The art thread will never end!

[Tubby Isaacs]

There will never be a definitive answer to what art has impressed you lately.

I'm probably in the minority here, but I'm increasingly liking Watteau.



The Faux Pas. Who said rococo was frivolous? A subtle and moving picture from a very interesting artist.

[Nocturnal Submission]

The art thread will never end!

Good man, Tubby.

"Coalbrookdale by night":

[Tubby Isaacs]

The art thread will never end!

You've made poor old Watteau look frivolous with that.

Also from the industrial revolution but at a more homely level, Joseph Wright of Derby:

[JtS]

The art thread will never end!

For christmas (although it came about 6 weeks later) I asked my brother for this...

[Tubby Isaacs]

The art thread will never end!

Beautiful stuff. Was it pricy to get a decent print of that?

In the meantime, one for GT3. I think he liked the Tribune at the Uffizi but found it a bit crowded. This is by Johann Zoffany, from the Royal Collection. Apologies for its size but it needs to be that big to spot all the Raphaels etc:

[ursus arctos]

The art thread will never end!

Did you make it to the Pitti? It has some galleries that are still hung in that ridiculous fashion.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The art thread will never end!

I didn't, I'm afraid, out of art fatigue. Next time.

[Nocturnal Submission]

The art thread will never end!

I'm not a great fan of Miro, but that's excellent Jason.

My favourite Magritte:

[San Bernardhinault]

The art thread will never end!

JtS's Miro is great. One of the many fantastic things about Barcelona is the brilliant Miro museum.

This is my favourite one of his at the moment:

[Anton Gramscescu]

The art thread will never end!

I second Chubby (this is becoming a habit today) on the Fundacion Miro. Brilliant stuff, and not just for Miro`s own works. The Mercury Fountain (which was made by an America, I think - can't remember the name) is completely magical, and they have good temporary exhibits, too.

[Amor de Cosmos]

The art thread will never end!

In keeping with yesterday's Fire and Industry pictures up top. Two paintings from the Imperial War Museum's Collection that made an impression last summer:



House Collapsing on Two Fireman by the almost forgotten Leonard Rosoman. This made me catch my breath. Heat, sparks, conflagration and human vulnerability. The collapsing wall seems simultaneously frozen and in motion, a photograph of the scene would look nothing like this.



One of Mervyn Peake's Glassblowers series. From somewhere between Picasso and Castle Gormenghast come these contorted fire-lit drawings and paintings. There's a string of single subject poses (too small to post here sadly) that function almost like a kind of vulcan alphabet which I'd like to explore in more detail.

[Andy C]

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I often think that part of the knack of getting Mervyn Peake - both his art and, perhaps especially, Gormenghast - lies in knowing that he grew up in China.

[Amor de Cosmos]

The art thread will never end!

You know you're right Andy. I hadn't thought of it but the attitudes and angles of his figures are extremely Chinese.

Here's another painting from the same group:

[gt3]

The art thread will never end!

Cheers Tubby. That's great. It was the Louvre I thought that the hanging was too crowded. The Pitti Palace is fantastic.

At the Musee d'Orsay I fell in love with this:

http://www.art.co.uk/asp/sp.asp?PD=11725115&RFID=661158&FT=Y

[Lucia Lanigan]

The art thread will never end!

That Rosoman's fantastic, thanks Amor.

JtS's Miro mings on screen, but I bet it would look great on a wall. I never got what the fuss was about until I saw some Miros in MoMA a few years ago, and the penny dropped.

[gt3]

The art thread will never end!

Nm - You should check out the Miro museum in Barcelona. That'll blow you away.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The art thread will never end!

Miro's a fairly recent get for me too. I think the penny dropped when I saw someone compare his work to Aboriginal art- which I've never seen any of, but I then saw some power in it.

Rosoman is new on me. He was a war artist, I presume. Kenneth Clark said later that the main purpose he saw in the scheme at the time was to keep artists in work, and didn't expect much more.

I wonder if there's a war artist in Iraq. There was one in the Falklands, Laura someone, I think, who produced some pencil drawings rather than Benjamin West-style history paintings.

[Amor de Cosmos]

The art thread will never end!

I'd never heard of Rosoman until I saw that painting. He's got a fair amount of stuff in the IWM, also the National Portrait Gallery and Tate. You might have seen his largest work Tubby, it's a cycle of paintings in the vault of Lambeth Palace Chapel. He's still alive, must be going on 95.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The art thread will never end!

I haven't seen that yet. The Imperial War Museum seems to have a good collection, though it's presumably shared between London and Manchester. Jonathan Meades had a lot of fun with Daniel Liebeskind's Manchester museum building which (apparently) seeks to convey something of the disorientation of war. "Does Liebeskind think he's better at that than Nevinson and the others?" Meades asked.

I've been to the Cranach tonight. It is wonderful. Provided you aren't expecting Florentine anatomy and perspective, you can really enjoy Cranach's eye for poses, rather like Watteau up top.

I have RA membership so anyone fancy a free trip let me know.

In the meantime, enjoy this. A happy coincidence that a Matisse "dance" is on display in the very same building:

[Amor de Cosmos]

The art thread will never end!

Delicious. I'm really looking forward to seeing this, there's an easy informality about his characters that's very endearing. (Mind you the bloke on the right of the circle does look as though he's about to take a bite out his partner's left tit.)

The IWM's collection is excellent, the trouble is very little is on display. Their space is taken up with tanks, planes and themed exhibits. Last year I particularly wanted to see their Orpens — they have all his WW1 stuff which runs to hundreds of paintings — I found exactly one in the gallery. I think they need a separate building for artwork. Most of their customers aren't interested in it, and the few that are leave disappointed.

Here's another interesting painting by Harry Bush, called A Corner of Merton. He's possibly even more obscure than Rosoman. I wish I could find a bigger image, it's quite a large canvas and much of its strength is in the detail. He has a cosy, meticulously draughtmanslike style that's disturbingly at odds with the devastation of the subject.

[erwin]

The art thread will never end!

(Hijacking, so moved it)

[Amor de Cosmos]

The art thread will never end!

Sickening. Utterly indefensible on any basis.

[Nocturnal Submission]

The art thread will never end!

Amor,

My thanks for alerting to me to Harry Bush and his work. Loved the picture. I've just done a bit of research and discovered that The Painter of the Suburbs lived about a five-minute stroll from my house. He's another one of his hyper-suburban images:

[Fatter Hipper]

The art thread will never end!

Oh dear. Image searching for Harry Bush on your work laptop's perhaps not the greatest idea.

I've been enjoying Hundertwasser recently, though as someone who's also keen with Le Corbusier, this is a little odd.

[Nocturnal Submission]

The art thread will never end!

Oh dear. Image searching for Harry Bush on your work laptop's perhaps not the greatest idea.

Yeah, I know!