This weekend, the weather turned beautiful. So much so that it made me question what country I was in...is this still England?
Yes, England does summer after all!
This picture is from the courtyard of Somerset House - this is where London Fashion Week takes place, as well as where they have an ice skating rink in the winter. This is also where The Courtauld is located. Right now there is a small exhibition called "Collecting Gauguin" - about Samuel Courtauld collecting Gauguin pictures back in the day. I stopped inside (as painful as it was to drag myself indoors on a day like this) for a quick peek.
An industrialist, Samuel Courtauld owned a textile company called Courtaulds Ltd. Once this company became successful, he used his wealth to buy contemporary art. Along with other impressionist and post-impressionist works from the likes of Monet, Manet, Pissarro, Cezanne, Renoir, and more, Courtauld also saw major potential in Gauguin.
Gauguin himself was an unconventional painter. At a time when most French impressionists were living the bohemian cafe life, Gauguin was a stockbroker who was married with children.
In the 1870s, he took up painting on the side. In 1883 he actually quits his job (or was fired? unclear) and after moving his family from Paris, actually leaves them as well to pursue painting. He goes first to northern France (Brittany) where he paints "the primitive peasant culture"for 5 months in Pont-Aven.
After this, works briefly in Arles (this is when Van Gogh said goodbye to one ear) before leaving Europe behind altogether and embarking for Tahiti.
His paintings from Tahiti are probably his most famous.
What I appreciated most about this exhibition was its depth despite being such a small show. There were not more than 15 works in the entire room, yet it still managed to give a very complete picture of Gauguin's career. Along with the paintings from Brittany and Tahiti, there were also woodcut prints by Gauguin (he did many of these - not nearly as well known as his paintings but they are fabulous) as well as sculpture. There were also receipts of Samuel Courtault paying for certain Gauguin works displayed along one wall. I appreciated this because I will be using similar objects in my exhibition and it was good to see how professionals organize/incorporate this range of objects.
(letters also)
and here were the prints.
All in all a great example of the kind of thing I will be doing for my "theoretical exhibition" for the thesis.
Speaking of that, back to the library...
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