Gauguin Portraits

Last Friday I went to the Gauguin Portraits exhibition at the National Gallery in London. Gauguin is known for his brightly coloured paintings and iconic style and I was interested to see some of his paintings in the flesh and learn more about the artist. This exhibition shows how he painted portraits throughout his career, depicting family, friends and intimates around the world, often in an unconventional style for its time. It also shows how he had a charismatic and forceful personality which at some points sits rather uncomfortably with the viewer.

Gauguin was obviously quite a self-obsessed man and continually depicted himself in paintings, often in different guises and personalities. Below he has depicted himself as Christ in the Garden of Olives. His mask-like face is framed by bright red hair in a dark foreboding landscape.

In his first years as an artist, Gauguin frequently painted his wife and their five children. This early depiction of his Danish wife, Mette, is fairly conventional. It was painted when Gauguin was still working as as stockbroker. She is seated in an evening dress and is surrounded by trinkets - Gauguin uses it to show the wealth of their comfortable life. Rather ironically, soon after it was painted the stock market crash of 1882 meant that he lost his job and they had to move out of Paris for cheaper lodgings.

This painting depicts Gauguin's four year old daughter Aline who is dwarfed by giant oranges. This was a rather unconventional layout as the oranges become the centre of the attention and his daughter is just to the side and looking down. The composition is reminiscent of the paintings of Edgar Degas who also used a similar approach and was a great supporter of Gauguin's work. 

In 1891, Gauguin travelled to Tahiti in search of an unspoilt, non-Western culture. It helped that it was French speaking and he created a life there for several years.

Hi depictions of the local women are beautifully coloured, but there is an underlying uneasiness to them when you get to know his background and relationships with the very young women of the island. He exploited his position as a privileged Westerner and entered into many sexual relations with young girls, 'marrying' two of them and fathering children. When you know this, the paintings take on a different feel and the melancholy of the sitter comes through.The Tahitian woman above sits in a colonial French rocking chair, wearing a bright pink missionary dress.

The painting above is called Woman with a Mango and depicts Teha'amana, his first 'wife'. I love the vibrant yellow background and the knowing smile on her lips.

The painting above is called 'The Flowers of France' and was painted in Tahiti but shows how much France remained in Gauguin's mind. Like the painting of the oranges above, the flowers become the main focus of the composition whilst a Tahitian boy sits anxiously to the side.

More vibrant yellow, this time depicted in the missionary dress of a Breton woman. Here, Gauguin combines the two cultures of France and Westernised Tahiti, which was quite daring for its time. He returned to France, feeling like his time in Tahiti had made him unique among contemporary artists in Paris. He paraded about in exotic clothes and decorated his studio in bright yellow to evoke the atmosphere of the South Seas.

This exhibition continues until 26th January 2020.

Pierre Bonnard - The Colour of Memory

The Tate Modern is currently holding an exhibition of the work of Pierre Bonnard and I headed down there a few weeks ago to check it out. The exhibiton focuses mainly on his mature work where he had developed a highly individual command of colour. He used that colour to paint sensuous images of everyday life. As a textile designer, it was very inspiring to see his use of colour up close and the unconventional use of contrasting hues. One of the best examples of colour use is this scene below which uses a bold purple shade to convey the light on the table top.

Bonnard also painted everyday scenes like the 'Woman at a Table' below, which were snippets of life. The composition is also more unconventional, and more like a snapshot in its set up. The viewpoint makes us feel like we are sharing the meal with the woman, who is up so close that her head is cropped. I love the vibrancy of the red dress and rosiness of the cheeks.

In 'The White Tablecloth' below, the simplicity of the cloth sets off the items that are placed on it and surrounding it. I zoomed in on the richly coloured garment of the woman standing.

Bonnard created many room scenes, which used unconventional angles and viewpoints. I love the use of colour in the painting below which combines rigid angles of the interior (along with a fab yellow patterned wallpaper) with the softness of the landscape through the window.

The painting below, has a still life in the foreground and then you notice the woman standing with her back to us in the background, as if she is just about to leave the room.

Bonnard worked on many nude paintings and liked to use mirrors to challenge the idea of space and time. In the painting below he shows two different angles of the pose - the nude in the foreground and her reflection in the mirror, where the suggestion of an outstretched arm is shown.

In 'The Mantelpiece' below, Bonnard creates a complex visual structure with a stretching woman reflected in the mirror and a painted nude on the wall behind her. The nude stands where the painter would be, but the painter does not appear in the reflection.

The 'Nude Crouching in the Tub' below relates to a specific photograph that Bonnard took. The relaxed pose was captured on film and then recreated in painted form. Bonnard used photography and its spontaneous composition as an influence on his paintings and soon no longer relied on a camera to create these poses.

The warm tones of the painting below appealed to me. The orange of the floor reflects the light of the  late afternoon sun coming through the window.

Bonnard's paintings of the bathing nude introduced a new element to his paintings and showed how different the body looks under water. The painting below is the first of four paintings addressing this theme. In this painting, the nude stretches across the width of the canvas and the composition can be divided into a series of horizontal bands - the tiled wall, the white bath, the immersed body, and the rim and the floor.

This later version of a nude in the bath (below) is much moodier, with a more intense and expressive use of colour. Marthe de Meligny was his lover and model. Her health started deteriorating and she would take baths every day following water treatment for her ailments. Bonnard captures the intimacy and melancholy of their relationship through this painting. I love the use of purples, blue and mustard yellow to create the heaviness of the emotions.

This wonderful exhibition is on at Tate Modern until 6th May 2019.

Rembrandt - Thinking on Paper

It's 350 years since the death of Rembrandt and the British Museum is marking this event with a collection of his rarely-seen prints and drawings which show his technical and creative ingenuity.

I love the two sleeping figures above and below and they show the versatility in Rembrandt's work. The 'Woman Sleeping' above has been created in brush and brown wash and I love how the loose marks create such an evocative scene. The 'Reclining Figure' below has been much more considered and uses a time-consuming technique of etching, drypoint and engraving. I love the way that the figure disappears into the darkness.

The atmospheric landscape below is one of Rembrandt's most well-known prints and he uses dark and light to convey the impending storm.

You have to look up close with all of Rembrandt's prints to really appreciate the work that has gone into it. This is the top right of the etching and shows his use of mark-making to create the billowing storm clouds.

The biblical scene below depicts St Francis praying under a tree. I love the use of dark line work in the foreground (and light line work in the background) to create the sense of depth.

Look at the top right hand corner of the print and you can see the sketchiness he creates.

Rembrandt created a collection of postage stamp-sized self portrait prints (below) where he recorded his expression through strong contrasts and subtle hatching. His sketchy and unfinished style adds a sense of immediacy. The upper print, with the slightly startled expression, is one of his best known self-portraits.

Rembrandt was a keen observer of life and often drew inspiration from the streets of Amsterdam. The street scene below was probably taken from life and shows hungry, eager children looking on as pancakes are being cooked over a fire.

The unfinished etching below shows Rembrandt's working process. He sketched the basic outlines in drypoint first and then etched the images. For this one, he focused on the background first. I love the juxtaposition of the highly rendered, finished image against the very loose, cursory drawing in the foreground.

Rembrandt's wife modelled for the print below and his intricate working process shows dense, hatched lines in the background to evoke texture and light.

The portrait below shows the artist's achievements in subtle gradations of tone. The sitter is a friend of Rembrandt and is shown in an informal pose. The atmospheric effect of the sunlight streaming in the window into the dark room is enhanced by the warm-toned Japanese paper.

This fabulous little exhibition is on until 4th August 2019.