Tag: travel

To have ‘flung a pot of paint in the public’s face’ is the dynamic of beauty in painting and proceeds when done properly as if it were done by the painting itself: the case of James McNeill Whistler’s ‘Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket’, 1875.

December 19, 2024

‘Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket’, 1875, which earned Ruskin’s scorn. Oil on panel, by Whistler, James Abbott McNeill (1834-1903); 60.2×46.7 cm; Detroit Institute of Arts, USA; © Detroit Institute of Arts ; Gift of Dexter M. Ferry Jr.; American, out of copyright. Credit: Bridgeman Images One of the strangest aspects of my … More To have ‘flung a pot of paint in the public’s face’ is the dynamic of beauty in painting and proceeds when done properly as if it were done by the painting itself: the case of James McNeill Whistler’s ‘Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket’, 1875.

Reissue: ‘Castle Hill: A site from my childhood and its development as an idea about the nature of heritage’.

December 16, 2024

Castle Hill: A site from my childhood and its development as an idea about the nature of heritage. First submitted in another place: Sunday, 1 Apr 2018, 20:50 Castle Hill: A site from my childhood and its development as an idea about the nature of heritage. Submitted on April 1, 2018 Prompt Think about something … More Reissue: ‘Castle Hill: A site from my childhood and its development as an idea about the nature of heritage’.

Exhibiting the subject of ‘the local’ locally. What is local art? What do its images capture? A subject or a viewer?

December 15, 2024

Geoff and I are confined these days following Geoff’s serious illness, and we don’t  think we can visit the great art exhibitions, theatre, or even cinema in the cities we would take pains to go to: Edinburgh, London,  Manchester,  Liverpool, or even the nearest of the great cities, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Macbeth knowing that his agents have … More Exhibiting the subject of ‘the local’ locally. What is local art? What do its images capture? A subject or a viewer?

Reissue: A set Of Tall Building blogs from an old course.

December 13, 2024

A. Le Corbusier’s Tall Building Unité d’Habitation, Marseilles (1945-52) A844 Open Studio Set Exercise First issued in another place Friday, 12 Oct 2018, 10:00 Le Corbusier’s Tall Building Unité d’Habitation, Marseilles (1945-52) A844 Open Studio Set Exercise Photograph below: Roof level pool and children’s play areas at Unité d’Habitation, Marseilles (1945-52) from Jenkins, D. (1999) … More Reissue: A set Of Tall Building blogs from an old course.

The total absurdity of the phrase ‘less is more’! An example of ‘overthinking’ on that theme.

December 2, 2024

Mies Van Der Rohe thought the phrase ‘less is more’ a defence of the refusal of embellishments in architecture that are both non-functional and decorative rather than part of a basic form or formal concept expressed by a building, but the phrase is a kind of pleasing nonsense that the love of binaries makes possible. … More The total absurdity of the phrase ‘less is more’! An example of ‘overthinking’ on that theme.

In lieu of a blog in a time of confusion: The Next blogs – the plan.

October 31, 2024

The Next blogs – the plan: I intend to keep up the blogs, lest the pin of my mental world is withdrawn in the present crisis in my husband’s health. For Geoff has become increasingly breathless over a week or so – the GP surgery thinking that at 83 all that was required was consultation … More In lieu of a blog in a time of confusion: The Next blogs – the plan.

‘On reflection the use of impasto is as good a place as any to start with Van Gogh’. Random thoughts about the current National Gallery exhibition.

October 30, 2024

In the second part of my blog on my birthday visit to London, I predicted what I might write about when I wrote a second blog on it  [the first is at this link] based on seeing the work ‘in the flesh’.  Saying it was ‘almost certainly the strongest art exhibition I have ever seen’ … More ‘On reflection the use of impasto is as good a place as any to start with Van Gogh’. Random thoughts about the current National Gallery exhibition.

The current Exhibition at The National Gallery promises to make you see Van Gogh differently. I see it on Thursday 25th October I read: Cornelia Homburg (ed.) (2024) ‘Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers’.

October 16, 2024

Cornelia Homburg cites  a letter of 1888 in which Van Gogh saw a coal-barge on the quays of the Rhone river that was ‘a grand subject’ and was ‘pure Hokusai’, but it was a subject that he needed to think about painting very differently because, he says: “I’m beginning to see more and more to … More The current Exhibition at The National Gallery promises to make you see Van Gogh differently. I see it on Thursday 25th October I read: Cornelia Homburg (ed.) (2024) ‘Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers’.

‘Space’ explored in light at Durham Cathedral, 7 p.m. on 9th October 2024.

October 10, 2024

‘Space’ explored in light at Durham Cathedral, 7 p.m. on 9th October 2024. This week we are attending events at Durham’s Book Festival but our programme starts tonight with us going to see a revisit to Durham Cathedral of the moving light art exhibition group, Lux Muralis (use the link to read the group’s self-introduction). Their subject this year is Space of the Outer … More ‘Space’ explored in light at Durham Cathedral, 7 p.m. on 9th October 2024.