Greetings!

I hope you will be able to join us

on Saturday 30th August, 11.15am (for about an hour & a half)

at The Beecroft Art Gallery, Victoria Avenue, Southend

Sergei Diaghilev brought the shock and awe of the Ballets Russes to Paris and London with sets designed by Russian artists including Bakst, Roerich and Goncharova; but what was the response of French and British artists? Matisse and Picasso were inspired by the Ballets and would go on to create sets for further performances. In Britain, artists such as John Lavery and Laura Knight would paint glorious portraits of the ballerinas and behind-the-scenes views of the stage.

Today we’ll explore how these artists and others welcomed Ballets-Russes mania in the 1910s and 20s.

It’ll be a feast for the eyes, with lots to see and much to discuss – do come along if you can, it’s open to everyone! Please note a £10 request on the door to cover Lecture Theatre hire costs as well as tea/coffee/biscuits at the Jazz Centre downstairs afterwards.

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In case you missed it, this year’s Proms performance of Stravinsky’s music “The Rite of Spring” (1913) is on BBC i-player: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002gr8h

Greetings!

I hope you will be able to join us

on Friday 15th August, 11.30am (for about an hour)

at The Beaumont, Barchester Care, 15 Cannon Hill, Old Southgate, N14 7DJ

to explore the art of Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986).

Renowned for her over-sized flowers with their textural detail and intense colours, we’ll follow O’Keeffe’s career as an artist through her paintings of New York skyscrapers to the symbolic skulls of Ghost Ranch.

Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Pink Spotted Lilies” from 1936, c/o Christie’s

There’ll be lots to look at and discuss – I hope you’ll be able to come along!

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And I’ve been plotting further explorations for the next few months:

Friday 19th September. We’ve been looking at the work of John Lavery very broadly as a cosmopolitan artist. In September, I thought we’d pick up on his Irish heritage to look not only at another aspect of his work (and asking how his portrait of Hazel Lavery ended up on the Irish pound note from 1928), as well as the art of his contemporary Irish artists.

Friday 17th October. Lavery is considered as one of The Glasgow Boys (we met George Henry and Edward Atkinson Hornel at the beginning of the year), and in October we’ll look at other artists associated with the group, with a focus on Arthur Melville whose paintings will take us from Spain to Egypt and beyond.

And how better than to end the year in our November and December meetings (dates to be confirmed) by looking at the generation of artists inspired by The Glasgow Boys: The Scottish Colourists who gloried in Post-Impressionism and would refine a very sophisticated style for the 1920s Jazz Age?

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The discussions are for everyone, whether residents or local community. Please note a £3 on-the-door request to cover the cost of coffee and biscuits. With all thanks to Barchester Health Care.

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Greetings!

I hope you will be able to join us

on Saturday 26th July, 11.15am (for about an hour & a half)

at The Beecroft Art Gallery, Victoria Avenue, Southend

As Sergei Diaghilev was bringing the shock and awe of the Ballets Russes to Paris and London, so Sergei Schukhin was bringing the shock and awe of Post-Impressionism to Moscow with a collection of art that included work by Monet, Cezanne, Gauguin, Picasso and Matisse. Conservative critics were, of course, appalled, but a younger generation of artists, including Malevich and Goncharova, were thrilled and inspired by this private collection of radical new paintings.

Then, as we shall explore today, in 1911, Matisse himself visited Russia…

Henri Matisse (1869-1954): Dance II [1910; Hermitage, St Petersburg]

It’ll be a feast for the eyes, with lots to see and much to discuss – do come along if you can, it’s open to everyone! Please note a £10 request on the door to cover Lecture Theatre hire costs as well as tea/coffee/biscuits at the Jazz Centre downstairs afterwards.

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Greetings!

I hope you will be able to join us

on Friday 18th July, 11.30am (for about an hour)

at The Beaumont, Barchester Care, 15 Cannon Hill, Old Southgate, N14 7DJ

to explore the art of John Lavery (1856-1941) from his time in Grez-sur-Loing as an art student through his beautiful society portraits, glorious Tangier seascapes and delicious depictions of leisure and pleasure from the French Riviera to Hollywood!

There’ll be lots to look at and discuss – I hope you’ll be able to come along!

The discussions are for everyone, whether residents or local community. Please note a £3 on-the-door request to cover the cost of coffee and biscuits. With all thanks to Barchester Health Care.

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Greetings!

I hope you will be able to join us

on Saturday 5th July, 11.15am (for about an hour & a half)

at The Beecroft Art Gallery, Victoria Avenue, Southend

to explore impresario Sergei Diaghilev’s radical new ballet. Each performance was a unique collaboration of composers, choreographers and – at the heart of our discussion today – artists, including Nicholas Roerich, Natalia Goncharova, Pablo Picasso and Giorgio de Chirico. The impact of the Ballets Russes on European and British visual culture was immense – from interior design to fashion and painting – and so we’ll also look at British artists, in particular John Lavery and Laura Knight, who both portrayed the stars of the Ballets Russes in their work.

It’ll be a feast for the eyes, with lots to see and much to discuss – do come along if you can, it’s open to everyone! Please note a £10 request on the door to cover Lecture Theatre hire costs as well as tea/coffee/biscuits at the Jazz Centre downstairs afterwards.

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Greetings!

I hope you will be able to join us

on Friday 20th June, 11.30am (for about an hour)

at The Beaumont, Barchester Care, 15 Cannon Hill, Old Southgate, N14 7DJ

to explore the art of John Lavery (1856-1941) from his time in Grez-sur-Loing as an art student through his beautiful society portraits, glorious Tangier seascapes and delicious depictions of leisure and pleasure from the French Riviera to Hollywood!

There’ll be lots to look at and discuss – I hope you’ll be able to come along!

The discussions are for everyone, whether residents or local community. Please note a £3 on-the-door request to cover the cost of coffee and biscuits. With all thanks to Barchester Health Care.

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Sir John Lavery (1856-1941): Spring in a Riviera Garden [detail; 1921; Sothebys]

As ever, the best place to start is Art UK, which has 389 paintings by John Lavery that are in public collections. I’ve put them in date order: here. When you click on an image that interests you, scroll down as there is often a link to the Gallery’s website with further detailed information.

Then Christies [here], Sothebys [here] and Bonhams [here] not only have fabulous images of paintings that are in private hands (and have been to auction), but usually when you scroll down there is a fully-researched catalogue essay.

The Ulster Museum website has a good introduction to John Lavery [here], and Kenneth McConkey has written about Lavery’s seascapes on Art UK [here].

Indeed Kenneth McConkey is the authority on John Lavery as curator of exhibitions and writer of catalogues, including:

John Lavery: Diary of a Painter [2010; Publisher: Atelier Books; ISBN: 9781873830215]

and Lavery on Location [2023; published by National Galleries of Ireland; 9781911716020] which is from the most recent Lavery exhibition and there’s a podcast/film “In Conversation with Kenneth McConkey” on YouTube [here].

With hope these might be useful starting points!

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Greetings!

I hope you will be able to join us

on Saturday 31st May, 11.15am (for about an hour & a half)

at The Beecroft Art Gallery, Victoria Avenue, Southend

to explore the art of John Lavery (1856-1941) from his Belfast roots to student days in Paris, from one of the Glasgow Boys to official war artist, and far beyond via scenes of modern life, international travel and portraits of the great, the good and the fashionable…

My snapshot from John Lavery’s “The Family of King George V” [1913; Royal Collection Trust] which is currently on show as part of The Edwardians: Age of Elegance exhibition at The King’s Gallery. (For the exhibition website / overview click here: The Edwardians)

It’ll be a feast for the eyes, with lots to see and much to discuss – do come along if you can, it’s open to everyone! Please note a £10 request on the door to cover Lecture Theatre hire costs as well as tea/coffee/biscuits at the Jazz Centre downstairs afterwards.

Please note: I’m afraid I need to change the date of our next meeting from 28th June to 5th July – apologies!

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British Art Groups 1830s-1930s

Early 20th century Art & Visual Culture: London, Paris, Moscow & beyond.

“Nancy Cunard – An Uncommon Viewer”

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My word, what a pleasure to attend The King’s Gallery last week to view the new Royal Collection Trust exhibition “The Edwardians: Age of Elegance” – it really is absolutely stunning. In the Press Release, the exhibition curator Kathryn Jones notes: “The Edwardian era is seen as a golden age of style and glamour, which indeed it was, but there is so much more to discover beneath the surface. This was a period of transition, with Britain poised on the brink of the modern age and Europe edging towards war” – and certainly the viewer marks a full sense of royal glamour whilst, intertwined, noting accents of cultural change and, interestingly, individual & personal perspectives.

The RCT website has a lot of fascinating information: https://www.rct.uk/collection/exhibitions/the-edwardians-age-of-elegance/the-kings-gallery-buckingham-palace but here are a few of my own little snapshots:

So, yes, plenty of gorgeous glamour – indeed gorgeous painting: the colours & textures, shimmer & sheen are divine, and I couldn’t stop looking at “The Chinese Chippendale Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace” (designed in 1911 for Queen Mary’s collection, see here for complete details) painted by Richard Jack in 1926:

Couldn’t you just walk in there and sit down in that armchair!

It certainly shows – as curator Kathryn Jones pointed out – this was an age of collecting. Edward and Alexandra’s travel “scrapbooks” are fascinating, for example, as they bring together closely annotated pages of photographs as well as Alexandra’s own sketches (difficult to photograph I’m afraid) but definitely suggesting her own individually keen visual eye. Then intriguingly, the show also includes a watercolour of James Guthrie’s “In The Orchard” – presented to Edward at The Exhibition of Science, Art and Industry held in Glasgow 1888. It’s radical simplicity is far away from the glamour of the other pictures on display; the bold colour and loose brushstrokes signifying, rather, the radical avant-garde art of The Glasgow Boys that was then developing from their interactions with French artists.

All in all, there are so many treats to be found in The Edwardians that one feels oneself swept away – even a little glamorous…

With many thanks to the Royal Collection Trust.

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British Art Groups 1830s-1930s

Early 20th century Art & Visual Culture: London, Paris, Moscow & beyond.

“Nancy Cunard – An Uncommon Viewer”

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Oh my, now this is very exciting news!

Tate Britain have a joint exhibition of works by Edward Burra and Ithell Colquhoun coming up (opening 13th June 2025).

All the details are at https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/burra-and-colquhoun

Ed Burra’s “Harlem” [1934; Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/burra-harlem-n05004]

Ithell Colquhoun’s “Earth Process” [1940; Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/colquhoun-earth-process-t15316]

And there are new books:

Edward Burra
Thomas Kennedy (editor)

Tate Publishing – is coming 5th June 2025

Ithell Colquhoun
Emma Sharples (author)

Eiderdown Books – already published

Ithell Colquhoun: Between Worlds
Katy Norris (editor)

Tate Publishing – already published

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This means I also have to note the Surrealist artist John Banting – a good friend of both Ed Burra and Ithell Colquhoun – whose portrait of Burra is at the National Portrait Gallery: https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw07151/Edward-Burra?

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