Renaissance Faces at the National Gallery

Last week I went to see the Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to Titian exhibition at the National Gallery in London. If you're going to be in London before the exhibition ends in January, I highly recommend you go and see it as it includes some iconic paintings and some very usual artwork.

Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?) 1433
Jan van Eyck
National Gallery, London (image from Wikimedia)

What's wonderful about exhibitions like this is how they remind you how long people can live on in their portraits. The people in the portraits in this exhibition all lived in the 15th and 16th centuries and most have been dead for well over 500 years - and yet their humanity speaks volumes due to the skill of the artists.

The German artist Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) explained that portraiture preserves the likenesses of men after their deaths. Remembering people was the main purpose of portraiture in the Renaissance.
Exhibition pamphlet

Phillip II by Titian
Museo del Prado (image from wikipedia)

Other things I noted include:

• how artists often create illusions which flatter the subject - Phillip II's legs got a lot longer after he sat for Titian. He really looked like this ( think!).
  
• how artists often focus on an idealised version of beauty - and how this always seems to vary according to time and place
  
• how Holbein rarely worried about what to put in the background! Blue green seems to go with everything! ;)
  
• how enigmatic faces always make you look longer at a portrait. I'm still puzzling over what exactly the artist does to make a face look enigmatic. It's something to do with the direction of gaze, the eyes and the mouth.
• how portraits can be constructed after death (like this one) - and how sometimes people anticipated their own death by commissioning their portraits for their tombs in advance of their death
• how you didn't have to be wealthy or an aristocrat to commission a portrait
• how a good self-portrait very often promotes the work of an artist
  
• how painterly Titian was!
• how long portraits can survive in a really excellent condition
  
• how painting can improve on photographs in so very many ways.
  

After all, if we hadn't had people who drew and painted we wouldn't have any record of what people looked like in the Renaissance. Plus who's to say whether photographs we take today will last five hundred years!

You can see sketches I made while in the exhibition in Renaissance Faces - in my sketchbook.

Slideshows of the paintings are available as follows:

• National Gallery - Paintings from the Exhibition
• The Guardian: Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to Titian (14 pictures)
• The Daily Telegraph - Unforgettable Faces
• The Daily Telegraph - Renaissance art: face values

This is a really splendid exhibition, but the tickets are not cheap (£10). So my recommendation would be to make sure you have enough time to see it properly. The crowds have quietened down now - but will return during the Christmas holidays and in the days just before it finishes. So, go and see it now if you have the opportunity.

For those of us who live in London, what we're really coming to the exhibition to see are all the major loans of paintings belonging to other galleries and collections in the UK, Europe and North America. Highlights include masterpieces of Habsburg court portraiture on loan from the Museo Nacional del Prado, including Titian’s majestic warrior portrait of the young Philip II (1527 - 1598) and Anthonis Mor’s 'The Court Jester Pejeron'.

However, if you can't get to see this exhibition, it should be noted that it includes a number of paintings which you are able to see any time in the National gallery for free. These include:

• Jan Van Eyck's 'Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?)', 1433 - see above
  
• Jan van Eyck's The Arnolfini Portrait Full title: Portrait of Giovanni (?) Arnolfini and his Wife ('The Arnolfini Portrait') - see right for sketch
• Jan van Eyck's Portrait of a Man ('Léal Souvenir') 1432 - Léal Souvenir means 'accurate likeness'
  
• Hans Holbein the Younger, 'The Ambassadors' 1533 (this is a link to an explanation of the Ambassadors - including the meaning of all the items in the picture)
  
• Hans Holbein the Younger, 'A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling' - I love this painting.
  
• Hans Holbein the Younger, Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan 1538 - a really splendid full length portrait when this was not the norm. She only sat for Holbein for 3 hours - and was wearing mourning clothes because she was already a widow aged 16.
• Quinten Massys, 'An Old Woman (‘The Ugly Duchess’)', about 1513 (but it was really good to see it paired up with its counterpart!)
  

My favourite paintings and artworks in the exhibition would probably have to include:

• all the portraits by Jan Van Eyck - I'm not fussy, when this artist paints portraits he can do no wrong in my eyes! This is, after all, the man who is frequently credited with inventing oil painting! I used to have a postcard of the painting which is thought to be his self portrait on the wall of my room all the way through college. I couldn't believe how small it was the very first time I saw it 'face to face'. I've created a new information site about this artist Jan van Eyck - Resources for Art Lovers - it's got the basics and I'll be adding to it and refining it over time. I enjoyed seeing the portrait of van Eyck's wife for the first time. (Jan van Eyck, 'Margaret, the Artist’s Wife', 1439 Groeningemuseum, Bruges. )
  
• all the Durer paintings, drawings and engavings (again, I'm a longtime fan of Durer) - this one is stunning (it seems to me this would normally be thought of as a totally modern notion of how to crop a face - and yet it was done in 1508) and this one - A Portrait Machine (1525) - is fascinating.
• A Man Holding a Coin of Nero (possibly Bernardo Bembo, 1433-1519), about 1474, by Hans Memling. Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp
• Laughing child, possibly Henry VIII, c.1498, Painted and gilded terracotta, attributed to Guido Mazzoni - the link is to its entry in the Royal Collection. This is an amazing bust. I've never seen a laughing child before done as a bust like this and the head is just remarkable. I had to draw it!

A Laughing Boy (Henry VIII) attributed to Georgio Mazzoni
11" x 8", pencil in sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to Titian exhibition continues until 18 January 2009 in the Sainsbury Wing, at the National Gallery in London. The exhibition is organised by the National Gallery, London, and the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.

There is a simple rule which needs to be applied to all art appreciation. If an artwork deserves to be looked at for more than ten seconds, it stands a chance of being a serious piece of work.........This is a brilliant survey of European portraiture from the 15th and 16th centuries, at that moment in the western tradition when painting the human form reached a degree of brilliance and profundity which has never been surpassed. When you look at these great portraits by the likes of Memling, Holbein, Titian, Pontormo, Botticelli, Bellini, Lotto and so many others – there is an almost absurd embarrassment of riches here;
Michael Glover

Campaign for the Titians

I also went to see the two Titians which are the current subject of a major campaign to save them for the nation and are in London for a month. I watched a video on the news recently of Lucian Freud (who NEVER does interviews) talking about how inspiring he finds the Titians - particularly Diana and Acteon. The interviewer had obviously mugged up and asked all sorts of seemingly intelligent questions which fell on stony ground. Freud wasn't in the least bit interested in the history or the colours or the brushwork - what he liked was the way the painting made him feel when he looked at it!

Actaeon Surprising Diana (Artemis) in the bath, Titian, 1556-59, for Philip II
(National Gallery of Scotland - on loan from the Bridgewater Collection).

Titian’s ‘Diana and Actaeon’ is one of six large-scale mythological works inspired by the Roman poet Ovid. These works were painted for Philip II of Spain. Titian called his lyrical compositions ‘poesie’, the visual equivalents of poetry. Nothing he ever painted was more inventive in beauty and power.

You can see the campaign and donate online on the web by visiting the National Gallery - Campaign for the Titians. You can see the Titians in Room 1 at the National Gallery in London until this Thursday - 20th November.

Reviews of the exhibition

You can read reviews of the Renaissance faces exhibition by following these links:

• The Guardian - Enchanted to meet you (Laura Cuming)
  
• The Independent - Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck To Titian, National Gallery, London (Michael Glover rates is as a 5 star exhibition)
• Daily Telegraph - National Gallery's Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to Titian review
• The Times - Renaissance Faces at the National Gallery by Waldemar Januszczak- who is critical of the pathway through the timeline and the story of portraiture - and I think he's got a point. However I often walk backwards through exhibitions to see which paintings I want to go back to again so this didn't overly concern me.
• 24 hour museum - RENAISSANCE FACES: VAN EYCK TO TITIAN AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY By Tara Booth

Links:

• National Gallery - Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to Titian
• Jan van Eyck - Resources for Art Lovers
  

Life drawing in the Royal Academy Schools Life Room

2 minute life drawings (from the mirror)
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

On Saturday afternoon, I did a life drawing workshop in the Life Room at the Royal Academy Schools. To be honest I really did it to be able to see this famous Life Drawing Room and to sit on the benches sat on by very many famous British artists - such as Turner and Constable - who studied at the Royal Academy Schools.

What's the room like?

Life room, Royal Academy School
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell

• It's a large rectangular room - painted white with a red curtain running the length of the wall behind the model
  
• Lighting: At the back of the room is a slanted rooflight running the length of the room which provides a north light coming from behind the student - the ideal lighting for drawing and painting. Overhead there is a semi circular run of spots available to light the model. Also on the back wall there are what look like rather old lights which can be positioned by students drawing in the back row - obviously for lighting their work.
• Easels: There is room for a few easels, however their placement is limited by the benches......
  
• Bench Seating: The benches used in the room were transferred from Somerset House, the original home of the Royal Academy Schools, when both RA and schools transferred to Burlington House in 1867. The rail in front is a good height to rest a drawing board against. There's a shelf under the rail which provides space to put drawing implements. The benches provide room for a lot of students to be in a semi-circle around the model and for all to have a good view.
  

Bench seating in the Life room, Royal Academy Schools
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell

• Casts: Drawing from casts was one of the main ways students used to learn about the body and its anatomy - how it works. There are casts outside the room in the main corridor and around the room (see top). The west wall has a number of boxes containing casts of heads which you can see in the main picture. The most surprising cast though was the full sized horse which apparently came from the studio of Stubbs! (Although I'm wondering whether it might have come from Munnings who was a President of the RA)

Casts in the Life Room, Royal Academy Schools
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell

• Mirror: The south wall has a mirror. As I was sat in the front row near the middle, I found myself drawing the image in the mirror on a few occasions as my position sometimes meant I wasn't far enough away from the model to be able to see comfortably (ie without a crick in my neck). The addition of a mirror though is one which brings a whole new experience to life drawing. I've never before done life drawing before in a room which had one and I think it would be a very welcome addition to any life room.
  

If you want to know more about the Life Room take a look at:

• Helen Valentine's essay The RA in the Victorian Period which provides a good background to the use of the Life Room (which I've now got a copy of but have managed to mislay - this post will be updated when I find it!)
  
• Sidney Hutchison's History of the Royal Academy which provides a brief mention
  
• School of Genius: A History of the Royal Academy of Arts by James Fenton (Author) provides quite a few references to classes. This review Art school for scandal in the Times Online has persuaded me that this book might be rather a good read!

I'd like to thank the Librarian at the Royal Academy for the abovementioned references.

The workshop and my life drawings

The workshop was run by Francis Bowyer who teaches at the Royal Academy Schools on a regular basis. The model was absolutely first rate - in fact I'd go so far as to say I've never had a better life model before!

We did the normal sorts of exercises which many tutors use in relation to life drawing:

• 'quickies' to get warmed up,
  
• drawing with our 'wrong' hands (I'm pretty awful!),
  
• drawing from memory (a continuous process of refinement) and
  
• 'blind' drawing where you continue to move the pencil while looking at the model - and not at the paper and drawing from memory! Apparently we were all really good at the latter! However he did say he used to have a student who could do it for 20 minutes so I think I certainly have room for improvement in that department!

Life Drawing - long pose #1 (from the mirror view)
29cm x 42cm pencil on cartridge drawing paper
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The workshop emphasised placing the model within a structure rather than drawing an isolated form - and we did a couple of long poses. I must confess I've drawn models like this for years as I always use the verticals and horizontals surrounding the model as a way of measuring from a fixed point (I'd be lost without the verticals and horizontals in the studio where I do my 'drawing a head' class at the Princes Drawing Shool!). I guess I must also get a lot of practice at doing this from my drawing of people in interiors.

I very much enjoyed Francis's style of teaching. He offers enough information for people to understand why they are being asked to do something and how to go about it. He also drew out the experience of doing something - noting, for example, how we all slowed down as we began to draw in ways which were unfamiliar. At the same time he tailors his comments to the apparent skills of the indiviudal who is drawing (which happened to include one lady who had never done a life class before!) and speaks quietly to individuals so as to not interfere too much with the concentration of the other people drawing. All that plus comments about the quality of the drawing by various renowened artists and a smattering of art history!

I'd certainly recommend a workshop with Francis Bowyer if you ever find one listed.

Future events

If you think you might be interested in the educational workshops and events run by the Royal Academy of Arts, check out the education page on their website. There's a whole range of activities for different people from different age groups and with different skills. For example, here are the links to some of what's available:

• workshops and masterclasses (these tend to link to exhibitions and often sell out fast - but the link is generic)
• evening lectures
  
• free lunchtime lectures
• focus days, symposia and RA Forums
• Friends preview days and events

If you're interested in the RA Schools and the style of teaching take a peek at the RA Schools website and the statement about teaching.

16th November 2008 - Who's made a mark this week?

As you read this I'm around and about Somerset House sketching with Friends of the Royal Watercolour Society (but I'm still using my coloured pencils!).

Life Room at the Royal Academy Schools
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Yesterday I was life drawing in the Life Room at the Royal Academy Schools - which is the oldest art school in the UK - and sat on the very same curved benches that Turner and Constable had sat on when students at the school! Oddly enough, Turner would have sat on them at Somerset House - which was the original home of the Royal Academy and its schools. The benches apparently moved along with the School.

While at Somerset House, I'm going to be trying to get to see the new exhibition of Turner Paths to Fame: Turner Watercolours from The Courtauld at the Courtauld Gallery which occupies part of Somerset House.

I'm now running out the door...........

Congratulations to:

• Tracy Hall (Watercolour Artist Diary ) whose having a cracking year for her debut in miniature art. Her post Miniature Art Society of Florida relates her latest achievement which is that only has her entry been accepted for their show but the the Miniature Art Society of Florida also wants to buy it (before the show) and add it to their permanent collection. I guess news travels!
  
• Dan at EmptyEasel.com who is celebrating two years blogging EmptyEasel Celebrates 2 Years With A Long Look Back (And a Quick Look Forward)
• Andrea Joseph who has reached her 300th post in out of the blue AND joined the artist colleborative group Modofly. Like she says - check out the contributors and the Modofly Blog (I must confess I'm a little confused by the website and blog.)
  

Art Blogs

• Thanks to The Pastel Journal Blog for highlighting the website of the Great Lakes Pastel Society - which has a featured artist on its home page which changes every day. What a really great idea - and I'm only surprised this isn't being done by more art societies!
  
• I greatly enjoyed meeting Olha Pryymak this week. She's one of the ING Discerning Eye selected artists (see By the well) and is also my fellow London correspondent for Urban Sketchers (see below). Olha posts about her old home in the post Soviet Ukraine on her blog Olechko
  
• Portrait sculptor and painter Lucie Geffre is blogging in three languages on her blog
  
• Luan Udell (Luann Udell) had a recent 'learning experience' of a rather different kind. It's very relevant to anybody who finds they're corresponding with somebody who appears to be saying they're going to copy your work rather than buy it. This story has a twist - see Scary shadow artists and me.
• Vivien Blackburn (Paintings, Prints and Stuff) is Painting Russian Dolls 2 as Christmas presents - a fascinating process and absolutely delightful. I loved the 360 degrees perspective shots!
  

Vivien Blackburn's Russian Dolls
copyright Vivien Blackburn

• Armand (Moleskinerie) has an Open Session : The Moleskinerie Open Thread Discussion on the Scent of Paper.
• I wrote about People watching and sketching - outside Tate Modern on my other blog.
• ..........and I'm trying to get a new blog up and running - of which more anon!
  

Team Blogs

• Rose Welty (Virtual Sketch Date ) has posted the Plans for November Virtual Sketch Date - which are changing the normal routine - plus the Reference for November VSD. There are now about 100 people who've listed with this project.
  
• I love Karin Jurick's Week 11 Challenge - Upside Down Walker
• on Different Strokes From Different Folks. She also has an interesting post in An Added Feature
• Urban Sketchers continues apace - and what a pace - it appears to be averaging 7 posts a day and is generating more than more than 1,200 visitors are checking out Urban Sketchers every day since we launched just two weeks ago! See Thanks for the links!

I think I'm going to have to create a new blogroll category for the group blogs!

Art Business & Marketing

• Do read Hitting or Missing Deadlines by Gayle Mason (Fur in the Paint). I know Gayle well and she is one of the most sensible and well organised people I know - and she always hits deadlines - so take a tip from Gayle!
• Seth Godin (Seth's Blog) has some generic advice - which is probably more relevant than ever in the current economic circumstances. Too good to be true (the overnight millionaire scam) I've noted a little bit of frisson recently on Squidoo (which Seth founded) about people creating Squidoo 'help' books and sites which in effect repackage what is already available for free. There seems to be a move afoot to freeze them out. I wonder if it's connected? Nevertheless, the advice is good - and transferable.
  

Art Collectors

• Art Info had an item recently about Artists' Most Wanted - the artists who are now rich enough to be serious collectors of high-end contemporary art

Artists today still buy and swap works because they admire and appreciate them, but they also seem to have another agenda. Having watched the social and professional status of art buyers rise along with auction prices, art creators, too, are seeking the benefits bestowed by the collector designation. No longer content to be producers, they want to be connoisseurs, as well.

Art Economy

The art economy blog post was bumped this week. However New York art auctions continue to do badly with a large percentage of lots remaining unsold and others going for figures below the low estimate.

However I continue to spot 'rumblings'

• This is I Like to Move It, Move It from Art Market Monitor by Marion Maneker
• who, in turn had spotted Lehman to Sell $8 Million of Art to Pay Creditors (Update2) By Linda Sandler and Lindsay Pollock in Bloomberg

I'm now wondering what is going to happen to some of the other art collections within the context of enormous borrowings by the (former) investment banks.

Art Education (Children)

• On Monday I looked at The Obama Agenda for the Arts, Artists and orphan artworks which was interesting and surprising in equal measure. The biggest surprise being that it didn't look like any agenda I'd seen from a politician before.
  
• By Friday I'd decided that Obama and the Prince of Wales had rather a lot in common in terms of their mutual emphasis on making sure kids get to access to good quality arts projects - see my summary of the Prince's contribution to the art in Drawing on art and the Prince of Wales

Art exhibitions

Works by Cedric Huson - in the 2008 Discerning Eye exhibition
all work copyright Cedric Huson

• I saw the ING Discerning Eye on Wednesday and it opened on Thursday and is well worth a visit if you're in London. See ING Discerning Eye 2008 - a review

Art event at the ING Discerning Eye
last Wednesday evening

• They subsequently published the prizewinners - which I covered in my blog post yesterday ING Discerning Eye 2008 - Prizewinners
• On the same day I also went to see the Renaissance Faces exhibition at the National Gallery. I'll be writing about this next week. In the meantime, you can read Marion Boddy Evans review
  
• On Monday evening I went to the Private View of the Lloyds Art Group Exhibition. Thanks to Les Williams for the invite and for an insight into that amazing building by Norman Foster
  
• Then yesterday I paid a quick visit to the Miró, Calder, Giacometti, Braque: Aimé Maeght and His Artists exhibition at the Royal Academy. I think what I was most amazed about was watching 'cine' film of Matisse, Bonnard, Braque and Giacometti! Click here to watch one of the films featured in the exhibition.
• The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2008 opened at the National Portrait gallery this week. It showcases the work of the most talented emerging young photographers, photography students and gifted amateurs alongside that of established professionals. Art
• Thanks to Belinda Lindhardt (Belinda Lindhard Art Journal ) for highlighting the Monet and the Impressionists exhibition at The Art Gallery of NSW. It's an exhibition of impressionist paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, including 29 works by Claude Monet alongside masterpieces by Cézanne, Degas, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley and others.

This week the Lynn Painter Stainers Prize Exhibition opens at Painters Hall in the City of London on Wednesday 1th November. These are the accepted artists (pdf)

Art History

Three of the paintings of Rouen Cathedral by Monet
(images from The Atheneaum)

• On Tuesday I wrote about Monet's series paintings - Rouen cathedral
• Charley Parker (Lines and Colors) originally highlighted the Essential Vermeer website in his blog post Essential Vermeer. Last week he wrote about A Vermeer Comes to California and then A Vermeer in Rome
• Charley then followed up with a time sink warning as he proceeded to wrote about The Museum of Online Museums
  

Art Supplies

• Digital Art Papers - A look at the various types of digital art paper available by Marion Boddy-Evans, painting.about.com
• Jeanette (Illustrated Life) has Pinot Noir charcoal for sale.

Book reviews

• This is my most unexpected post this week. "He who must not be bored while I sketch" brought me a book - completely out of the blue - and it's great! See Book Review: Art - the definitive visual guide

Tips and Techniques

• Robert Genn (Painters Keys) - Glazing keys has a really excellent demonstration, advice and recipe for glazing in acrylics. I highly recommend signing up for his twice weekly letter.
  
• I notice that Richard Schmid is advertising his new book 'The Landscape Book' which is due out in 2009.

Websites and blogging

• China recognises internet addiction as new disease Really!
• Blogoscoped Google’s SEO Starter Guide highlights Google’s PDF titled “Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide” includes basic tips for making sites more accessible to search engines.
  
• the Official Google Reader Blog announced this week that you can now subscribe to a blog in a foreign language and then arrange for it to be translated for you to read in Google reader - see Is your web truly worldwide?
  

and finally..........

Google Maps Mania is an unofficial Google Maps blog tracking the websites, mashups and tools being influenced by Google Maps. This week it created a post about Grandad's War on Google Maps for November 11th which is both Armistice Day in Europe and Veterans Day in the USA.

November 11th 2008 marked the day ninety years ago on November 11th, 1918 when the armistice was signed between the Allies and Germany in a railway carriage in the Forest of Compiègne, France. This officially ended World War I - the war to end all wars.........

ING Discerning Eye 2008 - Prizewinners

The prizewinners in the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition have now been announced.

The major prize, the ING Purchase Prize (£5,000) has been awarded to Hedge-garden, August (1/48) by Cedric Huson.

'Hedge Garden' by Cedric Huson
copyright the artist
reproduced by permission Parker Harris

I found Cedric Huson's work (see below) to be absolutely intriguing. There were few sets of paintings which made me stand and stare - but his work did. I then edged in a bit closer and stared a bit more - and then a bit more.....

I wrote down 'fantasy gardens with curious objects' in my catalogue. They made me think of classic English detective stories and an English garden maze which has had a near encounter with the Reverend Dodgson. Why are the objects there and who put them there? Curiouser and curiouser was certainly my reaction the longer I looked at them.

The winning painting (above right) is the one that is top left in the set of six paintings by Huson below. It's a very powerful series with each adding weight to the others.

Cedric Huson graduated from the Royal Academy Schools in 1978 and now based in Fife north west of Abderdeen. Besides the artwork in the exhibition, you can see more of his artwork in his entry on the axis website. Judging by the similar works on this website, this is acrylic paint and varnish on board. Cedric Huson was invited to exhibit by Fred Cuming.

Works by Cedric Huson - in the 2008 Discerning Eye exhibition
all work copyright Cedric Huson

The other prizes were awarded as follows. You can see all the works by viewing them in the online gallery on the exhibition website. I've indicated which curator's gallery you need to look in and then it's just a question of 'clicking' through until you get to the right number. (Tip - start at the end and move backwards for the higher numbered works!). Wherever possible I've provided a link to the artist's website or one associated with the artist.

The Discerning Eye Founder’s Prize (Purchase Prize in honour of Michael Reynolds) - Nick Botting, Full house at the Palladium (3/9)

Nick Botting was invited to exhibit by Bob Benton. He graduated from the University of Kent with a degree in visual arts in 1963 and has been in a number of solo and group exhibitions including the BP Portrait and Discerning Eye in previous years..

The Discerning Eye Chairman's Purchase Prize (£1,000) - Michael Ewart, Street corner wet weather (3/36)

Michael Ewart was invited to exhibit by Bob Benton. He lives in Ashington in Northumberland and has devoted his time to painting since retiring as a teacher.

Meynell Fenton Prize (£1,000) - Trinidad Ball, Physalis (4/4)

Trinidad Ball's work was selected by Brenda Fenton from the open submission. There's a lot more summer fruits on her website including a good image of her prize-winning painting. She was born in Spain but did ger art training in London and now lives in England.

The Benton Purchase Prize (£1000) - Sasha Bowles, In blue boots (3/13)

Sasha Bowles oil painting of a child in blue boots was selected by Bob Benton from the open submission. Her artist statement explains her motivation behind her narrative paintings. She trained at Central St Martins and Byan Shaw. This is a link to paintings from the last 12 months.

The Humphreys Purchase Prize (£750) - Judith Gardner, Landscape rain clouds (1/28)

Judith Gardner had two works selected from the open submission by Fred Cuming. You can see more of her work on the Red Rag Gallery website.

The Arts Club Prize - Nadav Kander Sophie Loren (6/54 ), Giorgio Armani 1 (6/55 ), Christopher Lee (6/56 ), David Beckham (6/57 ), David Lynch 1 (6/58), Boy George (6/59)

I highlighted Nadav Kander's photographs in ING Discerning Eye 2008 - a review and I'm not surprised they won a prize. They were arresting images. Nadav was invited to exhibit by Robin Morgan

The 2008 David Gluck Memorial Bursary (£1000) - Alexandra Blum

Drawings of Dalston Construction by Alexandra Blum
copyright the artist
reproduced by permission Parker Harris

I'm always particularly interested in the contenders for the Drawing Bursary which is always exhibited in the small room at the back of the North Gallery.

This year I thought there were a couple pf strong contenders and Alexandra Blum was one of them - hence why I have a photograph of her four drawings of construction taking place in Dalston in East London! The other reason being that I strongly connect with her project of mapping urban space.

The photograph of course only gives you a sense of the drawings, however you can see them much better on in the dalston series gallery on her website. Note her comments about the reasons behind the drawings. The drawings themselves have been made in a sketchbook and the pages removed prior to framing. Alexandra now lives and works in London although she has studied and worked in a number of different countries.

Regional prizes totaling £2,000

• East Anglia: Frances Mann, Sundog and Joe’s Mill, evening (2/54) - this work was selected by Anita Klein from the open submission. Frances Mann exhibits with the Cadogan Contemporary.
  
• London & South East: Julie Collins, Barrafundle (5/6) - Julie Collins was selected by Frances Carey from the open submission. She graduated with a degree in fine art from Reading and is the author of the best-selling Painting Flowers with Impact and Colour Mixing Index.
• Midlands: Val Pitchford ARBSA, Work in progress (4/68) - Val Pitchford's work was selected by Brenda Fenton from the open submission. Her studio is on the Malern Hills and her work leans towards abstract landscapes.
  
• North: Kathy Little, Indian summer (2/49) Kathy Little's bright and colourful abstract was selected by Anita Klein.
  
• N Ireland: Mark Shields, Gypsy (4/77) Mark Sheild was invited to exhibit by Brenda fenton. He currently lives and works in Belfast and has exhibited widely and internationally.
  
• Scotland: Lesley Banks, Through the door - afternoon (6/10) Lesley Banks was selected by Robin Morgan from the open submission.
• Wales: David Randal Davies, Two Welsh miners (4/70) - David Randal Davies's painting was chosen by Brenda Fenton from the open submission. He comes from th Gower in South Wales and has exhibited widely in England, Wales, London and Berlin. He mainly paints people in ordinary situations.
  
• West Country: Ann Armitage, Around Botallack (1/4) - Ann Armitage was invited to exhibit by Fred Cuming. Her landscape paintings are painted from memory.

I'd like to offer my congratulations to all those winning prizes and my thanks to Parker Harris and the Mall Galleries for their assistance in developing this post and ING Discerning Eye 2008 - a review on Thursday.

Drawing on art and the Prince of Wales

The Prince of Wales is 60 today - the age a lot of men retire in the UK. As a number of papers will doubtless remark today, he's yet to start 'the top job'. However I'd like to mark his birthday by suggesting he's done a great deal more through his charitable work than most Princes of Wales have ever done - not least through his sponsorship and patronage of art education, traditional arts and drawing.

The Prince is a keen watercolorist and through various ventures (including the sale of lithographs of his work) aligned to his charities he has helped to raise millions for their charitable work. This post highlights a few of his activities.

On this website you can view galleries of The Prince's (watercolour) work from Greece, Switzerland, Overseas and Scotland.
The Prince of Wales's interests - painting with watercolours

Art Education

One of the Prince's ambitions is to help young people realise their full potential. Here are some of the organisations he's helped to stimulate and create and/or sponsor as a patron.

The Prince's Drawing School

The Prince has always been a keen artist and an advocate of the importance of drawing skills. Created in 2000, The Prince's Drawing School is his educational charity which is unusually dedicated to the teaching of drawing.

It has a faculty of some 35 practising artists and it works on the premise that drawing is a living, evolving language. The studios are in a converted warehouse in Shoreditch, the heart of London's East End creative community. It runs a range of programmes, including

• Public Programmes,
  
• West London Short Courses,
  
• daytime and evening classes throughout the year (Bookings),
  
• a Postgraduate Programme (a one- or two-year course focusing on drawing),
  
• and a Young Artists’ Programme including Saturday School and Drawing Clubs.

I'm personally very grateful for the Prince's Drawing School because it's where I get my drawing workout once a week when I attend James Lloyd's class on Drawing a Head.

The Prince's School of Traditional Arts

The scope of the Prince's School of the Traditional Arts ranges from icon-making to Indian miniature painting, stained glass, mosaic craft, woodwork, biomorphic drawing and more.

It offers postgraduate degrees and a range of short courses for the general public. The School also has a number of outreach programmes around the UK.

It also occupies the same converted warehouse in Shoreditch as the Drawing School and had an exhibition of traditional arts on the ground floor recently which was very impressive.

The Prince's Foundation for Children and the Arts

A more recent educational charity is The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts. This provides access for young people who would otherwise grow up having had very little or no contact with the arts or opportunity to engage with them. The basic notion is that the arts (in thei widest sense) have a role to play in the development of a child and their understanding of shared cultures. You can read more about the Prince's involvement in Charles, the Prince of Arts

Why the arts?

Engaging with the arts enriches young peoples lives, nurtures creativity and improves self esteem and skills. Through our work children learn that cultural venues are welcoming, accessible and exciting places to visit. Other areas which arts access can impact upon include:

• Unlocking talent
• Raising aspirations
• Improving confidence
• Developing intellectual, social and emotional skills
• Developing physical skills
• Changing behaviour and attitudes to learning

The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts hopes to give children the confidence and inspiration to kindle a life-long love of the arts.

Launched as a pilot in 2002 it became an independent charity in 2006. Since then it has worked with 35, 000 children to deliver an experience of the arts which is quality oriented.

• Art and Kids Week runs annually in the Autumn.
  
• Arts organisations can take advantage of the free online event listing guide
• The Arts Events for children lists events for different age groups in different areas of the UK.
• The Great Art Quest 2008 aims to introduce 100 children from 16 primary schools to the visual arts. Four art galleries: Graves Art Gallery (Sheffield), The Harris Museum (Preston), The Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge) and The Courtauld Institute of Art (London) will work in partnerships with local primary schools.
• The website provides advice and documents for people wanting to get involved.
• Plus you can read about the real and very positive and measurable impact on children of their involvement with the arts in Spotlight on Children and the Arts (newsletter/pdf file)
  

Arts and Business

Arts and Business is also one of the Prince's Charities. It aims to get business people helping the arts and the arts inspiring business people. It helps to promote networking and the exchange and development of skills between the business and arts communities.

The Highgrove Florilegium

Earlier this year in Volume 1 of The Highgrove Florilegium is published, I highlighted the fact that the Prince was sponsoring the production of a Florilegium of the gardens at Highgrove, his home in Gloucestershire - which is one of the most well-known organic gardens in the United Kingdom.

The artists are still working on plants that will form the second volume and the first bound copies of Volume 2 are expected in the summer of 2009. You can view a gallery of images from the first volume here.

A footnote

For some reason, newspapers have chosen to ridicule Prince Charles over the years for some of the stances he has taken on various topics (eg organic gardening).

However I've noted that more and more of his themes and causes are ones which are taken up and endorsed over time by first the public and then various governments. I guess that's probably as much of a comment on the wisdom of the public as the Prince!

I for one certainly think that his sponsorship of learning and patronage of art, drawing, traditional arts and the general involvement of children with the arts creates a very significant legacy for the future.

ING Discerning Eye 2008 - a review

The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2008: Two views of west gallery

photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell and kind permission of Parker Harris

The ING Discerning Eye exhibition 2008 opens to the public today at the Mall Galleries. Yesterday I had a couple of opportunities to get a preview of the exhibition and below you can find a review of what I saw. An innovation this year is that you can now you see all the work online in a gallery on the Discerning Eye website.

The Discerning Eye Exhibition

First a preamble for those not familiar with the Exhibition. This is a contemporary art exhibition which is:

• about both emerging and established artists
• small artwork - original drawings, paintings, prints and sculpture where no 2D or 3D work can be larger than 20 inches including the frame, plinth or stand
  
• characterised as a 'buyer's dream' given that the artwork is oriented towards being both affordable and on a domestic scale
  

By way of context (and precedent), at the Royal Academy Summer Show every year, there is a room called the Small Weston Room which is is crammed full of small paintings. It's probably the most popular room in the entire show and is always full of visitors - and a really high percentage of the works are sold. Well, the ING Discerning Eye exhibition is rather like having an expanded version of the Small Weston Room. However, in this exhibition the small works are spread around the three large galleries at the Mall Galleries and the artwork also includes prints and small sculptures.

The Selectors

The other thing that is different about the Discerning Eye competition is that each has its own very distinct identity and no two are the same. This is because each exhibition is the product of a panel of six selectors - two critics, two artists and two collectors.

The selectors are all given the opportunity to curate their own space within the show. The work they show is selected from an open entry of over 2,000 works and also drawn from the works of artists they have personally invited to exhibit. (This year, this has led to a curious anomaly where Anita Klein is both a selector and also has her work exhibited by two of her fellow selectors.)

This year the selectors are:

• Collectors:
  
• Robert (Bob) Benton the Chairman of shipping company Clarksons, a major media investment banker and the Discerning Eye Chairman from 2003 – 2007. He chose 131 works (west gallery/south wall).
  
• Brenda Fenton is a valued supporter of the Discerning Eye. Her career has been in illustration and advertising chose 107 works which are displayed in the North Gallery.
• Critics:
• Frances Carey - author, former Deputy Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum and currently Head of National Programmes at the British Museum. She chose 38 works (west gallery/ centre); and
• award winning journalist and Editor of The Sunday Times Magazine, Robin Morgan He chose 109 works.
  
• Artists:
  
• painter and Royal Academician Fred Cuming RA (whose work I love) selected 107 works (east gallery); and
  
• fellow and past president of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers Anita Klein PPRE chose 76 works which are displayed at the far end of of the west gallery
  

This is the link to the gallery of works on online display - click the selector to see the works which were chosen.

Prizes [update - to be announced on this blog tomorrow]

There are a range of prizes and virtually all are Purchase Prizes. They include:

• The ING Purchase Prize £5,000
  
• The Discerning Eye Founders Prize (in honour of the late Michael Reynolds who died this year) £1,500
• Meynell Fenton Prize £1,000
• The Discerning Eye Prize (Chairman's Purchase Prize) £1,000
  
• The Benton Prize
• The Humphreys Purchase Prize £750
• The Arts Club Prize
• Regional Prizes (eight prizes of £250 each, totalling £2,000)
  

The Work

As the work selected is always very personal, it's difficult to compare one exhibition with another. However I prefer the work which has been selected this year.

I do wish however that the exhibition catalogue would distinguish between invited artists and the open entry. I've absolutely no objection to artists being invited however I would like to know which artists survived the selection process and what proportion of the art is from the open entry as opposed to by invitation. I'd also be interested to know how those proportions varied across the different selectors (and if I get the time I may just do that calculation!). You'll note that I have tried to draw that distinction when noting artists by name below.

A small selection of the work curated
by Fred Cuming (top) and Brenda Fenton (below)
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell and kind permission of Parker Harris

I particularly liked

• an awful lot of the sculpture!
• the drawings, paintings and sculptures of people chosen by Brenda Fenton. I liked Michael Hyams paintings (an invited artist) and Emma Davis's graphic annotated drawings Vicomte de Valmont and Les Liasons Dangereuses. Catherine Riley's Gaze was an interesting composition and technically impressive while Sara Rossberg's Red Green was amazing.
• the calligraphic quality and the mark-making in some of the work chosen by Fred Dubarry - including the elegant charcoal drawings nudes by invited artist Karn Holly and Oak Tree in Winter by Susan Taylor
  
• the fact that Robin Morgan included photographs in his selection. There is a collection of six photographs by invited artist, renowned photographer Nadav Kander. Viewing iconic faces (of eg Sophia Loren, Boy George and David Beckham) through a 'mask' of some sort was slightly disconcerting.

Photographs by Nadav Kander. Subjects from top left clockwise are:
Sophia Loren; Christoper Lee, David Lynch,
David Beckham, Georgio Aramani and Boy George
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell and kind permission of Parker Harris


Sketchbooks by Paul Ryan
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell and kind permission of Parker Harris

• the collection of framed journal/sketchbooks by Paul Ryan invited by Frances Carey. They're a fascinating collection of small paintings and pragmatic notes and philosophising - this is an example. You can see all Paul Ryan's sketchbooks on Flickr and you can see more of his work and drawings on his website. For all those keeping sketchbooks you might be interested to know that these were priced at £800 and they all sold before the exhibition opened to the public.
  

Interestingly, although I recognised a few names, the majority of artists selected for this exhibition are not typically people who I see exhibiting with the art societies who are based at the Mall Galleries. For me this means that the art societies may well be missing a 'trick' in terms of encouraging the display of new work through open entry and generating sales which might benefit the society.

I understand that this year's exhibition sales are already very good after the 'buyers preview' on Tuesday evening (for those with a track record of buying). I was amazed at how many pictures already had that important red sticker.

The exhibition includes work by artists who I know from the internet and class. These include

• one of my past tutors, Jeanette Barnes (invited by Anita Klein 2/6 and 2/7). It was really odd seeing Jeanette working small! She usually produces absolutely enormous charcoal drawings of the urban landscape.
  
• Paul Foxton (Learning to See ) - who had two pictures accepted despite How I Very Nearly Screwed Up My Entry for the Discerning Eye Exhibition - one of which (Floating Sunfire) chosen by Fred Dubary, sold at the buyers' preview night.
• By the well by Olha Pryymak (olechko), my fellow London correspondent for Urban Sketchers. Olha, who comes from Kiev in the Ukraine, and I met up last night and had a non-stop conversation all the way to Whitechapel!

It also included two of my favourite artists who I've highlighted in previous posts - mainly because of their wonderful skills in drawing and mark-making

• Felicity House PS - invited by Brenda Fenton. Her drawings were truly delightful as always. They're a real education for all those who think a drawing must cover the whole page.
  

Dog drawings (4/36, 37 and 38)) by Felicity House
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell and kind permission of Parker Harris

• Paul Newland RWS - invited by Fred Cuming (pictures: 1/68-1/73). A wonderful mix of a loose painterly approach and excellent draughtsmanship
  

The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2008 continues at the Mall Galleries, London SW1 until 23 November 2008.

ING Discerning Eye
The ING’s UK Art Programme includes sponsorship of the ING Discerning Eye and the Exhibition which is held annually at the Mall Galleries, London SW1. ING offers a Purchase Prize every year, with the winning picture becoming part of the ING collection.

Links:
Previous references to ING Discerning Eye on Making A Mark

• Who's been selected for the ING Discerning Eye 2008?
• Susan Angharad Williams exhibits at ING
• ING Discerning Eye 2008 - deadline 6th September
• ING Discerning Eye at the Mall Galleries (the 2007 exhibition)
  

Book Review: Art - the definitive visual guide

Dorling Kindersley's new book Art - The Definitive Visual Guide is huge, amazing and wonderful...and just a teeny bit flawed.

"He who must not be bored while I sketch" gave me it to me as a surprise present yesterday evening and I've spent quite a bit of time with had my head buried in it ever since! I was very pleasantly surprised by his perspicacity - this book was only published at the beginning of October and is so new that I've not even ha