Lichtenstein at the Tate

I'm finally getting around to catching up on all of the exhibitions I've been meaning to see...first on the list was the Lichtenstein retrospective at the Tate Modern.

Lichtenstein is one of those painters who you either get or you don't. 

You love him or you hate him. 

I really love him.

His work is instantly recognizable. The flat colors, restrained palate, bold outlines, and use of dots to mimic mechanically reproduced images from newspapers/etc was revolutionary during his time -  post-war 1960s America.

There is a level of irony in his work - although he deliberately makes each work look mass-produced, each dot is meticulously painted by his own hand. Each one is different and ever-so-slightly imperfect. Every mark is in a different place. 

This is difficult to see in reproductions...you have to get up close and personal with the works to really see it how individualized the dots/technique really is. 

(you'll have to trust me on this for now) 

Here were a few of my favorites...

The exhibition was organized into 13 sections, each of which represents a genre/theme in his work:

 Brushstrokes, Early Pop, Black and White, War and Romance, Landscapes/Seascapes, Modern, Art about Art, Artist's Studios, Mirrors and Entablatures, Perfect/Imperfect, Late Nudes, Early Abstractions and Late Brushworks, and Chinese Landscapes

Some of the rooms worked better than others. For example, I didn't love "early abstractions and late brushworks" ...it was a room that juxtaposed his very early work with some late works. This kind of juxtaposition would work well for a small-scale exhibition, but as a room in a "retrospective" kind of exhibition, it didn't work for me. 

What I did love was "Art about Art" - in this section, they collected the works where Lichtenstein had quoted other painters. Here are a few...

1. Lichtenstein's Rouen Cathedral vs. Monet's Rouen Cathedral 

   

2. Picasso Femme d'Alger vs. Lichtenstein Femme d'Alger

    

3. Lichtenstein Non-Objective vs. Mondrian Tableau I 

    

4. (my favorite comparison) Lichtenstein's Still Life with Goldfish vs. Matisse Still Life with Goldfish

 

The other work I really loved was something I had never seen before - a painting of the Laocoon. I love the loose brushwork and bright colors - though we still have the dots and lines, it is a completely different style and color palate than his earlier work. This was painted in 1988.

As usual, another great job on the part of Tate Modern! This doesn't exactly go along with my "study week" plans, as it is impossible that a Lichtenstein will be on my exam, but I'm okay with that. Totally worth the trip downtown. 

Also, it was an incredibly beautiful day outside! I got a drink with a friend (Pimms!) on the south bank of the Thames. Here are some pictures from our walk back. 

Boughton House

Last week, my class had the incredible opportunity to go to a country manor built in the 1600s, Boughton House, for a sleepover with the Duke of Buccleuch. WHAT?! Yes. I stayed in one of the oldest country manors (think downton abbey) with the largest land-owning duke in the entire United Kingdom. Pretty big deal. And we got to handle items from the family's collection of silver, their archives, and take a close look at their paintings, ceramics, tapestries, furniture, and the amazing grounds surrounding the place. I am still processing what an incredible opportunity it was, but while I do that, you can take a look at a few pics...

Here is the house from the driveway leading in

the 'stables'

and views from our walk of the grounds 

and here is a small selection of the collection...

(here is the Duke explaining his Pierre Gole cabinet) 

16th century Flemish tapestry behind my bed!

16th century Hungarian flame-stich tapestry upholstery 

ceiling frescoes, tapestries, and Tudor portraits in the Great Hall

Boulle cabinet - once lived in Versailles

Sevres porcelain

and I loved this chair - awesome wing-back with the original silver thread in the upholstery! So rare to have the original upholstery. 

this is the Duke proudly displaying the portrait he recently had restored...spanish school, 17th century. 

To give you a brief idea of our itinerary, we arrived in the morning, had tea and a briefing of what was going to happen and how everything worked, and then got to work on cataloguing objects. We began with porcelain, then stopped for lunch (amazing chicken and fresh veggies from the garden made for us by the cook!) and then did silver in the afternoon.

After this, a tea and cakes break in the amazing kitchen

before heading outside for a walk of the grounds/gardens. There were sheep everywhere and it was a beautiful day! The Duke shared with us his plans for recreating the landscape plans and gardens that his 17th century ancestors had planned. 

how cute are those lambs under the tree?!

What was really cool was the modern art he commissioned for the place...this is "landscape art" you might say...pretty cool effect. 

 We walked down inside - its really a winding path down to the reflecting pool. 

just to give you a sense of how big it is - here is us looking across to the Duke.

and one of his many wonderful dogs :-)

That night, we had a (catered) barbecue on the lawn. The Duke made us Pimms! 

and we ate outside watching the sunset. 

 After dinner, we retired to the kitchen for tea and coffee and talked late into the night. Before we went to our rooms for bed, the Duke took us on a tour of his private accommodations. It was really so wonderful - such an intimate space (like his library etc) and definitely not on view to any of the public. It was really interesting to see how the 17th century house could really be transformed into a livable space. 

The next day, I got up an did a short run around the grounds to see the sheep in the early morning light. Beautiful!

We went around and looked at furniture and paintings for the rest of the day. We also had a session on archives - so interesting! We left post-tea and coffee break that afternoon. Here are a few more images! 

One of the inner courtyards...apparently, to mow this grass, a lawnmower has to be taken through the house. Ha! 

precious dogs!! 

(view out my window)

wonderful, amazing, incredible opportunity.