Few artists have so keenly illustrated an era as Hogarth, whose satirical, evocative prints and paintings such as (our namesake) A Rake’s Progress and Marriage a la Mode describe the hypocrisies and the humanity of his time with a particular vividness and humour.
For the first time, more than 60 pieces by Hogarth have been brought together from collections across Europe and the Americas to be shown alongside the work of his European contemporaries such as Cornelis Troost of Amsterdam, Jean-Siméon Chardin of Paris and Francesco Guardi of Venice. The common thread between these artists is a cosmopolitan understanding and interest in everyday life – their work chronicles and commentates on the societal and structural development of modern cities, with all their beautiful facades and seedy underbellies.
This new artistic genre of urban narratives gave way to many of the most influential stories and images of our time. A new type of pictoral storytelling emerged, illustrating characters and caricatures engaged in moral and immoral behaviours, which later gave way to the satirical art and cartoons that we are familiar with today. This process was helped by a new casualness and ease of painting and printing which also emerged, whereby the formalities of artistic technique relaxed a little to allow people to explore new personal styles and to depict a broader range of subjects, shedding light on the curious paradoxes of their time. This was an age of enlightenment and technological progress, but also of materialism and injustice – affluent and luminous with its own cleverness, Europe was bristling with revolutions of various kinds. Wars and empires were stirring, the repercussions of which are still very much palpable. To see these artists’ work juxtaposed in this exhibition presents a view through various keyholes into the parallels and commonalities across different parts of Europe during the 18th century.
Hogarth and Europe will be open to visitors at the Tate Britain from the 3rd of November 2021 to the 20th of March 2022 - For tickets Visit Tate Britain
The Wellcome Collection’s On Happiness season involves free events and activities as well as two exhibitions, Joy and Tranquility, which offer diverse responses to the enigmatic subject of happiness from a range of voices across artistic, scientific, spiritual and cultural fields.
Joy and Tranquility take different paths to understanding the versatile concept of happiness - from laughter and Bacchic pleasures to diary writing and forest-bathing (shinrin-yoku). The exhibitions draw together specially commissioned works and installations by contemporary artists including Jasleen Kaur, Chrystel Lebas, Harold Offeh, Amalia Pica, Stefanie Posavec and David Shrigley, alongside objects dating back to the 14th century from Wellcome’s collection.
Ever curious and engaging, the Wellcome Collection has once gain brought us a thoughtful and eclectic pair of exhibitions which bounce from illustrations in old books of Aristotle to David Shrigley’s simple joys, to medical almanacs and an old illustration of a nun the quiet of her cloister. In the variety and incongruity of the joys and tranquilities on display, these tandem exhibitions do an excellent job of reflecting the myriad ways in which we experience happiness, the many tones of an emotional colour, if you like, and the multitude of catalysts for our experiences of pleasure and serenity.
In Joy, an illustration of a whirling dervish and a lady dancing the tarantella are juxtaposed with spiritual and medical illustrations placing happiness anatomically, to an acoustic backdrop of Smile by Nat King Cole coming from an installation playing across a television screen. It’s a little bit eerie, just as trying to capture an intangible nebula of happiness should be.
In Tranquility, an installation of socks darned during anatomy classes and photographs of the Hackney Wick allotments give way to Chrystel Lebas’ installation exploring the awe inspired by forests and the ability to step out of oneself that this generates. Lebas travelled to the Hoh rainforest in Washington Sate, USA, in 2019, looking for ‘a square inch of silence’, a small space apparently free from all human noise. She later went to the Japanese island of Yakushima, famous for it’s Yakusugi or cedar trees. These temperate rainforests contain some of the oldest living trees in the world, and Lebas photographed them at long exposure to capture the rich colours of these trees at dusk. The resulting images appear almost 3D, the trees mesmerising in their vastness and their geometry. These photographs are accompanied by a soundscape composed of the noises of monkeys, birds, rivers and wind rustling leaves, and the immersion is enhanced by a smellscape of petrichor, the scent of the forest floor after the rain, designed by Tasha Marks of AVM Curiosities. It is strange to think about removing this experience from the forest, deconstructing it and reassembling it for an installation, but that is what is done in our minds and our memories and as such the effect is interesting, recalling real places but changed by personal experience and expression.
Wellcome Collection curators Laurie Britton Newell and George Vasey explain: “As curators, how do you tackle one of life’s most elusive and slippery concepts? Ideas about happiness change across cultures and history and are not universally felt or understood. But one certainty which has underpinned all of our research, is that everyone wants to feel good. We have been developing this project at a time of tremendous difficulty and uncertainty and it has become increasingly important to think about how we might reclaim happiness and make it fit for purpose now. The exhibitions invite artists, scientists and our audiences to reflect on what makes us tranquil and what brings us joy.”
In this period of social upheaval, panic and gloom in the face of global pandemics and climate crises, the Wellcome Collection explores the ways in which people find hope, peace and joy in times of strife.
Image Credits:
David Shrigley, Untitled, 2020, ink on paper. Courtesy David Shrigley and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Anonymous drawing of visera based on Mansur’s Anatomy in The Canon of Avicenna, Iran 1632. Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
David Shrigley, Untitled, 2020, ink on paper. Courtesy David Shrigley and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Athenians wearing masks celebrate the vintage by dancing around a statue of Bacchus and sacrificing a goat to him. Engraving by P. Lombard, 1654, after F. Cleyn. Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
The freedom of sacred love: the monastic cell as the heaven ofthe loving soul. Hand-coloured etching.Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Mammoth Tree “Beauty of the Forest” Plate to: U.S Pacific Railroad Surveys, California, Geological report, Washington After W R Blake, 1857 Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Regarding Forests, Hoh Rain Forest #3, Olympic National Park, 2019, Chrystel Lebas. Wellcome Collection. (CC-BY-NC).
Blast Studio have contributed a mycelium 3d-printed Tree Table, an Endless Vase and some Coral Cups to the Museum de Fundatie as part of their exhibition 'Design by Nature' in Zwolle, the Netherlands. Blast Studio’s mycelium products are created using cardboard waste compressed into a biomaterial, which is then inseminated with fungi, the mycelium (roots) of which reinforce the material. The mycelium-enhanced material is then shaped using 3D printing technologies into functional objects. The mycelium takes over the robotically-built shapes, growing in surprising colours and patterns before being dried to prevent the organism from developing further.
The exhibition is curated by Biobased Creations and features the work of 33 artists and studios who were given the brief of creating an object to be used in the building or furnishing of future houses, using bio-based material. It includes an LP made of cow’s blood, a wall made of popcorn and furniture made of insects, among other innovative and superficially gruesome products.
’Design By Nature’ is on show from the 10th of July to the 3rd of October.
Pictures: Vase and Coffee Table: Blast Studio / Photo: Peter Tijhuis, Coffee table: Blast Studio / Photo: Heleen Sintobin
Find out more at:
https://www.blast-studio.com/post/tree-table-vase-and-cups-at-museum-de-fundatie
Design by Nature
“We are living in a moment of political, environmental, health, and social crisis. The pandemic interrupted the rhythms of daily life, placing us all in a state of suspension. The risk of an invisible virus, political unrest, environmental disasters and racial injustice in both of my countries, the United States and Brazil, led me to find refuge in my garden. I watched wild birds come to eat from the bushes and fly in the open air. I focused on the contours of the tree branches, smelled fresh green after the rain, and sniffed the fermented scent of lantana flowers near my window”.
Olfactory Art Keller presents Suspensio: An Interruption In Time, an olfactory and sculptural installation by Josely Carvalho, an artist based in New York and Rio de Janeiro. This exhibition was imagined and created during the coronavirus pandemic, and is the latest instalment in Carvalho’s Diary of Smells series, which juxtaposes olfactory and visual art. As you enter the gallery, you are enveloped in a deep blue light and encounter four smells inserted into blown glass branches, claws, and empty nests hanging in the air, surrounded by dried vines.
The smells - Burrow, Incense II, Emptiness, and Suspension - are contained in crystal beads, and were created by the artist in collaboration with Leandro Petit of Givaudan do Brasil. Burrow is an animal scent, made of dark notes that call to mind earth. Incense II conjurs up forests and tree resin, whilst Emptiness is designed to convey a feeling of discomfort, of displacement in space and time. Suspension, similarly, interprets the paradox of being cocooned in the midst of danger. The exhibition on the whole creates a sense of serenity in spite of fear and uncertainty.
Suspensio: An Interruption in Time is open from the 1st of September until the 2nd of October.
Opening Reception: 1st of September, from 4pm to 8pm at Olfactory Art Keller, 25A Henry Street, New York, NY 10002.
You can register to participate in a site-specific “Smell Walk” with the artist and to join her online interview in collaboration with the Institute for Art and Olfaction.
Image: Dodo’s Claw 01, Josely Carvalho, 2021. Photo by Alex Trippe.
The Festival of Scent
3rd-5th of September 2021
Keyneston Mill and Parterre Fragrances are hosting The Festival of Scent; a celebration of all things fragrant, the festival presents a range of immersive scent experiences, including interactive exhibition spaces, free mini workshops and scented garden tours.
For the evenings, there will be live Parisian Jazz, thematic outdoor cinema and excellent French food.
The Festival will explore diverse themes related to scent, spanning the worlds of fashion, art, perfume, wellness and gardens.
Free workshops and demonstrations had throughout the day include:
The Essence of Plants - Distillery tour
The Healing Power of Plants - Aromatherapy
Scented Garden Tours
Exploring Scent & Wellness
A Scent for September - Blending Workshop
Create Your Own Diffuser
Yoga in the River Meadow
Create a Wild Scented Bouquet
Discover Botanical Cocktails - with Fordington Gin
EXHIBITIONS Nature, Art and Perfume - A Scent Exhibition including the History of Perfume and the Story of Parterre and Keyneston Mill
This exhibition explores the relationship between art, nature and perfume and how this triangle inspires the creation of perfume.
SCENTED SPACES - IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES
Intended to expand the experience of scent, these rooms include:
THE FOURTH DIMENSIONAL FILM, where visitors are immersed in a scene from a well-known film, accentuated by scent.
THE GARDEN OF EDEN - An artistic interpretation of the idyllic garden.
THE HOUR OF DUSK AND GOLD Parterre Fragrances recreate the inspiration behind one of their perfumes.
PETRA DUFKOVA EXHIBITION Petra Dufkova’s illustrations focus on beauty, interlinked with flowers and fragrances - she has drawn for many luxury brands including Hermes, Vanity Fair and the Ministry of Sound.
THE SCENT BAR
Here visitors will be able to sample different natural oils used in fragrances, the Parterre perfumes drinks and some of the plants that are the key botanical ingredients.
FOOD WITH A FRAGRANT TWIST
There will be a range of food and drinks on offer, with lunches available in the Scented Botanist (by reservation only - but there are takeaways), and ice cream and coffees available from the GEO-DOME outlet.
To compliment the Day Festival there will be an event each evening :
Parisian Jazz Evenings (3rd and 4th) Live Music, wine, and films.
Day Tickets (4th/5th September) £18, Jazz evenings (3/4th September) £75
Land in the Bend of the River
Estella Castle’s new exhibition ‘Land in the Bend of the River’, now on show at Egham Museum, celebrates the endangered craft of straw-work and corn dolly making. It is the culmination of a year-long project which brings together the work of Egham Museum’s artist in residence, Estella Castle, with the museum’s collection of works by 19th century draftsman John Hassell. The undercurrent of the exhibition is the changing landscape of Egham and the narratives that are intertwined with it.
The centrepieces of the exhibition are two sculptures, one of a life-sized horse and one of a haystack, made using woven heritage wheat and inspired by dwindling rural crafts. The exhibition also includes corn dollies made by local people during the first lockdown of 2020 – these shed light on some of their experiences of the pandemic, and the opportunity that this lost time gave people to explore such forgotten crafts.
Estella Castle is a New Zealander artist based in Surrey. Her art focuses on connecting local communities to their museum collections through events, performances and exhibitions. Previous commissions and exhibitions include The People’s Pageant, which commemorated the sealing of the Magna Carta on the original site at Runnymede and Ankerwycke National Trust. In 2019, Castle created No Shepherdess/No Pastoral in collaboration with The Wallace Collection, The Victoria and Albert Collection, Hatchlands National Trust and Madame Tussauds. Castle collaborated with artist Cat Auburn in 2016, to mark the 200th anniversary of John Constable’s time in Suffolk. They recreated Constable’s iconic painting, The Hay Wain, at the original site staging of the recreation live and involving the local community.
Established in 1968, The Egham Museum is an independent community museum located in the Literary Institute in Egham, built in the late 18th Century. The museum explores the history of the local area from its earliest settlers in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages to the present day of Egham, Egham Hythe, Englefield Green, Thorpe and Virginia Water.
Land in the Bend of the River is on until the 18th of December 2021
Crafting a Difference presents a new show for London Craft Week at the Argentine Ambassador’s official residence with support from the Crafts Council, QEST, Loewe Foundation, Michaelangelo Foundation, Cockpit Arts, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour and Artegian Design.
The residence, designed by Thomas Cubitt, is opulent and decorated with large tapestries and serious paintings - ships sail across the walls and dignified nudes pose purposefully within their frames. Chandeliers are reflected in shiny marble floors and carpeted staircases soften footsteps – the ornate mirrors that hang in every room have for many years reflected people of importance. But currently the busts and paintings of of Jose de San Martin (1778-1850), Argentinian national hero and liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru, watch over the work of over 30 artists, which fills the house, creating lively banter between the contemporary and the established in an exhibition curated collaboratively by five galleries. Both the work and the house are seen in a different light as you move from the ballroom to the Ambassador’s office, and each object is given a new magnetism in contrast to its surroundings, whilst the rooms themselves have some life breathed into them too by having new and playful objects on display.
More inviting than a white-walled gallery, but grander than most people’s own homes, this setting allows for curious ways of approaching and interacting with the art and the artefacts on show. Cavaliero Finn, jaggedart, MADEINBRITALY, Ting Ying Gallery and Vessel Gallery have come together to create one site specific installation each as well as placing individual pieces throughout the residence. Cavaliero Finn have created a monochrome tableau with a new collection by Bjork Haraldsdottir, exploring shapes and patterns. MADEINBRIRTALY presents an installation by Andrea Salvatori, Vessel Gallery presents installations by Chris Day and Amy Cushing. Ting Ying gallery shows work from Carol McNichol, Su Xianzhong, Jeffrey Mitchel, Zhao Jinya and Vezzini & Chen. A ‘congregation’ by Denise de Cordova and a tea installation by Charlotte Hodes are presented in the dining room by jaggedart.
The last chance to see the exhibition is today, as the show has been running for this week only (4th – 10th of October 2021). Booking is essential and tickets are free – find them at https://www.craftingadifference.com/
Address: Argentine Ambassador’s Official residence 49 Belgrave Square London SW1X 8QZ
Opening times are 12-5
Photography credits - Juno Snowdon
