Fisheater, Lynn Chadwick, 1951

Figure Totem Beast: Sculpture in Britain in the 1950s is the name of a current exhibition at Tate Britain. It is noteworthy because the sculptures were made in the time after the Second World War where a growing optimism of a more humane society was contrasted with the fears of nuclear development in the Cold War. These opposing elements are explored through pieces in isolation, with couples or in groups. The pieces are dynamic and full of energy.

Lynn Chadwick, Conjunction, 1953

New methods and materials of working 3 dimensionally and carving through space were used and developed. Prominent was the use of welding and iron.

Lynn Chadwick learnt to weld in order to execute The Fisheater. An enormous skeletal free-standing mobile. One of his first. The lunging part of the sculpture is both sinister and beautiful with its graceful and delicate moving elements.

In Conjunction, Chadwick uses the new technique forming the outline of planes with welded metal and filling them with a plaster/iron mix now rusted to give the desired effect. It is also one of his first depictions of the human couple.

The Unknown Political Prisoner
Part of the display consists of entries to an international competition to design a monument to ‘The Unknown Political Prisoner’. Organised by London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts in 1952, 3,500 artists from 57 countries entered. Although there was no apparent political bias, no entries came from east block countries.

Reg Butler, Working Model for ‘The Unknown Political Prisoner’ 1955-56

The Grand Prize went to Reg Butler. His planned 300 foot monument rising from a rock foundation was never realised.

Entries by Bernhard Heiliger (West Germany),  Luciano Minguzzi (Italy) and F.E. MacWilliam (Britain) were short-listed. The maquettes can be seen in the exhibition. A compelling maquette by Geoffrey Clarke is also shown. However, he entered a different model into the competition.

Human experience is transferred into animals creating symbolic totems in works by Elisabeth Frink, Henry Moore and others.

This exhibition is a wide ranging, thoughtful, exceptional collection of 3 dimensional work that is well worth exploring and absolutely essential for anyone interested in sculpture, British or otherwise.

Tate Britain until 4 February 2019
Find out more.

Musée MATISSE entrance lobby

I’m sure I have mentioned before how lucky I am to have a lovely daughter living in the Cote D’Azure, and on my visits to see her, how we put aside a day to visit a museum of my choice.

This year, in September, we visited Musée Matisse, which is located in a beautiful olive grove (Just like Renoir’s house) in the area of Nice known as Cimiez. The area surrounding the museum is a real bonus as well; because it is full of amazing Roman ruins, which you can walk amongst, picnic, and enjoy, no “Keep off” notices.

Roman Ruins by Musée Matisse

This visit was a double bonus for me, and I’ll tell you why. Going back to the days when I had the Gaywood Art Centre, I heard of a young lad, aged 10, in Romania, who longed to be an artist, and wanted so much to be able to paint. Through the local church I was able to send him parcels each month of paint, brushes, canvases and all the things he needed to fulfil his dreams. I supported him, artistically until he was accepted into University. Now, in his 40’s he is Professor of Art at Arad University and a worldwide Contemporary Artist, exhibiting in countries all over Europe. His name is Cristian Sida, and, believe it or not, I had never actually met him. So we arranged, through facebook, to meet at the Musée Matisse in Nice. When I walked through the door and saw him standing waiting for me, He just threw his arms around me and said “I have been waiting 26 years for this meeting”. So, that made my visit so amazing and fulfilling, I will never forget it.

Matisse and Picasso

The musee is very spacious and airy, and is on three floors, tracing the artistic journey of Matisse from his early days to his final paintings. In this particular exhibition they also examined the relationship between Matisse and Picasso, who were not only competitors, but also inspired each other. I have to say that, in my opinion, Picasso’s work paled into insignificance next to the bold colourful work of Matisse.

As we moved from floor to floor, with an amazing commentary from Cristian, who had studied both artists, and teaches history of Art at the University, it was hard not to become emotionally involved with the work and the life story.

Matisse sketching

I found myself more and more attached to Matisse, who came across as a Perfect Gentleman. There was an excellent film to view, and it showed his thought processes and drawing skills, and let you into his life in a way that still photographs could not.

During the day, Cristian and Tracey and I had our hands stamped, and left the museum for an hour to enjoy a sandwich and coffee in the little “popup Café” in the grounds, and we talked and talked as though we had known each other for years, his English was perfect, and so was his French, and the breadth of Cristian’s knowledge was breath-taking.

After lunch, we returned to the museum, and viewed the last floor, and some of the work Matisse did in his final years. Like so many artists of his generation, he lived to a good age, continuing painting as long as he physically could.

It was very hard to have to say goodbye to both Matisse and Cristian, so we went back to some of our favourites, and didn’t want to leave until they put the lights out.

It was one of the best days I can remember, and I learned a lot, both about Matisse and about Cristian, and we agreed we wouldn’t leave it another 26 years before we met again.

Helena Anderson

“Helen and I enjoyed 2 separate visits to the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich UEA. The most recent being Elisabeth Frink (1930-1993) exhibition which started 13th October to the 24th February 2019. Elizabeth Frink we hadn’t come across before but a most original artist living a Bohemian life in the 1950s and dedicated to her sculpture work, this relating to the horrors of the Second World War. The combination of human and animal sculptures were quite unnerving and fascinating at the same time.

Before that during the summer, we visited the Brian Clarke exhibition and enjoyed his marvellous stained glass. The wonderful coloured glass displayed on the ground floor were breathtaking and showing in another area were his preparation sketches and trial display panels for commissioned work.

Both artists are cutting edge in their different fields and enjoying a way of life with bohemia and
jet setting that one can only imagine.’’

Brian Clarke was born in Oldham in 1953. He is best known for radically updating and innovating the medium of stained glass. Also celebrated for his work on canvas, sculpture,
mosaics and tapestry. All these media and more are illustrated within this, the official Brian Clarke website.

“Stained glass has the potential to contribute to the urban fabric of the 21st century as successfully as it did to the 15th …”

Since the early 1970s, he has collaborated with some of the world’s most prominent architects to create stained-glass designs and installations for hundreds of projects worldwide. For example: the Pyramid of Peace in Kazakhstan; the Al Faisaliah Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; AGM HQ in Kassel, Germany; Apax & Partners HQ, London; The Hotel du Departement des Bouches-du Rhone, Marseille; The Lake Sagami building, Japan; The Dutch National Ballet, Amsterdam; Pfizer World Headquarters, New York; Swiss Bank Cone, Connecticut; Paul McCartney World Tours; The King Kahled International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Norte Shopping, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; The Victoria Quarter, Leeds, UK; Abbaye de la Fille Dieu, Switzerland.

He is a visiting Professor of Architectural Art at University College London; an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects; Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts; Hon. Doctor of Law, University of Huddersfield; Committee of honour, Foundation Vincent Van Gogh, Arles, France; Chairman of the Architecture Foundation, London; Former member of the design review committee for the Commission of Architecture & Built Environment; Trustee & Council member of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust; Sole Executor of The Estate of Francis Bacon.

Elisabeth Frink, Bird, 1952. © Frink Estate and Archive / Photo:Ken Adlard

ELISABETH FRINK: HUMANS AND OTHER ANIMALS
13 October – 24 February 2019
This autumn, the Sainsbury Centre will open a major new exhibition of Suffolk-born artist Elisabeth Frink (1930-1993).
Elisabeth Frink: Humans and Other Animals features over 150 works by the artist, and will be the largest showing of Frink’s work in 25 years. The exhibition will explore Frink’s enduring preoccupation with human and animal forms and the symbiotic relationship between them. It will provide new perspectives on the key themes found in her work, from responses to the Second World War and the Cold War climate of fear, to the role of man as both aggressor and victim.
Humans and Other Animals will examine Frink’s radical and Bohemian beginnings in 1950s London and trace the evolution of her practice over all four decades of her career, as well as juxtaposing her work with that of contemporary artists, ancient art and other modern masters including Rodin, Picasso and Bourgeois.

John Walker

At the suggestion of one of our members, my husband and I visited this delightful walled garden with some very interesting plants, shrubs and trees. The sun was shining on us that day and although a lot of the plants were over there was still plenty to see. It is relatively small and easy to walk around and there is a bench under one of the trees to sketch or simply sit and contemplate.

On site there is also a coffee shop cum cafe with indoor and outdoor areas with an extensive menu and Norfolk Ice Cream. There is also a nursery which offers a wide choice of plants at very reasonable prices.

If you are a keen gardener or plant lover I would definitely recommend a visit. The best time to see the gardens would probably be May/June time.

The gardens are off the beaten track but there are signs showing how to get there.
www.westacregardens.co.uk

‘The Artocracy’

On the way into the car park you drive through a large wooded estate and you can see the back of a very, very large historic house together with a life sized sculpture. I enquired at the Gardens and was told that the country’s most famous sculptor, Sir Antony Gormley OBE owned the house and the gardens. (Antony Gormley is probably most famous for his vast sculpture ‘Angel of the North’ as well as ‘Another Place’ at Crosby Beach, Liverpool, which consists of 100 cast iron figures facing towards the sea). His work nearly always involves casts of his own body.

West Acre High House originally came up for sale in 2008 for £9.5m including 1100 acres but it remained on the market for some time until Gormley purchased the house in 2010 for £3m – the price being reduced for less land and factoring in a £1.5m restoration programme.

West Acre High House was built in 1756 and added to during the 19th century. I only saw the back of the house, which in my view is not very appealing, however I have since seen photographs of the front of the house which is much more attractive. It is an unusual house in that the South front has 7 bays but the North front has 13 bays.

Antony Gormley is one of several artists glibly named ‘The Artocracy’ as they are buying historic properties and are willing and able to finance the huge restoration projects.

One of the first ‘Artocrats’ was Peter Paul Rubens who bought the Castle of Steen Manor House in the Netherlands in 1635 which is said to have led to some of his finest landscape paintings.

Damien Hirst also purchased the historical country house, Toddington Manor, in Gloucestershire which had been empty for 20 years with serious concerns about outbreaks of dry rot and the need to replace the acres of roof.

Hirst purchased Toddington Manor in 2005 for £3m with a planned £10m programme of restoration although it is thought that the costs could be much higher.

The house has been shrouded in scaffolding for 13 years (much to the annoyance of conservationists and neighbours) to prevent further decay and to protect a temporary roof.

It is expected that the restoration will be a lifetime’s work.

Another sculptor, Sir Anish Kapoor CBE, RA was very interested in taking on the lease from the National Trust of Ashdown House in Berkshire but it eventually went to Pete Townshend of The Who. Leasing would have given Kapoor the status without the huge restoration costs.

It is heartening to me to learn that some of our great artists are protecting the future of these beautiful historic homes.

Esther Marshall

My thanks to www.thecountryseat.org.uk who have been an invaluable source of information.

Recently on reading a news item in a national newspaper ‘Nudity Rings Alarm Bells at Cathedral’ I was prompted to write about my own experience of exhibiting art in churches since living in Norfolk. I have always felt slightly inhibited by the atmosphere of religious spaces for exhibitions, particularly having only previously exhibited in a gallery environment where I felt free to show work without boundaries or restrictions.

In the newspaper it described the four acrylic canvas works by the artist Joe Greenwood as being ‘ to in your face’ for display at Portsmouth cathedral as part of the summer show by the Portsmouth and Hampshire Art Society. A spokesman for the Diocese of Portsmouth said “ When planning the exhibition the paintings were considered to be suitable but a number of visitors and regular worshippers expressed distress about them” The nude paintings were subsequently removed and returned to Mr Greenwood. How humiliating and ridiculous particularly when one considers the ‘Sistine Chapel’ in Rome.

My work often depicts the human figure, male and female, but I have never exhibited these images in our Summer Exhibition in St Nicholas Chapel for this very reason but more to do with not offending the Friends of the Chapel and visitors as the congregation no longer exists. The chapel I understand is for weddings and funerals. I notice whenever nudes, usually small intimate studies , are presented the curators tend to tuck them away behind a screen not at the front to greet visitors.

The first exhibition I saw on arriving in Norfolk was at Salthouse church part of the North Norfolk Exhibition Project and this felt exciting and not inhibited by the surroundings. All manner of topics and subjects were represented including the human figure on a grand scale. Not always obvious but that was the interesting part. The church lent itself so well as an exhibition space being austere and white without too much ornamentation and offering an insight into the artistic life of Norfolk and beyond.

This autumn our exhibition will be in the Fermoy Gallery at the kings Lynn Arts Centre and a great opportunity to feel free of any restrictions on subject matter. In the past the Summer Exhibition has been held at the Arts Centre and there will hopefully be further opportunities to do so in the future.

Lydia Haines

July 21 to August 4, 2018
Open daily 10.30am–4.00pm.

Impressions of this year’s exhibition at St. Nicholas Chapel in King’s Lynn.

The Preview

We launched the exhibition with the preview on Friday evening. Special thanks go to Robert Rickard, the 14-19 advisor for Norfolk County Council for opening the exhibition and selecting the Syd Davison Award winner.

His thoughtful consideration of the all the work was evident through his words and greatly appreciated by all.

Fabulous music was provided by Ed & Laura.

The Winners

The work chosen for the Syd Davison Award was Silver Seals by Izzy Wingham.

This year’s Inga Miller Award chosen by the committee went to Neil Leggett for Maquette No. 1 (Marengo).

The Visitor’s Choice Award goes to Jill Ilett for Le Jardin Anglais.

The Exhibition

The Workshops

Supported by

1. House extension, downstairs Showing Italo Valenti’s collages (1964) and Lucie Rie’s bowl ‘The Wave’ (1971)

Looking at the origins of Kettle’s Yard in 1957, it is hard to imagine the legacy it has become. Although Jim Ede would have preferred a stately home, he was offered 4 tiny condemned slum dwellings from the president of the Cambridge Preservation Society.

The actual origins predate this. On first appearance it was his meeting Ben and Winifred Nicholson in about 1924 while he was an assistant at the Tate Gallery. In fact, it was a visit to the Louvre at 13 years of age and access to the Free Library at the Fitzwilliam at 15 where his love of early Italian painting began and started him on his collector’s journey.

This collection is also a personal journey of circumstance and chance meetings. It was Ben Nicholson who introduced Ede to contemporary art. He was able to purchase unsold Nicholson paintings for the price of the canvas and frame for the price of one to three pounds when he could afford it. Some, Nicholson gave him.

In 1926 his position at the Tate brought him into contact with Alfred Wallis. Again, he bought as many paintings as he could afford.

His collection of work from the estate Henri Gaudier-Brzeska was acquired “for a song” because nobody else wanted it.

Now the collection contains work by over 100 artists also including Joan Miró, Constantin Brancusi, Naum Gabo, Christopher Wood, Barbara Hepworth, David Jones, Henry Moore and Italo Valenti (one of my personal favourites).

I’m amazed at the forsight and humanity of Jim Ede. Ede describes Kettle’s Yard as “a continuing way of life from the last 50 years, in which stray objects, stones, glass, pictures, sculptures, in light and in space, have been used to make manifest the underlying stability which more and more we need to recognise if we are not to be swamped by all that is so rapidly opening up before us.” These words are as relevant today as when they were written. Maybe moreso.

The atmosphere of the house is exceptional through the mix of art and found objects. Through Ede’s nature collections we are reminded that this space is personal, home. The library is Ede’s actual library. All books are available to study. This in keeping with the open house tradition.

From 1957 to 1973 when the Ede’s lived there, their home was open to visitors every afternoon. Kettle’s Yard, today, continues in this spirit. It is a place to spend hours of discovery and well worth visiting again and again. A wonderful place to use and be.

In the new gallery Antony Gormley SUBJECT uses the space and architecture to show 5 works into which we are drawn, become participants or maybe even the subject (?).

It’s well worth watching the BBC documentary, imagine … Anthony Gormley: Being Human to gain tremendous insight into Gormley’s life and work. (Shown Thursday to Sunday.)

Antony Gormley SUBJECT runs until 27 August.

Kettle’s Yard
University of Cambridge
Castle Street
Cambridge
CB3 0AQ

+44 (0)1223 748 100
mail@kettlesyard.cam.ac.uk

Visit Kettle’s Yard website for more information.

Esther Boehm

Further photo information:
3. House cottages, downstairs Jim Ede’s bedroom table
4. House extension, upstairs Designed by Sir Leslie Martin, opened in 1970
7. Showing the Buddha from the Prang Sam Yot Temple, Lopburi, Thailand (13th or 14th century) and works by Mario Sironi, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Ben Nicholson
8. House extension, upstairs showing Winifred Nicholson’s ‘Roman Road’ (1927)
10. Installation view Antony Gormley SUBJECT © Antony Gormley
11. INFINTE CUBE © Antony Gormley

Photos 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 & 8 © Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge
Photos 3, 7 & 8 by Paul Allitt
Photos 5, 6 & 9 by Helena Anderson
Photos 10 & 11 by Benjamin Westoby