This is the time when Sorolla became famous for his monumental canvases, concerned with the realities of Spanish life. The best example is his great success, Another Marguerite! (1892, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. Washington University St. Louis), which depicted a woman arrested for murdering her child, and which set off his international career.

After 1900, Sorolla moved mostly onto portraits, following Spanish Masters like Velázquez and Goya, even adopting their distinctive palette of blacks, greys and creams. The third room in this exhibition is devoted to this period of his career. The psychological penetration of Velázquez and Goya are reflected in Sorolla’s Portrait of the American artist Ralph Clarkson (1911, Oregon Public Library and Gallery), whilst his Reclining Female Nude (1902, Private collection) plays homage to Velázquez’s Rokeby Venus (1651, the National Gallery).

© Sorolla 1909- Boys on the beach (oil on canvas 118 x 185 cm).

Room four celebrates Sorolla’s love of sunlight and the sea and the substantial body of work he created after 1900 inspired by scenes in the beaches of Valencia and Jávea. These works were very successful, particularly among US collectors. Nobody has ever painted Mediterranean light as magically as Sorolla. When in front of his paintings, I can almost smell the sea and feel the sun warming my skin. The fifth room is devoted to Sorolla’s Vision of Spain, commissioned by the Hispanic Society, which documents the country’s regional dress, occupations and traditions. The exhibition includes four large scale preparatory studies (1912, Museo Sorolla, Madrid) which show the intensity with which the artist engaged in Spanish Folk tradition.

The sixth room focuses on the artist’s landscapes and gardens. From the barren mountains of Sierra Nevada to the medieval towers of Burgos. Sorolla’s ability to communicate a particular atmosphere shines through in these works. His views of the gardens of the Alcázar in Seville and the Alhambra in Granada are stunning. The final room highlight’s Sorolla’s fascination with depicting his family in large canvases painted outdoors, such as Strolling along the Seashore (1909, Fundación Museo Sorolla, Madrid), and The Siesta (1911, Museo Sorolla, Madrid), with its brilliant fluorescent greens and his bold, almost abstract strokes.

© Sorolla 1896- Sewing the Sail (oil on canvas 222 x 300 cm).

Dr Gabriele Finaldi, Director of the National Gallery, says: “Between Goya and Picasso, Sorolla was Spain’s most celebrated painter. He painted tough social themes but became famous for his sun drenched beach scenes and luxuriant gardens. No one before or since has painted Mediterranean sunlight like Sorolla.”

www.nationalgallery.org.uk

Culture, Lifestyle

German design for long summer days outdoors

Awning designer Markilux, internationally renown for their timeless designs and top quality products, have launched a new cassette awning to rev up summer, the MX-3.

With its casual round shape, Markilux emulates the soft curves and diversity of colour found in nature, and combines them with the best technology to develop this gracefully curved, colourful design.

Before, awnings often were broadly striped fabric panels that received little attention while hanging across the patio. Today, on the other hand, quality awnings bring high-tech and design to your home. The components remind of the shapes of curved and A. Just as in the case of the MX-3. The new slim cassette awning shows how components can merge in a playful way. The side profiles of the model flow with soft curves into the elongated profile that closes the awning housing at the front.

A new awning revs up summer: the MX-3 from markilux. With its soft curves and the coloured front profile, the awning catches the eye and brings modern chic to your patio and balcony.

Design for shape enthusiasts
The awning received a colourful front profile to turn the sweeping ensemble of round and square an even greater eye-catcher. As continuous ribbon, it picks up the arched shaped of the side caps with great skill. You can choose from eight accent colours and match them to the pattern of the awning cover. The frame is also available in different colours. Thus, the awning presents itself as an exciting mix of shape and colour lending the facade casual chic. It provides shade not only for patios but also for balconies. With a height of just twelve centimetres, the housing of the awning fits well below a balcony roof.

High-tech at its finest
In addition to the curved design, the MX-3 also offers a new light option. Below the awning, you can attach an LED-Line or LED-Spots. They illuminate the cassette and the façade in the evening, with an accentuated band of light or with light beams. I personally love this feature, that solves the common problem of appropriate outdoors lightening, not to mention the fact that you can add dimmable infrared heathers and weather sensors.

The high-tech mechanism extends and retracts the awning cover smoothly. The brackets for wall and ceiling are hardly noticeable since they are covered by sealing caps. To operate the awning, you can choose from manual or radio-controlled motor operation. The integration in a home automation system is also possible. The small awning with a maximum width of six metres and three metres of depth provides a wide area with shade. According to Markilux, the MX-3 unites highest standards from the in-house development centre and shows itself at its best for summer.

For further information, please visit: www.markilux.com

Culture

Van Gogh and Britain

by Lavinia Dickson-Robinson

The Tate Britain together with the EY Tate Arts Partnership, are staging a major Exhibition about Vincent Van Gogh. This unmissable exhibition will take a closer look at the artist through his relationship with Britain. It explores how Van Gogh was inspired by British art, literature and culture through out his career and how he in turn inspired British artist, from Walter Sickert to Francis Bacon.

Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853 – 1890) was a pioneer in the application of colour and drama to painting. His impulsive and expressive brushwork greatly contributed to the foundations of modern art.

Born into an upper-middle-class family, Van Gogh drew as a child and was serious, quiet and thoughtful. As a young man he worked as an art dealer, often travelling, but became depressed after he was transferred to London. He turned to religion and spent time as a Protestan misionary in southern Belgium. He drifted in ill health and solitude before taking up painting in 1881, having moved back home with his parents. His younger brother Theo, supported him financially, and the two kept up a long correspondence by letter

His early works, mostly still lifes and depictions of peasant labourers, contain few signs of the vivid colour that distinguished his later work. In 1886, he moved to Paris, where he met members of the avant-garde, including Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin, who were reacting against the Impressionist sensibility. As his work developed he created a new approach to still lifes and local landscapes. His paintings grew brighter in colour as he developed a style that became fully realised during his stay in Arles in the south of France in 1888. During this period he broadened his subject matter to include series of olive trees, wheat fields and sunflowers.

Van Gogh was unsuccessful during his lifetime, and was considered a madman and a failure. He became famous after his suicide in 1890. Today, Van Gogh’s works are among the world’s most expensive paintings to have ever sold at auction.

In this exhibition the Tate Britain has brought together over 45 paintings by Van Gogh, from public and private collections. This includes Self-Portrait 1889 from the National Gallery of Art Washington and Starry Night on the Rhone 1888 from the Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

This is the largest major group of Van Gogh paintings brought together in nearly a decade. Sadly, there is one mayor painting missing; the Sunflowers version painted in 1889, and currently under the care of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, couldn’t travel as the Museum considered that i8t was far too fragile to travel. Therefore, The National Gallery has lent its Sunflowers painted in 1888.

Van Gogh spent several crucial years in London, between 1873 and 1876, writing to his brother Theo, he declared, “I love London.” Van Gogh lodged in a room in Lambeth, South London, when he was in his early 20s and fell in love with the capital, walking everywhere.

In January 1874, he wrote to his brother Theo, “Things are going well for me here, I have a wonderful home and it’s a great pleasure for me to observe London and the English way of life, and the English themselves, and I also have nature and art and poetry, and if that isn’t enough, what is?”

The exhibition provides an opportunity to see how Van Gogh was inspired by British artists and writers from Constable to Shakespeare and Christina Rossetti. Van Gogh had a special fascination with Charles Dickens, who influenced Van Gogh’s subject matter throughout his career. L’Arlesienne 1890, a portrait he created in the last year of his life in the South of France, features a favourite book by Dickens in the foreground. In turn, you will be able to see some of Van Gogh’s best-known works through the eyes of the many British artists he inspired.

EY Tate Arts Partnership,
27th March – 11th August. London

www.tate.org.uk

Culture

Best of British – Tom Kerridge and Robi Walters collaborate

18^th – 23^rd March
Studio 54- 54 The Gallery

54, Shepherd Market. London W1 7QX

West Contemporary and Tom Kerridge add yet another chapter to their art-meets-food saga, by way of a limited edition hand-finished giclee print, ‘My Generation – Best of Britsh’ by West Contemporary artist, Robi Walters. The original artwork, now on the wall at Kerridge’s Bar & Grill, was put together by both Tom and Robi, and is made of petals cut from British menus amongst other recycled paper petals, which were sent in by Tom’s social media followers. Of the project Tom Kerridge said, “It has been great to work with the public and food lovers from around the world on this project! I was overwhelmed with all the personal stories sent in, along with a wide variety of restaurant menus.”

During his time working with Tom Kerridge to curate the artworks in his new restaurant, Kerridge’s Bar & Grill in Knightsbridge (which also features the work of Tom’s wife and West Contemporary artist, Beth Cullen Kerridge) West Contemporary art dealer, Liam West introduced Robi to Tom. Robi, whose work is inspired by sacred geometry, was thrilled to be part of the project, commenting, “The amount of care, craftsmanship and love that goes into Tom’s food echoes the process of my art making. My work is all about transforming energy and materials into new and powerful configurations. So when Tom and Liam asked me to create pieces using people’s keepsake menus for Kerridge’s Bar & Grill, I was inspired and excited!”

Each limited edition is hand finished by Robi with diamond dust. As well as the reference to the collaboration between the British chef, British artist and British public, the title of the artwork, the title of a song by The Who, also references Tom’s love of British music.

View and buy the print:

The print is available to buy online at www.west-contemporary.com. ‘My Generation – Best of British’ by Robi Walters is a limited edition giclee print on 310gsm Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper, 80 x 80cm, £750 each. Each is signed and numbered by Robi Walters and Tom Kerridge.

www.west-contemporary.com/a-british-art-and-food-affair/

Please contact info@west-contemporary.com for more information.
Or to see the original artwork, you can book a table at www.kerridgesbarandgrill.co.uk/

Culture

Dorothea Tanning

Tate Modern London. 27th February – 9th June

Words: Rebecca Dickson

Fairy tale or nightmares, is this what the surrealist inspire? Dorothea Tanning’s (1911-2012) exhibition at the Tate Modern is an extraordinary journey of her life and works through 100 pieces. Her first major show for 25 years and also the first large scale exhibition since her death in 2012, this exhibition takes us on a journey of her artistic genius and her life-long passion for dance, music and performance.

She worked continually throughout her life. Largely self-taught, Dorothea had a career that started in New York in the 1930s as a commercial artist. Her style was ever changing, but she is best know for her haunting and often eerie works. The exhibition absorbs the broadness of her talent, from painting to sculpture to writing, with her final collection of poems ‘Coming to that’ published at the age of 100.

Dorothea Tanning (1910 – 2012) Birthday 1942 Oil paint on canvas 1022 x 648 mm Philadelphia Museum of Art. © DACS, 2018

The exhibition demonstrates how her style has never stayed still, always expanding and morphing as she developed as an artist. We can feast upon her early works that explored domesticity, the only choice for many women of the 1930s, which suggest there was more to life than meets the eye.

She first caught the attention of Max Ernst at a party in 1942, held by Peggy Guggenheim, the mother of the modern art gallery. It was Dorothea’s enchanting and iconic self-portrait ‘Birthday,’ (Philadelphia Museum of Art) that first caught Ernst’s attention. He drove her home to consider her paintings for an exhibition by women artists being curated by Peggy, his then wife, at her gallery. They played chess and fell in love. Like much of what Dorothea began, she continued until death stole it.

Dorothea Tanning (1910 – 2012) Endgame 1944 Oil paint on canvas 430 x 430 mm Collection of Harold & Gertrud Parker. Courtesy Gertrud V. Parker © DACS, 2018

The 1950s saw her work moving more towards self described ‘prismatic’ prevalent as her style become more abstract. She obviously spent a life time rethinking and pioneering new ideas to challenge herself. This show takes us on a journey through the seven decades of her career, allowing us to see every changing moment of her remarkable artistic pilgrimage.

Her ‘anthropomorphic’ sculptures are truly surrealist forms, unexpectedly stitched in fabric, some even climbing through the wall -as seen in Hôtel du Pavot Chamber 202 1970-73, Centre Pompidou, Paris. These impossible but hypnotic shapes, that contour in front of you, in often bizarrely grotesque clutches, as seen in the Éntreinte, 1969, The Destina Foundation, New York, offer you a glimpse into the bizarre minds of the surrealists.

This visual journey through Tanning’s intense career is fascinating, shedding new light on her images of splintered but sensual forms. A must see this season.

Dorothea Tanning (1910 – 2012) Hôtel du Pavot, Chambre 202 1970-1973 Fabric, wool, synthetic fur, cardboard, and Ping-Pong balls 3405 x 3100 x 4700 mm Centre Pompidou, Paris. Musée national d’art modern/ Centre de création industrielle Photo (C) Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Philippe Migeat © DACS, 2018

www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern

Conservation, Culture

Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards 2019

Natural History Museum. London.

Words: Rebecca Dickson

The public have spoken! David Lloyd’s image ‘Bond of Brothers’ is the winner of ‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year LUMIX People’s Choice Award’ This extraordinary image shows the most powerful of human emotions – love. Is it a moment of family bonding and love?

The year’s winning image is an extraordinary image that captures a single moment of comfort and mutual knowing shared between two male lions, nose to nose in greeting. It demonstrates how emotions are felt thoughout the animal kingdom. David Lloyd’s image “Bond of Brothers’ stood out amongst 45,000 entrances to win this award, with 16,000 nature lovers voting this year, it made this powerful image the public’s choice. Their faces locked in deep understanding and shared memories. It is unusual for two lions to act like this and rub faces for so long. We all understand the power of deep requited love, and we can sense the strong emotion being shared between these two powerful creatures.

David says ‘I’m so pleased that this image did well because it illustrates the emotion and feeling of animals and emphasises that this in not limited to humans. It is something I think more people need to be aware of for the sake of all animals.’

Bond of Brothers by David Lloyd, New Zealand / UK.
These two adult males, probably brothers, greeted and rubbed faces for 30 seconds before settling down. Most people never have the opportunity to witness such animal sentience, and David was honoured to have experienced and captured such a moment. The picture was taken in Ndutu, Serengeti, Tanzania. Nikon D800E + 400mm f/2.8 lens; 1/500th sec at f4.8, ISO 500.

The Director of the Natural History Museum, Sir Michael Dixon, says ‘Lions are individuals with complex social bonds, and David’s winning picture provides a glimpse into their inner world, A truly stunning photograph, this intimate portrait reminds us that humans aren’t the only sentient beings on this planet. I hope the empathy and wonder garnered by this image will inspire more people to become advocates for nature.’

One Toy, Three Dogs by Bence Mate, Hungary
While adult African wild dogs are merciless killers, their pups are extremely cute and play all day long. Bence photographed these brothers in Mkuze, South Africa – they all wanted to play with the leg of an impala and were trying to drag it in three different directions! Canon EOS-1DX Mark II; 200-400mm lens (35mm equivalent: 197.2-394.3 mm); 1/1800 sec at f4.0; 4000 ISO.

The winning theme of the people’s choice has been empathy and the humanisation of animals, as it shows all the Highly Commended pictures. The Hungarian photographer, Bence Mate’s photograph ‘Three dogs, One Toy’ is an image of three painted wolves that look like teenagers hanging out, playing with the leg of an impala. They are pulling and shoving, but not an ounce of aggression is apparent as they tussle over their lunch.

Three Kings by Wim Van Den Heever, South Africa
Wim came across these king penguins on a beach in the Falkland Islands just as the sun was rising. They were caught up in a fascinating mating behaviour – the two males were constantly moving around the female using their flippers to fend the other off. Nikon D810 + Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 lens at 40mm; 1/250sec at f11; Nikon SB910 flash.

Wim Van Den Heever fascinating and rather human group of King penguins, ‘Three Kings’ seem to be gossiping as the sun rises on the beach in the Falkland Islands. These are actually two male penguins demonstrating their male prowess to a female during a mating ritual, while circling the female and using their flippers to fend off their rival.

Fox Meets Fox by Matthew Maran, UK
Matthew has been photographing foxes close to his home in north London for over a year and ever since spotting this street art had dreamt of capturing this image. After countless hours and many failed attempts his persistence paid off. Canon EOS 5D Mark III + 70-200mm f2.8 IS II USM lens; 1/500 sec at f4.0; ISO 800.

Michale Maran’s image ‘Fox meets Fox’ shows how nature and mankind can live in harmony, as the urban fox struts past a portrait of its cousin on a street in Bristol. The final tragic image of the starving polar bear makes you wonder if this a turning point of the human race. Are we about to stop our whole sale destruction and work with nature?

A Polar Bear’s Struggle by Justin Hofman, USA
Justin’s whole body pained as he watched this starving polar bear at an abandoned hunter’s camp, in the Canadian Arctic, slowly heave itself up to standing. With little, and thinning, ice to move around on, the bear is unable to search for food. Sony a7R II + Sony FE 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens; 1/200 sec at f10; ISO 800.

The Natural History Museum exists to inspire a link between nature and the world and help unlock answers to the big question that face our planet. These images represent the humanisation of the animal kingdom and let us hope they are the beginning of our salvation, echoing the wonder and bond that links this museum to the natural world.

www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/exhibitions/wildlife-photographer-of-the-year.html

Culture

Rembrandt, Vermeer & The Dutch Golden Age

Masterpieces From The Leiden Collection And The Musée du Louvre
Louvre Abu-Dhabi
14th February-18th May
words: Rebecca Dickson

The Louvre Abu Dhabi is quickly becoming one of the world’s most exciting art galleries. This latest show marks its first truly international exhibition; complimenting the Museum’s ethos to ‘focus on what unites us’; and reflecting their belief that the story of human creativity transcends individual cultures and civilisations.

Displaying stunning paintings and drawings, the exhibition has been curated to take us on an artistic journey, lead by Rembrandt and Vermeer, through Leiden and Amsterdam, during the Dutch Golden Age. We even get to feast our eyes on Johannes Vermeer’s Young Woman Seated at a Virginal, from The Leiden Collection and The Lacemaker from the Musée du Louvre. These two beautiful paintings hang beside each other for the first time in 300 years, having originally been cut from the same bolt of canvas.

Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait with Shaded Eyes (1634). © The Leiden C.

The people of the Netherlands became world leaders in trade, science and the arts, which has been reflected in the sophisticated curation by Blaise Ducos, Chief Curator of Dutch and Flemish paintings at the Musée du Louvre; and Lara Yeager-Crasselt, Curator of The Leiden Collection and a specialist in seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish art. As Blaise Ducos declared “During the 17th century, exceptional economic, social and political circumstances enabled one country, The Republic of the United Provinces, to become the world’s leading economic power. The Dutch were living in what they considered a ‘Golden Age’. In this context, major artistic figures like Rembrandt or Vermeer flourished. Through the confrontation of masterpieces from the Musée du Louvre and The Leiden Collection, this exhibition tells this extraordinary story. This show does not intend to provide a panorama of Dutch painting in the 17th century, but by mentioning different glimpses, first and foremost through Leiden’s sight; it refers to the culture of artistic exchange within which Vermeer worked.”

Johannes Vermeer, The Lacemaker (ca. 1669-70) © RMN-Grand Palais (musée d.

www.louvreabudhabi.ae

Culture

Pierre Bonnard – The Colour of Memory

Never has London been more exciting as it will be in 2019

The Tate Modern will stage the UK’s first major Pierre Bonnard exhibition in 20 years, showing the work of this innovative and much-loved French painter in a new light. It will reveal how Bonnard’s intense colours and modern compositions transformed painting in the first half of the 20th century, and will celebrate his unparalleled ability to capture fleeting moments, memories and emotions on canvas.

The Tate first exhibited Bonnard 20 years ago. The Tate will now be able to exhibit Pierre Bonnard again and allow a future generation to discover this incredible artist. Born in 1867, Bonnard was with Henri Matisse, one of the greatest colourists of the early 20^th century. The exhibition will concentrate on his works from 1912, when colour became his dominate concern, until his death in 1947.

The beauty of his work and why it is so special and unique came from his deep desire to capture the spirit of the moment and paint from memory, capturing the very essence of a fleeting moment suspending it in time and colour never to be forgotten. You will be able to see for yourself how Bonnard eschewed the clear well-defined forms of classical art to orchestrate a symphony of coloured blurs and smudges that only gradually add up to scenes of everyday life.

This wonderful technique enabled him to express his work through his own conception of a moment whether it was someone leaving a room an unfinished meal, a lost view or a stolen look to one’s lover. It will reveal how Bonnard’s intense use of colours and modern compositions transformed painting in the first part of the 20^thcentury

The exhibition will bring together around 100 of his greatest works from museums and private collections around the world, in collaboration with Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen and Kunstforum Wien.

Culture

Passion and support for choreographic arts

A tribute to the work of one of the fundamental figures of French Modernist painting

The artistic encounter of two masters

The Sackler Wing of Galleries. The Royal Academy, London.

Until 2 June 2019

Arranged thematically, The Renaissance Nude exhibition brings together around 90 works in a variety of media and from different regions of Europe, examining the emergence of a dynamic visual tradition that permanently altered the character and values of European art.

Visitors also have the chance to admire drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo (Royal Collection Trust).

Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery, London.

Until 7th July

Awning designer Markilux, internationally renown for their timeless designs and top quality products, have launched a new cassette awning to rev up summer, the MX-3.

For further information, please visit: www.markilux.com

by Lavinia Dickson-Robinson

EY Tate Arts Partnership, 27th March – 11th August. London

18th – 23rd March Studio 54- 54 The Gallery

54, Shepherd Market. London W1 7QX

View and buy the print:

The print is available to buy online at www.west-contemporary.com. ‘My Generation – Best of British’ by Robi Walters is a limited edition giclee print on 310gsm Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper, 80 x 80cm, £750 each. Each is signed and numbered by Robi Walters and Tom Kerridge.

Please contact info@west-contemporary.com for more information. Or to see the original artwork, you can book a table at www.kerridgesbarandgrill.co.uk/

Tate Modern London. 27th February – 9th June

Words: Rebecca Dickson

Natural History Museum. London.

Words: Rebecca Dickson

The public have spoken! David Lloyd’s image ‘Bond of Brothers’ is the winner of ‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year LUMIX People’s Choice Award’ This extraordinary image shows the most powerful of human emotions – love. Is it a moment of family bonding and love?

Masterpieces From The Leiden Collection And The Musée du Louvre Louvre Abu-Dhabi 14th February-18th May words: Rebecca Dickson

Never has London been more exciting as it will be in 2019

The CC Land Exhibition Tate Modern 23rd January – 6th May 2019

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I-M Magazine – Inquisitive Minds

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Arranged thematically, The Renaissance Nude exhibition brings together around 90 works in a variety of media and from different regions of Europe, examining the emergence of a dynamic visual tradition that permanently altered the character and values
of European art.

Visitors also have the chance to admire drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo
(Royal Collection Trust).

EY Tate Arts Partnership,
27th March – 11th August. London

18^th – 23^rd March
Studio 54- 54 The Gallery

Please contact info@west-contemporary.com for more information.
Or to see the original artwork, you can book a table at www.kerridgesbarandgrill.co.uk/

Masterpieces From The Leiden Collection And The Musée du Louvre
Louvre Abu-Dhabi
14th February-18th May
words: Rebecca Dickson

The CC Land Exhibition Tate Modern 23^rd January – 6^th May 2019