Pallant House Gallery – Page 7

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.

A Twist in Time

The current Pallant House Gallery exhibition ‘A Twist in Time: installations and interventions’ provides a remarkable opportunity to experience the conceptual, installation work of international artist, Michael Petry, here in Sussex.

Michael Petry’s art draws inspiration from both classical mythology and contemporary culture. He seeks to give expression to our human relationship and interaction with the world, combining a sensual physicality with a reflective spirituality. Michael has a deep awareness of the importance of narrative and place. He involves the viewer in playful narratives rooting them, for a moment, in time and space. We are invited to inhabit the work in our imaginations; to become aware of changes in light, shadow and colour as each moment in time evolves, gifting these installations with life and movement. And there is a conscious relationship between the specific architectural setting and the work.

Artist, Michael Petry, with ‘Libation to Dionysus’

I approach ‘Libation to Dionysus’ with Michael Petry. I am struck by the beauty and stillness of the deep red of the wine and water held in the porcelain bowl glazed in gold. Colour, light and shade resonate as the window is reflected in the pool of liquid. Michael kneels before the bowl as I ask him about the inspiration behind the title of this piece. He describes how wine was used as an offering, a libation, to Dionysus. In Greek mythology Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, wine, fertility, theatre and religious ecstasy. He kneels and says “The Greeks would always offer the God’s something precious. Wine would always be mixed with water.” As he speaks Michael pours wine then water into the bowl. The sound of this fills the hall in the 18th century part of the gallery. He continues “What this does is enable the bowl to act like a mirror. The direct sunlight comes down and it illuminates, the wine glows bright red, it’s really fantastic. In the shade it acts like a mirror but it looks like blood. It functions in two ways.” Michael stands and looks into the libation bowl. He remarks “When you look in you see yourself.”

Reflections are at the heart of Petry’s ‘Bad Restoration’. This installation looks at both the imperfect way we seek to restore our physical image and our flawed reflections in mirrors. The fragmented, layered, mirrored glass of the artist’s mirrors seems to reflect something of the nature of modern life while echoing Oscar Wilde’s story ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’.

‘A Twist in Time’ by Michael Petry, at Pallant House Gallery

As we turn towards ‘A Twist in Time’ the gallery’s wall is bathed in the reflected red of the wine.

Much of Michael Petry’s work explores the vitality and non-functional properties of glass transforming the use of this material from utility to art. Petry describes glass as a “luscious material”. He continues to redefine the distinction between artist and artisan. Michael often works collaboratively with highly skilled craftspeople to create his works. He is keen to identify the role of the students and staff at Plymouth College of Art in the making of the glass components for the installation ‘A Twist in Time’. He describes how ‘A Twist in Time’ responds to the architecture of the 18th century house which forms part of Pallant House Gallery. Michael says “I really wanted it to have a reference to these turned columns on the stairs.” The delicate barley twist spindles on the elegant staircase are reflected in the glass spindles suspended, as if floating, in its well. The colours do not fully reveal themselves until you reach the landing where the light from the large arched window gives them life. Michael talks of playing with the tranquil colours of the space. The green spiral ties in with the trees which can be seen in the courtyard garden, the brown reflects the timber of the spindles. It is a work created to be in dialogue with the building and our senses.

As visitors move up and down the staircase the boards creak giving voice to another of Michael’s narratives, this time about ghosts revealing themselves in the house. As you walk through the rooms on the upper floor unexpected clear glass objects, which the artist calls ‘Ghosts’, reveal themselves to you.

This intentional artist challenges our perception of the world and the ‘lenses’ through which we view it. There is honesty and beauty in Michael Petry’s art. His observation of the world and our humanity reveals a rare depth of thinking and compassion. Here the ambiguities of life and death, strength and gentleness are held in tension. This is a must see show.

‘A Twist in Time: installations and interventions’ runs until 1st March 2016 at Pallant House Gallery, 9 North Pallant, Chichester, PO19 1TJ, telephone 01243 774557.

To see video extracts of Rupert Toovey’s interview with the artist Michael Petry click here.

By Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 26th July 2015 in the West Sussex Gazette.