Visit to Tate Modern in May

Wednesday May 22nd.

My sister always takes a day off work for her birthday, and we usually try to do something special. On this occasion, we went to Tate Modern to see 'Lichtenstein, a Retrospective'. Amazingly enough, photographs are not forbidden, so I was able to take quite a few.

I'm familiar with some of Roy Lichtenstein's work, not the least because of going to an earlier exhibition at the Tate some years ago, but I saw things I hadn't seen before. Like most people I suppose, I was most aware of the paintings inspired by comic strips and advertising, and very little else.

I hadn't been at all aware of any sculptures. Apparently, he became at one time fascinated by Art Deco, and the exhibition featured several in highly polished brass.



According to the exhibition booklet, he was also interested in art about art, and there are several paintings which 'through appropriation, stylisation or parody... engage with ... styles such as Impressionism, futurism or surrealism, or target the paintings of Picasso, Matisse or Mondrian.' In some cases he took landmark paintings and created his own version. These below are obviously based on Monet's series on Rouen Cathedral.


The one below references Matisse, 'Still Life with Goldfish', as well as one of Lichtenstein's own paintings, 'Golf Ball'.


I rather liked this one - though I prefer the Matisse one!

Some of the paintings were quite enormous - the exhibition described them as monumental. This one is from his 'Artist's Studio' series, which filled a whole wall.



I think this one was one of those I liked most.

After the paintings, we paused for a cream tea, and then admired the view. It wasn't a very nice day, but we still had a marvellous view of St Paul's Cathedral, and the wonderful bark of the silver birches.


This was not my best photo of St Paul's, but I wanted to include the trees. And if Roy Lichtenstein can reference other artists' works in his own, this is my reference to Gustav Klimt - see http://www.klimtgallery.org/Farmhouse-With-Birches.html

Although it was quite a dull day, it was reasonably pleasant and good to be outside so we walked back to London Bridge station along beside the Thames. This is the beautiful Globe Theatre.



We'd both like to go again, but I can't face sitting in the cold in the evening. When is summer coming, I wonder.

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First half of May

Good grief, another month gone by and I am behind yet again - not that this time the problem has been that there has been nothing to write about; there's been plenty to write about, it's just that I haven't found time to write it! Our garden finally decided it was probably spring, and the trees began to put on some leaves again.

The big rockery which was completed last June, and hence named the Jubilee Garden, began to wake up.




The early rhododendrons started to bloom.


These ones are in the front garden. It's rare to be able to take a photo from here without cars - all the visitors park right in from of these.

The apples in the orchard realised it was spring and we began to see apple blossom.




A most amazing looking tree started to bloom, and I've no idea what it is, but it was quite spectacular.



In the middle of the month, we were off to Manchester again, to visit my son and family. The weather wasn't great, but we were able to spend some time outside in their garden. My son has been exercising his woodworking skills building a deck with a pergola, much to our admiration.



My daughter-in-law would rather like a vine growing over it, but I'm far from sure vines would appreciate Manchester weather. So at present there are two baskets of ivy, which will probably need some time to grow enough to provide shade. Anyway, this is Manchester, there isn't so much sunshine that you need much shade!

You can see behind it into the kitchen and the table where I had my tooth removed early on Monday morning! Not, I hasten to add, because of the dearth of NHS dentists which we read about in the papers. My son is a dentist, but his practice is about an hour's drive from his home, and somehow we have never found time recently to pay a visit there. He knew from the last time we visited his surgery that one of my upper wisdom teeth needed to come out, but I had persuaded him to try filling it. It had, however, been causing me more and more of a problem, and the last time we met he looked at it and told me it definitely had to go. Somehow, Paul managed to book us train tickets with no time to visit the surgery, so my son brought home the anaesthetic and the nasty pliers and did the deed at 7.30 in the morning, before he went to work. I must say I was amazed at how easy it was - the thing practically fell out and there was no pain at all. I took a big pack of painkillers on the train home with me, but I didn't need any.

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