Life Follows Art
The Great Wave off Kanagawa is an iconic Japanese painting and as Ben Macintyre said in The TImes yesterday, it offers a grim reflection of reality.
Walking Around Leeds
I took these pictures as I walked round the city before the match.
There was also a very comprehensive Henry Moore exhibition in the Art Gallery, which I wished I’d been able to explore fully.
How To Really Waste Money
To me, Picasso is the world’s overrated and overpriced artist, so I greet the news that the most expensive painting ever sold at public auction is to be exhibited at the Tate Modern with total indifference.
Whoever bought this painting really wasted his money. I would say that, that is his affair and it probably is. But who’s to know who the owner is and he could be one of the world’s real nasty people.
To me art should be public and available to all. That is why I like public sculpture, such as Temenos and the better attempts to do something positive with the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square.
Getting the Hang of IKEA
I need to order a washer/dryer as the current setup is tedious, slow and a bit difficult with the clothes washer in the hall cupboard with the boiler and the dryer in the garage. Every time I transfer clothes in and out, I seem to bump my head somewhere or lose socks on the floor.
After my experiences with John Lewis and Dixons, I thought the best thing to do was go and see the various washer/dryers on offer at Currys at Tottenham Hale. Quite frankly I wasn’t impressed, as they are all large and I just want a smaller one, as anything other than my smalls and towels goes to the excellent laundry. I also wanted to get a prescription, so Tottenham Hale was a good cjoice as there is a Boots there. It’s also just a bus ride to Highbury Corner and then three stops on the Victoria line.
I did notice one disadvantage of not driving at Tottenham Hale.
Where's the crossing?
This was the drive-in lane to Burger King. So if you want to get fat, eat lots of gluten and die before your time, you might take a pedestrian with bad eyesight with you, if you drive to get your burgers.
From Tottenham Hale I took the 192 bus to IKEA, as I needed a couple of bits for the kitchen. I also bought an assortment of picture hooks in a box. But the surprise was lunch, which was a bottle of Belvoir ginger beer and some gravadlax. All gluten-free of course. So I’m now finding IKEA a lot more friendly.
It was then back on the 192 and then the Victoria line to Seven Sisters, where I took a bus to Stoke Newington to pick up some paintings I’ve had framed, including one of my mother, by her brother from A & B Framing.
A & B Framing, Stoke Newington
I’ll admit I did struggle home with the framing and the stuff from IKEA. But I did make it and my mother and her cousin and sister-in-law are now reunited on the wall in my living room.
Cousins Reunited
Judging by the date on the drawing, my mother, who is on the left, was around four at the time. The caption is explained by the fact that my uncle, Leslie, married his first cousin, Gladys.
Paintings by Father and Son
The picture shows two paintings by Arthur Perigal and his son.
Paintings by Arthur Perigal and his Son
The one by the father is on the left and is of the Alba Villa in Rome.
Aldous Eveleigh
In 1977, C purchased a small painting by Aldous Eveleigh at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
Glove Puppet by Aldous Eveleigh
It would appear that the artist is still creating art, but probably in a very different way.
It’s also nice to think that C had taste, as it would appear he’s more famous than he was.
The Embroidery is on the Wall
I said earlier, that I was going to put the three pieces of embroidery by C’s Auntie Rita on the wall. Well here they are.
The Embroidery on the Stairs
In the next few weeks, I’m going to get to the bottom of the story of the medal. Having been to the British Museum yesterday, it would appear to be made of bronze. But I can’t find anything similar on the Internet.
An Original Painting by M. Levett
I’ve finally got around to putting some paintings on the wall.
An Original Oil Painting by M. Levett
This painting is the first to go up and is an original oil by a barrister called Levett, who once came on holiday with us at our house in France. This is the story of the painting from the original post.
One holiday stands out. C and I took, one of her barrister colleagues, away to the house for a few days. He was and hopefully still is very outspoken. He would lie on that beach and say in a loud upper-class English voice, ‘Look at that lump of lard over there’ at some lady who’d been eating for two. Luckily, no-one understood his English or perhaps most were laughing with him.
That holiday too we went to a Michelin starred restaurant in Antibes, where the wine waiter was the spitting image of Stephen Fry, doing an impression of Lord Melchett from Blackadder, doing a cariacature of a wine waiter complete with tastevin. He never understood why we kept laughing at him.
The painting was a contribution to his lodging and very much a surprise to both of us. Especially in its quality. Note the label on the bottle says Chateau Melchett.
Should Museums Sell Off Unwanted Art?
It is notr a sinmple question, but I’ll give a simple example concerning my council, St. Edmundsbury.
Mary Beale was the UK’s first professional female painter. She painted society and other portraits in the early seventeenth century. Twenty of her paintings survive and were given to the council some years ago. Only four are exhibited in a dark corner of Moyses Hall Museum. Compare this, with Ipswich’s superb treatment of their Gainsboroughs and Constables!
So if they were offered a sensible solution, where this unique piece of artistic history was loaned or even sold to say a new gallery in a town or city where they would be appreciated, they should take it. After all there are not too many successful female artists from that era and she derserves a lot better.
The Unusual Art Collector
I like art and have a few paintings, but quite frankly there are only two that I treasure. They are drawings and were both done by my uncle Leslie. I think one is my mother as a child and the other is his wife, who was also my mother’s and his first cousin. That doesn’t happen now, but two of my mother’s brothers married cousins.
But all the rest is for sale at the right price.
Last night though they told the story on The Culture Show of Tom Alexander, who was a shopkeeper on the Isle of Arran. He got a payment of £40 each year as a reservist and spent it on a painting of the day. He purchased a Lowry and a Hepworth to name but two. There has just been an exhibition in Edinburgh and it is described here.
Talk about a canny Scot!
The Anonymous Widower 