Pallant House Gallery – Page 9

Outside In Christmas Charity Event at Toovey’s

This year, Toovey’s have chosen Pallant House Gallery’s pioneering project Outside In as the nominated charity for its Christmas Private View and Charity Auction. During our Christmas Private View on Monday 1st December 2014, Toovey’s, in collaboration with Pallant House Gallery, will be holding a charity auction of promises with a selection of exclusive lots to bid on, including a week’s break on the beautiful classic motor sailing yacht ‘Barracuda’, moored in Palma on the lovely island of Majorca.

The night will also host a Christmas Tree of Delights with gifts available for £20, £50 and £100 for those who would like to donate. As a backdrop to the evening and also in support of Outside In, a selling exhibition of works by acclaimed Sussex-based artists from Moncrieff-Bray Gallery will be on show and this will continue to run through the auction week at Toovey’s until Friday 5th December. Works available to purchase will include an oil on linen, titled ‘Clouds over Jura from Islay’, by Oona Campbell and two fine art photographs by Deborah Gourlay.

Oona Campbell's 'Clouds over Jura from Islay' available for £4200 in the selling exhibition to raise funds for Outside In

A selection of twelve works by award-winning Outside In artists will be on display on the evening too. These twelve works will be offered in Toovey’s Fine Art Auction on Wednesday 3rd December 2014 at 10am to raise further funds for Outside In. Danielle Hodson, David Jones, Jasna Nikolic, Kate Bradbury, Kwei Eden, Manuel Bonifacio, Matthew Sergison-Main, Michelle Roberts, Nigel Kingsbury, Peter Andrews and Phil Baird are the list of names all contributing to this auction.

Click on a thumbnail below to see full image

Outside In was founded in 2006 by Pallant House Gallery to provide opportunities for artists with a desire to create who see themselves as facing a barrier to the art world for reasons including health, disability or social circumstance. The goal of the project is to create a fairer art world, which rejects traditional values and institutional judgements about whose work can and should be displayed. For more information visit the Outside In website by clicking here.

About Outside In, Toovey’s director Rupert Toovey commented: “It is really exciting to see traditional values and institutional judgements challenged, for people to be empowered and gifted with expression, rather than exclusion. I am delighted to be supporting this important work.”

If you would like a catalogue for the exhibition and auction, with more information about the works and artists, please contact Toovey’s or Pallant House Gallery.

Famous Picasso Painting Returns to Sussex

Pablo Picasso, Weeping Woman (Femme en pleurs), 26th October 1937, oil on canvas, Tate. Accepted by H.M. Government in lieu of tax with additional payment (Grant-in-Aid) made with the assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Friends of Tate Gallery, 1987, © Succession Picasso/DACS, London 2014

A remarkable exhibition opens this weekend at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. At its centre is one of Pablo Picasso’s most remarkable pictures: ‘Weeping Woman’. The painting was originally owned by the famous writer, artist and patron Roland Penrose, who made his home at Farley Farm House, near Chiddingly in East Sussex.

The exhibition, titled ‘Conscience and Conflict: British Artists and the Spanish Civil War’, is the first to focus on the artistic response of British visual artists to this conflict and the common voice and influence they found in continental artists like Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro.

Roland Penrose helped to bring Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ to Britain. Its powerful depiction of the destruction caused by the German bombing of the defenceless town of the same name had a profound impact on the public and artists when it was shown in Britain in 1938 and 1939. Roland Penrose bought ‘Weeping Woman’ from Picasso. Painted by the artist in 1937, it is an iconic work which contains an innate and powerful response to the horror of the Spanish Civil War. ‘Weeping Woman’ was exhibited alongside ‘Guernica’ in Britain.

Quentin Bell, May Day Procession with Banner, 14 July 1937, oil on canvas, The Farringdon Collection Trust, © Anne Olivier Bell

The Spanish Civil War was described by Stephen Spender as ‘the poets’ war’. It was recorded by writers like George Orwell in ‘Homage to Catalonia’ and Ernest Hemmingway in ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’. Hemmingway described the Spanish Civil War as ‘the dress rehearsal for the inevitable European war’. Simon Martin, exhibition curator and Pallant House Gallery Artistic Director, comments: “This was a civil war with an international dimension.” The British government signed a non-intervention treaty and was officially neutral. For many British artists and writers, however, the civil war went beyond an internal conflict between the democratically elected Republicans and General Franco’s Nationalist rebels. For them and many others in Britain, the civil war represented the wider battle against Fascism. “Many artists were concerned about the appeasement,” Simon explains. In scenes reminiscent of Quentin Bell’s painting ‘May Day Procession with Banner, 14 July 1937’, artists like Roland Penrose, F.E. McWilliam and Julian Trevelyan marched in the 1938 London May Day Procession to protest at our government’s policy of appeasement. They wore masks, made by McWilliam, caricaturing the Prime Minster, Neville Chamberlain. Simon Martin notes: “You will find one of the masks in the exhibition. There is an obvious and very palpable fear expressed in these artists’ works, a fear that the rise of Fascism in Germany, Italy and Spain would lead to something which would much more directly involve Britain.”

F.E. McWilliam, Spanish Head, 1938-9, Hopton Wood stone, The Sherwin Collection, © Estate of F.E. McWilliam

Against the backdrop of these internationally turbulent times, the artists’ response is personal and charged with emotion. I ask Simon about this quality. He pauses for a moment and replies, “It is rare to work on an exhibition in which so much of the work is about deeply held matters of politics and conscience. Their response provides a deeply moving articulation of this story of human tragedy, refugees, political prisoners and victims of bombing.” These themes are powerfully reflected in this exhibition.

The show reveals to the viewer the effect of Picasso’s imagery on British artists. Take, for example, the surrealist Hopton Wood stone sculpture ‘Spanish Head’ by F.E. McWilliam. Here the mouth and eye of a head are distorted, reflecting the destructive power of this war. Henry Moore’s ‘Spanish Prisoner’, again influenced by Picasso, is equally disturbing in its depiction of human suffering.

‘Conscience and Conflict: British Artists and the Spanish Civil War’ contains not only paintings, prints and sculptures, but also banners, photographs and ephemera, which bring to life the role of British artists in this civil war in a foreign land. It marks the 75th anniversary of the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939.

The timing of this exhibition’s opening is particularly poignant as the nation pauses this weekend, on Remembrance Sunday, to remember those who have fought and given their lives for our country and freedom.

‘Conscience and Conflict: British Artists and the Spanish Civil War’ runs from 8th November 2014 to 15th February 2015 at Pallant House Gallery, 9 North Pallant, Chichester, PO19 1TJ. For more information go to www.pallant.org.uk or telephone 01243 774557.

By Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 5th November 2014 in the West Sussex Gazette.

Art & Objects Transforming Lives at Pallant House Gallery

I am always humbled and delighted by the ability of art to transform and enrich our lives. It is for this reason that a team of Toovey’s specialist valuers will be at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester on the afternoon of Monday 29th September 2014, to offer free pre-sale valuations and advice on selling your fine art, antiques and collectables by auction. A third of the seller’s commission for items subsequently auctioned by Toovey’s will be donated to Pallant House to help with the gallery’s important work.

Engaging with art can often reveal to us something of our world beyond our own perception. The process of creating art can enable us to understand something of ourselves, giving voice to where we have come from, where we are and where we would like to be. Pallant House Gallery provides opportunities for art to affect us in both these ways, through its world-class exhibitions, its Learning and Community Programme and its work with the ‘Outside In’ project.

Pallant House has been referred to as ‘a jewel’ and ‘one of the most important galleries for British modern art in the country’. It opened in its present incarnation to national critical acclaim in July 2006. The remarkable £8.6 million build project, which took nearly three years to complete, seamlessly married the original Queen Anne, Grade I listed town-house and the new wing, quadrupling its exhibition space.

Pallant House’s pioneering Learning and Community Programme gives people of all ages and abilities the chance to explore their enjoyment of art. Outside In was founded by the gallery in 2006 with the aim of establishing a platform for artists who have a desire to create but who see themselves as facing a barrier to the art world for reasons including health, disability and social circumstance. The goal of the project is to create an unprejudiced environment which rejects traditional values and institutional judgements about whose work can and should be displayed.

At the heart of Outside In is an avoidance of labelling and there are no set criteria for an artist’s inclusion. Marc Steene, Executive Director at Pallant House Gallery, has spearheaded the project, describing it as a ‘gentle revolution, designed to enable a fairer art world where all who create have an equal opportunity to sit at the table and have their work seen and valued’. In 2013, Outside In won a prestigious Charity Award in the Arts, Culture, and Heritage category.

It is the qualities of community and outreach which lend this fantastic organisation a vibrant quality and give soul to this important regional art gallery.

I will be at Pallant House with a group of fellow Toovey’s experts offering a range of specialisms, including fine paintings and sculpture, European and Oriental ceramics, jewellery and medals, clocks and watches, collectors’ toys, military items and antique firearms and edged weapons. No appointment is necessary; just turn up with your treasures and we will be pleased to provide free auction valuations and advice. If your items are difficult to transport, bring photographs, email images to Toovey’s beforehand or telephone to make an appointment for one of us to visit your home on another day. For more information, please contact Toovey’s.

I am really looking forward to being at Pallant House Gallery, 9 North Pallant, Chichester, PO19 1TJ, on Monday 29th September between 1pm and 5pm. Perhaps your art, antiques and collectables will transform not only your own life but the lives of others through this fundraising event!

By Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 24th September 2014 in the West Sussex Gazette.

Barbara Rae and the R.A. Printmakers at Pallant House Gallery

Barbara Rae Harbour Night — Barbara Rae, Harbour Night, 2005, etching and collagraph, © The Artist

I have a particular passion for prints. The diversity of techniques available to the contemporary printmaker makes this a particularly creative area for artists. Scottish artist and Royal Academician Barbara Rae accurately describes herself as both a printmaker and a painter. The use of collage and layering entwines both strands of her work. She offers the viewer what some have described as an abstracted interpretation of the world.

Barbara Rae Hacienda — Barbara Rae, Hacienda, 2003, screen print, © The Artist

Barbara Rae voices real concern about how we locate ourselves in relation to the world around us. This concern is important and countercultural to the way in which technology, like satellite navigation, can disconnect us from our landscape and sense of place in the world. Her work holds in tension what we perceive and what is beyond, the colours creating a spatial ambiguity. Rae remains an experimental painter and printmaker, seeking new ways to communicate her vision of the world. Patterns in the landscape are revealed in the patterns in her prints. Take, for example, the lines drawing together the composition in ‘Harbour Night’, as though woven in the scenery. Together with the rich, layered colours they create rhythm and life in the image. ‘Barbara Rae: Prints’ is a jewel-like exhibition, which allows us to understand the artist’s mastery of printing techniques as diverse as etching, collotype and screen printing. It runs at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, until 26th October 2014.

Eileen Cooper Skipper — Eileen Cooper, Skipper, 2009, woodcut, © The Artist

Also on show at Pallant House, until 19th October, is a selection of twelve newly acquired prints, which feature in another exhibition, titled ‘Royal Academician Printmakers: New acquisitions through the Golder-Thompson Gift’. It spotlights the generosity and vision of Mark Golder and Brian Thompson, who have given some one hundred and sixty works by contemporary R.A. printmakers to the Pallant House Gallery Collection. The works in this exhibition encompass a variety of different printmaking techniques, including wood engraving, aquatint, silkscreen and several types of intaglio printing, which include etching, engraving, polymer and gravure. Among my favourites is Eileen Cooper’s ‘Skipper’. This woodcut print has a compelling folk narrative, told through her lovely use of line. It is at once playful and contemporary.

These two exhibitions beautifully explore and demonstrate printmaking as an art form in its own right. But these two shows, like printmaking itself, are also highly democratic, as these images are to be shared and celebrated by many.

For more information on these exhibitions go to www.pallant.org.uk or telephone 01243 774557.

By Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 3rd September 2014 in the West Sussex Gazette.

Scottish Colourist J.D. Fergusson at Pallant House Gallery

'J.D. Fergusson in his studio at 4 Clouston Street, Glasgow’, circa 1955, © The Fergusson Gallery, Perth & Kinross Council, Scotland

John Duncan Fergusson (1874-1961) is known as one of the four ‘Scottish Colourists’, along with F.C.B. Cadell, G.L. Hunter and S.J. Peploe. Fergusson’s career, however, was much more international than those of his peers. He spent much of his adult life in France and England, which explains his association with the European modern art world and its influence on his work. He has been described as one of the leading figures of Celtic Modernism. In common with his fellow Scottish Colourists, Fergusson painted still lifes, landscapes and interiors, but he was always drawn to the female form.

Fergusson Bathing Boxes — J.D. Fergusson, ‘Bathing Boxes and Tents at St Palais’, 1910, oil on board, presented by the J.D. Fergusson Art Foundation, 1991, © The Fergusson Gallery, Perth & Kinross Council, Scotland

Fergusson Hortensia — J.D. Fergusson, ‘Hortensia’, 1910, oil on canvas, bequeathed by Eric Linklater, 1976, The University of Aberdeen Museums, © The Fergusson Gallery, Perth & Kinross Council, Scotland

Living in Paris between 1907 and 1913, Fergusson found himself at the centre of the birth of modern Western art. It was while he was in Paris that he made his name.

The restrained quality of his work from this period is in sympathy with the new Fauve approach. Fauvism describes a group of early twentieth century artists, including Henri Matisse and André Derain, who emphasised strong colour and painterly qualities over representationalism and Impressionism, as shown in ‘Bathing Boxes and Tents at St Palais’, painted in 1910.

The Fauvist simplicity of his blocked-in colour gives Fergusson’s art a more Expressionist edge. Take, for example, ‘Hortensia’, painted in 1910. The subtle composition gifts this painting with informality and the black edging finely balances the figure. His paintings increasingly recorded a response to a particular place, a moment, and as they did so, they became more vibrant and decorative.

Fergusson 'Danu, Mother of Gods' — J.D. Fergusson, ‘Danu, Mother of the Gods’, 1952, oil on canvas, on loan to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, © The Fergusson Gallery, Perth & Kinross Council, Scotland

The 1930s begun triumphantly for Fergusson when ‘Déesse de la Rivière’ was purchased for the French National Collection. But with the outbreak of war in in 1939, he and his lifelong partner, Margaret Morris, moved to Glasgow. They had met each other in Paris in 1913. The photograph shows Fergusson in his studio in Glasgow in the 1950s; in the corner you can see ‘Danu, Mother of the Gods’. Fergusson often painted stylised visions paying homage to his Celtic roots, like this work from 1952. Here Danu, the mother goddess worshipped by the first Celtic tribes to invade Ireland, is depicted in dramatic pose. The handling of paint, colour and strong composition is typical of this artist’s hand.

Fergusson and Morris co-founded the New Art Club and the New Scottish Group. These exhibiting and discussion societies were at the heart of the arts revival in Glasgow at the time. Fergusson remained a generous man and went to great lengths to help other artists and promote modern art. His generosity is apparent in his work.

J.D. Fergusson’s paintings, with their dazzling palette and dramatic handling of subjects, still capture and delight the viewer’s attention. It is a rare treat to see such a body of work exhibited outside Scotland. The exhibition runs until 19th October 2014. For more information go to www.pallant.org.uk.

By Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 6th August 2014 in the West Sussex Gazette.