WriterCon UK

Yesterday I went with a friend to the Courtauld art gallery to see their exhibition Seurat and the Sea.

Georges Seurat (1859-1891) was a French artist best known for developing the technique of painting with small dots of colour to create an image (pointillism) as part of the neo-impressionist art movement.  It's easy to forget that at the time, this was considered bold and innovative, and was not accepted by the majority of contemporary art critics.  In his short life (he died aged 31) he only sold three of his paintings.

The exhibition brings together 26 of his lesser-known seascape paintings, preparatory sketches and drawings. Under the cut for my favourites.
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Having seen all that, we went into an adjoining room where they have a new temporary exhibition from the Berber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham. The exhibit has some highlights from the Berber Collection, which was a nice surprise. Under the cut for more lovelies!

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It's always nice to discover something new in a place I've visited so often before. We really enjoyed the outing, and after a quick lunch, we headed home.

On Wednesday, Mr Cee and I went to the Tate Britain art gallery to see their exhibition Turner & Constable Rivals and Originals.   We were really lucky to get tickets! I'd completely forgotten about the exhibition until this week, but fortunately, we managed to get an afternoon slot.

Joseph Mallord William Turner (known as William) was born in 1775 in the centre of London to a working-class family (his father was a barber) and never lost his London accent. He travelled across the country and into Europe to find subjects to paint. He showed exceptional talent at a young age and was invited to enrol at the Royal Academy of Arts to study at just 14. He supported himself during his studies by working as an architectural draughtsman's assistant and watercolour copyist. He had a very long and successful career and died, aged 76, in 1851.

JWM Turner Self Portrait (1799)

John Constable was born in 1776 in a village in Suffolk in South-East England. He spent most of his career painting within this area, and during his lifetime, it became known as 'Constable Country'.  His family was wealthy, and even though they were nervous about their son becoming an artist, they supported him financially.  He began his studies at the Royal Academy when he was 24. He took longer to establish his career, but was also very successful and died, aged 60, in 1837.

John Constable by Ramsay Richard Reinagle (1799).  Reinagle and Constable were housemates when Constable moved to London.

Rivals in their lifetime, their approaches to landscape painting (which was becoming very fashionable) were very different, and critics described Constable's work as 'the truth' and Turner's as 'poetry'.  Their originality and innovation still resonate 250 years later, and seeing their works hung together was fascinating, highlighting their differing approaches.

Under the cut for far too many photographs of lovely things.
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It was a huge exhibition - and I'm glad we got tickets as they are in very short supply now, as it closes on the 12th April.