Lots o Blake and moody Turner at the Tate Britain. Who ever said the Brits were bottled up?
More Blake. My sista, the famous Joanna Cotler of the children’s book world, noticed Blake’s influence on Maurice Sendak. To really see it (and more London art) continue reading.
Turner’s contemporary? Check out the Sir John Soane Museum. Visitors’ plunge into 19th century living that was preserved at Soane’s his death 180 years ago. The world famous neo-classical architect stuffed his wildly eccentric London home with everything from Roman sculptures to the sarcophagus of the Egyptian king, Seti I. Read more about the history here.
Sloan championed JMW Turner, and his moody landscapes. He’s featured in the Mike Leigh’s atmospheric movie, Mr. Turner, and in this Guardian 4 minute documentary, which will give you a little taste of his home. Fun.
More art?
I’m a sucker for the right mix of art with social justice, and art that works on both levels is rare. Certainly South African artist William Kentridge soars. (Try this.)
And Ai Weiwie. The show at the Royal Academy of Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwie celebrates the transcendence of art against all odds, even the most powerful forces, in this case the Chinese government.
One piece, Straight, was assembled from 150 tons of rebar found after a Sichuan earthquake killed 5,000 school children, and straightened piece by piece against direct orders. The sculpture itself is stunning, hard to tell from the picture below. But when combined with its story, which included an investigation of the faulty building construction that helped cause the disaster, and the dead children’s names lining the wall around it, it packs a wallop.
Tommy is schlepping me museum to museum; he is insatiable because knows we’re unlikely to come back. But why see a Chinese artist in London? World class town, world class art. See the documentary on Ai Wei Wie on Netflix. More about the show here.
Everything is Art, Everything is Politics — Ai Weiwie
Addendum……
The British Museum’s Elgin Marbles, sculptures looted from temple of the Parthenon and buildings on the Acropolis, as well as the Rosetta Stone, which led to cracking the meaning of hieroglyphics, are two of the blue chip offerings at a museum so packed with goodies that it dwarfs the Met in NYC. (Guess the Brits got to there first.)
