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…
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 […]
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 […]
Art, Activism and the Women’s movement in the UK 1970–1990
In the 1960s and 190s, interconnected networks of women used radical ideas and rebellious methods to make an invaluable contribution to British culture. Women in Revolt! Art, Activism and the Women’s Movement in the UK 1970–1990 pays homage to over 100 feminist artists and collectives living and working in the UK.
These women’s creative practice was forged against a backdrop of extreme social, economic and political change. Some of them, such as Sonia Boyce and Susan Hiller, became very well known. But others, despite their long and significant careers, have been mostly left out of the artistic narratives of the time. This is the case for Poulomi Desai and Shirley Cameron, both of whom are being shown at a major museum for the first time.
The show takes its name from Eva Figes’ 1970 book Patriarchal Attitudes: The Case for Women in Revolt. Presented chronologically, the exhibition begins with the first women’s liberation conference in the UK, the Miss World protest, and the formation of the Brixton Black Women’s Group. It is here that we see works from artists such as Margaret Harrison and Monica Ross, among others. This period saw a dramatic evolution in women’s relationships with work, motherhood and home life, which often translated to frustration, social upheaval and even political implications.
The Punk and post-punk movements had a deep effect on the feminist movement and its creative expression. Collages, performance art, posters and journals are some of the artistic media selected to represent the era, including Jill Westwood’s Potent Female and a sexually charged performance work by Cosey Fanni Tutti.
Jill Westwood, Potent-Female, 1983. Courtesy of Dr Jill Westwood.
But the thread that holds the show together is activism. Material from the Greenham Common and Section 28 protests as well as from anti-racism and AIDS campaigns are supported by extensive documentary photography and a major sculpture by Margaret Harrison displayed alongside protest banners by Thalia Campbell.
The section dedicated to the 1980s concentrates on feminist movements that support women from non-Caucasian ethnicities, such as the first National Black Art Convention in 1982. Here visitors will see not only works from key figures such as Rita Keegan and Lubaina Himid but also Nina Edge’s Snakes and Ladders (1985), an installation that, despite featuring on the cover of Maud Salter’s landmark 1990 book Passion: Discourses on Blackwomen’s Creativity, has not been shown in over three decades.
The final part of the exhibition focuses on the Thatcher administration, emphasising women’s response to Section 28, the visibility of lesbian communities, and the AIDS epidemic, and concludes with works that reflect on the changing economic landscape and women’s place in it, represented by works from Joy Gregory, Franki Raffles and Roshini Kempadoo.
It seems simple enough, backgammon: a board game for two players where the checker-like pieces (referred to as “men”) are moved in contrary fashion around the board, governed by the random roll of the dice. A player wins by removing all their pieces (known as “bearing off”) before their opponent. The game’s outcome is a mixture of luck and strategy, but just how much luck, or which strategy, differs depending on the dice and the point of view of the individual.
The rules are easy enough to understand, but backgammon becomes complex when considering which move to make given your roll of the dice and the probabilities from your opponent’s turn. Backgammon has its origins in 17th-century England; its precursor is believed to be one of the world’s oldest board games, having been around for approximately five millennia. Archaeologists have discovered a 5,000-year-old board at the site of Ur, in modern Iraq. In Egypt, a backgammon set was found in King Tutankhamun’s tomb.
A diagram of the modern backgammon board indicating the direction of travel for the counters, to “bear off” and win.
For many eastern Mediterranean countries, the game has national and cultural significance. Popularity across the region has manifested itself as an oral tradition over time, where the numbers from the dice roll are announced using language derived from both Persian and Turkish. Backgammon became popular during the Ottoman Empire, and even today it’s a common feature of coffeehouses and social settings in the region. From the early 19th century, Damascus became known as the preeminent location for Damascene-style wooden marquetry backgammon.
In the Western world, backgammon’s immediate predecessor was a 16th-century table game called Irish, the Anglo-Scottish equivalent of the French Toutes Tables and Spanish Todas Tablas; the latter name, a translation from Arabic manuscripts, was first used in El Libro de los Juegos (1283). In English, the word “backgammon” is most likely derived from “back” and Middle English “gamen,” meaning “game” or “play,” and the earliest mention was under the name “baggammon” by James Howell in a letter dated 1635. The first documented use by the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1650.
An illustration from Libro de los Juegos, 1283, showing the game Todas Tablas, a precursor of backgammon
Elizabethan laws and church regulations prohibited “playing at tables” because it was considered gambling – even if the clergy were the worst offenders! It was in the 18th century, during the Age of Reason and the British deism movement, that backgammon found its natural home in this country, in the social and learned salons of the day. Edmond Hoyle, who also studied the rules for probability, published A Short Treatise on the Game of Back-Gammon in 1753, describing the rules and strategy. Hoyle considered it a game of computation and planning, and his pamphlet contained “a table of the thirty-six chances, with directions on how to find the odds of being hit, upon single, or double dice” so that, along with knowledge of the rules, “a beginner may, with due attention to them, attain playing well.”
For David Hume, the proponent of empiricism – the belief that humans only learn from experience – backgammon was more a game of random chance; the learning by doing that applied to human action did not do so for a game that was related to the roll of dice. In his An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748), backgammon provided the antidote to ruminating over the “manifold contradictions and imperfections in human reason.” He explained, “I dine, I play a game of backgammon, I converse, and am merry with my friends; and when after three or four hours’ amusement, I would return to these speculations.” There was little in the way of reasoned strategy; it was more the enjoyment of play.
It was thanks to Prince Alexis Obolensky – “Obe” to his friends – whose family had fled Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution, that the modern game, with its organisation and authorised rules of play, came into existence in the mid-1960s. He co-founded the International Backgammon Association and in 1964 organised the first major international tournament, which attracted royalty, celebrities and the press. The game became highly popular, with tobacco, alcohol, soft-drink and car companies sponsoring tournaments. Even Hugh Hefner held backgammon parties at the Playboy Mansion.
The newfound status – with sponsorship and prize money involved – saw the rise of professional players. It stands to reason that if backgammon is a game of pure chance, then players who earn their living from competing would not exist; over a long enough time horizon, the professional would fare no better than a rank amateur. Since 1967, there has been a world championship, and the sartorially resplendent Tim Holland was the initial holder of the title, winning the first three tournaments in a row. Holland was definitely of the opinion that he was playing strategically. In an interview for Jon Bradshaw’s Fast Company, he noted, “It’s the luck factor that seduces everyone into believing that they are good, that they can actually win. But that’s just wishful thinking.” At the height of his success, demonstrating that winning was not due to chance, Holland reportedly earned around $60,000 a year (about half a million dollars today) in prize money and other endorsements.
Pepsi-Cola advert from 1959 showing backgammon in the modern home
Legally, the game of backgammon is strategic because everything is known on the board; the position of your counters and your opponents’, and a fair dice have a set number of probabilistic outcomes. Justice Stephen S. Walker, in State of Oregon v. Barr (1982) concluded that, “Backgammon is a game of skill, not a game of chance,” and found the defendant, backgammon tournament director Ted Barr, not guilty of promoting gambling. The state of Oregon had reasoned that, because of the use of dice, it was a game of random chance and, with the offer of prize money, players were therefore gambling.
Tim Holland, showing form as the archetypal sartorially on point lounge lizard, playing as backgammon world champion, circa 1970.
Endorsing the opinion that the game is more strategy than chance, computer scientists have studied backgammon. The implication for the game having a set number of outcomes is that it is amenable to computer programming. With 15 white and 15 black counters and 24 possible positions, backgammon has 18 quintillion (18 million million million) possible legal positions, each with an assigned probability depending on the roll of the dice. With modern computing power, and the use of programmed strategies, a computer can win by brute-force calculation.
And so it did. In 1979, a computer program called BKG 9.8 developed by Hans Berliner, Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, defeated reigning world champion Luigi Villa, winning 7–1. Paradoxically, Berliner attributed the victory to “largely a matter of luck,” as the computer received more favourable rolls of the dice. Popularity for the game waned in the 1990s, but has since made a comeback through computer play – either against the electronic opponent or with its assistance.
With the rise of online play against either machine or human opponent, the temptation is to use the same computer programs to cheat. However, this is practically impossible because many online sites use move-comparison software that identifies when a player’s counter positions resemble those of a backgammon program.
What is obvious from the medieval drawings of the game, through the ages since, is that backgammon should be enjoyed between two people across the board. Perhaps that’s why the game has made a comeback, with sets considered luxury items and prices accordingly. From artisans like Alexandra Llewellyn to megabrands Prada and Chopard, backgammon sets have become practically objets d’art – and are often displayed as such in homes. As a player, though, I can tell you that the wood inlay, the weight and manufacture of the counters, the feel of the dice and the cup all are part of the visceral experience of play.
Swimming pool travel backgammon set by Alexandra Llewellyn
Because of the simplicity of the game, the mixture of strategy and chance, there is nothing more enjoyable than an evening in the company of another, as “two peas in a pod,” playing a game or three, and whether you prevail in the end, companionship and amusement are all that matter. David Hume was probably right; for most of us, the social enjoyment of play, away from the trials and tribulations of the rest of the day, make the game both endearing and enduring.
Words: Dr Andrew Hildreth
Opening picture: Hugh Hefner demonstrating his backgammon prowess to fellow residents of the Playboy Mansion.
The first time I saw a photograph by Hiroshi Sugimoto, I got transfixed by it. It belonged to his Theaters series, haunting, hypnotic, slightly out of this world. I didn’t know then that I was in front of the work of one of the undisputed masters of photography of our time, who still today, at 75 years of age, represents the avant-garde of this form of art.
This exhibition at the Hayward Gallery is probably the largest retrospective of Sugimoto’s work to date. It brings together some of the most alluring and enigmatic works of this unique artist, who has always enjoyed pushing boundaries and being thought-provoking.
“The more I think about that sense of time, the more I think this is probably one of the key factors of how humans became humans.”
– Hiroshi Sugimoto
Relying mainly on 19th and early 20th-century techniques, Sugimoto’s approach to photography is that of a craftsman. He uses photography as a medium for documentation, invention and the exploration of two topics he’s always been very interested in time and memory. In the words of the artist himself, “The camera is a time machine capable of representing the sense of time… The camera can capture more than a single moment, it can capture history, geological time, the concept of eternity, the essence of time itself…”
The show has been organised more or less in chronological order. Starting with photographs from Dioramas, a series Sugimoto started in New York in the mid-1970s, based on the Victorian-era dioramas he discovered in the Natural History Museum. He was fascinated by how real the stuffed animals looked against the painted backdrops. The first of these photographs was Polar Bear (1976), seminal to Sugimoto’s career. He says about it, “My life as an artist began the moment I saw that I had succeeded in bringing the bear back to life on film.”
Sugimoto’s obsession with time is explored in depth in Theaters (started in 1976) and in Seascapes. Both bodies of work invite the viewer to take their time observing them, and let the stillness captured by the single long exposure used by the artist pass on to the observer themselves. Sugimoto immortalised a variety of cinematic and theatrical settings spanning the whole world in this, possible one of his most dramatic series.
Architecture (1997 – ) is a series of deliberately out-of-focus studies of more than 90 iconic modernist buildings ranging from the Eiffel Tower to the Twin Towers. Sigumoto refers to them as “Architecture after the end of the world”. The ambiguity facilitated by the blurry images invite the viewer to take a glimpse into the artist’s imagination.
In complete opposition, Portraits ( 1999) is a collection of photographs of wax models from Madame Tussauds. Sigumoto worked at night, removing the figures from their usual displays and placing them against a black backdrop and used studio lighting to exaggerate their lifelike appearance. Sigumoto famously said about these, “However fake the subject, once photographed, it’s as good as real.”
In its final section,the exhibition concentrateson photographs that evoke different notions of timelessness, including his Sea of Buddha(1995) series, which portrays an installation in a 12th century Kyoto temple featuring 1000 gilded wooden statues of Buddha; and Lightning Fields(2006 – ), spectacular camera-less images created by exposing sensitised paper to electrical impulses produced by a Van der Graaf generator. The effect is so dramatic that for a few seconds, one can just stand there, looking, uncapable of deviating one’s gaze from these centipede-like rays of light frozen in time forever by Sugimoto.
Conceptual Forms is one of my favourite series. As a big science nerd, it was a joy to discover an artist who understands the beauty of maths and was able to bring to life elegant forms generated by trigonometric functions. Sugimoto actually made his own mathematical models in aluminium and stainless steel using computer-controlled precision milling machines. The references to Brâncusi are obvious, but I also see a bit of the pioneering fashion 20th-century photographer Horst P. Horst in some of these trigonometric shapes.
For those who may think that Sugimoto may be stuck in his old ways, the last room of the exhibition is devoted to his Opticks series, which he started in 2018. In it, the artist uses polaroid cameras and an apparatus fitted with a glass prism and a mirror to capture colour, somehow calling upon the work of artists such as Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman. I find inspiring that, after almost a decade of experimentation with this medium, the man who elevated black & white photography to its utmost conceptual dynamic expression said, almost as a kid given crayons for the first time, “The world is full of countless colours, so why did natural science insist on just seven?” He was referring to the traditional breakup of the light spectrum into seven colours.
This is a show that will please the erudite and aficionados alike. You can enjoy it in your own and lose yourself in the world of Sugimoto’s eery imagination, as a kind of private mediation exercise or invite others to join you and regale in the creativity and boldness of the master of experimental traditionalist photography. A contradiction that you’ll understand as soon as you walk into the exhibition.
Words: Julia Pasarón
Hiroshi Sugimoto: Time Machine
The Hayward Gallery. Southbank Centre. Belvedere Rd. London SE1 8XX
Until 7th January 2024. More information and tickets HERE.
Opening image: Installation view of Hiroshi Sugimoto, Sea of Buddha. Gelatin silver prints. Photo: Mark Blower. Courtesy of the artist and the Hayward Gallery.
Very few gallerists know the work of the artists from the so-called School of London as well as Pilar Ordovas, which is probably one of the reasons why she is so unique and successful in the international art scene.
This group of artists, among them Francis Bacon (1909-1992), shared a preoccupation with figurative painting and kept it alive at a time when abstract and conceptual art were increasingly dominant. Around the same time in the 20th century, Andy Warhol (1928-1987) was revolutionising – and scandalising – the establishment as leader of the Pop Art movement, which exposed the banality of the commercial culture of the United States and propelled artists to celebrity status.
Apart from both figures being central to defining the art of their own generation, one could initially struggle to find any other common ground but in this exhibition, Pilar Ordovas shows us there were many interests that they shared, such as the use of colour, love of photography and serialisation of images.
At the core of the exhibition are seven paintings; four by Bacon and three by Warhol, the majority of which have rarely, if ever, been shown in London. These include the four panels of Self-Portrait, the first seminal self- portrait by Andy Warhol, executed between 1963 and 1964. This artwork is fundamental in his career as it was the first he produced after he started to experiment with images taken in photobooths. It has since featured as the cover image of the catalogues for the major Warhol retrospective held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Pompidou Centre, Paris, in 1989-90, and is on public view in London for the first time in over 30 years having last been shown when that retrospective travelled to the Hayward Gallery.
Andy Warhol’s seminal Self-Portrait, 1963-1964 (*), executed on acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas, from a picture part of a photobooth strip.
Francis Bacon’s Four Studies for a Self-Portrait, 1967, is also based on a four-part photograph taken in a photobooth. Shown at the artist’s legendary retrospective at the Grand Palais, Paris, which opened in October 1971, and which then travelled to the Kunsthalle in Düsseldorf and the Galleria del Milione in Milan, it has only been seen once in public in the last 50 years. Another work shown at the same retrospective and based on a series of photographic portraits is the triptych Three Studies for Portrait of George Dyer (on light ground), 1964.
Although Bacon and Warhlol belonged to different art movements, they were well aware of each other’s work and both went against the dominating trend of Abstract Expresionism that had established its hegemony since the 1950s. They finally met in 1974, introduced by David Hockney, who was being thrown a party by Claude Bernard. They would meet again in New York a year later, at a luncheon organised by the socialite Lee Radziwill. Bacon had travelled there for the inauguration of his retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. At the opening, Warhol remarked upon Bacon’s radical and bold use of colour which he confessed to copying in his own portraits. On the same trip Bacon visited the Factory, Warhol’s studio, and also had his portrait taken by the American artist on his Polaroid camera. In later interviews with the art critic David Sylvester, Bacon stated his admiration for Warhol’s revolutionary serialisation of works which he found made those objects intrinsically interesting.
Left, Four Studies for a Self-Portrait, 1967 (**). Oil on canvas. Right, the painting is shown at the current Endless Variations exhibition, Ordovas Gallery.
The artists’ use of colour is also explored through Bacon’s Portrait of Henrietta Moraes, 1969, which hasn’t been seen in London for almost 30 years, and Warhol’s Five Deaths on Turquoise, 1963, a painting from the artist’s Death and Disaster series, which has never previously been shown in the UK. This theme extends to Study for Portrait of John Edwards, circa 1984, which depicts Bacon’s companion and muse on a bubblegum pink background. this painting remained in the artist’s possession until his death and has never previously been exhibited in London. The portrait explores themes of movement alongside Warhol’s Merce Cunningham, 1963 – a rarely seen work which is on view in London for the first time at Endless Variations.
Bacon and Warhol’s love of photography was also shared with Peter Beard (1938-2020), the genius American artist and wildlife photographer, with whom both had a close friendship. Bacon painted nine major portraits of Beard and used his photographs as inspiration for other works, while Warhol collaborated with Beard during the 1970s and 1980s and had a neighbouring oceanfront house in Montauk. In a way, given how close they both were to Beard, it is almost a miracle that Bacon and Warhol did not meet more often. Endless Variations includes two related works by Peter Beard (1938-2020); Andy Warhol on his Birthday, Montauk Point, Long Island, 1972/2004, and Andy Warhol on his Birthday, 1975/2005.
Photo strips of Francis Bacon, George Dyer and David Plante, Aix-en-Provence, 1966. Circa 1966-67 (***).
At this exhibition, we can also admire rarely-seen paintings, photographs and archive material related to both artists, including a range of archival and contextual materials, among which we find previously unseen photographs of Francis Bacon and George Dyer at Roland Gardens in 1967 taken by John Deakin (1912- 1972), and photo strips of Francis Bacon, George Dyer and David Plante taken in Aix-en-Provence in 1966 and subsequently mounted by Bacon onto the back cover of a book which was last shown at the artist’s retrospective in 2008-09 at Tate Britain, the Prado Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The show is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue with an essay written by Martin Harrison, a leading authority on the work of Francis Bacon and editor of the Francis Bacon catalogue raisonné.
The highlight of the season’s cultural calendar in London
Over its 20years of existence, the Frieze Art Fair has proved that the world has a big appetite for art of all kinds, from old masters to young emerging talent, from classic media to digital technology. Let’s have a look at the highlights of what is waiting for us in Regent’s Park next week at Frieze London 2023.
Galleries from 46 countries are coming to London to showcase the best and most audacious work by the artists they represent. In celebration of its 20th anniversary, Frieze has gone the extra mile and brought works dating back as far as prehistory, all the way to the 21st century.
The fair’s commercial partners have taken things up a notch. An excellent example is Deutsche Bank, which is presenting an exhibition by acclaimed artist Yinka Shonibare CBE RA titled African Bird Magi, which explores the relationship between Africa and Europe.
Somi Sim is an independent curator, researcher and writer. Her curatorial discourse explores the relationship between neoliberal urban transformation and art practice in architecture, urbanism and the humanities.
Another major partner, the Swiss luxury watchmaker Breguet, commissioned Korean curator Somi Sim – co-founder of the collective Re-tracing Buro – to put together Resisting Time, an exhibition which explores the possibilities of time as a resistance to the conventions, customs, and hierarchies that dominate our daily lives, and the ways artists continue to expand time keeping practices. In the brand’s lounge at Frieze London, Resisting Time enacts a dialogue between the 20th century German conceptual artist, Hanne Darboven, best known for her large-scale installations of handwritten tables of numbers, Julien Coignet, the other co-founder of Re-tracing Buro, and Breguet’s founder Abraham-Louis Breguet, with artworks shown alongside archival material and Breguet watches from all times.
From the 160 galleries exhibiting at Frieze London, and realising I won’t be able to visit them all, I have made a selection of “must-see” based completely on personal taste and curiosity.
From the main section, I am going straight to Sadie Coles HQ, a gallery which was there from the very first Frieze fair. To celebrate the 20th anniversary, they are displaying a group presentation mirroring their participation in 2003, with works by gallery artists who took part in that first year, including John Currin and Sarah Lucas.
John Currin’s work is back at Frieze London as part of the presentation by Sadie Coles HQ, which mirrors the works they showcased at the very first edition of the fair in 2003.
I am also planning to swing by the Blindspot Gallery, to admire the works by Turner Prize nominee Sin Wai Kin; Angela Su and Trevor Yeung, Hong Kong representatives at the 59th and 60th Venice Biennales, respectively; and Xiyadie, the subject of a recent solo exhibition at the Drawing Center in New York.
Known as the Focus section, this is an area of the fair reserved to the “new kids on the block”, that is, galleries which haven’t been operating for more than 12 years. Thanks to its new official partner, Stone Island, which has provided bursaries to help the youngest galleries, 34 of them have made it to the show, from all over the world. This is a very interesting part of the fair, as it gives us an indication of the degrees of valour and vision among emerging galleries.
Jordan Strafer’s Loophole, 2023; a single channel video with sound (24m 36s). Still image courtesy of the artist and Heidi Gallery.
Frieze London couldn’t celebrate such a milestone birthday without a stounding Artist-to-Artist section. As such, we can expect to see the work of eight internationally acclaimed artists propose a solo exhibition by an emerging name. I am planning to start with the Carl Freedman Gallery, which is presenting a series of paintings by Vanessa Raw curated by Tracey Emin, which explore the feminine body as a landscape. From there, to Gallery Hyundai, to discover the artist nominated by Haegue Yang, the Korean Ayoung Kim, whose video work examines the gig economy and explores virtual memory and reality.
Delivery Dancer’s Sphere, 2022, by Ayoung Kim. Single-channel video (25m). Still image courtesy of the artist and Gallery Hyundai.
I believe at this point I’ll be ready for a coffee break (be that a flat white or expresso martini). At Frieze, even coffee has an art connection. The Official Coffee Partner of Frieze, illycaffè will reveal its 127th illy Art Collection, in collaboration with an internationally revered artist but, unfortunately, I can’t disclose his/her identity yet.
Once properly caffeinated, I’ll move on to Frieze Masters, the part of the fair that gives visitors the opportunity to discover historic artworks of all kinds. There is great anticipation around Portrait of a 50 Year Old Man, by Frans Hals (1635) – presented by Salomon Lilian – because this is a painting that has not been publicly displayed in 112 years and coincidently, London’s National Gallery is currently running a show on him. Other artists with major institutional exhibitions include the Ghanaian sculptor, El Anatsui, presented by Jack Shainman, coinciding with the artist’s Tate Turbine Hall Commission; and the artist and human rights activist, Ai Weiwei, from whom we’ll see some of his most iconic works from the ‘80s and ‘90s, including Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, 1995.
Ai Weiwei’s provocative and controversial, Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, 1995.
One of the new sections introduced this year is Modern Women, which as its name indicates, is fully devoted to solo presentations by women artists. Steered by Camille Morineau (Co-founder, AWARE- Archive of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions), this area has a wonderful selection of 20th and 21st works from female artists. From the pioneer Brazilian modernist Tarsila do Amaral (works on paper from 1924 to 1956) to computer-generated graphic drawings created through algorithmic chance by Vera Molnár, who was invited to participate at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022.
Emili Charmy’s Colette nue, 1920. Oil on canvas. Image courtesy of Galerie Bernard Bouche, Paris. Photo: A. Ricci.
Spotlight this year focuses on overlooked works dating from the 1950s to the 1970s, such as the six paintings by Abstract Expressionist Ethel Schwabacher (dating 1945-59) created during the peak of the movement and the artist’s underappreciated career and brought to Frieze Masters by Berry Campbell.
Ethel Schwabacher’s Prometheus, 1959. Oil on linen. Ó Estate of Ethel Schwabacher. Courtesy of Berry Campbell, New York.
There are many other events taking place a Frieze London and Frieze Masters 2023, such as Frieze Music, presented in collaboration with BMW. The live performance by Mercury Prize-nominated British rapper Loyle Carner will take place at KOKO on Thursday, 12th October, with invitations distributed via a giveaway on the Frieze Instagram on 5th October.
As a partner of Frieze since 2017, BMW, through its Open Work initiative brings together every year art, technology and design in a multi-platform format. Artists are encouraged to explore current and future technologies as a vehicle for innovation and artistic experimentation. This year, it was Sara Sadik the artist invited to explore the intersection of art and digital technology, in this case, inspired by the new fully electric BMW i5.
Still from Sara Sadik’s Xenon Palace Championship, 2023. Commissioned by Luma Arles and Google. Image courtesy of the artist.
Sadik’s work inspired by the youth culture developed by the working class from the Maghrebi diaspora (what she calls “beurcore”). She brings together video, performance, installation and photography in order to explore the different aspects of beurcore. Working with the BMW Gaming and Innovation Lab experts, the French artist has created an interactive playable game, conceived specifically for the electric BMW i5, as well as a video work presented both on the exterior of KOKO and in the BMW Lounge.
Extensive on-site and citywide programming will run alongside the fairs, in a celebration of London’s wider cultural community. Information and tickets HERE.
Guided tours are available throughout the fairs’ run, with bookings available online and at the tour desks onsite. For enquiries, contact tours@frieze.com.
Frieze London Frieze Masters 2023 11th – 15th October 2023, Regent’s Park, London
L’École, School of Jewelry Arts’ new home on one of Paris’ Grands Boulevards
On 6th October, after 10 years in Place Vendôme, the Van Cleef & Arpels-sponsored L’École School of Jewelry Arts is relocating to a beautifully restored 18th-century mansion on Boulevard Montmartre. The historic building – Hôtel de Mercy-Argenteau – will be open to the public for the first time and will be home not only to the school but also to a large exhibition space and a one-of-a-kind bookstore dedicated to the world of jewellery.
The ethos of L’École has always been to share an appreciation of fine jewellery with the world; thus, all temporary exhibitions are free to the public. “Our world shouldn’t intimidate, or turn anyone away,” says Nicolas Bos, President and CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels. “And this new Boulevard Montmartre address feels more accessible than our Place Vendôme location.”
The building has a rather gilded history: built-in 1778 by architect Firmin Perlin, the mansion was not named after its first occupant, the greatly influential Florimond Claude, Count of Mercy-Argenteau. As an ambassador under Maria Theresa of Austria, Claude arranged the marriage of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, who considered the Count a confidant and adviser. Before fleeing to Varennes, the young queen – known for her love of all that glitters – left a trunk of jewellery with the Count for safekeeping. Miraculously, the trunk survived, forever linking the Hôtel de Mercy-Argenteau with priceless gems.
Constance Guisset has redesignedthe interior of the Hôtel de Mercy-Argenteau to optimise the display of the exhibitions it will host.
Designer, architect and scenographer Constance Guisset had the honour of reworking the building’s interior to suit its new purpose as a public gallery. “I was not asked to enhance the building, but to adapt the interior for exhibitions,” she says. “The historic context must not overshadow the works that are being presented. The two must coexist in harmony.”
To accentuate the jewellery, Guisset used shades of blue and discreet lighting in the exhibition hall. “Dark blue evokes the night, astronomy and mystery. It also condenses space,” she says. “And the sober design and colour of the spotlights make them disappear. Good lighting is lighting that no one notices.”
The school’s grand inaugural exhibition, Stage Jewelry from the Comédie Française, will feature 120 accessories, pieces of art and documents that are for the most part sourced from the theatre’s collections. The jewellery, which had been tucked away in the archives of the Comédie-Française, had been worn many times on stage and showed centuries of wear and tear. Fortunately, L’École sponsored its painstaking restoration by a team led by art historian Sabine Mattatia.
Examples of pieces displayed at the Stage Jewellery from the Comédie-Française exhibition. Left, Brooch that belonged to Sarah Bernhardt by Rene Lalique. Right, Talma’s ceremonial sword early 19th century made from gilded metal and mirrored pearl glass. Pictures courtesy of L’École.
In addition to the Comédie Française exhibition and the school’s many courses, there will be a series of one-hour talks to kick off the reopening:
17th October: Stage Jewels of the Comédie-Française
31st October: The taste of Marie-Antoinette: fashion, jewellery and precious furniture
14th November: Amber: Art & Science
31st November: Cabinets of Wonder: Collecting Gems and Precious Objects
In the 18th century, there was an acknowledged entente cordiale between the small clock and watchmaking firms that populated London and Paris. In this business, the French artisans were Anglophiles and in return, the English were Francophiles. National naval interests aside, the aim was the refinement and pursuit of horology.
Ferdinand Berthoud, then appointed to the French royal court, came to England to study Harrison’s H4 chronometer under Thomas Mudge’s tutelage. John Arnold, England’s leading clockmaker and inventor of the chronometer was introduced to Breguet’s work in 1792 by the Duke of Orleans in London. Arnold was so impressed that he immediately travelled to Paris and sought permission for Breguet to take on his son as his apprentice.
The entrance to the Clockmakers of London Museum, Science Museum.
Breguet was also as equally impressed with Arnold’s work, and among the many shared horological inventions, it is possible that the tourbillon idea came from the English clockmaker. As a tribute to his friend, Breguet incorporated his first tourbillon mechanism into one of Arnold’s early pocket chronometers with an engraved commemorative inscription on the movement. The watch is now part of the British Museum’s collection.
While London could claim its own set of known names, it was Abraham-Louis Breguet who was to become the most renowned of them all. His contribution was, according to his biographer, the late George Daniels, “As brilliant as it was original and, during a period when horological fashion was the slave of science, he lifted the watchmaker’s art to a new dimension of visual and technical excellence. His influence on the appearance and style of the watch was dramatic and his most complicated examples maintained the slim, elegant appearance that was to revolutionise watchmaking. Breguet’s extraordinary ability in all branches of horology achieved for him the reputation of a genius.”
His work was coveted and sought after by emperors, kings, queens, statesmen and the noble families of Europe. Emmanuel Breguet, seventh-generation descendent of Abraham-Louis, and the Head of Patrimony at Montres Breguet S.A. notes that “England was the first country to which Breguet exported watches starting around 1785. Breguet went to England in 1789, 1790, 1791 and 1814 for long stays, between two and four months. In the years 1800 – 1808, he sold around 10 percent of his production to London, after which he had to cease exports due to the Napoleonic wars. But after the fall of Napoleon, in 1814, there was a spectacular rebound, with English sales accounting for up to 30 percent of the company’s revenue. The purchases made by George III and the Duke of Wellington played a major role, firstly because they involved grand complications, and secondly because they drew in their wake the various members of the royal family as well as the high aristocracy. The English connection is a key chapter in Breguet’s history.”
The Breguet No 1297, made for George III of England. It is the only watch with English on the dial and the only one with a thermometer. More recently, it was the subject of a controversial auction sale and export bar by the British government.
This exhibition, with Breguet watches assembled from a number of private collections, as well as the Worshipful Company’s own inventory, illustrates the degree to which the watches and clocks made by the Frenchman were lauded and ordered on these shores. Of the many important creations by Abraham-Louis Breguet assembled for this exhibition, the Breguet No 1297, a watch made for King George III during a time of war between England and France, is the standout attraction.
It is unique in a number of ways. It has a gold dial with multiple contrasting engine-turned finishes, central satin finished chapter ring with black Roman numerals for hours, minute ring to the edge, blued steel moon hands with elongated minute hand, and two engine-turned subsidiary dials. There is a sector for a thermometer marked “Heat, Temperate, Cold” above XII o’clock, the plaque above engraved ‘Whirling About Regulator” and “Thermometer”. it is the only watch of its type that includes a thermometer and has the escapement labelled as a “Whirling About Regulator”, the literal translation from the French “Régulateur à Tourbillon”.
The movement of the Breguet No 1297 showing the four-minute tourbillon escapement.
The gold four-minute tourbillon watch was made around the same time as the Arnold watch in 1808. The gilded movement comprising the tourbillon carriage is signed “Breguet, Par Brevet d’Invention” with fusée and chain, the backplate signed Recordon, London. It is the only tourbillon fitted with a Robin escapement, making it one of a kind. Not surprisingly, the original price of FF4,800 was the highest figure paid for any of Breguet’s watches with a four-minute tourbillon.
This is the first time that this rare and important watch will be on public display at a museum since being sold by Sotheby’s in July 2020 [read more about it HERE] and having an export bar placed on it in January 2021 by the then Minister for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, Caroline Dinenage MP, citing among other reasons, royal provenance and public interest driven by the success of Bridgerton.
The Breguet No 2589 showing both mean solar and sidereal time, along with a calendar function. The same dial layout would be used by George Daniels over 150 years later for his Space Traveller watches.
Among other notable watches – without the same degree of royal provenance or controversy – is the Breguet No 2589, a gold watch indicating true solar and sidereal time ordered by, and sold to, Lord Berwick, in 1816. It is a brilliant piece and combines the new scientific knowledge at the time that recognised that, the 24-hour day (mean solar time), defined as the rotation of the earth relative to the sun, was slightly longer than the sidereal day, which is based on Earth’s rate of rotation relative to the fixed stars. No 2589 harmonises both measures. George Daniels would use the same dial design approximately 150 years later for his Space Traveller I.
The watches on display demonstrate how much the English watchmakers learned from the Frenchman, including his balance designs, helical springs made of steel or gold, the spring detent escapement and the overcoil balance spring. They also show the degree to which Breguet incorporated Arnold’s ideas, particularly the layout of his dial designs, engine-turned gold or silver, a pattern that would become synonymous with Breguet on dials that were quite unlike anything else made in France or Switzerland at the time.
The main gallery of the Clockmakers Museum showing the extent of the Company’s collection.
According to Emmanuel Breguet, Abraham-Louis “Discovered the use of jewels in watch movement in England and adopted the practice for all his production by bringing English specialists to his workshop in Paris. It is certain that Breguet was stimulated throughout his life by his exchanges both with his English colleagues and with his English clients, and arguably, he gave the best of himself for his English clients and friends.”
The exhibition lasts almost a year from 12th September 2023 until 8th September 2024, and along with the history of horology from the Clockmaker’s Company collection, provides a unique opportunity to look at watchmaking across national boundaries, and appreciate the importance of international patronage and collaboration.
Breguet: the English Connection
Clockmakers Museum at the Science Museum.
12th September 2023 – 8th September 2024
Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 2DD
Vacheron Constantin joins the Leeds Street Art Trail
Usually associated with its University (Keir Stammer, Mark Knoffler, Chris Pine and Princess Kako of Akishino are all among their notable alumni), its summer festival and Emmerdale, Leeds is also a bastion of culture, with both a resident opera and a ballet company, inspiring museums and a remarkable street art scene, which has become one of its hottest attractions for seekers of the original and unusual.
Street art has a history in Leeds, with striking works such as the Mabgate Mural (1988) – by Janet the Wagt – and Cornucopia – commissioned by the old owners of Leeds Corn Exchange and painted by Graeme Wilson in 1990 – both decades before street art became a real thing. The last work joining the rich display in the streets of Leeds is the Constellation mural, commissioned by luxury Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin.
Left: Mabgate Mural – artwork by Add Fuel, photo: Doug Gillen. Right: Cornucopia – photo: Carl Milner, courtesy of Visit Leeds.
Vacheron Constantin has very strong ties with the world of art at a global level through their ongoing partnership with The Louvre, but they also get involved at a local level in the different cities where the historical brand has boutiques. In Leeds, the intention was to support local artists and create a piece of work that the whole community could enjoy. It was with this idea in mind that East Street Arts, a charity devoted to empowering artists from the grassroots up, introduced them to Paul Miller and Griet Beyaert, the creators of Constellation.
Paul Miller and Griet Beyaert working on the concept of Constellation.
The leaders of this initiative at Vacheron Constantin worked closely with Paul and Griet from the beginning, spending a lot of time exploring the history of the brand and what it stands for. From there, they gave the artists total creative freedom. “Vacheron Constantin’s core beliefs are embedded in the flow of creativity; their work is more than brilliantly made timepieces and technical ingenuity, it is the result centuries old reverence for art, craft and open-mindedness. This openness and dialogue also meant that they really trusted us to get on with it, which is great for artists,” shares Paul.
As important as it was to come up with a concept that resonated with the watchmaker’s thinking around creativity, it was also vital to the artists to create an artwork that would harmonise with the forms of the listed building where the Vacheron Constantin boutique is located. The same principle was applied to the projection mapped piece that they made for special occasions. “The architecture is more than a canvas,” comments Griet, “it’s an integral character.”
“We didn’t want to just put an image on a building that could have been anywhere, we wanted the building to be part of the artwork.”
– Griet Beyaert
Griet and Paul worked together until they honed down their sketches to five variations, which then they developed into digital artworks and projected these at almost full-size scale onto a photograph of the building to see how it looked and decide which elements worked and which didn’t. The mural artwork was used as the starting point for storyboarding a video, sound piece and projection mapping design. Griet describes the process as “very organic, once we had our main storyline, which was in essence the concept of this single idea sparking a constellation.”
The artists created sounds, music and visuals inspired by this idea. “We recorded audio separately, using a mixture of analogue and digital instruments and different techniques,” Paul explains, “then bought the elements together to see what fit and how a narrative flow would work and eventually honed down a final edit for a six-minute piece. The video sequences were then edited to synch with the soundtrack.”
The final result is a mural that pays homage to the Maison’s motto, “One of not many”, and celebrates the identity, dynamism and culture of the city of Leeds, integrating Vacheron Constantin’s boutique within the regional artistic scene and inviting a new appreciation of a familiar building in the creative city centre.
Paul is an interdisciplinary artist with a particular passion for conversations between science and art, specifically promoting engagement and learning through collaborative projects and creative output. His work includes sound design and music, painting, large-scale interactive installations, projection mapping events and live AV performances.
Griet Beyaert is fascinated by the physical experience of the spaces we inhabit. Her practice encompasses the use of multiple audio-visual, traditional and new technologies. She thrives on combining the unexpected with the chaotic to then follow a process that will lead to the final artwork.
This project has been placed under a wider campaign in the Leeds called A City Less Grey ran and spearheaded by East Street Arts. Since becoming a charity in 1998, East Street Arts has been empowering artists to be self-determined, take control, incite change and influence decision-makers to improve people’s lives and environments. Working from the grass roots up, they value talent, ambition and innovation from a position of inclusivity and opportunity, thus promoting positive change about models and ethics of working and living.
A City Less Grey is an initiative that commissions artists working in public places, aimed at supporting the development of new work with artists whose practice or aspects of their practice operates outside of traditional art establishments and to profile the wide spectrum of Street Art.
For more information and appointments, visit HERE.
Opening on 16th September 2023, the V&A is to stage the first UK exhibition dedicated to the work of French couturière, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, possibly the most influential woman in fashion, ever. She devoted her life to promoting a new kind of elegance based on freedom of movement and revolutionised the world by introducing garments such as the woman’s suit and the “little black dress”, the quilted bag, costume jewellery, and of course, one of the most famous fragrances in history, Chanel No. 5, created as an extension of her clothing and interpretation of modernity.
This long-awaited show charters the evolution of her iconic design style and the establishment of the House of CHANEL through 10 different sections, which go from the opening of her first millinery boutique in Paris in 1910 to the showing of her final collection in 1971. The curators have carefully analysed her professional career, the emergence and the development of her style, and her contribution to the history of fashion.
Examples of the ensembles designed by Gabrielle Chanel on show at the V&A exhibition in London.
Showcasing many for the first time, the show presents a stunning array of Chanel’s most notable designs from her 60 years in fashion as well as jewellery, accessories, cosmetics, and perfumes. Highlights include original costumes designed by Coco for the Ballets Russes production of Le Train Bleu in 1924; outfits created for Hollywood stars Lauren Bacall and Marlene Dietrich; her British inspirations such as the adoption of tweed; an early example of Chanel’s ground-breaking evening trousers and ensembles from Chanel’s final collection of 1971.
Lydia Sokolova, Anton Dolin, Bronislava Nijinska and Leon Woizikowsky after the first performance of Le Train Bleu in Britain, at the Coliseum Theatre in London (1924).
Visitors will be able to explore the origins and elements of her enduring style, see for themselves the templates laid down by Gabrielle Chanel, which to date, are still being used as a source of inspiration by CHANEL. Such was Coco’s charisma, talent and determination that, despite her very poor origins and breaking up every rule in the book of fashion at the time, within five years of opening her first shop, she had attracted the interest of the richest and most influential women in Paris. Her motto, “Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury” probably was the silver bullet that marked the end of all previous fashion styles, which involved rigid corsets, bustles, wire frames and other contraptions that would have probably always belonged in a torture chamber rather than in a closet.
Described by Vogue in 1964 as “the world’s prettiest uniform,” the Chanel suit was a declaration of her vision of modern femininity, stylish, comfortable and easy to wear; so much so that it remains a staple reference for fashion today. As early as the late 1950s onwards, Chanel had adapted her suits to include a range to be worn into the evening. These cocktail suits followed the same form as those designed for the day but realised in a plethora of richly decorative fabrics such as gold and silver lamés, textured weaves and intricately patterned silks.
Chanel designed first and foremost for herself. By creating clothes for an independent and active lifestyle, she anticipated the needs and wants of modern women. Chanel’s innovative approach to fabric, silhouette, and construction drafted a new framework for fashion in the twentieth century, leaving a legacy that has never gone out of style.
Gabriel Chanel. Fashion Manifesto
V&A London. Cromwell Rd, London SW7 2RL
16th September 2023 – 25th February 2024
Exhibition presented in partnership with Palais Galliera, Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, Paris Musées.
