Study visit: Brighton Art Gallery and Museum (Nov 2016)

Artwork 1

The artwork below was painted by the Bloomsbury Group artist, Duncan Grant.  It was painted to be placed on a panel in the music room of the Lefevre Gallery in 1932. The media is oil and chalk on canvas:


I was attracted to this artwork for both the uneasy qualities of the sitters, and the rather quirky composition (i.e. the drape in the foreground).  The artwork makes me feel slightly awkward and I feel somewhat of an intruder on the scene.  The associations that come to mind are being in a room with people who don't particularly want you to be there.  The body language of the two sitters is defensive; a crossed arm gesture and and the 2nd man has his leg up in an almost blocking position. This scene is not welcoming. I cannot fathom why such an uneasy picture would be required to decorate a music room.  The clothes suggest that these two men are dancers or physical performers.  Ballet dancers even?

The brushwork in this painting is appealing to me.  The colour palette gives an autumnal mood (matching the weather outside on my visit).  The dark drape in the foreground provides the image with a strong contrast to the lighter colours in the background.  With the lightest tones being reserved for the figures, thus making them a focus.   It is a curious feature of the painting that the drape is so prominently in the foreground because it seems to serve no great obvious need. 


Artwork 2

Robert Bevan, Fields at Applehayes, 1922.  Oil on Canvas

I was instinctively drawn to the colours and mood of this painting.  A wide and vibrant palette of greens.  The artist had produced a very subtle effect of atmospheric perspective by mixing greys and some purples into the distant tree line. The composition is "framed" by the hedge, and particularly the large tree down the left of the canvas.   Overall I'm reminded of Cezanne, and impressionist and post-impressionist painting. This artist directly influenced by those art movements perhaps? 

Artwork 3 and 4

Barbara Hepworth sketches:

I love Barbara Hepworth's sculptures. The smooth, cool and smooth tactile surfaces.  The clinical and precise form.  These pictures immediately caught my eye.  The simplistic and bold use of shape, and the restricted colours provide the impact.  On face value one could say, "there isn't a lot going on here,", but what I see is something transcendent from the very simple lines and colour wash on the paper. Hepworth seems to impart something a little magical into these simple sketches.  A certain quality of feeling which is very hard to pinpoint.  Perhaps this feeling I have is entirely subjective?  If these were routine sketches produced during an art evening class, would I feel the same?

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