Return To Tate Britain

We returned to the Tate Britain August 20th for some unfinished business, namely the Rothko and Turner and 20th century and contemporary stuff we hadn't seen the previous visit. All this we would conjoin with an early dinner at the George inn near London Bridge, after walking more of the Southwark. It has been brought to my attention that Joseph Mallard William Turner has been well enough represented in my posts from London, so I will restrain myself in posting further pix of his paintings. A bit.

I think it is somehow telling that my camera, and presumably 
others, always has difficulty focusing on works of art like this
"mural" by Rothko; never could find anything to focus on except
the floor

Important background on the Seagram Murals; and
I thought it was because you had to drink half a
bottle of Seagram's to find anything of interest in
these paintings; but, hey, he was a Turner fan, 
and wanted his works to rest near Turner's, so
there must be something...

Turner self-poritrait in 1799, age 24, on the
occasion of having been admitted to the Royal
Academy; I'm hardly an expert, but this is the
only portrait I know of by Turner, whether of
himself of someone else 

There is a whole room of some of the paintings found in his studio
after his death in 1851, regarded at the time as unfinished; what Turner
regarded as finished is a lively issue...Breakers on a Flat Beach, 
1835-40

Entrance of the Meuse, 1819; described as a "visual pun": the
Dutch ship has run aground and lost its cargo of oranges...the
House of Orange had suffered catastrophic financial losses in
the Napoleonic wars...

Holy Family, 1803; in the early 1800s Turner was attempting to
move from associate to full member of the Royal Academy and 
attempting to please the membership by doing more work in the
"Grand Masters" style; this is thought to be after a now lost Titian
he would have seen at the Louvre; it is one of very, very few
paintings on a Biblical theme by Turner

The Tenth Plague of Egypt, 1802; ditto

Rome from the Vatican. Raffaelle, Accompanied by La Fornarina,
Preparing His Picture for the Decoration of the Loggia, 1820;
as I have noted, Turner was not into the whole brevity thing, but
he did admire Raphael

Very early Turner, Moonlight, a Study at Millbank, 1797; 
Millbank became the location of the Tate Britain

Reclining Venus, 1828; nudes are almost as rare as Biblical
subjects for Turner; fortunately

Having exceeded our quota of Turners for the day, we have now
moved on to the more recent stuff...

More from the "I could have done that school"; as I learned in
the 1980s, I could not not do that...

I'm guessing this is supposed to make us reflect on the nature of

art, or possibly other things; Vicki did not get sucked in

David Hockney, A Bigger Splash, 1967; I do like Hockney, because 

of his subjects, his use of acrylics, and his use of a Mac for some of 

his later work

Sculpture; something about gender roles; the
steps and tool box are lined in red velvet...

I don't much care for Henry Moore sculpture but
was impressed by this wartime sketch, Tube
Shelter Perspective, 1941

And Yet Another Day At The V&A

August 19th we were at the V&A, again. It was not our best day, inasmuch as several of the galleries we wanted to see were closed: lack of sufficient staffing, they said. We surmised this is due to a) COVID quarantines, or b) lack of young Europeans wishing to work in Britain for a time because of Brexit, or c) delays in staffing up for the summer tourist season. Or some or parts of all. We carried on, however, stiff upper lips and all that, keeping calm, and seeing the inlaid furniture, enameled jewelry, gold and silver, paintings, stained glass, and ever more jewelry. What we want to see is furniture and the rest of British history. We had gotten only as far as the Tudors. Next time, hopefully. 

Old entrance to the V&A; now the current exit
(through the gift shop)

Inlaid furniture

Pretty little boxes

Bracelet of tiny enameled paintings of scenes from Venice

Rarest of sights: the V&A pool not filled with kids splashing 
around; it was a chilly morning

Now we are into vast halls of silver and gold

Silver guy stuff from past ages

Children's tea sets; also doll house silver

Rattle and teething device; also utensil for those
to be born with silver spoon in mouth

Gal silver stuff

Inlaid silver ladies' sewing kit; pretty neat

Wine cooler; seats two

Silver chicken wire item

A silver clutch purse; seriously

Yours truly trying both hands at silversmithing in the silver
workshop (I think it was actually aluminum foil (or aluminium
at the Brits say)

Moving right along, we are now doing the halls of stained glass

Order of the day; how exciting could tapestry work be?

We also did the V&A's four rooms of paintings...some notable
British artists, some Millets and Courbets, Degas and Delacroix,
including two full rooms of Turners and Constables, from which
Vicki was excused; the above is Turner's St. Michael's Mount,
Cornwall, 1834; not to be confused with Mt. St Michel in 
Brittany; and not nearly so high and mysterious looking as
Turner makes it; blog readers also are excused from any further
V&A paintings in this episode

And now we are in the vast but congested hall of jewelry, 
looking at it in somewhat chronological order...

First, the classical and Medieval stuff

The Renaissance, including two Popes' rings; papal bling

Moving right along to Art Nouveau

A couple items Vicki really liked

A ring collection

And, finally, the stairs not taken to the upper realms of jewelry

Coal Drops

Just north of us, beyond Euston Avenue and Kings Cross, the Regent's Canal dips well into London, into an area called the Coal Drops. This was a massive storage and re-distribution ground for the city's supply of coal from the north (coal from Newcastle). The canal became less used and then disused as the 20th century wore on. The last commercial use was in the early 1960s. The buildings and facilities remained, however, and it all became a run-down "no go" sort of area. In the 00s some redevelopment began, first with clubs and a sordid reputation. There has been major re-development and upscaling recently, however, to the point of its becoming one of the more desirable addresses in these parts, especially if you're young and monied. We walked through it one rainy afternoon a few weeks back, but thought we would take another look. It was to be a short walk on one of our days "off."

The re-development continues, on a massive scale

Everything mixed use: office, retail, restaurants

and cafes, residences; Google and YouTube are 

on the other side, facing St. Pancras International

The canal, narrow boats, and one of many public areas

Another of the public areas: count 'em, four kids' splash pads

Old coal office (so the ghost sign says)

Long alleys of former coal bins, now restos and retails

Comfy chair...not

We didn't (do the tour)

Another plaza, setting up for a concert

Bespoke jeans shop; among many such establishments; of course
you would not to wear jeans bought off the rack

A few of the historical notes

More of the Victorian structure

St. Pancras locks on the canal

And not only coal was stored here: natural gas tank frames,
framing new office/residential buildings

Erected 1861

St. Pancras Yacht Basin; I'm trying to imagine how Turner would
have painted it

Another boulevard, public area, ever more splash

pads...they must be expecting global warming

And the music has begun; sic transit, gloria...