UK Art and Museums

While in the UK in May 2017, we visited London and took side trips to the Warner Bros. Harry Potter Studio Tour outside of London, to Edinburgh, Scotland, and drove thru Wales to catch the Irish Ferry to Dublin Ireland.

All three countries have National Galleries.

In Central London, our Westminster hotel was within walking distance of one of two Tate Galleries. The National Gallery was a bit further, although I could navigate my way back to our hotel. It is located in Trafalgar Square, where we saw local artists doing chalk drawing’s like Bert from the movie “Mary Poppins”, street performers, and several important statues (George IV, Charles James Napier, Henry Havelock, and Horatio Nelson).

Nelson sits atop an obelisk (a.k.a. Nelson’s Column), which is surrounded by the four Landseer’s Lions. My daughter climbed up on one for a picture. One evening, we strolled thru London to a restaurant across the Thames River, and on our way back took lots of pictures of Big Ben and the city all lit up.

The Gallery was showing an exhibit of Michelangelo and Sebastian. Many of my favorite artists’ works were also on display, up close and personal -- Monet, Van Gogh, Matisse, Sisley, Seurat, Turner, and Rembrandt (& Rubens). I was teaching about Sir Joshua Reynolds at the time and happened on one of the items I referenced in my lesson (right). "Cenotaph to the Memory of Sir Joshua Reynolds", 1833-6, by John Constable.

Another exhibit called “Weaving Magic” highlighted the (above) tapestries of Chris Ofili. Interesting to me because my classes had completed several “Woven Friendships” projects inspired by Jackson Pollock

Also saw some rather iconic paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, including his (unusual) painting of two crabs (not shown).

"The Fighting Temeraire" (1839) by William Turner

I was lucky to see the Turner exhibit as well as lots of John Singer Sargent portraits (my favorite!). I was also amazed to see two large portraits by Reynolds & Gainsborough side-by-side at Tate Modern. They had been rivals, each aspiring to be the portrait artist to the king, Reynolds beating out Gainsborough. I recalled reading that the two made up when at the end of Reynolds’ life Gainsborough visited him to bury the hatchet (not necessarily the artist). While marveling at my find, two young women walked up and I related my story to them. I remarked at how curious the placement was.

There was an unusual painting, “Swan Upping at Cookham”, by Stanley Spencer, that is reminiscent of the style of Seattle artist Jacob Lawrence (at least I think so). I also think that the lady at the right looks a lot like Bette Davis.

We loved the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. I visited the Scottish National Portrait Gallery holding portraits of Scots, including the Scottish National Photography Collection. Among the famous Scots were Sean Connery, Annie Lennox, Alan Cumming, and Tilda Swinton, along with many other more coveted historical figures. There was a class of school-aged children with tablets containing software allowing them to sketch from the famous portraits.

In the ScottishNational Gallery, more of my favorite artists’ works were also on display -- Degas, Seurat, Monet, Van Gogh, Constable, Sisley, Rembrandt, and happily John Singer Sargent…again!

My favorite was Van Gogh's "Les Oliviers", which was painted in the final year of the artist's life. 
Such movement!
It reminds me of the groves of olive trees along I-5 in California.

Unfortunately, only a couple of floors were open in the Irish National Gallery while we were visiting. Both my daughter and I snapped photos with our phones of Picasso’s “Still Life with a Mandolin” not noticing the ‘no cameras’ symbol next to the placard. Mine has the security guard’s arm in front of it. I also got to see more art by Signac, Sisley, Monet, and Van Gogh.

"Woman on the Terrace" (1898)

"Argenteuil Basin with a Single Boat"

There was this Paul Signac painting (left) that was pretty impressive in-person. Check out his "Place des Lices, Saint-Tropez" online. And you've gotta love this one (right) by Claude Monet. Also check out his classic, "San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk", a.k.a "Twilight Venice".