March 2017 – Toovey’s Blog

Leading Women Artists Celebrated at Chichester University

Curator, Dr Gill Clarke, admires Florestan by Gillian Ayres (b.1930)

The latest University of Chichester Bishop Otter Collection exhibition ‘Women Artists: Power and Presence’ has been attracting much critical acclaim. The show has been curated by visiting Professor, Dr Gill Clarke. Its provocative title seeks to highlight the revolution and empowerment of women artists in the 20th century and includes work by many of the leading female artists of the period.

Dr Clarke says “Many of the artists represented in this exhibition fought to be recognised because of their work rather than their gender.”

This visually diverse and exciting exhibition brings together some forty works from the last one hundred years. As you enter the gallery your eye is met by a series of intimate studies of women from the early 20th century in watercolour, pencil, oil and print which include works by Gwen John, Vanessa Bell, Sylvia Gosse and others.

Martina Thomas (1924-95), Self-portrait, oil, c.1948, © the artist’s family

Amongst these is a revealing self-portrait dating from 1948 by Martina Thomas. Its inclusion provides a fitting opportunity to reassess this Sussex artist’s work. The portrait shows the influence of the Post-Impressionists in its brush work and execution. She studied at St Martin’s School of Art in London and exhibited at the Royal Academy during the 1950s. However, like Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, her representational style fell from favour as Modern British Art increasingly moved towards abstraction.

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912-2004), Jupiter’s Dream, oil, c.1998, © The Barns-Graham Charitable Trust

This movement towards abstraction is reflected in two large scale works filled with vitality, colour and life by Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and Gillian Ayres. They have been generously loaned by The Barns-Graham Charitable Trust and The Swindon Museum and Art Gallery marking the beginning of an exciting relationship between these collections and the Bishop Otter Collection.

I must confess that I find Wilhelmina Barns-Graham’s ‘Jupiter’s Dream’ captivating. It is a painting filled with light and energy as the artist brings together a lifetime of experience. She arrived in St Ives in 1940 and painted there and at Balmungo, near St Andrews, throughout her life. Barns-Graham was one of only a few women artists painting in an exploratory manner in the 1940s and she moved steadily towards abstraction. This late work is extraordinary in its use of composition, colour and mass to create movement and drama. The three dramatic bands and geometric forms draw the viewer into its celestial drama and heighten our senses.

I express my delight in Gillian Ayres’ painting Florestan. Gill Clarke responds “Gillian Ayres wanted her paintings to be alive and give delight. The thick texture of the paint with its bright colours make this a joyful and expressive picture.” I comment on the paintings musical quality and sense of rhythm and Dr Clarke explains that its title might relate to Gillian Ayres’ love of Beethoven and his opera Fidelio.

There are many other paintings to delight you by leading artists from the 20th century and all of them by women. The continuing prominence of women in art is celebrated by a number of contemporary works.

Dr Gill Clarke’s continuing work at the Bishop Otter Collection is bringing new life to this important collection in the context of the life and campus of the University of Chichester. She is deserving of our thanks.

If you have yet to see this beautiful and thought provoking exhibition you still have time. It runs until the 9th April 2017 and entry is free. For more information and opening times go to www.chi.ac.uk/about-us/otter-gallery.

By Rupert Toovey, a senior director of Toovey’s, the leading fine art auction house in West Sussex, based on the A24 at Washington. Originally published in the West Sussex Gazette.

The Grand Tour and Neo-classicism

An etching after Giovanni Battista Piranesi titled 'Veduta dell' Interno dell' Ansiteatro Flavio detto il Colosseo' — An etching after Giovanni Battista Piranesi titled ‘Veduta dell’ Interno dell’ Ansiteatro Flavio detto il Colosseo’

The gap year and an opportunity to travel seems, to many of us, a relatively new phenomenon – a chance for our children to broaden their experience of the world. But there is nothing new in this. Georgian polite society would send their sons to the Continent once they had completed their formal education.

The Grand Tour could last anything up to five years. Young men and their tutors would visit the great houses, palaces and cities of Europe. There they would admire the ruins of antiquity and bring back trophies of their tour – objects which were both genuine and imitations. Examples of these pursuits can be found in the collections at Petworth House in West Sussex where the 2nd Earl of Egremont (1710-1763) was a particularly cultured Grand Tourist.

The late Georgian period (1760-1800) would be defined by Neo- classical taste informed by the newly discovered rich Roman interiors at Herculaneum (from 1748) and Pompeii (from 1758). These cities had been hidden from the world by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. 18th century excavations revealed exquisite interiors with delicate symmetrical decorative motifs which inspired artists and designers back home in Britain.

A Gillows of Lancaster Neo-classical specimen marble centre-table

The Neo-classical specimen marble table illustrated is a good example of this and was probably designed by Gillows of Lancaster. By the mid-18th century Gillows had acquired a reputation for manufacturing furniture of the highest quality and by the late 1700s the firm had offices in Lancaster and London. There are records of Gillows supplying tables to Stephen Tempest to support marble slabs purchased by him in Italy. However, this particular table was most recently owned by the late Baroness Herries of Terregles (1938-2014). Lady Anne’s father was the 16th Duke of Norfolk and she had grown up at Arundel Castle, the Norfolk’s family seat in West Sussex. The circular top is inset with radiating bands of specimen marbles, including lapis lazuli, malachite, porphyry and agates, within a border of verde-antico The table’s base is delicately carved with a continuous band of acanthus leaves, raised on a carved tulip cusp stem with a beaded knop, the triform base has carved scroll feet fitted with castors.

The Grand Tour specimen marble table top

The scene depicted by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) is typical of his ‘Vedutes’ (views), especially of Rome, which once again became an important artistic and cultural centre in the 18th century. Piranesi was an Italian artist famous for his etchings which would inspire a generation of philosophers, architects, artists and academics.

These objects speak loudly of our shared European heritage. I am confident and hopeful that the continuous philosophical and cultural heritage, which forms part of our shared narrative with the nations of Continental Europe, will continue to bless us as our relationships with one another evolve.

Learning and culture were considered and remain important markers of civilisation in Europe.

By Rupert Toovey, a senior director of Toovey’s, the leading fine art auction house in West Sussex, based on the A24 at Washington. Originally published in the West Sussex Gazette.

‘The Woodcut: From Dürer to Now’ at Pallant House

Albrecht Dürer, ‘Repose on the Flight into Egypt’, c.1504, (Hussey Bequest, Chichester District Council, 1985), © Pallant House Gallery

An intimate exhibition ‘The Woodcut: from Dürer to Now’ has just opened at the Pallant House Gallery, Chichester. It examines the art of the woodcuts and wood engravings from the time of the Renaissance to today.

To produce a woodblock print the artist’s design would be pasted to the block so that the engraver could cut the image into the wood. The printer would then print the image.

The first woodcut in the exhibition is an image by the Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528). Produced in 1511, it comes from a series of prints he made illustrating scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary. Dürer’s treatment of the scene is revolutionary. The infant Jesus sleeps whilst Mary spins yarn in the company of Joseph and two attendant Angels. The group are watched over by the Holy Spirit depicted as a dove in the heavens. There is a gentle domesticity to the scene in contrast to the urgency of their flight from Herod. Note also Dürer’s treatment of perspective in the buildings and landscape.

Straight grained cherry was often used in the production of Japanese woodcuts as it allowed for fine detail to be carved. As many as ten blocks were used to achieve the diversity of colour. At each stage of the process proofs would be made for approval.

Utagawa Hiroshige, ‘Travellers surprised by sudden rain (Shono haku-u)’, c.1833 - 4, Woodcut on paper, (Hussey Bequest, Chichester District Council, 1985), © Pallant House Gallery — Utagawa Hiroshige, ‘Travellers surprised by sudden rain (Shono haku-u)’, c.1833 – 4, Woodcut on paper, (Hussey Bequest, Chichester District Council, 1985), © Pallant House Gallery

One of the best known of all Japanese woodcut designers is Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858). Hiroshige’s landscape prints are internationally acclaimed and are amongst the most frequently reproduced of all Japanese works of art. They are defined by their unusual compositions and humorous depictions of people involved in everyday activities. His exquisite observation and depiction of weather, light and season are exemplary. Hiroshige’s work proved hugely influential for many leading European artists including Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh.

Hiroshige combined his print making with his inherited position as a fire warden. In 1832 he was invited to join an embassy of Shogunal officials on a journey which allowed him to observe the Tokaido Road, the Eastern sea Route which followed the coast through mountain range to Kyoto. The resultant series was called ‘Tokaido Go-ju-san-Tsugi’ (The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido), from which ‘Travellers surprised by sudden rain (Shono haku-u)’ is taken. It portrays farmers and porters running for shelter as the sudden downpour of rain darkens the sky and obscures the mountains. The figures, angle of the rain and the wind in the trees, lends the image a sense of urgency and movement.

In the early part of the 20th Century there was a revival of woodblock engraving in Britain. The strength of contrast in the black and white, and the softness of line, seemed to articulate something particular to a generation who had lived through the First World War.

Ben Nicholson, ‘5 Circles’, c.1934, woodcut on paper, (Private collection)

Ben Nicholson (1894-1982) was a leading artist in British Modernism. ‘5 Circles’ was the only woodcut he made before the Second World War. It was commissioned by Anatole Jakovski in 1934. Proof copies of this abstract print are known to exist and Nicholson must have preserved his block as a further reprint was produced by Kestner Gesellschaft in 1962.

Entrance to this intimate exhibition is free thanks to the generosity of its sponsor, De’Longhi. The show runs until 25th June 2017 at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester. Further details of this and the gallery’s other current exhibitions (which are really worth the ticket price) can be found at www.pallant.org.uk.

By Rupert Toovey, a senior director of Toovey’s, the leading fine art auction house in West Sussex, based on the A24 at Washington. Originally published in the West Sussex Gazette.

£132,000 Chinese Discovery in West Sussex

The pair of Chinese imperial famille rose enamelled porcelain rectangular tea caddies

A pair of Chinese famille rose enamelled porcelain tea caddies dating from the Qing dynasty have just sold at Toovey’s Fine Art Auctioneers for £132,000. They were being displayed on a window sill in a Sussex home when they caught the eye of a Toovey’s valuer during a routine visit. The result illustrates the strength of Chinese Hong Kong collectors and the benefits of the post-Brexit pound which have caused prices and competition from abroad to soar.

Today’s Chinese collectors are following in the tradition of the Qianlong emperor (1711-1799) who was the last of the great imperial art collectors and patrons in Chinese history. His genuine passion for art and collecting seems to have been inspired by his grandfather, the Kangxi emperor (1654-1722), and his uncle Yinxi (1711-1758).

The Qianlong emperor was prolific in his collecting applying an exceptional personal connoisseurship not only to the acquisition of art and antiquities but also to his patronage. His collection would number more than a million objects. It included the collection of the Ming emperors (1368-1644) which was the oldest art collection in the world with a continuous collecting tradition dating back over 1600 years.

The Qianlong emperor took a personal interest in porcelain production and was an ardent collector of it. Many of the types of porcelain associated with the Qianlong emperor, however, were seeded under the Emperor Yongzheng’s supervisor of the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, Tang Ying (1682-1756).

Toovey’s Asian Art Specialist, Tom Rowsell, with the £132,000 pair of Qianlong period tea caddies

Toovey’s Asian art specialist, Tom Rowsell, explains “The mid-18th century porcelain designers had an unprecedented freedom due to their technical understanding of glazes. This resulted in enamelled wares often decorated with dense, complex and colourful designs as you can see on the side panels of this remarkable pair of Qianlong period tea caddies from the imperial kilns. Their shape and proportion is typically well judged and shows the influence of European taste, the superb fine white bodies and beautifully ordered and executed decoration are quintessentially of the period.”

The densely decorated sides of the Chinese famille rose tea caddies, typical of the Qianlong period (1735-1796)

I comment on the virtuosity in the contrast between the restrained depiction of the blossoming branches and flowering stems which enfold the finely executed text, and the polychrome enamelled sides densely filled with lotus flowers and scrolling tendrils on the yellow and iron red grounds. Tom agrees and says “This technical excellence and style is explained by the production processes refined by Tang Ying at Jingdezhen. Tang Ting was the foremost ceramic expert in China. He was summoned to Beijing in 1743 to illustrate and catalogue the imperial collection and described the process of porcelain manufacture in twenty steps. This led to an elaborate division of labour at the imperial kilns so that no one person was responsible for the production of a single piece at Jingdezhen.”

Today’s Chinese collectors are as passionate in their collecting as their imperial forebears and the market shows no signs of abating. If you would like advice on your Chinese objects Tom Rowsell can be contacted on 01903 891955 or by emailing auctions@tooveys.com.

By Rupert Toovey, a senior director of Toovey’s, the leading fine art auction house in West Sussex, based on the A24 at Washington. Originally published in the West Sussex Gazette.

The Fine Art of Japanese Inro

A Japanese lacquer and Shibayama inlaid five case inro, Meiji period (1868-1912), sold at Toovey’s for £3200

Japanese inro were originally designed as seal baskets but were mainly used to hold herbal medicines. The interlocking compartments were held together by a cord and would have been hung from a waist band. They were often finely decorated in lacquer and Shibayama.

For more than two hundred and fifty years Japan had lived in relative isolation from the outside world until American gunboat diplomacy, instigated by Commodore Perry in 1853, opened up Japan for trade with the West. Throughout the Edo (1603-1868) and Meiji (1868-1912) periods Japan’s rich tradition of arts and crafts gave voice to a civilized nation.

Amongst these arts and crafts lacquer work was used extensively in Japan. The technique came to Japan from China in the sixth century A.D. The art of the lacquer craftsman was highly technical but their patrons’ taste for traditional designs limited artistic creativity. The popularity of the inro emerged during the 17th and 18th centuries. These new objects allowed the lacquerers a greater freedom in design and decoration as well as the opportunity to experiment technically. Exquisite artistry was lavished on inro by artist-craftsmen working for the ruling classes. Favourite subjects included figures, gardens and floral displays.

The Japanese lacquer and Shibayama inlaid five case inro illustrated here is a fine example of this artistic and technical tour de force. Measuring just 9.4cm the inro dates from the Meiji period (1868-1912) and combines the decorative techniques of maki-e with its powder gilt ground with Shibayama inlay. The high relief, finely inlaid image depicts a hanaguruma, a two-wheeled flower cart, carrying a tasselled wickerwork basket filled with chrysanthemum, peony, iris and a bough of flowering wisteria. The composition and colours of the scene depicted in carved tortoiseshell, coral, mother-of-pearl and hardstone are exquisitely conceived and worked.

A Japanese four-case lacquer inro by Koma Koryu, Edo period, with netsuke (19th century)

The Japanese four-case lacquer inro by Koma Koryu dates from the Edo period (19th century) and is differently decorated. The sides of its curved rectangular body are finely worked. Employing the hiramaki-e technique the gilt chrysanthemum are raised above the maki-e ground with its gilt speckled dark brown decoration. The hardwood netsuke is carved in the form of clam shells with ivory inlaid detail and the cord which unites the interlocking compartments can be clearly seen.

A Japanese five-case lacquer inro, Edo period (19th Century)

The final Japanese inro illustrated dates from the Edo period. It again features chrysanthemums against a beautifully worked maki-e ground. Although lavishly decorated it is less fine than the other two inro.

Values at auction for Japanese inro of this quality range from a few hundred to thousands of pounds today.

Toovey’s Asian Art specialist, Tom Rowsell, is passionate about these pieces and can be contacted by telephoning 01903 891955 or at auctions@tooveys.com if you would like his advice.

By Rupert Toovey, a senior director of Toovey’s, the leading fine art auction house in West Sussex, based on the A24 at Washington. Originally published in the West Sussex Gazette.