Painting of the Month (72) June 2017: Lucian Freud

Lucian Freud was the grandson of Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, so it is perhaps not surprising that he started his painting career working as a surrealist but soon switched to a kind of expressionist realism. He was a very private man and painted only those close to him, portraits of his friends and family and in a major way, of himself. In fact he was obsessed about self-portraiture.

Self Portrait, Lucian Freud, 1985

He has provided a comprehensive, unflattering history over many decades. And not only of himself; he managed to make the model, Kate Moss, appear ugly! He is known for "unflinching observations of anatomy and psychology". Once established his style did not really change much over six decades. It seems to have been inevitable that the long, intense sessions with his sitters have led to comparison with the way that his grandfather, Sigmund, worked.
Although Freud eschewed the avant-garde of his contemporaries, such as David Hockney, he was strikingly unusual in his detailed depiction of genitalia and secondary sexual characteristics in general. His explicit  illustrations showed the same level of detail that a botanical painter of flowers might show. 
He is regarded as one of the leading self-portraitists of the twentieth century. He did not -exhibit the range of earlier self-portraitists such as Rembrandt or Van Gogh but he revealed psychological insights into all of his subjects in a new way.

Freud with Kate Moss and his painting of her

I'm listening to Loudain Wainwright III, a much underrated singer-songwriter whose searing honesty sometimes makes me wince when I listen to his songs. Here is a song about his time living in London: Primrose Hill. Have a listen.

The Royal Parks of London (2): Regent's Park

There are eight Royal parks in central London, five of which are central : St James, Green Park, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens and Regent's Park. The land had formerly been owned by the Monarchy and now, as Crown Property, are open public spaces. Every one of them is superbly kept at considerable public expense and extremely popular with tourists and Londoners alike. Each has it's own unique character.

London has over 40% of green space - one of the highest percentages in the world.  Regents Park with Primrose Hill to the north is shown in orange. The black area is London Zoo, within the the park.  The map represents an area about 35 miles across!

It was laid out in the early 1800s by the architect John Nash. He had a plan to build an arc of 56 grand classical villas around the northern Outer Circle Road. Only nine were ever completed displaying a mix of classical orders. Also in the park is Winfield House built for the Woolworth's heiress Barbara Hutton in 1936. It has the second largest private garden in London (Buckingham Palace has the largest). Since 1955 it has been the official residence of the American Ambassador to the Court of St James (that is to say, the UK).

Japanese style bridge over a water feature in Regent's Park

Queen Mary's Gardens in the centre of Regent's Park

Corinthian and Tuscan Villas in the Outer Circle.

The many alluring features of Regent's Park include it's Open Air Theatre. None of the stage or auditorium are under cover and 140,000 seats are sold during it's 18 week Summer season every year, making it one of the largest theatres in London. Currently playing is a new version of On The Town and coming up this year are a dramatised version of A Tale of Two Cities and Oliver Twist.

The park also contains the the largest grass-covered sporting area in central London. Lots of football and cricket matches take place and, near to the US Ambassadors residence, is a baseball triangle.

The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) houses London Zoo within the park. This is a zoo which one can approve of because their primary aim is research and the preservation of species and most animals live much longer within the zoo than they would in the wild. 

Many blockbuster cinema films have scenes shot within the park; the original Harry Potter, About a Boy, Withnail and I, Bridget Jones The Edge of Reason to name a few.

The Triton Fountain, Regent's Park

In the north of the park Regent's canal passes through the Zoo and the park itself presenting one of the best walks in London; Little Venice to Camden Town. And north of that lies Primrose Hill, actually separate but a part of the park. It slopes gently upwards giving a splendid view of central London.

Central London viewed from Primrose Hill

I'm listening to Kathryn Williams early cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah from her 2007 album Relations. Listen here. Her plaintive, fragile voice suits the song very well.

How Naomi Blake forged hope out of the Holocaust

Naomi Blake at her home in Muswell Hill, London

Naomi Blake is now well into her nineties. She was born in Czechoslovakia in 1924, the youngest of ten children and was an Auschwitz survivor as a child. Her original name was Zisel, which means 'sweet'. In 1948 she changed her name to Naomi. Naturally her experience of the Holocaust has been a major influence on her work as a sculptor but her output has had the recurring theme of optimism, hope for a better future and the promotion of understanding and goodwill between those of different faiths and backgrounds. Her story is remarkable. She lost most of her extended family, only eight out of 32 surviving and, during one of the Nazi death marches to the Baltic she made "a dash for it" escaping through deep snowdrifts and made her way back to  her former village only to find her home destroyed. From there she made her way, via Milan and Rome to Jerusalem in Palestine where she joined a Jewish defence group. She became a commander of 100 female soldiers and was injured by shrapnel from fighting the British, a piece of which is still in her neck. Eventually she moved to London for medical treatment where she met and married a German refugee, Asher Blake.

"The Refugee", Naomi Blake, Bramcote Memorial Garden, Nottinghamshire, England

She trained at the Hornsey School of Art and after starting with ceramic pots she moved through portrait sculpture, figurative and abstract work before moving back to introducing figurative aspects. She was largely influenced by Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.

She began exhibiting in 1962 and has work in (or more likely outside of) many Cathedrals, universities,  galleries, Churches and Synagogues in the UK and around the world.

"View", 2002, Fitzroy Square Garden, London

Her work is consistently optimistic and forward-looking. The Prince of Wales and his late grandmother, the Queen Mother, had pieces of her work in their private collections. Her daughter, Anita, says that, unlike many survivors, she was always ready to talk about her experiences of the Holocaust. She is a remarkable person who deserves a much higher profile that she has.

The picture below is a small maquette  (a sculptor’s small-scale preliminary model) owned by your correspondent, Bazza. Much of her work, like this one, has a mother and child theme. I rotate this piece every few weeks because it appeals from all angles.

"Mother and Child" maquette, Naomi Blake, owned by Bazza

Her art is life-affirming and promotes human values. Despite her experiences, Naomi has said:

"there is something positive in the human figure – there is a lot of good in people…with my past, if I were pessimistic, somehow, it wouldn’t have been worthwhile surviving".

The Kiss by Judee Sill

Judee Sill lived and died of a drugs overdose after a tragic life in 1975 aged 35. Her father and brother died while she was young and she had an alcoholic mother, all of which scarred her for life. She turned to heroin and had a short career as a bank-robber! 

And you probably never knew that she existed.

The Kiss by Judee Sill.
Love rising from the mists,
Promise me this and only this,
Holy breath touching me, like a wind song
Sweet communion of a kiss

Sun sifting through the grey
Enter in, reach me with a ray
Silently swooping down, just to show me
How to give my heart away

Once a crystal choir
Appeared while I was sleeping
And called my name
And when they came down nearer
Saying, dying is done,
Then a new song was sung
Until somewhere we breathed as one
And still I hear their whisper

Stars bursting in the sky
Hear the sad nova's dying cry
Shimmering memory, come and hold me
While you show me how to fly

Sun sifting through the grey
Enter in, reach me with a ray
Silently swooping down, just to show me
How to give my heart away

Lately sparkling hosts
Come fill my dreams, descending
On fiery beams
I've seen 'em come clear down
Where our poor bodies lay,
Soothe us gently and say,
Gonna wipe all your tears away
And still I hear their whisper

Love, rising from the mists
Promise me this and only this,
Holy breath touching me, like a wind song
Sweet communion of a kiss

Judee Sill

She employs a lot of religious imagery and there are many Old and New Testament references in these words. For example "hosts....descending on fiery beams" and, in the opening verse, the essence of parts of Genesis 1:2 is invoked. Another commentator has said the Hebrew word ruach usually translated into English as spirit more correctly means wind or breath; "Holy breath, touching me like a wind song".
The imagery of the "crystal choir" who "came down nearer" is strongly evocative of a passage in the Book of Revelation.
If you have never come across Judee Sill before here is my 'Revelation': The Kiss is not only a poem but also a song and a wonderful song too. Lyrics and poetry are different things but this a rare example of lyrics so beautiful and emotional that they stand up as poetry. I cannot hear it without being moved and, after all the years, it still grabs me and moves me. Listen to it here. And it's worth reading the comments on You Tube as well.

Mechelen, Belgium

The Grote Markt (Town Square) of Mechelen in Belgium

I have just returned from a five day trip to Mechelen in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium (In French it's known as Malines). I have made the easy journey to Belgium dozens of times from my home in suburban London. Mechelen is a very typical Flemish town with a medieval central square and 336 protected-status beautiful buildings. St Rumbold's Cathedral, begun after 1200 and consecrated more than 100 years later, is visible in the picture above. Most of these town squares, usually known as the  Grote Markt (Great Market) are lined with buildings of Dutch-style architecture, most of which are restaurants and bars. More often than not the classy retail shops are situated in the streets leading out of the square in all directions. Although Mechelen is less of a tourist town it is still very popular with locals. I didn't hear too much English being spoken but most people are able to speak it well.

The vaulted ceiling of St Rumbolds, Mechelen

This type of ceiling is very weighty and it is not uncommon to see this style of architecture built with flying buttresses because the weight tends to push the walls outward and the buttresses transfer the load to the ground or a lower wall. The cathedral is full of superb works of art although it was stripped almost bare in the three-day Spanish Fury of 1572. It has two superb carillons of bells totalling 98 pieces, many weighing nearly a ton each!

Belgium has hundreds of different types of beers, as many as 500 at one time. They still offer genuine Trappist Beers brewed by monks since medieval times in six Belgian monasteries (there are five others in the world). The use of the term Trappist is strictly controlled but so-called 'Trappist-style' beers are marketed as Abbey Beers. Funnily enough, my friends and I managed to find some in Mechelen. Who'da thought?

As well as beer, Belgium is rightly famous for it's food having more Michelin stars pro-rata than France and Mechelen keeps up that tradition. Every restaurant we visited gave excellent quality and value even though some of them were clearly touristic places.

Belgian chips (fries)

They greatest culinary delight of Belgian cuisine is clearly fried potato chips (also known as French fries). The secret is that they are twice-fried, at least. They are firstly blanched, then stored in cold water and finally fried completely and served in paper cones with a dollop of mayonnaise. Enjoyed with a glass of Frank Boon Kriek beer (brewed with sour cherries) - that's sheer heaven!

I seem to have wondered off the original subject of Mechelen. Never mind......

Painting of the Month (71) May 2017: Norman Rockwell

Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) was an American asrtist most famous for his cover illustrations for The Saturday Evening Post. He contributed over 300 covers during a period of more than 40 years. This picture served as a propaganda poster in World War 2 and was used as the magazine's cover in May 1943. Women were encouraged to fill the jobs left vacant when the men went to war and Rosie was a kind of ideal. She became a feminist icon.

Norman Rockwell, Rosie The Riveter, 1943

Rockwell's model was a nineteen-year-old phone operator named Mary Doyle Keefe. She was a very petite young lady and said that Rockwell phoned her after the painting was completed to apologise for making her look so big. That was not an accident of course; the idea was to show that women could be strong and easily do men's jobs. The picture has iconic status in the United States and was sold to a museum for $5 million in 2002. Rosie is seen eating a ham sandwich with a huge (light-weight fake) riveting gun on her lap. She has her foot placed, symbolically, on a copy of Hitler's Mein Kampf. The picture was sent on a touring exhibition to encourage people to buy war bonds along with a set of four pictures called Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Fear, Freedom from Want and Freedom of Speech.

The Four Freedoms

Rockwell has often been dismissed as a proper artist largely because of the perceived "cartoonish" sentimentality of his subjects. Critics would say that he is an illustrator rather than an artist. He had no problem with that and even referred to himself as an illustrator. However, I think he is hard done by. His paintings show obvious great skill and technique with superb compositions. His work was not always sentimental. Consider the picture below.

Norman Rockwell, The Problem We All Live With, 1964

This a very serious picture. The little girl is being escorted into a school in the south by US Marshalls. They are headless and the girl is highlighted to make sure that she captures your attention. Rockwell made her dress white (it was dark grey in reality) so that it formed a  high contrast with her dark skin. The rest of the picture is fairly 'grey' with the shocking exception of the rotten tomatoes that have been thrown and the yellow armbands. Also the whole picture forms a golden rectangle as does the ratio, top left from her chest. None of this is accidental, including the way she appears the be 'boxed-in' by the marshals.

On a lighter note, much of the imagery in the film Forrest Gump is based on Rockwell's work.

Rockwell                        Young Forrest Gump

And finally a look at a very typical and much reproduced early work:

Gazing at the Moon, 1926

I am listening to Betty Wright's Clean Up Woman. A brilliant 70s soul recording with fabulous guitar playing by Willie "Little Beaver" Hale.

Esprit de l'escalier

Esprit de l'escalier, from the French literally meaning 'staircase wit' is a beautiful phrase which is used in English because staircase or escalator wit sounds clumsy and inadequate. The pronunciation is 'espree de lescaliay' (click the words to hear it on You Tube).

It is defined as "A witty remark thought of too late, on the way home [or as you go upstairs]; the clever comment you wish you had delivered". We've all been there!

A good example is from Seinfeld (which is packed with examples):

George has a conflict with one of his co-workers named Reilly, who notices George stuffing himself with shrimp cocktail at a meeting. He remarks: "Hey George, the ocean called; they're running out of shrimp." Slow-witted George cannot think of a comeback until later, while driving to the tennis club to meet Jerry. His comeback is: "Well, the Jerk Store called, and they're running out of you." George becomes obsessed with recreating the encounter so that he can make use of his comeback.    Jerry, Elaine and Kramer disapprove of "jerk store" as a comeback mainly because "there are no jerk stores." Elaine suggests, "Your cranium called. It's got some space to rent." Jerry offers, "The zoo called. You're due back by six." Kramer finally suggests that George simply tell Reilly that he had sex with his wife.

This figure of speech should not be confused with a regular witty response. For example:

John Montagu: "Sir, I do not know whether you will die on the gallows or of the pox."

John Wilkes:"That will depend, my lord, on whether I embrace your principles or your mistress."

It wouldn't have been the same if Wilkes had written him a letter the next day with his riposte, would it?
I'm listening to Neil Young's Harvest Moon. After all these years I still enjoy hearing it.Click the title to listen.

Jackson Browne

I really like the music of Jackson Browne and have been listening to it for many years and have seen him in wonderful live-performance concerts a couple of times. He writes or co-writes most of his own material and is an excellent lyricist.

So, for your delectation and delight I have made links to five of his best songs on You Tube. Just click on the titles to be taken there!

Jackson Browne, then and now.

We begin with a recording made with the talented Irish musician Sharon Shannon of Man of Constant Sorrow.

Next is a song that he has to play in every live show. This live version is out of synch but it is from a unique album which featured all new songs recorded live in various places including backstage and hotel bedrooms but mostly on stage. For this song he always has the road crew on stage gathered around the piano to sing the backing. Enjoy Rosie.

This is a song which my wife Leah really loves and so do I. It's very different from his usual style but I never tire of listening to Linda Paloma.

Next up is a wistful song called Jamaica Say You Will. It has been recorded by Joe Cocker, Tom Rush, The Byrds and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band among others.
Lastly one his very best songs: The Pretender. A wry commentary on contemporary life with superb lyrics:

"I'm gonna be a happy idiot

And struggle for the legal tender,

Where the ads take aim and lay their claim

To the heart and soul of the spender.

And believe in whatever may lie

In those things that money can buy

Though true love could have been a contender.

Are you there? Say a prayer for The Pretender

Who started out so young and strong

Only to surrender."

Wanstead House

This is the tragic story of Wanstead House, a fabulous Great House which once stood in what is now Wanstead Park in suburban East London on the Essex border. It was recognised as one of the finest houses in Europe, a rival to Versailles. It's not there anymore and this the story of what the building and grounds were like and why the house is gone.

In England it was on a par with Kensington and Blenheim Palaces and it's architecture influenced the design of the Mansion House in central London, (the residence and office of the Lord Mayor of London).

Wanstead has been been occupied back into pre-history with stone-age flint axe-heads being discovered and a magnificent Roman mosaic was destroyed when Wanstead House was being developed. It was a Royal Deer Park bought by Henry VII in 1499 and his unruly son, the future Henry VIII, spent time there, where he could could be kept under parental control. There was a former palace on the site which was visited by Kings and Queens. Elizabeth I rode out there to meet her half-sister Mary with 1,000 knights on horse!

So the area was well-established when. in 1667 Sir Joshua Child, head of the fabulously wealthy East India Company purchased the estate which eventually fell into the hands of his son Sir Richard Child who commissioned the leading architect Colen Campbell to build a great house in 1715. It had a 60 feet wide portico supported by six Corinthian pillars in the neo-classical style which was quite innovative at that time and there were over 70 rooms. The estate passed down the family and it eventually came into the possession of the heiress Catherine Tylney-Long who, at the age of sixteen became the richest non-royal person in the land.

The old house and gardens in 1710 shortly before the new building was begun

Wanstead House at it's finest

Sir Richard Child & family at Wanstead House
By William Hogarth, 1738

The house was lavishly decorated with murals and painted ceilings and was furnished to an extremely high standard. Members of the French Bourbon family were guests when they had to escape the French Revolution.  Extensive grounds were laid out and a series of large inter-connected lakes were
created in the extensive grounds. Naturally Catherine had many suitors whom she rejected, including the future William IV, uncle to Queen Victoria. Eventually she succumbed to the charms of William Wellesley-Pole, nephew of the Duke of Wellington. The man was a complete scoundrel and as soon as he got his hands on the huge fortune he began to throw lavish parties and spending at an alarming rate. He eventually gambled away all of the money. At the age of 34 Catherine died of either suicide or a broken heart. Her ghost is said to haunts the area nowadays.

Bankruptcy meant the building had to be put up for sale in 1824. It had cost an incredible £360,000 to build but, as no buyer could be found, it was sold off brick-by-brick including all of the interior fittings, raising just £10,000. England had tragically lost one of it's greatest buildings.
Today the beautiful wild park is a tranquil place to stroll around the lakes or in the woods full of oak and sweet chestnut trees. There is plenty of wildlife to see including stoats, weasels and herons. A large part of Wanstead Park is now a golf course. The ruined grotto was where Robert Mitchum filmed the denouement of The Big Sleep. Although within in the London Borough of Redbridge it is officially a part of Epping Forest and is administered by the City of London Corporation. Many of the young families enjoying the bluebells and playing with their children have no idea of it's past and sad history.

All that remains on the grounds today are the ruined Grotto and the Temple, now a Museum

I'm listening to Bette Midler singing 

John Prine's lovely, sad song

Hello in There. You can hear it here.

Painting of the Month (70) April 2017: Chagall

Marc Chagall was born in 1887 near Vitebsk, Belarus, at that time a part of the Russian Empire. He occupies two main areas of modern painting;  Picasso described him as the last of the great modern colourists and he is also considered to be the pre-eminent Jewish painter of the twentieth century. He was uneasy with that description because, although Jewish themes dominated much of his work he was very interested in modern painting generally.

I find this picture very romantic. It shows him with the love of his life, his first wife Bella. He made a few versions of this picture and many others where they are floating through the air in a dream-like state. In this painting they are floating above his home town of Vitebsk. Below we can see the houses but we are not looking up at the couple, instead we are at the same height as them and looking directly across. The painting is heavily cubist-influenced – note the way that their clothing is beginning to be depicted as a series of individual shapes. Chagall went to Paris at a time when Cubism was the major movement in painting although he returned home to paint this just before the Russian revolution.

Portrait of Chagall by his first art teacher
who, it seems, could not paint hands.

There is a suggestion of the Earth’s curvature which accents their height. The symbolism indicates that the couple felt “lighter than air” because of the love they felt for each other. They seem to almost be swimming (I don’t care about splitting infinitives!), in a kind of back-stroke but they are floating as well. So, active and passive at the same time!

Although this is an oil painting on canvas, the houses have the look of a Japanese watercolour and I love the way one of the houses is painted entirely in red. Incidentally, this picture was once considered to be almost pornographic because she is showing some bare wrist!

I don’t want to over-analyze here because I feel that the beauty of the work speaks for itself. Chagall died as recently as 1985 at the age of ninety-seven.

 I'm listening to to the wonderful Joan Baez singing the achingly sad 

Jesse a beautiful song written by Janice Ian. Listen here.

Ozymandias

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)

Shelley’s famous poem is in the form of an Italian sonnet; a stanza of eight lines followed by one of six lines. It is written in iambic pentameter which is five pairs of beats, or iams, with an accent on the second beat. For example “If music be the food of love play on” or “Now is the winter of our discontent”. However I am not really interested in the technical aspects of this brilliant little poem. It packs a real punch and demonstrates that less is more! 

It is about the futility of tyranny. Ozymandias was a king of ancient Egypt, full of his own importance but in the end his huge statue crumbled into the empty sands (like Saddam Hussein?) The inscription "Look on my works ye mighty and despair" tells us much about him. We learn that the sculptor showed a sneer of "cold command" on the lips - so there's one person, at least who saw through him.

OZYMANDIAS   

I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown

And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.

And on the pedestal these words appear:

`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away”.

Shelley has used the exotic ancient past of Egypt to demonstrate that art can critique power and, perhaps, to make a statement about the politics of his own time. Ozymandias may have been a despotic tyrant but his Empire and his monument have been reduced to rubble – only the sneer remains and the inscription. The traveller who is relating the story looks about him after reading it but only sees the “Lone and level sands that stretch far away”. Nature is mightier than the king and all of his power and glory is reduced to dust. The vast desert is mocking human vanity and hubris. For me, this is an absolute masterpiece

Footnote: What does this poem have in common with Breaking Bad?

The final season of Breaking Bad follows Walter White as his meth-producing empire, metaphorically crumbles into the sand in the desert of New Mexico. Near the end of the consistently brilliant series one of the best episodes is called .........'Ozymandias'.

I have been listening to the brilliant but tragic Judee Sill singing The Kiss. You can hear it here. There is also a live version from the BBC which I find very emotional (but I'm a bit soppy).

Painting of the Month (69) March 2017: Picasso

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, Pablo Picasso, 1907

This is one of the most famous paintings ever made but, even now, a hundred years after it was first exhibited it tends to cause a strong reaction, often a negative one. I would like to try to show why it is such an important picture and to explain some of the pictorial elements and provide some contextual background. Pablo Picasso painted the picture in 1907 but did not show it until 1916, knowing the reception it was likely to receive. And the reaction was strong, even from his fellow artists. Matisse, in many ways the antithesis of Picasso and his rival to lead the avant-garde of modern painting, expressed his dislike as did Georges Braque. Braque eventually began to appreciate the work and he and Picasso went on to develop Cubism together.

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, (The Young Ladies of Avignon), is clearly in a proto-Cubist style. It ignored the then-current style of European painting; it was very two-dimensional lacking perspective and, although clearly representative, it is beginning to break up the picture surface into lines and angles. Picasso had recently seen an exhibition of African art and owned Fang masks similar to the one shown here. The two figures on the right of the picture clearly show this influence while the three on the left have typically Iberian faces.

The picture portrays five prostitutes in a brothel on the Carrer d'Avinyó (so: young ladies of Avignon Street, Barcelona, not of Avignon in south-east France). The ladies are not demure, staring out of the picture in a slightly aggressive or confrontational manner. It was meant to shock - and it did! The work was deemed to be immoral when first exhibited in public. Picasso originally called it Le Bordel d’Avignon but it was given it's famous title by a critic who probably helped prevent total public outrage. Picasso always disliked it's newer title and always preferred his original title. He always would refer to it as "my brothel".

Every new breakaway movement in art, however radical, owes much to what went before and below I have shown some works which are acknowledged to have been influential in the creation of this work.

El Greco, The Vision of St John, 1608. Often cited as an influence.

 Paul Cezanne, Four Bathers, 1890

Edouard Manet, Olympia, 1863. Note the defiant stare.