Pallant House Gallery – Page 7

John Piper Exhibition an Easter Feast

The artist John Piper in 2000 © Nicholas Sinclair

A remarkable exhibition ‘John Piper: The Fabric of Modernism’ has just opened at the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. It marks the fiftieth anniversary of the installation of John Piper’s Chichester Cathedral reredos tapestry.

This is the first major exhibition to explore John Piper’s textile designs. It highlights the influence of Piper’s paintings and drawings on his designs. There is much to feast your eyes on. Paintings are displayed alongside designs and textiles illustrating how he reworked his themes and interests in various media. He worked in the abstract, romantic and classical traditions as a painter, designer, writer, printmaker and ceramicist. Whilst there is something of the modern in all his work he is, nevertheless, rooted in the tradition of individual voices in British Art. The exhibition highlights the central and recurring themes in Piper’s work which include religious imagery, historic architecture and the abstract.

In the 20th century two industrialized world wars had forged a shared experience of suffering and conflict in Britain. It fell to artists and their patrons to give voice to this new national consciousness in a period of political, social and religious change. John Piper’s work is deeply bound up with this story.

Walter Hussey was Dean of Chichester Cathedral and famous for his patronage of the arts through the church. In his book ‘Patron of Art’ Hussey notes how he chose to follow Henry Moore’s advice to commission John Piper to create a worthy setting for the High Altar. With his great sympathy for old churches he suggested a tapestry. Tapestry, he argued, would work in concert with the old stonework and 16th Century carved oak screen. He felt that the seven strips of tapestry would be able to be read as a whole across the narrow wooden buttresses of the screen with its crest of medieval canopies.

John Piper’s preliminary design for the Chichester Cathedral tapestry © The Piper Estate

In the January of 1965 Piper presented a final sketch. The artist’s familiarity with the language of abstraction remains evident. It met with favourable opinion. But at lunch with Hussey and others, Piper was deeply troubled when the Archdeacon of Chichester commented that there was no specific symbol for God the Father in the central section of the design. The lack of this symbol in the earlier design by John Piper, illustrated here, is notable. After much consideration Piper introduced the white light to the left of centre on the tapestry itself. The tapestry panels are schematic in their use of symbolism. The Trinity is represented in the three central panels. God the Father is depicted by a white light, God the Son by the blue Tau Cross and the Holy Spirit as a flame-like wing, all united by a red equilateral triangle within a border of green scattered flames. The flanking panels depict the Gospel Evangelists St Matthew (a winged man), St Mark (a winged lion), St Luke (a winged ox), and St John (a winged eagle); beneath the Elements earth, air, fire and water.

As we journey through Holy Week and mark Jesus’ death upon the cross on Good Friday the Tau Cross seems particularly poignant with its symbolic wounds on each spar. Jesus’ role in creation from before the beginning of all things to the triumph of his death and resurrection are powerfully proclaimed in this extraordinary tapestry.

John Piper’s Chichester Cathedral reredos tapestry, circa 1966

John Piper set himself to the task of designing the tapestry panels. He employed subtle changes in the colour of threads to avoid jagged edges. Piper was convinced that Pinton Frères, in the small French town of Felletin, near Aubusson, was the right atelier of weavers to produce the tapestry. The weavers worked with a true and faithful sense of the artist’s intentions and hopes for this design. Their painstaking, lengthy discipline in producing these panels gift the work with contrasting qualities of life, movement and spontainaity. The subtleties and life in the tapestry are best observed in natural light. The tapestry was installed fifty years ago in the autumn of 1966.

I am excited that Toovey’s Fine Art Auctioneers are sponsoring ‘John Piper: The Fabric of Modernism’ at Pallant House Gallery, 9 North Pallant, Chichester, PO19 1TJ. The exhibition runs until 12th June 2016.

What a wonderful Easter treat – Pallant House Gallery and Chichester Cathedral!

For more information on current exhibitions, events and opening times go to www.pallant.org.uk or telephone 01243 774557. For details of Holy Week and Easter services at Chichester Cathedral visit www.chichestercathedral.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.

Lost Works by Evelyn Dunbar

Evelyn Dunbar, Men Stooking and Girls Learning to Stook, 1940, oil on canvas, private collection © The Artist's Estate / Christopher Campbell-Howes

The current exhibition, ‘Evelyn Dunbar: The Lost Works’, at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, includes many previously unseen pictures by this lesser known artist. Many of these paintings and drawings had lain forgotten in an attic in Kent until their rediscovery in 2013.

Evelyn Dunbar’s recurrent themes of the repeating rhythms of nature, the seasons and the year seem particularly poignant as we once again reflect on the coming of a New Year.

Evelyn Dunbar, An English Calendar, 1938, oil on canvas, Archives Imperial College London © The Artist's Estate / Christopher Campbell-Howes

These themes are reflected in ‘An English Calendar’ painted in 1938. Here we also observe the artist’s passion for horticulture. Dunbar’s figurative study ‘February’ is filled with allegory. It is as though this figure has been disturbed. Her startled face is illuminated as she lifts a cloche and the first shoots of spring issue from her hat against the cold grey of a February sky. It displays something of the graphic qualities present in the artist’s illustrations.

Evelyn Dunbar, February, 1937-38, Oil on canvas, © The Artist's Estate, courtesy of Liss Llewellyn Fine Art

The exhibition is being held in the early 18th century house which forms part of the gallery. The influences of the 1930s British art scene on Evelyn Dunbar’s work is immediately apparent. There is something of the attitude of Stanley Spencer, Paul Nash, Graham Sutherland and others in her pictures which connects her work to the Neo-Romantic movement of the time. Nevertheless there is much to delight in the familiar.

Amongst the strongest images in this exhibition are her depictions of the home front painted whilst she was working as a war artist. Dunbar was appointed as an Official War Artist in April 1940.

Sir Kenneth Clark provided the inspiration to set up the ambitious Recording Britain scheme which he saw as an extension of the Official War Artist Scheme. Artists, like Dunbar, were employed on the home front to create topographical views of the British landscape, architecture and people. These things were being threatened by bombing and possible Nazi invasion and were rightly considered to be important to the British nation and her identity.

Evelyn Dunbar, Milking Practice with Artificial Udders, 1940, oil on canvas, © The Artist's Estate, courtesy of Liss Llewellyn Fine Art

There is a poetry and rhythm in Evelyn Dunbar’s paintings from 1940 of ‘Men Stooking and Girls Learning to Stook’ and ‘Milking Practice with Artificial Udders’. These stylized depictions display Dunbar’s empathy with her subjects and love of the English landscape. Her palette and the texture inherent in her handling of paint adds a vitality to her work.

This charming exhibition runs until 14th February 2016 at the Pallant House Gallery, 9 North Pallant, Chichester, PO19 1TJ. For more information about ‘Evelyn Dunbar: The Lost Works’ and the gallery’s current exhibition program go to www.pallant.org.uk or telephone 01243 774557.

I wish you all a peaceful and happy new year filled with blessing.

By Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 30th December 2015 in the West Sussex Gazette.

Fund Raising Auction for Pallant House

Work donated by some of the nation’s leading Modern and Contemporary artists will be sold at auction in the coming fortnight in support of Pallant House Gallery’s £1 million match funding grant. The grant was made by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) Catalyst and Endowments funding program.

The grant is conditional on Pallant House Gallery matching pound for pound the £1 million grant with money from private funding by 2016, and their target is in sight!

The first lots under the hammer are at Sotheby’s this week in London, in their Modern & Post War British Art sale.

Closer to home a second auction of works is being held by Toovey’s Fine Art Auctioneers. Bidding has just gone live for this on-line sale. Work has been donated to the auction by artists and patrons. Lots include pictures by Norman Ackroyd, Peter Blake, Patrick Caulfield, Dennis Creffield, Laura Ford, Anna Fox, Jeremy Gardiner, Henry Inlander, Kurt Jackson, Ed Kluz, Henry Moore, Celia Paul, Eduardo Paolozzi, Bruce Rae, David Remfry and Bouke de Vries.

Many of these artists are represented in the gallery’s own collection, or have strong associations with Pallant House’s work.

Amongst my favourites is the bold screen print from 1992, ‘Red Jug and Lamp’, by Patrick Caulfield. The striking economy of line used by this English painter and printmaker is typical of his work. The screen print ‘The Beatles 1962’, by Sir Peter Blake, is a final stage proof signed by this leading British Pop Artist. This iconic image was commissioned by Pallant House Gallery in 2012.

I love Ed Kluz’s work. His pictures provide a fresh voice in the British Romantic tradition. He reinterprets the picturesque uniting us, in our imaginations, with our sense of place in the procession of human history. This talented artist, illustrator and designer brings an antiquarian’s eye to our topography and architecture. The aesthetic of Ed Kluz’s ‘Ilford Manor, Somerset’, donated by the artist to the sale, captures his thoughts and emotional response, as well as the essence of the physical reality. These themes and responses belong to the Romantic tradition. Kluz seeks to look beyond what is immediately apparent, to the spirit of the place.

Simon Martin, Artistic Director at Pallant House Gallery commented ‘The auctions represent a remarkable opportunity for us to reach our target. The donations we have received from major artists reflect just how much the Gallery is valued by the artistic community.’

The funds from the auctions will go to Pallant House Gallery’s endowment fund which was established in 2002. Pallant House Gallery receives no direct subsidies from central Government. The appeal aims, with the HLF Catalyst Appeal match funding, to consolidate a secure funding base to ensure the gallery is able to continue to deliver its successful exhibitions and award-winning learning and community programmes, as well as conserving its important collections.

I am delighted that Toovey’s are donating their expertise and services to this important appeal. Lots being auctioned by Toovey’s will be on view at Pallant House Gallery, 9 North Pallant, Chichester, PO19 1TJ, from 20th to 27th November 2015. All the bidding is on-line and finishes at 7.30pm on Friday 27th November 2015. You can bid on-line by clicking here, registering, and clicking on the sale.

By Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 18th November 2015 in the West Sussex Gazette.

The grant is conditional on Pallant House Gallery matching pound for pound the £1 million grant with money from private funding by 2016, and their target is in sight!

The first lots under the hammer are at Sotheby’s this week in London, in their Modern & Post War British Art sale.

Many of these artists are represented in the gallery’s own collection, or have strong associations with Pallant House’s work.

The funds from the auctions will go to Pallant House Gallery’s endowment fund which was established in 2002. Pallant House Gallery receives no direct subsidies from central Government. The appeal aims, with the HLF Catalyst Appeal match funding, to consolidate a secure funding base to ensure the gallery is able to continue to deliver its successful exhibitions and award-winning learning and community programmes, as well as conserving its important collections.

I am delighted that Toovey’s are donating their expertise and services to this important appeal. Lots being auctioned by Toovey’s will be on view at Pallant House Gallery, 9 North Pallant, Chichester, PO19 1TJ, from 20th to 27th November 2015. All the bidding is on-line and finishes at 7.30pm on Friday 27th November 2015. You can bid on-line by going to www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/tooveys, registering, and clicking on the sale.

David Jones Exhibition

Pallant House Gallery’s Artistic Director, Simon Martin, opened their latest exhibition ‘David Jones: Vision and Memory’ last Friday. This timely retrospective provides an extraordinary insight into the life and work of this talented British artist who, between 1921 and 1924, was a member of Eric Gill’s Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic in Ditchling, Sussex.

David Jones, Flora in Calix Light, 1950, watercolour, Kettle's Yard, University of Cambridge © Trustees of the David Jones Estate

David Jones (1895-1974) worked as a painter, engraver, poet and maker of inscriptions. He responded with a lyrical delight to the visual world around him. But there is also a mystical, timeless quality to his work, rooted in the memory of the long and ancient procession of human history. In 1936 the famous art historian, Kenneth Clark, described him as ‘in many ways, the most gifted of artists of all the young British painters’, adding in the late 1960s that Jones was ‘absolutely unique – a remarkable genius’.

David Jones, Quia Per Incarnati, 1945, watercolour, Private Collection © Trustees of the David Jones Estate

David Jones, The Dove, wood-engraving from Chester Play of the Deluge, 1927 © Trustees of the David Jones Estate/ Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales

My passion for Modern British Art began at Jim Ede’s home, Kettles Yard, in Cambridge. Jim Ede championed many of the leading artists of the 1920s and 1930s whilst an assistant curator at the Tate gallery in London. It was at Kettles Yard, amongst the work of Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Naum Gabo and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, that I first encountered David Jones’ watercolours and prints. Amongst these was the expressive work ‘Flora in Calix Light’. Jones converted to Roman Catholicism whilst at Ditchling and his faith remained one of the recurrent influences on his art and writing. In the 1950s Jones’ horizons began to come in on him and his attention moved from a delight in the world outside to the interior. The resulting still lifes are considered to be amongst his best works. ‘Flora in Calix Light’ has many of the common themes of these watercolours. The large, central glass goblet resembles the chalice of the Mass. There is an abundance in the garden flowers which fill it. The three glass chalices represent the scene of the crucifixion. They are charged with a translucent light, the white gouache heightening our sense of the luminous. Through the open window we glimpse a tree which reminds the viewer of the cross. This reflective painting captures the mystery of the Passion narratives through its rich symbolism, whilst the Christian iconography is implicit rather than explicit. There is a connection with David Jones’ meditation on the unity of all creation in the presence of God, ‘The Anathemata’, which was published in 1952.

From the 1940s onwards David Jones embarked on a series of painted inscriptions. They are amongst the most beautiful images in this exhibition. Initially he produced them as greetings cards to friends. There is a playful quality to them as the artist wilfully misspells words and mixes languages. But these are meditative pieces which demand the full attention of the viewer. They embody an understanding of the true presence of Jesus Christ in the Mass and as ‘the Word made flesh’ as expressed in ‘Quia Per Incarnati’.

The exhibition illustrates the development of, and influences on, the work of this complex artist in an accessible way. It allows us to see the consistent quality of line apparent throughout David Jones’ career and not least in his earlier wood engraved illustrations like ‘The Dove’.

‘David Jones: Vision and Memory’ will reward you whether you are familiar with the artist’s work or discovering him for the first time. You cannot fail to be delighted by this remarkable modern British artist with such strong links to Sussex. I am pleased that Toovey’s is amongst the headline sponsors of this insightful exhibition which runs until 21st February 2016 at the Pallant House Gallery, 9 North Pallant, Chichester, PO19 1TJ. For more information about the gallery’s current exhibition program go to www.pallant.org.uk or telephone 01243 774557.

By Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 28th October 2015 in the West Sussex Gazette.

Sickert Unites Sussex with Dieppe

Walter Sickert, ‘L’Hôtel Royal, Dieppe’, 1894, oil on canvas, Museums Sheffield

This week I am once again at the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester for ‘Sickert in Dieppe’ which runs until 4th October 2015. This exemplary exhibition explores the formational relationship that Walter Sickert (1860-1942) had with the French seaside resort of Dieppe.

Walter Sickert was a leading and influential figure in the Modern British Art Movement. The exhibition is the inspiration of Pallant House Gallery Curator, Katy Norris. In her introduction to ‘Sickert in Dieppe’ she writes ‘Walter Sickert’s enduring fascination with the popular Normandy resort of Dieppe represents a remarkable aspect of his career.’

Pallant House exhibition curator, Katy Norris, at the opening of ‘Sickert in Dieppe’

For me this is a relevant and contemporary exhibition. Although Sickert’s paintings show us the life and scenes of Dieppe some hundred years ago, the vibrant seaside town he depicts is still recognizable to us today. We can feel the heat and shade of his pictures and pick out many of the same landmarks. The ambient sounds and life of the town that he captures speak to us across the years.

From his childhood, and for more than forty years, Sickert would return to Dieppe. The exhibition highlights the formative influence this vibrant seaside town had on the artist, and the extraordinary breadth of subjects he engaged with. He would produce a comprehensive topographical account of the town, its people and its environs.

Walter Sickert, ‘L’ Walter Sickert, L'Armoire à Glace’, 1921-4; dated 1924, oil on canvas, Tate: Purchased 1941, Image courtesy Tate, London 2015

The work chosen for this show illustrates how Sickert’s work was influenced by his acquaintance with the French artist Edgar Degas and his closeness to Impressionist painters such as Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro.

Encouraged by Degas Sickert started to emphasise what Katy Norris characterizes as ‘the everyday realism of his subjects…his paintings became more representational, based upon rigorously planned squared-up drawings and featuring strongly delineated architectural patterns.’ Influenced by Degas’ work Sickert broadened his range of subject matter to include the race course and circus scenes. The latter provided the forerunners to paintings like ‘Brighton Pierrots’ and his London music hall scenes.

Painted in 1894, ‘L’Hotel Royal, Dieppe’ depicts what appears to be a public festival. The tricolour flags flutter in the coastal breeze. The figures and sea front hotel are depicted beneath the dramatic sky, turned purple by the light of the setting sun.

Walter Sickert, ‘The Façade of St Jacques, Dieppe’, 1902, oil on canvas, Private collection, image courtesy of The Fine Art Society

Sickert left his first wife Ellen Cobden and settled with the local fisherwoman, Augustine Villain, in the suburb of Neuville. From here the narrow roads of the fishing community linked the Arcades de la Poissonnerie with the harbour and prosperous parts of Dieppe. These adjacent and contrasting architectural spaces fascinated Sickert. Take for example ‘The Façade of St Jacques’ painted in 1902. The bright palette and thickly worked paint shows some of the characteristic of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting but, unlike them, he did not work ‘en plein air’.

In 1912 Sickert married Christine Angus Drummond. They made their home at the Villa d’Aumale in the valley of Eaulne, just ten miles from Dieppe. Katy points out that it was during this period that the artist developed his particular method of ‘applying the pigment in a patchwork of flattened layers of colour’.

Sickert was cut off from Dieppe by the advent of the First World War.

In the October of 1920 Christine lost her battle with tuberculosis and died. Sickert was overwhelmed by grief. In 1921 he took a flat on the seafront at Dieppe. There he painted a series of pictures that he described as ‘figure subjects’. He posed different models in a poorly lit bedroom in his flat. There is a voyeuristic quality to ‘L’Armoire à Glace’ afforded by the composition. Separated by the doorway there is a lack of compassion and empathy between the artist and sitter. It has been suggested that a sexual under-current is implied by the empty bed reflected in the mirrored door of the wardrobe as though from a scene in a brothel.

Sickert visited Brighton in 1913 where he made a speech at the opening of the important ‘English Post-Impressionists, Cubists and Others’ exhibition. Arranged by the Camden Town Group, it included work by him and many of the nation’s leading artists. He visited Brighton in 1914 with his wife and painted ‘Brighton Pierrots’ in 1915. It seems appropriate, therefore, that ‘Sickert in Dieppe’ should be in Sussex at the Pallant House Gallery, 9 North Pallant, Chichester, PO19 1TJ, until 4th October 2015. For more information on ‘Sickert in Dieppe’ and the gallery’s current exhibition program go to www.pallant.org.uk or telephone 01243 774557.

It is wonderful to see Katy Norris’ insight and assured vision expressed throughout this beautiful exhibition. I am proud that Toovey’s is among the headline sponsors of this insightful, relevant and contemporary exhibition. It should certainly be on your must see list this summer!

By Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 5th August 2015 in the West Sussex Gazette.