Department Reviews
ART
'BELONGINGS'
In the Fauconberg Wing Moderation Exhibition you will encounter a seemingly staccato variety of drawn, etched, carved and painted items.
‘A suitcase, at once brittle and sturdy in weathered clay, a reminder of our visit to the Imperial War Museum’s Holocaust exhibition. Generic still life objects (a wine bottle and a jug separated by a glass), given new significance by newly-gained experience of perhaps the greatest painter of such humble items, Giorgio Morandi. A pair of shoes, rendered in paint so loosely that it is impossible to tell whether they are regulation black or not, let alone polished. Personal items, woven into dark, rich and textural paintings by LC3 girls, who were asked to consider loss and memory as described by artist Victoria Crowe. Tiny pieces of wire, bent with such skill that miniature wheels turn smoothly in an imaginary circus.’
The girls have explored the notion of ‘Belongings’, our theme in the Art Department this year, and this focus has bound together work by girls in different divisions working in the broadest range or media. When responding to ‘I, Me, Mine’, ‘Sanctuary’ or Discord’ the GCSE, AS and A2 examinees have outdone themselves. Inventive works pervade the A2 spaces and this year’s exhibition contains some particularly sensitive use of that most elusive of art forms, installation. Kodály’s Cello Sonata emanates from behind a painting and a tin can rewards the patient listener with unintelligible but intriguing voices in one’s ear. The AS Artists’ Sanctuary works are well named. Girls have searched for safety and familiarity in the tension of timed sessions and many have found ways to impart their discoveries with evident success. The History of Art room houses their work, arranged on easels and desks so that the viewer must step forward and engage with each piece. Encountering such individuality from a common theme is just reward for this simple step.
This year’s GCSE exhibition is a delight. There is much evidence of the creative distance a girl can travel in just two years and everyone will find something to enjoy in this packed show.
The GCSE artists’ energies were sustained by an unusual study weekend in December, ‘Food For Thought’. A six-course banquet, superbly cooked by Sarah Parker’s team in the Staff Dining Room, interspersed with slides of relevant art, was followed by a film showing of ‘Babette’s Feast’. Up early the next morning, we were bussed to Stanley Spencer’s unique narrative frescoes of his wartime experiences, a disquieting and moving experience, in the gloom of his Memorial Chapel at Sandham. The tiny oil paintings the girls worked on in the afternoon spoke volumes about their ability to assimilate artworks. Pizza that evening, their own Cubism made from the blue and white packaging, mono-printing and photography made for a creative and satisfying weekend.
Our twin destinations of Paris and Nice for October’s History of Art and Art trip, more eruditely described in the History of Art section in this booklet, were all we hoped for and more. Paris offered us so many exhibitions, of which perhaps the most memorable, certainly the most rare opportunity, was the exhibition of nineteenth century French pastels. Degas’ work literally shone on the walls as his reclusive drawings of women, usually protected from bright light, glowed in the wonderfully lit and curated show.
On our arrival in Nice after a six hour train journey through France, hungry and thirsty courtesy of a catering strike on the TGV (imagine) our craving for food was satiated by the Niçoise genius for Italianate food.
The sunshine on the Côte d’Azur was hot , the yachts in Antibes were suitably large and we felt as if we were on holiday...
There was work to do however, and the Chateau Grimaldi, Picasso’s home for a few months during the war, is an exquisite collection of the works he made there and home to some powerful work by de Stael. Matisse’s Chapelle Rosaire stunned us into silence as a nun explained the spiritual intent behind the master’s use of light, coloured by stained glass to achieve a reverential space.
The next day, the Musée Matisse and the Chagall collection provided a harmonious end to our tour, for those not hardy enough to find Matisse’s simple and affecting grave. We visited London last term with UC5 and SFC girls, in search of first-hand research and returned with an appetite for meaning in art and, for the SFC girls, painful memories of the Holocaust.
UC4 artists learned how to record and research in the V & A and we are looking forward to seeing this promising year group’s work develop next year. Before Christmas, Oxford was the destination of choice and Janet Cardiff’s installations in the Modern Art gallery inspired many girls.
Etching Club, Modelling and Animation Club, Photography (both digital and film), Life Class and the Art Scholars’ Club have been highlights of a varied and well-supported range of extra-curricular activities. Mr Wilde designed the LC3 musical production of ‘The Wizard of Oz’.
Mila Judge-Furstova deserves congratulations for her election to the Royal West of England Academy and Phil Harvey on his appointment to an enhanced role as College Photographer next year in this new video age.
News
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