The Culture Show - RA Summer Exhibition

This one hour show looked at the 2010 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.  It showed all sorts of behind the scenes footage, had critics and commentators discussing the show plus much more.  I found it a really informative and insightful programme. 

The programme started by showing people queuing up to submit their work and spoke a bit about the background of the academy and the history of the Summer Exhibition.  The initial selection stage was then shown with 3 (rather tired and bored looking judges) looking at piece after piece and putting aside anything that stood out for them.  The presenter then went on to talk about  the selection process and had a look around the possible artworks (10,000!!!) and chose 4 pieces that he hoped would make it. 

To make it all feel more real and personal the artists behind the 4 chosen works were then interviewed and spoke a bit about their work and their background.  At the end of the show we got to see if their work had been selected (2 out of 4 had).

A tour of some of the works, chats with an artist curating a room, a look at the architectural section and a discussion with some critics about this year's show followed - all very interesting, will be looking our for more culture show specials in the future...

David Hockney - Secret Knowledge

May 2010

Borrowed this from library after being recommended by tutor and my dad.  Absolutely loved it!!!  Really well written to explain his theories and with loads of images to look at to back it all up and make it easier to understand. 

Put very simply it is an explanation of how he believes that optical devices were used to support artists much earlier than we would think.  He has so much evidence that I don't think of it as a theory but rather as fact.  I came to it at exactly the right point as I have just been studying the 15th and 16th centuries and had been astounded by the seeminly amazing leap to incredibly realistic paintings of what look like 'real' people.  I was prepared to believe in the change in materials from tempera to oil but it did still seem a bit strange.  This explains how artists would have had access to devices which they could have used to very quickly get facial expressions notated on to paper.  It makes it very clear that this isn't cheating and that the artists were still incredibly skilled.

I would recommend that any art students read this book as it was so enjoyable and interesting.

Leonardo - dramatised lifestyle TV

Watched first 2 episodes of a recording of this TV show about the life of Leonardo. Really very interesting look at the wide ranging subjects of his knowledge. People tried out some of his inventions - tank, parachute, paraglider. They found that although they didn't work absolutely straight away with a little adjustment that it is feasible that Leonardo would have made if he had been testing his designs they worked well.

Shocking and rather sad to think he invented all these things 100s of years before anyone else but all his inventions were lost until after they had been created by others.

One other point that stood out was an example of the difference between tempera and oil painting. Someone painted the same blue and red cloak in both mediums, spending the same amount of time on each. It was a really good way of being able to see the brightness of the oils in comparison and how the detail could be built up differently. It explained much more clearly how this new medium would have revolutionised the painter's practice as they were able to have a whole range of shades on their palette at once and did not have to show tone by using crosshatching as with tempera.

Symbolism in Painting

FIFTEENTH CENTURY FLORENCE
Symbolism in Painting Baxandall (Painting and Experience in 15th C Italy) talks about some but says there are loads of different things and some dependent on context so pretty hard to read!
How much white can be seen in the eye

• "people with long eyes are malicious and immoral"
• If the white of the eye is widely extended and visible all round shows shamelessness
• if it is concealed not visible at all, shows unreliabilty (Page 58)

Leonardo about face lines and marks - "Lines of face show if a man is cheerful  and often laughs.  men without these lines are thoughtful.  Deep lines are fierce and irascible and unreasonable.  Horizontal lines on forehead show full of sorrow."


Hand movements

• AFFIRMATION - lift hand gently, back of hand faces the beholder
• DEMONSTRATION - thing that has been seen noted by opening palm in its direction
• GRIEF - pressing breast with palm
• SHAME - covering eyes with fingers
• INVITATION/WELCOME - hand up, palm forward, fingers slightly bent down
• CHASTE WOMAN - hands clasped together at girdle height
• WANTON WOMAN - hands all over the place - poss double invitation!

Use of less important character looking out straight at viewer or slightly above - draws you in and makes you engage in what is going on

Additonal Reading and Viewing

I am going to create a list of any related books/leaflets/articles that I borrow, buy and read during the course, updating it as I go along.  I will also make notes on any TV programmes, videos, websites etc

John Boardman - Greek Art  Borrowed from College library, skimmed through this mainly looking at the images.

Andrew Graham-Dixon (ed) - Art - The Definitive Visual Guide  Bought after seeing another student's copy.  Like a massive dictionary with pictures of art, including techniques, v basic colour theory and chronology of styles/artists from ancient to modern.  I think this will be a useful 'quick read' throughout the course.  Seems to use simple language and offer a summary.  Only £18 on Amazon!

Surrey House - the magnificent heart of Aviva A small in-house publication about Surrey House (visited for Project 2) A good source of background knowledge about the history of the building, the design, materials used, art on display.

TV PROGRAMME - Mastercrafts - Stone masonry - whilst reading through C9 with lots of references to medievel Gothic cathedrals and churches I decided it would be a good idea to watch this show that I had recorded a while ago.  Got a good view of the interior of York Minster - was v pleased to be able to identify rib vaults and plan and rib tracery in the windows.  V interesting to see how buildings are continuously restored and rennovated.

TV PROGRAMME - Van Gogh in words (not sure of title) I happened to turn over and this had just started.  It was a dramatisation using letters to and from Van Gogh.  I found it a really interesting way to look at the background and meaning behind his paintings and has made me think I would like to read some collected letters or biographies of artists in the future.

Norwich Cathedral - guide to our local cathedral - I had thought it may be possible to visit and use some of the gothic additions for my visit for Unit 4 - however it is one of the most in tact Norman (Romanesque) cathedrals in Britain apparently so will just visit for my own personal pleasure.  Spent the day drawing in the grounds with some other OCA students this weekend (beginning of April)
 

Cathedral Church of St John the Baptist - Norwich - guide to our other local cathedral.  This is Victorian Gothic and I may visit for unit 4 but am currently planning on visiting Salle church which is medieval and I have been advised is a very good example of Perpendicular Gothic style (the later style).  I may still visit St John the Baptist as would be nice to see Gothic cathedral and also to compare medieval and Gothic styles. 

England's Thousand Best Churches - Simon Jenkins  - March 2010- My husband has a vast collection of books about churches as he is v interested in their architecture so he has been able to recommend a couple for me to read as background for visit for project 4. This had a lovely section on Salle church - v useful

The English Village Church - R J Brown - March 2010 With 14 entries in the index for Salle church this has been incredibly useful in planning for my visit.  Would recommend for anyone with an interest in village churches. 

P

Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy - Michael Baxandall  - April 2010(Borrowed from library) This is on the suggested additional reading list for the religion section.  At first glance it looked overwhelmingly dull!  But having read the introductory chapter I think I will skim through it as actually pretty interesting so far! UPDATE - Read most of this as found it really interesting, lots of info about how artists worked, how they were commissioned and paid and also symbolism of colours, movement etc in images.  Have put notes about it with notes on reading for unit 5. 

Michelangelo - Giles Neret - April 10
This book gives some more information about the life of Michelangelo but mostly has lots of good quality reproductions of his work and details of paintings.  Having already read the set book, Gombrich and watched the 2 DVDs for unit 7 there wasn't a huge amount of additional information but it was nice to skim read and find out a little more.

DVD Great Artists Titian - 16/05/10
I watched most of this episode (30 mins) with Tim Marlow looking at the work of Titian but it was a very poor recording.  Found it interesting to hear more about  Titian's life - not much that I hadn't read but nice to watch something like this that I have some prior knowledge about - one of the reasons I wanted to do the course! 

How to Read a Painting - Patrick De Rynck just got this so haven't used it much yet but thionking it will be pretty useful.  Seems to be looking at particular paintings rather than giving information that can be transferred but perhaps the info that you get about specific pictures e.g the symbolism of certain things can then be used when looking at pictures that aren't in the book.  I'm planning on using it this week when I complete project 7 (anyalsis of mythical painting) May 2010