Here's another of our lunchtime lectures for you to enjoy - Edward Bawden: Master of the Linocut. Originally delivered by Victoria Partridge, Keeper of Fine & Decorative Arts on October 21st 2009.
Click here to read text with pictures (5.2MB).
I'll put all the lectures together in one easy download page tagged on the right hand menu when we have a few more.
KP
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Ravilious Lecture Text
For many years the lunchtime lectures at the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery and Bedford gallery has been a popular feature of our programme. In our desire to make access as easy for all (particularly on a day when entry to the gallery has been inhibited by snow) we are going to start posting the lectures on this blog. Initially they will be text only but as we navigate all the copyright issues images will follow. We hope to get as many of the recnt talks up over the next few weeks.
Eric Ravilious Lecture - 06/01/10
Eric Ravilious Lecture - 06/01/10
Monday, January 4, 2010
Picture of the Week No.5 - James Tissot
Happy New Year from all at the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery and Bedford Museum! We're hoping this is going to be a fantastic year for all our development plans, and with some fantastic exhibitions and events at the musuem and the new Bedford Gallery exhibition space planned its going to be a memorable year. The first 8 months of Bedford Gallery have been fantastic with great responses to Treasures, Abram Games and Edward Bawden exhibitions and its first birthday in April will come round quickly. Please feel free to comment on this blog about the exhibitions or your experiences of the new space. You can find us on Twitter and Facebook too, links are on the righthand side of the page. Here's one of my favourites for the first Picture of the Week for 2010. KP
James J. TISSOT (1836 - 1902)
The Trafalgar Tavern, 1878
etching & drypoint, 35 ´ 24.8 cm (plate)
39.5 ´ 28.8 cm (sheet)
inscribed: in plate J.J Tissot 1878
Accession no: P.508
PROVENANCE: Leicester Galleries, from whom purchased by Gallery, 1965.
EXHIBITED: London, Leicester Galleries, 1972.
REFERENCES: N. R. Marshall & M. Warner, James Tissot, Victorian Life/Modern Love, 1999, pp68, no.22, illus.
NOTES: 2nd of 2 states.
Tissot's interest in printmaking began in Paris in 1860. In the space of two years he created five small portrait prints, including one of his friend and fellow artist Edgar DEGAS. His introduction to etching most probably came about through his circle of friends at this time, most notably WHISTLER, MANET, and FANTIN-LATOUR amongst others, all of whom were keen etchers.
In 1877 Tissot had published a portfolio of ten of his prints, possibly as a response to Whistler's Thames Set, 1871. Tissot's group differed somewhat from Whistler's as he also included other prints not directly related to the Thames, including The Rubens Hat and Ramsgate. His graphic work varied considerably in subject matter, including versions of successful oil paintings, views of the Thames, a series based on his experiences during the Paris Commune (Souvenir du siège de Paris, c.1882/3) and also more contemplative portraits of his mistress Helen Newton, and the garden at his studio house at Grove End, St John's Wood. Tissot often re-worked the plates quite heavily between states; in the Trafalgar Tavern, Greenwich for example, the first state has a 'clear' sky, whereas in the second state (as here) the sky has become overcast and 'stormy'.
JMcG
The Trafalgar Tavern, 1878
etching & drypoint, 35 ´ 24.8 cm (plate)
39.5 ´ 28.8 cm (sheet)
inscribed: in plate J.J Tissot 1878
Accession no: P.508
PROVENANCE: Leicester Galleries, from whom purchased by Gallery, 1965.
EXHIBITED: London, Leicester Galleries, 1972.
REFERENCES: N. R. Marshall & M. Warner, James Tissot, Victorian Life/Modern Love, 1999, pp68, no.22, illus.
NOTES: 2nd of 2 states.
Tissot's interest in printmaking began in Paris in 1860. In the space of two years he created five small portrait prints, including one of his friend and fellow artist Edgar DEGAS. His introduction to etching most probably came about through his circle of friends at this time, most notably WHISTLER, MANET, and FANTIN-LATOUR amongst others, all of whom were keen etchers.
In 1877 Tissot had published a portfolio of ten of his prints, possibly as a response to Whistler's Thames Set, 1871. Tissot's group differed somewhat from Whistler's as he also included other prints not directly related to the Thames, including The Rubens Hat and Ramsgate. His graphic work varied considerably in subject matter, including versions of successful oil paintings, views of the Thames, a series based on his experiences during the Paris Commune (Souvenir du siège de Paris, c.1882/3) and also more contemplative portraits of his mistress Helen Newton, and the garden at his studio house at Grove End, St John's Wood. Tissot often re-worked the plates quite heavily between states; in the Trafalgar Tavern, Greenwich for example, the first state has a 'clear' sky, whereas in the second state (as here) the sky has become overcast and 'stormy'.
JMcG
What's On: Janurary
Exhibition Edward Bawden @BedfordGallery until 31st January
Exhibition Star-Gazing until @BedfordGallery 31st January
Exhibition CARNIVAL! @BedfordMusuem from 16th January
Exhibition Star-Gazing until @BedfordGallery 31st January
Exhibition CARNIVAL! @BedfordMusuem from 16th January
Diary:
Sun 3rd: Winds of Exchange closes
Sun 3rd: Winds of Exchange closes
Wed 6th: Lunchtime Talk- Eric Ravilious 1 - 1.30pm @BedfordGallery
Thur 7th: Reminiscence Coffee Morning 11am - 12.30pm @BedfordMuseum
Tue 12th: Friends Lecture - Treasures I have found in the Gallery by Tom Perrett, Head of Collections 7.30pm, £6 @BedfordGallery
Sat 16th: Carnival! opens - Carnival art and costumes until Sun 18th April Bedford Museum
Sat 16th: Saturday Archaeology Workshop (SAW) Astronomy & Archaeology - Ancient Calendars Contact Susannah Oliver on 01234 217418 to join SAW Bedford Museum
Wed 20th: Lunchtime Talk: Edward Bawden - Art vs Design 1 - 1.30pm Bedford Gallery
Thur 21st: Film Night Hue & Cry (1947) @BedfordGallery http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039478/ late opening, film commences at 7pm
Sat 30th: Rock, Fossils and Minerals Day - Bedfordshire & Luton Geology Group answer your geological queries. 1 - 4pm @BedfordMuseum
Sun 31st Jan: Last day of Edward Bawden exhibiton 2-5pm @BedfordGallery
Thur 7th: Reminiscence Coffee Morning 11am - 12.30pm @BedfordMuseum
Tue 12th: Friends Lecture - Treasures I have found in the Gallery by Tom Perrett, Head of Collections 7.30pm, £6 @BedfordGallery
Sat 16th: Carnival! opens - Carnival art and costumes until Sun 18th April Bedford Museum
Sat 16th: Saturday Archaeology Workshop (SAW) Astronomy & Archaeology - Ancient Calendars Contact Susannah Oliver on 01234 217418 to join SAW Bedford Museum
Wed 20th: Lunchtime Talk: Edward Bawden - Art vs Design 1 - 1.30pm Bedford Gallery
Thur 21st: Film Night Hue & Cry (1947) @BedfordGallery http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039478/ late opening, film commences at 7pm
Sat 30th: Rock, Fossils and Minerals Day - Bedfordshire & Luton Geology Group answer your geological queries. 1 - 4pm @BedfordMuseum
Sun 31st Jan: Last day of Edward Bawden exhibiton 2-5pm @BedfordGallery
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Picture of the Week No.4 - John Ruskin
A few days back in the gallery between all of the Christmas and New Year festivities and just in time for another picture of the week. I've been thinking about paintings of architectural details after seeing Sickert and Sargent's studies of Venice at the Fitzwilliam recently and so this week I've chosen a charming and atmospheric study by John Ruskin, who wrote about the architecture of that city in the Stones of Venice(1851), expanding on the thoughts he set out in the earlier The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849) on the truth of Gothic and Medieval architecture.
KP
KP
JOHN RUSKIN (1819-1900)
Abbeville, 1868
ink and wash and pencil heightened with white on buff coloured paper, 49 ´ 35.4 cm
inscribed: J. Ruskin 1868 Abbeville
Accession no: P.206
In 1868 Ruskin spent seven weeks in Abbeville in Normandy and drew intensively while there, recording old buildings and Gothic churches with the care and attention to detail that recall the work of one of his boyhood heroes, Samuel PROUT.
In his autobiography he wrote, 'My most intense happinesses have of course been among the mountains. But for cheerful, unalloyed, unwearying pleasure, the getting in sight of Abbeville on a fine summer afternoon, jumping out in the courtyard of the Hôtel de l’Europe, and rushing down the street to see St. Wulfran again before the sun was off the towers, are things to cherish the past for, - to the end'. (E.T. Cook and A. Wedderburn (eds.), The Works of John Ruskin, 39 vols, 1903-12, vol. VI, p.238).
EJ
PROVENANCE: P&D Colnaghi Ltd, from whom purchased by Gallery, April 1958.
EXHIBITIONS: Watercolours and Drawings from The Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford, London, Thos. Agnew & Sons Ltd, 1962, no.27; Watercolours from the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford, Norwich, Norwich Castle Museum, 1965, no.49.
inscribed: J. Ruskin 1868 Abbeville
Accession no: P.206
In 1868 Ruskin spent seven weeks in Abbeville in Normandy and drew intensively while there, recording old buildings and Gothic churches with the care and attention to detail that recall the work of one of his boyhood heroes, Samuel PROUT.
In his autobiography he wrote, 'My most intense happinesses have of course been among the mountains. But for cheerful, unalloyed, unwearying pleasure, the getting in sight of Abbeville on a fine summer afternoon, jumping out in the courtyard of the Hôtel de l’Europe, and rushing down the street to see St. Wulfran again before the sun was off the towers, are things to cherish the past for, - to the end'. (E.T. Cook and A. Wedderburn (eds.), The Works of John Ruskin, 39 vols, 1903-12, vol. VI, p.238).
EJ
PROVENANCE: P&D Colnaghi Ltd, from whom purchased by Gallery, April 1958.
EXHIBITIONS: Watercolours and Drawings from The Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford, London, Thos. Agnew & Sons Ltd, 1962, no.27; Watercolours from the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford, Norwich, Norwich Castle Museum, 1965, no.49.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Picture of the Week No.3 - Albrecht Dürer
The lawn outside the gallery is still dusted with snow and the tea room full of mince pies, so I couldn't possibly do this weeks Picture of the Week without an appropriately Christmas themed image. And as we've also been thinking about masters of printmaking, an example of Albrecht Dürer's exsquisite wood engraving is most appropriate. KP
Albrecht DÜRER (1471 - 1528)Adoration of the Kings, 1511
woodcut, 29.3 x 22cm (image)
29.6 x 22.3cm (sheet)
inscribed: monogram
29.6 x 22.3cm (sheet)
inscribed: monogram
Accession No.P.456
PROVENANCE: P&D Colnaghi & Co. Ltd, from whom purchased by Gallery, January 1964
REFERENCES: ed. Dr W. Kurth, The Complete Woodcuts of Albrecht Dürer, 1963, no.262, as The Adoration of the Magi, illus.
NOTES: Paper has the water mark Bull's Head with J.Z.
A prolific printmaker, Dürer made some two hundred and fifty woodcuts in the course of his career. His initial fame as a printmaker was established through the publication of a series of large woodcuts and text for The Revelation of St John (The Apocalypse), 1498, notable for being the first book to be both illustrated and published by an artist.
It has been suggested that due to the high quality of line and detail, Dürer would have cut his own woodblocks. However, it is more likely that he employed professional block-cutters (Formschneider) to undertake this work, as there would have been a large pool of available craftsmen available for this purpose. Dürer would have closely supervised both the careful selection of the blocks and the actual cutting, to ensure that the quality of the design (which he would have drawn directly onto the block himself) was not lost. The earliest surviving example of a woodblock by Dürer is St Jerome in his Study, 1492, the block being signed on the reverse Albrecht Dürer von Nömergk (Basel, Universitätsbibliothek). In this early example the block is far more crudely cut than the work undertaken at Nuremberg, where a tradition of skilled craftsmanship had been encouraged in the print workshops of artists such as Michael Wolgemut (1434-1519) and Anton Koberger (c.1440-1513) who ran one of the largest in Europe at this time.
JMcG
PROVENANCE: P&D Colnaghi & Co. Ltd, from whom purchased by Gallery, January 1964
REFERENCES: ed. Dr W. Kurth, The Complete Woodcuts of Albrecht Dürer, 1963, no.262, as The Adoration of the Magi, illus.
NOTES: Paper has the water mark Bull's Head with J.Z.
A prolific printmaker, Dürer made some two hundred and fifty woodcuts in the course of his career. His initial fame as a printmaker was established through the publication of a series of large woodcuts and text for The Revelation of St John (The Apocalypse), 1498, notable for being the first book to be both illustrated and published by an artist.
It has been suggested that due to the high quality of line and detail, Dürer would have cut his own woodblocks. However, it is more likely that he employed professional block-cutters (Formschneider) to undertake this work, as there would have been a large pool of available craftsmen available for this purpose. Dürer would have closely supervised both the careful selection of the blocks and the actual cutting, to ensure that the quality of the design (which he would have drawn directly onto the block himself) was not lost. The earliest surviving example of a woodblock by Dürer is St Jerome in his Study, 1492, the block being signed on the reverse Albrecht Dürer von Nömergk (Basel, Universitätsbibliothek). In this early example the block is far more crudely cut than the work undertaken at Nuremberg, where a tradition of skilled craftsmanship had been encouraged in the print workshops of artists such as Michael Wolgemut (1434-1519) and Anton Koberger (c.1440-1513) who ran one of the largest in Europe at this time.
JMcG
This text originally appeared in Prints, by the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, 2004.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Picture of the Week No. 2 - E.S. Grasset
At this early stage of our new Picture of the Week feature it is incredibly hard to make a choice out of so many fantastic works in the collection. At the moment we're all in to our prints here at the Gallery, what with our Edward Bawden show on at the moment - which also includes the fantastic artists from the St. Judes Gallery, and our specially commissioned Mark Hearld print. All the staff have been getting in on the act too with some after-work lino cutting sessions, and I topped all that off with a visit at the weekend to The Fitwilliam's fantastic Odilon Redon exhibition.
So we'll follow last weeks Rembrandt etching with Grasset's lithograph, The Vitriol Thrower.KP
lithograph, 40 ´ 27.5cm (image)
60.3 ´ 43cm (sheet)
inscribed: monogram
inscribed: in plate EAH/D/sc and monogram
in pencil E Grasset No 38
Accesion No: P.857
PROVENANCE: André Candillier, Paris, from whom purchased by Gallery, June 1996.
NOTES: Printed by Eugène Delâtre, the colours stencilled by hand. Published in an edition of 100 with some colour trial proofs.
In 1893 L'Estampe Originale was launched by André Marty, the director of the weekly magazine Journal des Artistes. The intention was for subscribers to receive a series of nine albums which were to be published quarterly. The first eight albums contained ten original prints, the last fourteen.
The Vitriol Thrower was published in the sixth album. It was hand-coloured using the 'pochoir' or stencil process in five colours. There is also a comparable lithograph of a similar nature, La Morphinomane (The Morphine Addict) showing a young girl injecting morphine into her upper left thigh.
Born in Lausanne, Grasset moved to Paris in 1871, working as a designer at a firm making furnishing fabrics. In 1878 he began designing ornamental initial letters (the first published being Les Fêtes Chrétiennes by the Abbé Drioux, 1880) and, during his career he also designed jewellery, stained glass, and ceramics, and supplied illustrations to several magazines.
In 1894 Grasset held his first and only one-man exhibition at the Salon des Cent.
JMcG
This text originally appeared in Prints, by the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, 2004. Available for £35 plus p&p from the Bedford Gallery Shop, via email on chag@bedford.gov.uk or call 01234 211222
So we'll follow last weeks Rembrandt etching with Grasset's lithograph, The Vitriol Thrower.KP
Eugène-Samuel GRASSET (1841 - 1917)
The Vitriol Thrower, 1894
The Vitriol Thrower, 1894
lithograph, 40 ´ 27.5cm (image)
60.3 ´ 43cm (sheet)
inscribed: monogram
inscribed: in plate EAH/D/sc and monogram
in pencil E Grasset No 38
Accesion No: P.857
PROVENANCE: André Candillier, Paris, from whom purchased by Gallery, June 1996.
NOTES: Printed by Eugène Delâtre, the colours stencilled by hand. Published in an edition of 100 with some colour trial proofs.
In 1893 L'Estampe Originale was launched by André Marty, the director of the weekly magazine Journal des Artistes. The intention was for subscribers to receive a series of nine albums which were to be published quarterly. The first eight albums contained ten original prints, the last fourteen.
The Vitriol Thrower was published in the sixth album. It was hand-coloured using the 'pochoir' or stencil process in five colours. There is also a comparable lithograph of a similar nature, La Morphinomane (The Morphine Addict) showing a young girl injecting morphine into her upper left thigh.
Born in Lausanne, Grasset moved to Paris in 1871, working as a designer at a firm making furnishing fabrics. In 1878 he began designing ornamental initial letters (the first published being Les Fêtes Chrétiennes by the Abbé Drioux, 1880) and, during his career he also designed jewellery, stained glass, and ceramics, and supplied illustrations to several magazines.
In 1894 Grasset held his first and only one-man exhibition at the Salon des Cent.
JMcG
This text originally appeared in Prints, by the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, 2004. Available for £35 plus p&p from the Bedford Gallery Shop, via email on chag@bedford.gov.uk or call 01234 211222
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Picture of the week - Rembrandt
Welcome to a new feature on the blog, Picture of the Week. Each week we'll highlight a picture from the collection, alongside its entry from our Print and Watercolours and Drawings catalogues. Where better to start than Rembrandt?...KP
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69)
Faust in His Study, c.1652
etching and drypoint inscribed: JNRI
*ADAM*TЄ*DAGERAM*AMRTET*ALGAR*ALGASTNA**
Accession no: P.454
PROVENANCE: Purchased from P&D Colnaghi Ltd, January 1964.
REFERENCES: A von Bartsch, Catalogue raisonné de toutes les estampes qui forment l’oeuvre de Rembrandt, et ceux de ses principaux imitateurs, 1797, no.270 as Faustus; A.M. Hind, A Catalogue of Rembrandt’s etchings, 2 vols, 1923, no.260; O. H. Lehmann ‘Contributions to the interpretation of Rembrandt’s etching known as Faust in his Study’, Connoisseur, vol. CLXI, 1958, pp.118-9; H. Bevers, P. Schatborn & B. Welzel, Rembrandt: the Master & his workshop: Drawings and Etchings, 1991, pp.258-60.
NOTES: Impression from the first state of three on European paper. A few impressions were printed on thick oatmeal (cartridge) paper.
Rembrandt’s etchings were collectable in his own lifetime. Over his printmaking career he produced in the region of three hundred prints, with many others now attributed to pupils or followers. From the early 1630s, Rembrandt was printing and publishing, and probably distributing them himself. One of the difficulties in cataloguing Rembrandt’s prints, is the fact the editions were not recorded and edition sizes can only be guessed from the surviving prints. However, owing to the fragility of drypoint it can be assumed that no more than twenty to thirty good prints could be pulled from each plate, and up to one hundred from an etching plate.
Rembrandt was able to obtain immense subtlety of tone by taking the printing plate through a number of bitings or varying the intensity of acids. The added drypoint, with its respective burr, produced the soft velvety lines of which Rembrandt was the greatest exponent. He would constantly re-work plates with the most minor of changes to achieve the best effects.
The meaning of Faust has been argued over for centuries. Initially entitled Dr. Faustus, in 1790 Goethe commissioned a copy to be used as the title page for his book, Faust, and the title has remained in common usage today. The amulet depicted shows a text, which is a combination of Hebrew and Latin. Lehmann, in his article for The Connoisseur, offers a translation for the text as follows ‘ Oh YHWH, king, thou art mighty forever, oh Lord, in knowledge, and Master of binding’, which is then followed by a reference to Jesus of Nazareth. The reference to ‘Master of binding’, is significant as the word ‘binding’ has been used within the context of magic to suggest the effect of a magic spell or alchemy.
CB
This text originally appeared in Prints, by the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, 2004. Available for £35 plus p&p from the Bedford Gallery Shop, via email on chag@bedford.gov.uk or call 01234 211222
*ADAM*TЄ*DAGERAM*AMRTET*ALGAR*ALGASTNA**
Accession no: P.454
PROVENANCE: Purchased from P&D Colnaghi Ltd, January 1964.
REFERENCES: A von Bartsch, Catalogue raisonné de toutes les estampes qui forment l’oeuvre de Rembrandt, et ceux de ses principaux imitateurs, 1797, no.270 as Faustus; A.M. Hind, A Catalogue of Rembrandt’s etchings, 2 vols, 1923, no.260; O. H. Lehmann ‘Contributions to the interpretation of Rembrandt’s etching known as Faust in his Study’, Connoisseur, vol. CLXI, 1958, pp.118-9; H. Bevers, P. Schatborn & B. Welzel, Rembrandt: the Master & his workshop: Drawings and Etchings, 1991, pp.258-60.
NOTES: Impression from the first state of three on European paper. A few impressions were printed on thick oatmeal (cartridge) paper.
Rembrandt’s etchings were collectable in his own lifetime. Over his printmaking career he produced in the region of three hundred prints, with many others now attributed to pupils or followers. From the early 1630s, Rembrandt was printing and publishing, and probably distributing them himself. One of the difficulties in cataloguing Rembrandt’s prints, is the fact the editions were not recorded and edition sizes can only be guessed from the surviving prints. However, owing to the fragility of drypoint it can be assumed that no more than twenty to thirty good prints could be pulled from each plate, and up to one hundred from an etching plate.
Rembrandt was able to obtain immense subtlety of tone by taking the printing plate through a number of bitings or varying the intensity of acids. The added drypoint, with its respective burr, produced the soft velvety lines of which Rembrandt was the greatest exponent. He would constantly re-work plates with the most minor of changes to achieve the best effects.
The meaning of Faust has been argued over for centuries. Initially entitled Dr. Faustus, in 1790 Goethe commissioned a copy to be used as the title page for his book, Faust, and the title has remained in common usage today. The amulet depicted shows a text, which is a combination of Hebrew and Latin. Lehmann, in his article for The Connoisseur, offers a translation for the text as follows ‘ Oh YHWH, king, thou art mighty forever, oh Lord, in knowledge, and Master of binding’, which is then followed by a reference to Jesus of Nazareth. The reference to ‘Master of binding’, is significant as the word ‘binding’ has been used within the context of magic to suggest the effect of a magic spell or alchemy.
CB
This text originally appeared in Prints, by the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, 2004. Available for £35 plus p&p from the Bedford Gallery Shop, via email on chag@bedford.gov.uk or call 01234 211222
Winds of Exchange Pictures
The Winds of Exchange exhibition at Bedford Museum has been exploring the links between Bedford and Japan. Curated by Marion Maule, this colourful and exciting display has been delighting visitors with its broad range of objects from a Japanese code book from Bletchley Park, a Nissan concept car designed in Bedfordshire, Japanese costume, a Samuri sword, and much, much more.
These photos will give you a little taster of the show, which is open until 3rd January.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Free Evening Lecture: Tuesday 8th December
FREE evening lecture at Bedford Gallery, Tue 8th December, 7pm. ‘Admiral Smyth and Astronomy in Bedford’ promises to tell the fascinating story of astronomy in Bedford, given by Linton Guise, Astronomer at Bedford School. Supported by the Royal Society. Call 01234 353323 for details + booking.
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