Dulwich

This Week in London – Walter Sickert at the Tate; Philips Wouwerman revisited; and, Victorian physicist commemorated…

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Walter Sickert, ‘Little Dot Hetherington at the Bedford Music Hall’ (1888) Private collection. Photo: James Mann

• Britain’s biggest retrospective on the work of artist Walter Sickert (1860-1942) in almost 30 years opens at the Tate Britain in Millbank today. The exhibition features more than 150 of his works spanning the six decades of his career. They include paintings and drawings of music halls in London and Paris such as The Old Bedford (1894-5) and Théâtre de Montmartre (c1906) and an examination of key influencers upon his work such as American artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler whose A Shop (1884-90) is being shown with Sickert’s A Shop in Dieppe (1886-8) as well as Whistler’s 1895 portrait of Sickert. Other works on show include The Camden Town Murder (1908), Ennui (1914) and Off To the Pub (1911). Admission charge applies. Runs until 18th September. For more, see www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/walter-sickert.

• A new exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery explores the truth behind 18th century gossip suggesting 17th century Dutch artist Philips Wouwerman was a plagiarist. True Crime: The Case of Philips Wouwerman looks at claims the painter, who created more than 600 paintings over his career, stole the drawings of the dead artist Pieter van Laer and subsequently used them for his own works. The display features works by Wouwerman and Van Laer as well as expert testimony from the past and present. It’s the first in a series of displays – Unlocking Paintings – which have been devised by the recently appointed curator Helen Hillyard to present new perspectives on the Gallery’s collection. Can be seen until 21st August. For more, follow this link.

• A self-taught Victorian physicist, Oliver Heaviside, has been commemorated with an English Heritage Blue Plaque at his former home in Camden Street. The property is where the young Victorian scientist, who had been left almost entirely deaf after suffering scarlet fever in childhood, continued with his self-education after leaving school at 16 and where he later worked on his ground-breaking interpretation of James Clerk Maxwell’s Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. Heaviside played a key role in the development and advancement of electrical communications and was even name-checked in Cats where a line referring to “the Heaviside layer” is a reference to his discovery of a reflective layer in the upper atmosphere which allowed radio waves to be ‘bent’ around the earth. For more, see www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/.

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This Week in London – NHM’s Our Broken Planet’s finale; West End LIVE at Trafalgar Square; and, Helen Frankenthaler at Dulwich…

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Juvenile European bison © The Trustees of The Natural History Museum, London

• The third and final part of the free exhibition, Our Broken Planet: How We Got Here and Ways to Fix It, has opened at the Natural History Museum. Following on from sections exploring the food we eat and the products we use, the third phase of the display explores the energy humans consume and how we can we create a greener, cleaner future. Specimens in the display include a juvenile European bison, illustrating an experimental rewilding project in Kent which is investigating if bison feeding habits will improve the forest’s biodiversity and store more carbon in the soil, blue-green algae collected during Captain Scott’s famed RRS Discovery expedition which is being used in the study of climate change, and the recently extinct Chinese paddlefish, a casualty of the global boom in hydroelectric dams. Entry to the South Kensington museum is free but visitors are encouraged to book a time ticket in advance to ensure entry. For more, see www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/our-broken-planet.html.

• The West End comes to Trafalgar Square this weekend with a line-up of free performances from top shows taking to the stage. Forming part of Westminster City Council’s Inside Out Festival and the Society of London Theatre’s #BackOnStage campaign, the West End LIVE event will feature the first ever West End LIVE appearances from award-winning musicals Hamilton and The Book Of Mormon, as well as an exciting roster of new shows including The Prince Of Egypt, Dear Evan Hansen, Cinderella, Back To The Future: The Musical and Pretty Woman. More than 30 acts will be involved in the free and unticketed event. For the full programme, see www.westendlive.co.uk.

• The first major UK exhibition of woodcuts by the leading abstract expressionist, Helen Frankenthaler, opened at the Dulwich Picture Gallery this week. Helen Frankenthaler: Radical Beauty brings together more than 30 works on loan from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation which span the artist’s career from her first ever woodcut in 1973 to her last work published in 2009. Works include including Madame Butterfly (2000), East and Beyond (1973), Cameo (1980) and Freefall (1993). The display can be seen until 18th April. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk.

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This Week in London – British surrealism; The Prince of Wales’ coronet; and, David Hockney’s drawings…

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• An exhibition which traces the history of surrealist art in Britain has opened at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Featuring more than 70 works, British Surrealism marks the official centenary of surrealism – which dates from when founder André Breton began his experiments in surrealist writing in 1920 – and features paintings, sculpture, photography, etchings and prints. Among the 40 artists represented are Leonora Carrington, Edward Burra, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Ithell Colquhoun, John Armstrong, Paul Nash and Reuben Mednikoff as well as lesser known but innovative artists like Marion Adnams, John Banting, Sam Haile, Conroy Maddox and Grace Pailthorpe. Highlights include Armstrong’s Heaviness of Sleep (1938), Burra’s Dancing Skeletons (1934), Adnams’ Aftermath (1946), Nash’s We Are Making a New World (1918), Colquhoun’s The Pine Family (1940), Pailthorpe’s Abstract with Eye and Breast (1938) and Bacon’s Figures in Garden (c1935). Also featured are works and books by some of the so-called ‘ancestors of surrealism’ including a notebook containing Coleridge’s 1806 draft of poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and a playscript for Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1859). Admission charge applies. Runs until 7th May. For more, see www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk. PICTURE: Edward Burra, Dancing Skeletons,1934, (1905-1976). Photo © Tate

• The Prince of Wales’ investiture coronet has gone on show in the Jewel House at the Tower of London for the first time. Made of 24 carat Welsh gold and platinum and set with diamonds and emeralds with a purple velvet and ermine cap of estate, the coronet – which was designed by architect and goldsmith Louis Osman – features four crosses patee, four fleurs-de-lys and an orb engraved with the Prince of Wales’ insignia. The coronet was presented to Queen Elizabeth II by the Goldsmiths’ Company for the Prince of Wales’ investiture at Caernarfon Castle on 1st July, 1969. It’s being displayed alongside two other coronets made for previous Princes of Wales as well as the ceremonial rod used in the 1969 investiture which, designed by Welsh sculptor Sir William Goscombe John (1860-1952), is made of gold and is decorated with the Prince of Wales’ feathers and motto Ich Dien. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/.

• The first major exhibition devoted to David Hockney’s drawings in more than 20 years opens at the National Portrait Gallery today. David Hockney: Drawing from Life features more than 150 works with a focus on self portraits and his depictions of a small group of sitters including muse Celia Birtwell, his mother, Laura Hockney, and friends, curator Gregory Evans and master printer Maurice Payne. Previously unseen works on show include working drawings for Hockney’s pivotal A Rake’s Progress etching suite (1961-63) – inspired by the identically named series of prints by William Hogarth, and sketchbooks from Hockney’s art school days in Bradford in the 1950s. Other highlights include a series of new portraits, coloured pencil drawings created in Paris in the early 1970s, composite Polaroid portraits from the 1980s, and a selection of drawings from the 1980s when the artist created a self-portrait every day over a period of two months. Runs until 28th June. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.npg.org.uk.

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This Week in London – The British Museum gets arty; music festivals in Georgian Britain; the story of Tangerine Dream; and, migration at Dulwich…

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• Artworks by the likes of Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Lucian Freud, Bridget Riley, David Hockney and Visa Celmins are on show in a new exhibition at the British Museum. Reflecting artistic developments in the past 100 years of modern art, Living with art: Picasso to Celmins features 30 prints and drawings. It showcases highlights from the wide-ranging collection of Alexander Walker (1930–2003), a longstanding film critic for London’s Evening Standard newspaper, which was bequeathed to the British Museum in 2004. The exhibition can be seen at the museum until 5th March before heading off on tour. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.britishmuseum.org. PICTURE: David Hockney (b. 1937), ‘Jungle Boy’ (1964) Etching and aquatint in black and red on mould-made paper © David Hockney Photo Credit: Richard Schmidt.

• Music festivals in Georgian Britain – from the Handel Commemoration of 1784 to the Crystal Palace concerts of the late 19th century – are explored in a new exhibition at the Foundling Museum in Bloomsbury. Music Festivals in Georgian Britain looks at the logistics behind the organisation of the concerts which followed on in the tradition of benefit concerts for charities as well as the expectations of audiences. Runs until 14th September. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://foundlingmuseum.org.uk.

• The “extraordinary story” of German band Tangerine Dream is told in a new exhibition opening at the City of London’s Barbican Music Library today. Tangerine Dream: Zeitraffer features photographs, previously unpublished articles, video clips, and original synthesizers as it tells the story of the band – credited with laying the foundation for the Ambient and Trance music styles – from its founding in 1967 and the release of its first album, Electronic Meditation, in 1970 through to the latest album, Recurring Dreams, last year. The band, which has released more than 160 albums, has also composed the scores for more than 60 Hollywood films including Michael Mann’s Risky Business and Ridley Scott’s Legend as well as Firestarter, based on the Stephen King novel. In 2013, they also wrote the score for the record-breaking video game, Grand Theft Auto V, and their music has appeared in recent Netflix series, Stranger Things, Black Mirror and Mr Robot. Runs until 2nd May. Admission is free.

• The stories of six “community curators” – each of whom has personal experience of migration – are at the centre of a new display at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Journeys, which explores themes of identity, belonging, migration and London’s multiculturalism, examines the contemporary relevance of works by the likes of Poussin, Rubens, Canaletto and Van Dyck against the backdrop of the life stories of the curators who, aged between 29 and 69, have a combined heritage spanning eight countries including Yemen, Sri Lanka, Italy, Pakistan and Ireland. Opens next Tuesday (21st January) and runs until 24th June with a special free late opening on 19th June during the final week which coincides with Refugee Week. For more, see www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk.

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This Week in London – Celebrating Rembrandt’s relationship with light; Paul Gauguin’s portraits; and, sacred Japanese images…

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• Rembrandt’s mastery of light is the subject of a new exhibition opening at the Dulwich Picture Gallery on Friday to mark 350 years since the Dutch artist’s death. Rembrandt’s Light includes 35 of his greatest paintings, etchings and drawings including international loans The Pilgrims at Emmaus (1648) and – shown for the first time in the UK – Philemon and Baucis, (1658), Tobit and Anna with the Kid (1645) and The Dream of Joseph (1645). The works have been arranged thematically and show how he used light and shadow for dramatic effect, focusing on his work during the middle period of his career – 1639-1658 – while he was living in his “dream house” on Breestraat in Amsterdam where the large windows provided ideal access to light. The display will employ a new LED Bluetooth lighting system installed at the gallery while cinematographer Peter Suschitzky, famed for his work on Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back; The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Mars Attacks!, has worked with the curators to create what the gallery promises will be an “atmospheric visitor experience”. Admission charge applies. Runs to 2nd February. PICTURE: Rembrandt van Reign, Philemon and Baucis (1658), oil on panel transferred to panel, National Gallery of Art, Washington.

• The first ever exhibition devoted to the portraits of Paul Gauguin opens at the National Gallery on Monday. The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Gauguin Portraits shows how the French artist, who was famed for his paintings of French Polynesia, revolutionised the portrait to express himself and his ideas about art. It features more than 50 works including paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings – many of which have rarely been seen together. They include Madame Mette Gauguin in Evening Dress (1884), Young Breton Girl (1889), Tehura (Teha’amana) (1891-93), Young Christian Girl (1894), Père Paillard (1902) and the last self-portrait he ever completed, made in 1903, probably shortly before the end of his life at the age of 55. Runs until 26th January in the Sainsbury Wing. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk.

• Fifteen Buddhist and Shinto sacred images from the Nara Prefecture have gone on show at the British Museum. The works, which include five Japanese National Treasures, date from between 600 and 1300 AD and are displayed with related important Japanese and Chinese paintings from the museum’s collection. The objects include a gilt bronze sculpture, Bodhisattva of Compassion, a gilt-bronze libation dish featuring the birth of the Buddha and a pair of imposing wooden sculptures, Heavenly Kings, all of which date from the 700s. Nara: sacred images from early Japan can be seen in Room 3 (the Asahi Shimbun Displays) and the Mitsubishi Corporation Japanese Galleries (Room 93). Runs until 24th November. For more, see www.britishmuseum.org.

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Where’s London’s oldest…public swimming pool?

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Given the heat, we thought it was a good idea to take a look at where London’s oldest public swimming pool can be found. There’s a couple of contenders but it’s the Dulwich Public Baths (now known as the Dulwich Leisure Centre) which we think take the title as the oldest public baths still in use.

Located in Dulwich in the city’s south, the baths opened on 25th June, 1892, and was the first of seven designed by Spalding & Cross. There were two pools for most of the bath’s history but one was covered in the early 1980s and now serves as the main gym area.

The baths were closed and used for as a hospital and refugee housing in World War I and the water in the pools were used to put out fires caused by air raid damage in World War II. The baths have also hosted dances and various sports events over the years.

The pools have been refurbished a couple of times, most recently having undergone a five year redevelopment ahead of its reopening in June, 2011.

The Grade II-listed baths located in Crystal Palace Road were opened just a couple of months before the Camberwell Public Baths, which were also designed by Spalding & Cross, opened on 1st October of the same year (again, one of the two original pools there has now been boarded over).

PICTURE: Top – Dr Neil Clifton (licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0); Below – Fæ (licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)

 

This Week in London – British printmaking; the Taste of London; and, Dickens abroad…

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• British printmaking between World War I and II is under the spotlight in a new exhibition which opened at Dulwich Picture Gallery this week. Cutting Edge: Modernist British Printmaking, which marks 90 years since the inaugural exhibition on British linocuts was held at the Redfern Gallery, features 120 prints, drawings and posters and spotlights the work of artists of the Grosvenor School including those of teacher Claude Flight and nine of his leading students – Cyril Power, Sybil Andrews, Lill Tschudi, William Greengrass and Leonard Beaumont among them. A number of the works are being displayed publicly for the first tome and several international loans – including prints by the Australian students Dorrit Black, Ethel Spowers and Eveline Syme – are making their debut as part of a major UK showing. The display can be seen until 8th September. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk. PICTURE: Claude Flight, Speed, 1922, © The Estate of Claude Flight. All Rights Reserved, [2019] / Bridgeman Images/ photo Photo © Elijah Taylor (Brick City Projects)

• Food festival, the Taste of London, is on again in The Regent’s Park across this weekend. Opened last night, the festival features the chance to sample food from London’s best restaurants as well as learn from world-class chefs, and visit gourmet food and artisan producer markets. For more, including tickets, see https://london.tastefestivals.com.

• On Now: Global Dickens: For Every Nation Upon Earth. This exhibition at the Charles Dickens Museum in Bloomsbury paints a global picture of one of London’s favourite sons, starting with his trips to Europe and North America and going on to consider how his influence spread across the world. On display is his leather travelling bag, a Manga edition of A Christmas Carol,  and a copy of David Copperfield that went to the Antarctic on the 1910 Scott expedition. Can be seen until 3rd November. Included in admission charge. For more, see www.dickensmuseum.com.

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LondonLife – Dulwich unveils ‘The Colour Palace’…

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The “second edition” pavilion at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, ‘The Colour Palace’ was unveiled earlier this month at the south London institution. Created in a partnership between the gallery and the London Festival of Architecture, the ‘palace’ – designed by Pricegore architects and Yinka Ilori – is a 10 metre high cube featuring a bold geometric pattern which was inspired by the “buzz of fabric markets in Lagos” and the “symmetry, curves and right angles” of Sir John Soane’s now Grade II*-listed gallery building. The temporary palace, which unites the themes of ‘boundaries’ and ‘innovation’, is being used as a public space for a range of creative activities – everything from neon life drawing, supper clubs, storytelling and yoga. For the programme of events, see www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk. PICTURES:  Adam Scott/Dulwich Picture Gallery.

This Week in London – Experience Colombia at Kew; Norwegian landscapes at Dulwich; and, shining a spotlight on London’s disadvantaged children…

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• The flowers of Colombia are at the heart of this year’s Kew Orchid Festival which kicked off in west London late last week. Featuring what’s promised to be “dazzling displays” inspired by Colombia’s fauna and flora – the country boasts some 4,270 species of orchids alone, the 24th annual festival includes music, food, crafts and, of course, coffee. More than 5,700 orchids – including the Flor de Mayo – feature in the display in the Princess of Wales Conservatory with visitors led through a series of zones that evoke the sights, smells and sounds of Colombia. The central display is a “carnival of animals’ which depicts a toucan in flight, a hanging sloth and swimming turtle – all made of orchids, bromeliads and other tropical plants. There’s also a cascade of colourful hanging vandas representing the “rainbow river” – the Cano Cristales, an enchanted forest with life-sized jaguars, and, a golden floating display featuring yellow orchids depicting the legend of El Dorado. Meanwhile, the glasshouse film room features Bogota-style street art murals by Colombian multidisciplinary artist, Vanessa Moncayo González. The festival runs until 10th March. Admission charges apply. For more, see www.kew.org.

• The works of Harald Sohlberg, one of the great masters of landscape painting in the history of Norwegian art, are on show at Dulwich Picture Gallery in the first ever exhibition of his works outside of Norway. Marking the 150th anniversary of the artist’s birth, Harald Sohlberg: Painting Norway boasts more than 90 works revealing the role of colour and symbolism in his art as well as his passion for Nordic landscapes. Spanning the period from 1889 when he was starting out as a 20-year-old through to 1935, the last year of his life, the works include the ‘national painting of Norway’ – Winter Night in the Mountains (1914) which took some 14 years to complete (pictured), as well as Fisherman’s Cottage (1906), Summer Night (1899), Sun Gleam (1894) and Street in Røros in Winter (1903). Runs until 2nd June. Admission charge applies. Accompanying the exhibition is a new sculptural installation in the gallery’s mausoleum by Bristol-based artist Mariele Neudecker – And Then the World Changed Colour: Breathing Yellow. For more see www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk. PICTURE:  Harald Sohlberg, ‘Winter Night in the Mountains’, 1914, The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Norway.

• A new photographic exhibition documenting the living conditions of London’s most disadvantaged children has opened at the Foundling Museum in Bloomsbury. Being run in partnership with The Childhood Trust, Bedrooms of London features images of sleeping spaces by Katie Wilson and they are shown alongside stories collected by Isabella Walker which bring into sharp focus the consequences of London’s social housing shortage. The display builds on the history of the Foundling Hospital, providing a glimpse into what life is like for the 700,000 London children currently living below the poverty line. It can be seen until 5th May. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.foundlingmuseum.org.uk.

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