Captivating and inspiring, the new exhibition in the Upper Gallery at The Lightbox in Woking displays the artworks of Nagihan Seymour. She features the patterns of Turkish art (15th century), linking them to the Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci sequence and creating high-quality geometric patterns in the style of Tezhip art illumination (Tezhip meaning ‘ornamenting in gold’). She uses 11–24 carat gold leaf in her works as well as acrylics, gouache and watercolour paints, exploring the Golden Ratio in geometrical designs which are connected to the natural world and express the ornamental patterns in repetitions of shapes and in stylisation.
Butterfly effect, 2022
Nagihan Seymour trained to be an engineer so her roots are in science and mathematics, and she combines these with her knowledge and practice of illumination that she has been studying since her university years in Istanbul. She had two previous solo exhibitions at The Lightbox in 2017 and 2021. Her responses to traditional Turkish art are precious and contribute to a unique vision that in the past was used to illustrate significant works such as poems and the Quran.
In art the Golden Ratio has been interpreted as a divine proportion; it is mentioned in Luca Pacioli’s De Divina Proportione (written in 1497 and published in 1509), which was illustrated by Leonardo da Vinci with three-dimensional geometric solids. The idea is aesthetically pleasing and the forms refer to the natural world, for example in the shape of the nautilus shell and in the human body. The Golden Ratio creates order and balance in interesting compositions that are simple and beautiful. The preciousness is in the detailed and precise repetitions and juxtapositions of forms and in the use of pigments, especially the gold leaf, which might be linked to the sun, while the blues might represent the sky in a cosmos perspective. The connection with the Fibonacci sequence validates the pictures related to the human body and specifically to the human brain and to the shape of the skull; their dimensions follow the concept of the Golden Ratio as well as the respective shapes of the uterus and the heart.
Perfect uterus, 2022
Harmony and balance, and eventually perfection, are central to most of the pieces on display; the artworks are particularly controlled by the rules of the Golden Ratio and the artistic method of Tezhip. They convey a sense of peace and a certain view of the universe that encompasses living creatures as well as inanimate objects. The aim is to create beauty that reflects nature in an intellectual way which is well-ordered and illustrated in detail. The works are linked to the body and therefore reveal a comprehensive concept that incorporates all of our world.
Koi fish, 2021
The exhibition also displays hand-painted tiles in Baba Nakkas style (15th century) and honeycombs with bees. Particularly interesting is ‘Koi Fish’ (2021), a symbol of prosperity and good fortune and also of perseverance in the face of adversity in Japanese culture, in which the vibrant gold and orange fish overlaps the round blue shape of what might represent the universe or planet earth. The pieces inspired by the Golden Ratio have the shape of mandala and are reminiscent of flowers as well. This is a riveting exhibition that revisits traditional Turkish art and reshapes reality in a pleasant, ordered vision emphasising beauty and cultural values.
Honeycomb, 2021
Nagihan Seymour’s artworks are on sale from £65 (ceramic pieces) to £1,750. More information can be found on her website: www.nagihanseymour.com
Cover illustration: Kim Lim, Ronin, 1963. Copyright: Estate of Kim Lim. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2022
The opening of the new exhibition of The Ingram Collection in the Upper Gallery of The Lightbox coincided with the launch of the book Revisiting Modern British Art (Lund Humphries, 2022) edited by Jo Baring and published in association with the Ingram Art Foundation. Chris Ingram, an entrepreneur and philanthropist who began collecting in 2002, was present at the launch and signed copies of the book.
British art is popular, and comes in a variety of styles. The turn of the 20th century saw more diverse and challenging artworks using all kinds of materials, and presented in different ways and from different social and political angles. The book and the exhibition are intended to “start conversations, engage further debate and inspire more research”, as stated in the book’s foreword. The publication Revisiting Modern British Art gives many examples of the key moments of British artwork and its production and the different movements that exist.
The Ingram Collection exhibits hundreds of its artworks every year. Supported by the Ingram Art Foundation, a registered charity, the collection now holds over 600 artworks and aspires to promote new artistic talents as well as to take art to a wide audience.
The Ingram Collection also aims to re-affirm well-known artists, such as Henry Moore, Paul Nash, Edward Burra, Barbara Hepworth and Eduardo Paolozzi, and give space to works by women, and artists with diverse backgrounds. The influences of avant-garde and post-impressionist movements on British art was certainly paramount in the 20th century. Artists went to London from Russia after the revolution and from Germany when the Nazis seized power, while others travelled to Britain from colonies and former colonies of the British empire, especially in the 1950s and 1960s. This gave a wide range and wide breadth to the cultural context of the capital’s art world that pushed the boundaries and broke down barriers, promoted diversity and expanded horizons.
The book discusses and explains some of the artworks on display. They are not intended to provide an exhaustive show in the limited space of the Upper Gallery, but it is a comprehensive one that gives examples though does not cover all the artistic movements and ideas present in the book. British identity in art is therefore considered multifaceted and open to revisitations of past works and renewals in the present as well as envisaging further developments in the future.
Olivia Bax, Kingpin 2020, mixed media, image courtesy of The Ingram Collection
The years of the second world war are significantly described in the works of John Minton, ‘Deserted Garrison’ (1947), and Keith Vaughan, ‘Industrial Landscape III, Morton Mill’ (1943), in which apparently conventional arrangements of buildings reveal the scars of the war in fragmented pieces of stones or objects in the foreground. The compositions look isolated in an almost metaphysical atmosphere which evokes Giorgio de Chirico’s paintings. They are monochrome bleak scenes reflecting the years of conflict. A more dramatic approach is revealed in David Bomberg’s ‘Bomb Store: Study for Memorial Panel I’ (1942), which depicts highly explosive bombs stacked in piles. The clashing shades of reds, yellows and browns convey menace and bloodshed.
Eduardo Paolozzi’s works are the most impressive pieces on display. His collages on paper such as ‘Discobolus of the Castello Porziano’ (1946) and ‘Children of the Night’ (1950) refer to cut-outs of Dada and to the Surrealists’ ideas as well as to classical artworks. Allusions to social issues are present too, giving the pieces a comprehensive perspective that comments on society and on art. Other important works are Graham Sutherland’s ‘Tin Mine, Various Aspects’ (1942) and Edward Burra’s ‘Ropes and Lorries’ (1942-43) that also comment on the war by using dark tones and disturbing crowded figures. The sculptures ‘Second Girl Sitting on a Bench’ (1988) by Lynn Chadwick, Anthony Caro’s ‘Redoubt’ (1988-90), Leon Underwood’s ‘Birth of Eve’ (1929) and ‘Maternity’ (1913) explore different ways of using bronze. On the ground floor, ‘Kingpin’ (2020) by Olivia Bax, in steel, polystyrene, chicken wire, foam, plaster and paint, is a large and stimulating composition of isolated forms that connect to each other from quite a distance. They have the shape of cavities, tubes and funnels that are perhaps linked vessels in a network of relationships.
The exhibition illustrates the different phases of British artworks with interesting pieces that are examples of the variety and diversity of British modern and contemporary art. The book is a useful complement that can be used to understand and appreciate the diverse artists and offers a renewed and thought-provoking vision that is in conversation with today’s cultural and social ideas. It is a process of discovery that is ongoing, prolific and involving.
The Ingram Collection: Revisiting British Art, The Lightbox, Woking, 15 October 2022 – 8 January 2023
Canaletto (1697-1768) The Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice c.1740, oil on canvas. Copyright Manchester Art Gallery Bridgeman Images
by Carla Scarano D’Antonio
Two artists are in conversation in this Lightbox exhibition: the famous Venetian landscape painter Giovanni Antonio Canal (1697–1768), known as Canaletto,and the contemporary American New York-based artist Melissa McGill (b. 1969), who was involved in the public art project ‘Red Regatta’ in 2019 that was supported by Associazione Vela al Terzo Venezia. This collaborative project, co-organised by Magazzino Italian Art and curated by Chiara Spangaro, increased awareness of environmental issues connected with the maritime history of Venice and its present and future conditions. Venice is slowly sinking despite the measures and expensive structural works implemented in the past decades. Rising sea levels, excessive flooding and changes in the ecosystem of the lagoon, caused by global warming and climate change, have worsened the situation. Mass tourism may also be an additional problem that discourages local people from living in the city, leaving it to tourists. The project aims to document these issues and envisage a better future for Venice that is in harmony with its past and with the present urgencies at social and environmental levels.
The project started in May 2019 and included workshops and public programmes in collaboration with partners; the aim was to protect Venice and the sea through education and active programmes. In the final regatta, 52 traditional Vela al Terzo boats with hand-painted red sails sailed in the lagoon. The Vela al Terzo boat dates back to 1,000 years ago and features a flat bottom and a removable mast designed to fit Venice’s waterways. The many shades of red (rosso veneziano) of the sails refer to passion, the urgency of the issue and to Venice itself – its bricks and terracotta rooftops and its flag – and to the colour red in the paintings of Titian, Tintoretto and other Venetian masters.
McGill lived in Venice from 1991 to 1993 and often returns to the city. Her connection with Venice was also developed in her previous work ‘The Campi’ (Squares, 2017). The artworks are soundboxes, that is, music boxes of sorts, that voice the sounds and memories of the places. The box ‘Santa Maria Nova’ is on display at the Lightbox exhibition; its sounds immerse the viewers in the Venetian atmosphere, accompanying them throughout the display.
The exhibition displays 20 paintings, prints and drawings by Canaletto and 16 works by Melissa McGill that are mostly connected to the ‘Red Regatta’ project. They include a documentary film, hand-painted photography, a glass installation and watercolours. Canaletto was famous for his landscapes and Venetian scenes, minutely and precisely painted, that looked like photos but actually combined real and imagined spaces. His pictures were commissioned and purchased by aristocrats and rich merchants whose life he celebrated in elegant and rationally structured settings. He was in England from 1746 to 1756 working for aristocrats and wealthy people and applying the same style and techniques he used in the Venetian vedute (views) to the English landscape, though he adapted the colours to the new setting. He was not only famous for his oil paintings but was also an expert in etching and printmaking.
In his ‘A View of Walton bridge’ (1754) commissioned by Thomas Hollis, who is depicted in the foreground dressed in yellow, the precision of the architectural structure of the bridge and the landscape in perspective contrast in part with the impressionistic rendering of the human figures depicted in dots. The tones are cooler and the light more sombre than in the Venetian views and the rich but composed vegetation replaces the edifices. It is known that Canaletto used a camera obscura (dark chamber), an optical device in the shape of a box, tent or room with a hole on one side and a lens attached; it was the forerunner of the photographic camera. The image of the landscape was projected onto paper and therefore allowed more accurate and realistic drawings, almost photographic ones. These kinds of drawings were found in Canaletto’s quaderno (sketchbook). However, in his final oil paintings, Canaletto interpreted these views, enlarging important monuments, for example, and combining different viewpoints. In his capricci, some examples of which are on display at the exhibition, he depicts imaginary buildings that were probably inspired by some of his camera obscura drawings. He used this device more as a guide rather than to dictate his artwork.
Melissa McGill’s mesmerising artwork has a historic parallel with the work of Canaletto in the emphasis on the importance of the setting, the relation with the sea and the dynamic performative essence that engages people with the environment. The panoramic scale of the ‘Red Regatta’ has a vibrant, vigorous quality that relates this enthralling collaborative project to climate change issues and its effects on the city. In previous projects McGill expressed her focus on environmental issues and on community as well; for example, in ‘In the Waves’ (2021), a live art performance that evoked the issue of rising sea levels and climate change, and in the proposal to replace the Indian Point nuclear power plant with cherry trees that link to the ephemerality of nature and to Japan’s history with atom bombs. Her artwork is therefore an immersive and sharing experience that is done in a wide variety of media.
At the Lightbox exhibition, the photos of the reflections of the myriad of red sails in the blue-green water of the lagoon have an almost abstract rendering that emphasises this immersive dynamic experience. These photographs are the core of the work ‘Riflessi’ (reflection) that reflects the theme of the ‘Red Regatta’ and develops it in a sculptural way. Canaletto’s attentive observations are therefore reiterated from a different perspective in McGill’s work, emphasising the relation with the environment. The hand-painted photographs of the sails of the ‘Red Regatta’ and the ‘Riflessi’ series work together with the ‘Venetian Lagoon Studies’ (2020), which are in watercolour and in which the different shades of the greens of the lagoon are skilfully depicted, evoking the myriads of lights and shadows that play in the water.
In their artworks, both Canaletto and McGill engage closely with Venice at a social and historical level 250 years apart. They explore the city’s potentials and vulnerability in conversation with each other and with the environment. Their places are real and imagined at the same time, and McGill’s pieces are committed to raising awareness of a more sustainable future for Venice. The artists’ scenes immerse the viewer in the fascinating Venetian reality that has surprised and stupefied visitors for centuries – and still does to this day.
Canaletto and Melissa McGill: Performance and Panorama; The Lightbox Main Gallery, Woking, 16 July–13 November
Interior of the Rotunda, Ranelagh, 1754 (oil on canvas) by Canaletto, (Giovanni Antonio Canal) (1697-1768); 70.5×96 cm; Compton Verney, Warwickshire
The Scottish landscape as a place of inspiration and the Scottish people as subjects of art are the objectives of the exhibition at The Lightbox. The display offers artworks of diverse Scottish artists from the 19th century until today. It proposes different views of how visual art has been interpreted by artists who were born, lived or were trained in Scotland, with works drawn from the Ingram and Fleming collections of Modern British Art.
Scottish art experienced controversial periods. During the Reformation medieval and renaissance artworks were destroyed by Protestant believers in the Second Commandment: “You shall not make for yourself idols and worship them.” An artistic revival followed in the 18th and 19th centuries, with people’s daily lives and social issues depicted, such as in ‘The Last of the Clan’ (1865) by Thomas Faed, which conveys the tragedy of economic and political crisis in the Highlands, and the land clearances that led to population decline. Works describing today’s crises, such as the problem of refugees and issues of immigration which are symbolically and realistically depicted, are displayed next to historical pictures. Iman Tajik’s ‘Can You Hear Me I’ (2015) and Barry McGlashen’s ‘Painting in Defence of Migrants’ (2021) re-imagine and explore with different media the sufferings and hopes of displaced people whose situations are caused by wars, persecutions and unemployment, and who are looking for a better life in Scotland.
Rural life is depicted in the works by the painters of The Glasgow School in which the Scottish landscape and storytelling are to the fore. The style of the pictures is realistic, influenced by Gustave Courbet and by the Impressionists. ‘Field Workers’ by Flora McDonald Reid (1883) and Alexander Roche’s ‘Early Autumn, Grez’ (1883) show interesting compositions that balance colours and shapes well.
Two important artists saw Scottish art progress in a more mature and internationally connected way. Samuel John Peploe and John Duncan Fergusson, members of the Scottish Colourists group, worked and exhibited in Paris. Their paintings expressed their feelings and impressions in bright colours, such as in Peploe’s ‘Luxemburg Gardens’ (1910), and reflect a modern urban society in a new vision that gave different perspectives to Scottish art and improved techniques and styles.
More variegated approaches were defined after the second world war by William Gear, William Turnbull and Eduardo Paolozzi. They worked in Paris too and were influenced by avant-garde movements such as Surrealism as well as by artists such as Giacometti, Brancusi, Picasso and Dubuffet. Gear’s ‘Figures’ (1946) and Paolozzi’s ‘Children of the Night’ (1950) convey the destructive effects of the war and the consequent fragmentation, expressed in their pictures with strong marks and broken figures.
The exhibition also displays works by Ian Hamilton Finlay such as ‘Classical Neoclassical’ (1993), a sandstone sculpture acknowledging the legacy of classical culture but also a modern independent vision. The final mesmerising pictures by the Zimbabwean-Scottish artist Sekai Machache give the sense of a place that is real and magical at the same time. She pictures the merging of water and earth in which the human figure floats in a surreal setting that makes us feel at home in a dreamlike reality. It is an unsettling sensation that nevertheless opens up to imaginary landscapes.
A Window into Scottish Art is an effective glimpse of Scottish painters displaying different influences and international connections and innovations over the course of more than two centuries. They present various styles and personal, sometimes unusual, approaches that reveal a profound understanding of Scottish society and landmarks.
A Window into Scottish Art: The Ingram & Fleming Collections, The Lightbox, Main Gallery, Woking, until 3 July
I wanted the landscape and the person to be as one in nature: William Crozier
The bold brushstrokes and vibrant colours of William Crozier’s landscapes impress the viewers in the Upper Gallery at the Lightbox. The Scottish-Irish painter trained at Glasgow School of Art then settled in London for a period, where he met the Soho Bohemians. He was in Paris too, where he could observe the work of the avant-garde movements. Picasso’s energy and capacity to change style inspired him. The Mediterranean landscape and light were crucial in his early work. His first landscapes are reminiscent of Cubism and his still lives depicting flowers are mainly figurative. However, the exhibition focuses on the landscapes Crozier painted in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His work is featured in important museums such as the national galleries of Ireland, Poland, Canada and Australia and at Tate London. In 2017 a retrospective of his artwork was held at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin.
The artwork displayed at the Lightbox has a dramatic, immediate quality that reflects the ‘savagery just beneath the surface’ of our world, as the artist remarks. His art developed in the aftermath of the second world war and is connected to European and American abstract expressionism. His colours may also be loosely connected to the Scottish Colourists but his palette is more sombre and his work reflects the massacres of the war and the Nazi concentration camps. His abstract gestures are in line with ‘action painting’, reminiscent of artists such as Jackson Pollock, Willem De Kooning, Clyfford Still and Franz Kline. The landscapes have no literal references; they are images of the mind into which the artist reflects his emotions. Crozier’s work is inspired by both the countryside and the city; chromaticism, that is, adding grey to lower the chromatic intensity of the colour, is a technique the artist uses to express a sense of isolation and desperation seen to be inherent in contemporary life.
Crozier’s work is highly experimental; it depicts a bleak reality haunted by stagnation, destruction and death. However, his work maintains vitality in a cycle of death and reproduction that grants the continuity of life despite its mercilessness and brutal violence. It is a no man’s land in an apocalyptic background devastated by humankind. Life and death fight in a cruel environment that does not always grant survival. The artist feels free to do anything to express these sensations and describe this situation in a society where art has become redundant because of technological progress and a mass culture fuelled by escapism and fantasy. We are flooded with images and words in a world where it is difficult to leave a meaningful mark. Crozier’s work is an attempt to leave this mark. His fresh interpretations of landscapes carefully observed from a distance multiply the view beyond reality, conveying a dream that has not been dreamed before. There is nothing romantic in this work; on the contrary, human contribution is often seen as a loss from which there is no way back. His visual comments are stark and incisive, though open to multiple understandings precisely because of the abstract and free characteristic of his work.
Some interesting examples are the untitled landscapes in which the black marks prevail on apple greens, ochre, orange, vermillion and scarlet. Waves or round shapes contrast with the bold black marks intersecting with each other. We can imagine shapes of buildings, bridges, roads, or trees going upwards and roots digging downwards. The triptych composed in 1961 is reminiscent of human figures and uses striking reds contoured by black shapes that look like hollow ghosts, expressing an emptiness that cannot be resolved. Crozier’s vivid colours juxtapose with this desolate message, emphasising the vitality of his artistic production despite the artist’s awareness of the devastating human condition. The exhibition explains the complexity of Crozier’s message in a well-focused and exhaustive display of his artwork.
William Crozier: Nature into Abstraction,The Lightbox, Woking, 2 April–19 June 2022
Bridget Riley’s long and remarkable 70-year career is examined at the Lightbox’s exhibition to commemorate her 90th birthday. Her abstract compositions develop in triangles, oblong shapes, circles, spirals and above all stripes that evoke natural phenomena such as the sound of the wind and the movement of the waves. The secret of her success is incessant fresh experimentation in paintings and prints. Riley wishes to involve the viewer in an emotional experience that might trigger new perspectives of seeing. During the 1960s this dynamism was conveyed in optical illusions through colours and geometric forms in black and white, and then in the 1980s and 1990s in the use of greys and in the contrast between warm and cool shades.
A keen observation and profound analysis of what surrounds her, especially of the natural world, form the basis of her art and her method. Riley spent her childhood in Cornwall then moved to London, where she studied at Goldsmiths College (1949–1952) and at the Royal College (1952–1955). Her early works are figurative in an impressionist style, as in ‘Women at Tea Table’, which is on display at the Lightbox. She then moved on to study Georges Seurat’s pictures, copying his pointilliste style, although she was not happy with the results. She felt that pointillism did not allow her to express her sensations or to understand the environment.
In the 1960s there was a great desire for change after the horrors of the second world war. Riley saw the works of famous painters such as Cézanne and Mondrian and abstract painters such as Rothko and Pollock. Their work led her to abstract experimentation in black and white paintings, such as ‘Movement in Square’ (1961) and ‘Untitled (Oval Image)’ (1964). She produced dynamic movement on flat surfaces, expressing the forces present in nature, rather creating a landscape or a narrative. This movement was labelled Op Art, and it emphasises the effect of optical illusion within the works. However, Riley’s art was more complex; Op Art was a way to explore and understand her sensations and to involve the viewer in a fresher experience of sight. According to Riley, the viewer completes the artwork in the act of seeing, contributing to their own perception, which is personal and different. As she often remarks, her inspiration came from the movement of water and in the rhythm of wind that create repetitive patterns and, at the same time, shape and reshape the surfaces, suggesting continuous change.
The effect of this interaction between colours and forms in movement was compared to the effects of seasickness and sky diving; they destabilise the viewer in order to induce a different experience that, according to Riley, evokes the pleasures of sight. From the 1970s she also explored relationships with colours, especially in the use of complementary colours alternated with greys. In the early 1980s she travelled to Egypt and created an Egyptian palette while studying the ancient hieroglyphs in the Valley of the Kings, in which the figures are organised in a sort of procession that the artist repeats in the stripe format, such as in ‘Green and Blues with Red (Orange Contrasts, 1985)’.
Riley has dedicated her life to her art, which she called ‘a vehicle for my life’, a mission of sorts or a vocation that follows precise steps and a methodology that is simultaneously disciplined and open to further discoveries. Her ‘pleasure of sights’, as she stated in the 1984 essay with the same title, implies physical and mental pleasures, the joy of living and being alive that are based on intuitions and sensations, and she aims to understand and convey these feelings and consequently share the experience with the public. As she remarks in the essay, light has ‘elusive, unstable, flicking’, complex qualities that contribute to changing effects. This revelation of sorts ‘takes you by surprise’. These changes are ‘sudden, swift and unexpected’ and are the result of ‘a perfect balance between […] the inner and the outer’. This experience is mystical and contingent; it resists tales and aims for ‘pure sight’, a theory that combines spiritual and bodily involvement. As Paul Moorhouse remarks in his book Bridget Riley: A Very Very Person(2019), her work is ‘rooted in personal expression and expressed a personality’.
In her recent works, Riley revisits past sketches and folios, creating new choreographic effects in her extended murals produced for the Tate, the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and the National Gallery. In 2014 the Imperial College Healthcare Charity Art Collection commissioned her to make a permanent 56 metre-long mural for St. Mary’s hospital in London, and in 2017 a striped mural was installed in army barracks in Texas, Riley’s largest work that reproduces her Egyptian palette.
Her artwork has been extensively exhibited both in Europe and in the US in group, solo and retrospective exhibitions. Her long career has developed in different directions; sometimes she contrasts forms and colours and at other times she merges them. She was always enthusiastic and hungry for observation and experimentation, making continuous progress towards fresh visions, evolving into new enthralling discoveries that might be unsettling but are also striving to attain a new harmony. Her artwork seems alive, similarly to the natural phenomena she is inspired by. Her work can be considered simultaneously poetic and controlled and evoking vitality and a dream, as well as having a stable symmetrical structure; it is a form of progress that envisages the coexistence of apparently opposing views. What is definite is that she does not stop to surprise the viewer and relentlessly triggers new visions. These multifaceted and ever-changing aspects of Riley’s work are thoroughly explored at the Lightbox exhibition, immersing the viewer in the wonders of her work.
Bridget Riley: The Pleasures of Sight, The Lightbox, Woking, 18 December 2021–10 April 2022
The new exhibition from the Ingram Collection at the Lightbox in Woking has been organised in collaboration with Artwise and coincides with the 60th anniversary of the founding of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The event also refers to COP26 (the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow) in order to raise awareness of this global issue, and displays 25 works of British artists who have been inspired by the natural world.
The four works by Elisabeth Frink (1930–1993) on display are compelling examples. ‘The Cormorant’ (1974), from the seabird series, speaks of the horrors of the second world war that the artist experienced when she was living in Devon. She became obsessed by the war planes she saw fighting in the sky and imagined them falling to the ground. The birds recall the violence of the conflict but also have a defiant attitude; nature challenges the war and the craziness of mankind that caused it. ‘Sleeping Fox’ (1968) shows the beauty and harmony of nature in the relaxed posture of the animal, which is caught in a forgetful rest that resists the frantic life of urban society. Frink had a rural upbringing that is expressed in her pictures of animals, especially horses. In her artwork, work horses and war horses represent a crucial connection between nature and the human world. Horses work in fields and help farmers, and they took part in wars too; they were killed and maybe saved lives. Horses were not only soldiers’ companions but also supported them in tough times. The two artworks on display dedicated to horses are very different from one another. ‘Rolling over Horse’ (1979) in pencil and watercolour is a well-executed and skilful picture of an animal in a playful moment. It shows the beauty of the animal in its round shape and warm colours. ‘Wounded Horse’ (1989) in acrylic depicts the head of a bleeding war horse, emphasising its commitment and sacrifice. It represents the generosity of nature, which is at risk, and the message that is conveyed is that it is our responsibility to take care of it.
Other interesting pieces include two intriguing sculptures. The ‘Elephant Revenge, 2012’ by Emma Woffenden represents the story of the revenge of a young elephant against the poacher who killed its mother. An impressive lion head carved in cherry wood by Seamus Cuddihy entitled ‘Scarface’ (2013) shows the proud portrait of the king of a pride of lions who was blinded in one eye during a fight.
Landscapes in different media and techniques are on display as well. John Craxton’s ‘Landscape, Tresco’ (1954) represents a view of the Isles of Scilly using a figurative technique in watercolours and crayons. The buildings look stable and are protected by a fence, conveying a reassuring sense of order. In the semi-abstract ‘Landscape by the Sea’ (1958), Wilfred Avery imagines a place in which plants, rocks and sea interlace in an apparently flat surface, communicating a playful and vivid impression. ‘Hebrides’ (1999) by Donald Hamilton Fraser is particularly appealing because of the sharp contrast between the ultramarine and indigo blues of the sea and the red of the sky. The picture has been created using silkscreen printing, that is, a stencilling process that allows the artist to play with negative spaces. Sir Terry Frost’s ‘Sun, Sea and Boats’ (1952) reveals a keen observation and a juxtaposition of the objects mentioned in the title as well as an exquisite rendering in watercolours and gouache.
The exhibition displays in a consistent and convincing way the connection between humans and nature and the relevance of plants, animal life and the natural landscape in our world. This relation is vital for our mental and physical survival and needs to be celebrated in art as well as in our everyday experience. We need to change our way of living and fall back in love with nature to make the world a better place.
The Ingram Collection: Art for your World, The Lightbox, 25 September 2021–9 January 2022
The impressive new exhibition at the Lightbox in Woking features over 60 drawings by Old Masters from the Devonshire collection at Chatsworth. The outstanding collection at Chatsworth House was started by the second Duke of Devonshire and includes paintings, furniture, ancient coins, sculptures, jewellery, metalwork and textiles as well as Master drawings and prints. The history of Chatsworth House begins with Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, who married Sir William Cavendish in 1547. They built the first house, which underwent major changes in the 19th century. The house and the collection were greatly improved by the sixth Duke of Devonshire and opened to the public in the 20th century. The refurbishment of the house and some business failures forced sales of some of the collection, such as Shakespeare’s folios and quartos. In the past and right up until today, the dukes of Devonshire have confirmed their passion for collecting art and continue to expand their collection with contemporary artworks.
The master drawings on display in the main gallery of the Lightbox have been carefully chosen and range from the 15th to the 18th century, with works by Raphael, Leonardo, Parmigianino, Rembrandt, Dürer, Bruegel, Claude Lorrain, Anthony Van Dyck and others. Their works are divided in loose sections under titles such as Human Figure, Religion, Landscape and Classical Mythology and there is also an interesting video and a display about drawing materials and techniques at the end of the exhibition.
Although the artists used drawings to explore ideas, organise their final artwork and try new perspectives before completing their paintings, most of the pieces on display look like finished works that have been executed with impeccable precision in black or red chalk, metal point, a mix of pen and ink, and a wash or watercolour. The use of chiaroscuro (light and shadow) reveals the expert skills of the artists; indeed, this technique sometimes shapes the figures better than colours or paints. Some of the works are sketchier, like the ones executed in brown ink and a wash, and they are supposed to give a first or general idea of the future painting, such as Francesco Solimena’s ‘Heliodorus Driven from the Temple’. The textures of the drawings are complex and multi-layered; they convey emotions in the human figures and express subtle movement in the landscapes. Pictures such as Raphael’s ‘Venus Seated on clouds’ and Leonardo’s ‘Leda and the Swan’ not only refer to Greek mythology and pay tribute to classical traditions but also depict the ideal female beauty in a dynamic way that epitomises the renewed interpretation of ancient art by the major artists of the Italian Renaissance.
Drawings were less expensive and quicker to do than paintings, especially the sketches of landscapes in ink and a wash; they also presented an image of the future completed work to the eventual client. Nevertheless, pieces such as Moretto’s ‘A Woman’s Head with Braided Hair’ and Carracci’s ‘A Hunch Back Boy’ that are on display can be considered mature, finished works. They convey definite emotions, for example in the pensive expression and slightly reclined head of the woman and in the evident physical disability of the boy, and in the inscription ‘Non so se Dio mi aiuta’ (‘I don’t know if God helps me’). The landscapes are particularly fascinating in their unfinished impressionistic quality, which is so near to modern taste and today’s painting practices.
At the end of the exhibition there is the opportunity to contribute to a copy of ‘St Gregory Attended by Angels Praying for Souls in Purgatory’ by Annibale Carracci by sketching on a Post-it note a small square of the drawing and sticking it on a panel in a collaborative reproduction.
The extensive exhibition at The Lightbox greatly contributes to our understanding of master drawings and the skills and role of the artists in the execution of their own artworks. The preparatory sketches and drawings envisaged the major paintings that would follow and might appear today to be even more attractive than the final works.
Lines of Beauty: Master Drawings from Chatsworth, The Lightbox, Woking, 21 August–5 December 2021
Sculptor Sean Henry has revealed the identities of his three new figures that are coming to Woking town centre. ‘Walking Woman’, above, clad in black, will stride down Commercial Way, while ‘Standing Figure (Man)’ and ‘Standing Figure (Woman)’, top, will stare at each other within an atrium at the new Victoria Square development.
The news came during a hugely interesting tour around Sean’s studio during a Zoom session organised by The Lightbox art gallery in Woking. Talking about ‘Walking Woman’ he said: “There’s an air of positivity about her. She has this inner confidence; I hope that comes through.”
‘Standing Figure (Man)’ and ‘Standing Figure (Woman)’ will be seven feet tall, and will look at each other in the main atrium space of Victoria Square when it is completed. Sean said: “I’m excited by this … it will be a meeting place … I’m hoping that this will bring a lot of people into Woking.”
A further piece, ‘Catafalque’, is returning to Woking after first appearing in Jubilee Square in 2017 during a town-wide exhibition of Sean Henry’s work organised by the Lightbox, and also spending some time outside Salisbury cathedral: “He’s very, very non-confrontational, because he’s looking at the sky.”
Sean Henry is always claimed as a Woking boy, although he actually grew up in Pirbright, and now lives in Hampshire. He started making little clay figures at school at the age of 14, and sold some from a stall in Guildford High Street. He received a D in Art A-level, but secured a foundation degree place at Farnham School of Art, before taking a BA in ceramics at Bristol Polytechnic from 1984 to 1987.
He is remarkably open and accessible, and during his Lightbox talk he expanded on his beliefs, saying that for him “colour and light is what sculpture is about. I’m trying to reference life, and colour is an integral part of that”. He wanted his sculptures to relate to “the lived experience”.
Sean, whose works are displayed all over the world, spoke about a couple of his other sculptures in striking situations in England – the 10-foot ‘Seated Figure’ on the North York Moors (“it takes on a life of its own, depending on the weather”) and ‘Couple’, on the shore and out at sea at Newbiggin in Northumberland, “ a really unusual project” concerned with coastal erosion and a new £10m breakwater on which the Arts Council wanted a sculpture placed.
Painted sculptures outdoors that have to endure all weathers present a certain challenge. Sean has been using a marine paint usually employed for protecting boats and buoys. “The challenge is keeping the paint very thin, because you want the sculpture to look as it did when it was just clay.” He aimed to dress his figures in “neutral” clothes, and dispensed with any accoutrements, such as handbags, trying to whittle things down “to the core of someone’s being”.
His main influence is the 20th century Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti. He also spoke of Ron Mueck’s famous work ‘Dead Dad’, of which he said “its altered scale is the key to its success, and to engaging our empathy”.
Sean Henry concluded his talk by saying how much he was looking forward to the completion of Woking’s Victoria Square development: “I can’t wait for it to be open and functioning.” He pointed out that Woking has the biggest Sean Henry collection in the world, “or will have by the end of this year”.
Truly something to be proud of, to be mentioned in the same breath as the Martians and The Jam!
The Lightbox in Woking is commemorating the 500th anniversary of the death of Raphael in an interesting exhibition inspired by Prince Albert and Queen Victoria’s passion for the Italian master. The exhibition displays works from the Raphael Collection at Windsor Castle created by the couple that includes original works and also copies of Raphael’s artwork in the form of pictures, photographs, printed reproductions, woodcuts, lithographs, engravings and etchings. They are part of a project that Prince Albert pursued. He commissioned photographers and artists such as Charles Thurston Thompson, George Baxter, Giovanni Battista Franco and Leopoldo Alinari to reproduce Raphael’s work. The collection was subsequently put together by Bernard Bolingbroke Woodward and Sir Richard Rivington Holmes in 1876. It contains over 4,600 pieces and traces the history of reproduction techniques with a special emphasis on photography.
Raphael (1483-1520), ‘Christ’s Charge to Peter’, c. 1514, offset from a drawing in red chalk over stylus. Royal Collection Trust Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2020
The interesting works on display consistently focus on two main works by Raphael: ‘Christ’s Charge to Peter’ and ‘The Miraculous Draught of Fishes’ from Raphael’s series of cartoon designs for Pope Leo X commissioned for the lower walls of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. James I and Charles I bought seven of Raphael’s cartoons. The tapestry of ‘The Miraculous Draught of Fishes’ on display was produced by the Mortlake Tapestry Manufactory in the 17th century. The work describes the miracle reported in Luke, Chapter 5, verses 1–10 and features two linked scenes: the apostles as ‘fishers of men’ and Peter and Andrew before Christ. The ships, symbolising the Church, are full of fish, that is, of saved souls. The setting is idyllic sea scenery and yet the picture is dynamic because of the dramatic gesture of Andrew’s open arms and Peter humbly kneeling in front of Christ in the foreground. Although the apostles were unaware of their mission, they show, at the same time, their devotion to Christ.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert worked together to buy and collect Raphael’s works and gave them to one another on birthdays, at Christmas and on wedding anniversaries. They also built up a significant collection of reproductions. Most of them are works inspired by Raphael, such as ‘Raphael’s First Sketch of the Madonna della Sedia’ (1853), an oil on canvas by Johann Michael Wittman, and the ‘Madonna and Child’ (The Colonna Madonna) in enamel on porcelain (1848–58) produced by the Royal Porcelain Manufactory in Berlin.
Some impressive original works by Raphael are on display, too. ‘A Woman Standing in Profile: Florentia’ (1514) is a good example of Raphael’s elegant style; the master’s sense of balance and the composure of the figure prevail over the power of the body. His works convey a sense of serenity that is expressed in the juxtaposition of the forms, reminiscent of ancient Roman sculptures and paintings. In this way, he produced an idealised model by taking the most beautiful features from several examples. It was an imagined type of beauty that improved nature without losing any of its vitality. This is linked to the Neoplatonic idea that knowledge is based on a memory of ideas rather than on real objects. Raphael produced a realistic kind of painting which was at the same time idealistic. Nevertheless, his figures convey dynamism and movement in their gestures and in the rendering of the drapery.
Two studies of the tapestry cartoons that are displayed in the exhibition and that are dated 1514 reveal the master’s methodology in working on preparatory drawings for his major works. He started from the positioning of the figures, which were probably taken from life drawings. The sketches correspond to the cartoons on a smaller scale, which gives us a clear idea of Raphael’s detailed planning and accurate composition. The drawings are produced using sophisticated techniques that include pen and iron-gall ink as well as red chalk over lines made with a stylus. This shows that Raphael considered these drawings to be complete works and important references for his cartoons and therefore for the tapestries.
Prince Albert sent some of the reproductions to European royal households, private collections, museum curators and church authorities in order to promote his project, hoping that he would be allowed to make more copies of Raphael’s works around Europe. The different kinds of reproductions on display show different levels of the two main works under focus. At times they concentrate on specific details, which convey their dramatic characteristics, such as in the figure of St Andrew reproduced in print by Thompson or in the three apostles in the form of an albumen print attributed to Leonilda Caldesi.
The exhibition at the Lightbox is the only one in the UK that commemorates the 500th anniversary of Raphael’s death, and has been mentioned in the Times.It stimulatingly explores Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s passion for the great Italian Renaissance master, showing important pieces from the Raphael Collection which are part of a pioneering research project that the royal couple pursued during their married life. This project not only involved collecting a large number of copies and reproductions of Raphael’s work, but also involved the use of experimental techniques, such as those applied to produce different kinds of prints and photography that investigate different angles of the great master’s work.
Raphael: Prince Albert’s Passion, The Lightbox, Woking, 10 October 2020 –31 January 2021
Photograph 19/20thC; Thurston Thompson Charles, Raphael Cartoons, Miraculous draught of fishes 19th century
