British Art News
The latest news in Modern and Contemporary British Art.
by Alex Leith
A delicious country | John Craxton at Osborne Samuel
‘I can’t tell you how delicious this country is,’ wrote a 23-year-old John Craxton to his friend Elsie ‘EQ’ Nicholson, from Athens, on May 20, 1946. ‘…the lovely hot sun all day & at night tavernas: hot prawns in olive oil & great wine & the soft sweet smell of Greek pine trees. I shall never come home. How can I?’.
A surrealist snap | Eileen Agar at Austin/Desmond
1936 was quite a year for Eileen Agar. In the spring she was visited in her studio by Roland Penrose and Herbert Read, who, to her surprise, declared her a surrealist and selected two paintings and five objects for inclusion in the International Surrealist Exhibition they were organising at the New Burlington Galleries in Mayfair, running from June 11 to July 4.
Pop went the Easel | Derek Boshier at Whitford Fine Art
“I’m very interested in the whole set-up of the American influence in this country,” states the 24-year-old Derek Boshier, rather earnestly, in Ken Russell’s seminal BBC documentary Pop Goes the Easel, made and broadcast in 1962. “In the infiltration of the American way of life. It’s through advertising… that this infiltration has come through”.
Her version of real | Chantal Joffe, Scarlett and Lola
“I don’t find men very interesting to look at,” Chantal Joffe told the Telegraph a few years ago. She doesn’t feel the same way about women: her subject matter is almost always portraiture of female figures. She paints her mother, she paints her daughter Esme, she paints herself, unflinchingly (in 2018 she produced a self-portrait every day of the year), and she paints friends, and friends’ children, such as Scarlett and Lola (pictured) who have featured in her work since they were toddlers…
Naughty, but nice | Pop artist Deborah Azzopardi
Donald McGill… meet Roy Lichtenstein. Deborah Azzopardi paints sexy, saucy, cartoonish scenes in bright colours on large canvases.
Women pull their tops over their heads; louchely lean their long stiletto-tipped legs out of convertible sports cars, and put their fingers in front of their full lips, as if to whisper ‘Shhhh! Let’s keep this our little secret.’
Ceri Richards | Feathers and Furnaces, Jonathan Clark Fine Art
To use the parlance of the time, the Welsh artist Ceri Richards (1903-1971) ‘had a good war’, though it didn’t start off terribly well.
Jonathan Clark Fine Art Gallery represent Richards’ estate, and studies made in situ in the foundry are displayed in their current exhibition, hence the ‘Furnaces’ in its title. The ‘Feathers’ refers to the garments worn by the costermonger Pearly Kings and Queens, who had inspired the artist when he was living in London: wartime sketches of these flamboyant figures, also on show.
Image and Anxiety | Keith Vaughan at Osborne Samuel
Osborne Samuel have named their latest exhibition of the work of Keith Vaughan – their fifth since 2007 – Image and Anxiety.
The Mayfair gallery has gathered over 80 works from major private collections, and paintings from their own inventory, including all eight of his lithographs, and the show – which enjoyed a crowded private view on May 10 – is illustrated with two cabinets full of Vaughan’s notebooks, letters, photographs and journals.
NIGEL HENDERSON | CORONATION KIDS
These four characterful East London kids, dressed in their best for the 1953 Coronation, posing patiently for the camera under a flurry of raggedy bunting, will now be in their mid-seventies, around the same age as King Charles. They will, no doubt, currently be preparing for Charles’ coronation, if they’re still with us.
GILLIAN WEARING | SICKERT’S SISTER
Gillian Wearing is, of course, best known for her conceptual videos and photographs and, more recently, her sculptures. But during lockdown the Turner Prize-winning artist also turned – like other YBAs before her – to painting. And, in particular, to painting portraits.
RB KITAJ | DOMINIE AT SAN FELÍU, 1978
RJ Kitaj was taught drawing by Percy Horton, who was taught by Walter Sickert, who was taught by Edgar Degas. Is it fanciful to see the connection between the French master and the American artist?
Kitaj, who spent his formative years in England, had a big influence on British pop art, and never stopped experimenting with style, form and medium, but he was, above all, an exceptional draftsman: the critic Robert Hughes called him ‘better than almost anyone else’.
MARY FEDDEN | OH-SO ENGLISH STILL LIFES
Mary Fedden didn’t arrive at the style she is now most recognised for – calm, colourful, studiously naïve still lifes, recalling Braque and Matisse, but very English – until she was in her 50s.
EDWARD BAWDEN | MORTE D’ARTHUR 46
These duelling knights, designed and printed by Edward Bawden, are Sir Palomides and Sir Tristram, who have just been involved in one hell of a fight, for the hand of Queen Isoud, the fairest maiden in Ireland (and a handy surgeon, to boot).
SUMMER EXHIBITION | CYNTHIA CORBETT GALLERY
Cynthia Corbett’s Summer Exhibition is a vibrant affair, reflecting a love for style, glamour… and cool Modernist buildings. We’re particularly taken by the work of two of the artists she is showing, Deborah Azzopardi and Andy Burgess.
FRANK AUERBACH A MARRIAGE IN PAINT
This 2018 work by Frank Auerbach, painted in acrylic on board, is entitled ‘Reclining Head of Julia, 2018’. ‘Julia’ is his wife, not to be confused with Julia Yardley Mills (aka J.Y.M.), another of his regular sitters over the years.
CASTLEGATE HOUSE GALLERY | SUMMER SELECTION SHOW
Castlegate House Gallery, in the charming market town of Cockermouth in the Lake District, is holding its ‘Summer Selection’ show until August 31, featuring works by the likes of Joan Eardley, Miles Richmond, John Bellany and Norman Cornish.
HAPPY 95TH BIRTHDAY DERRICK GREAVES
It’s the last week of the Derrick Greaves exhibition, From Shangri-La to the Walled Garden, at James Hyman Gallery in Mayfair, which closes on August 26. The exhibition was organised to celebrate Greaves’ 95th birthday, and includes work produced as recently as 2021.
SCOTTISH WOMEN ARTISTS: TRANSFORMING TRADITION
This highly acclaimed exhibition at the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich, featuring Mod Brit greats has been extended till September 4.
HOCKNEY: INSIDE THE CASTLE
In 1969, David Hockney was commissioned to produce 39 etchings for the series ‘Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm’; he worked on them from May to November of that year. They were published by the Petersburg Press, in association with the Kasmin Gallery, New York, in 1970.
JULIAN TREVELYAN
Is there another ModBrit artist who lived as interesting a professional life as Julian Trevelyan, the painter, printmaker, teacher and writer?
LUCIAN FREUD: THE PAINTER AND HIS FAMILY
The exhibition includes Freud’s only known sculpture, The Three-legged Horse (1937) and early paintings, including The Palm Tree (1944), gifted to his aunt, Anna. There will also be better-known works, drawn from galleries and private collections, ranging across the artist’s 60-year career.