We must confess that religious paintings are not our favourite subject, and we've tended to regard Spanish Catholic art as being, well, just a little too religious to cope with. So we approached the Francisco de Zurbarán exhibition at the National Gallery in London with a certain amount of trepidation. A degree of contrition is due.... Yes, there were monks, altarpieces and lots of saints, but we were blown away by Zurbarán's ability to depict textures and fabrics and to convey an intensity of feeling. It's an absolutely excellent exhibition, full of truly beautiful paintings. Such religious art was intended to bring the faithful closer to God, to bridge the gap between Heaven and Earth, in an age when many could not read. Zurbarán was a master at it. Let's start with a saint: Just take a look at the fabrics, trimmings and gems in this picture. And the garments are even more striking when you are stood in front of this nearly life-size figure. This is Casild...
Spring came late to Britain this year, but there are plenty of flowers to be seen in Cedric Morris's garden.
This rather forgotten artist, who died in 1982, has two main claims to fame: firstly, as a botanist who developed nearly 100 irises, and secondly, as a teacher of Lucian Freud. Now he's being brought back to the public eye with two concurrent exhibitions in London: Artist Plantsman at the Garden Museum in Lambeth and Beyond the Garden Wall at Philip Mould in Pall Mall.
Morris was born in Swansea in 1889, the son of an industrialist, and his story really begins after World War I, when he met and fell in love with fellow artist Arthur Lett-Haines, known as Lett. They went off to Paris and got to know a circle that included Gris, Léger, Duchamp, Man Ray and Hemingway, as well as travelling extensively.
As you enter the Garden Museum exhibition, one of the first pictures you see is a 1919 portrait of Lett, looking louche in slouch hat and bow tie. We see Morris next to him in a self-portrait from about 1930, appearing very much the artist before a landscape that seems to endow him with a semi-halo of greenery.
Back in London and selling his paintings through Fortnum & Mason, Morris complained that social life was getting too demanding, and they began to look for somewhere rural , eventually settling at Pound Farm in the Stour Valley -- Constable country -- in 1929. For the first time, Morris, a man with a passionate interest in horticulture, actually had a garden of his own, where he could grow seeds he'd acquired in places like Spain, Portugal and North Africa.
It's a relatively small show in Lambeth -- this is not a big exhibition space -- and the emphasis is very much on Morris's flower paintings. There are sunflowers, poppies, tulips and irises, extremely bright and canvas-filling but not garish. Morris, who loved wild plants, disliked flamboyant hybridised varieties in shades like salmon pink, which he disparaged as "knicker pink".
Not only did Morris develop the gardens at Pound Farm, he also set up an art school in 1937. Two years later, the 16-year-old Lucian Freud became a pupil, and a 1939 portrait of Morris by Freud is among the exhibits here. The school building in Dedham burnt down the same year. Morris set his students to record the smoking ruins but the traditionalist painter Alfred Munnings, who lived in the same village, was delighted, driving up and down the street shouting "Down with modern art!".
After the fire, Morris and Lett moved to a rambling house, Benton End, where they could also accommodate the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing. And it was here that Morris became celebrated internationally for his breeding of irises, and his reputation as a plantsman began to outstrip that for his painting. Iris Seedlings from 1943 perfectly captures the short-lived blooms.
Across the Thames, the Philip Mould gallery concentrates on Morris's landscapes, many of them painted on his travels, and starting with his first oil work, Landscape at Newlyn in Cornwall, from 1919. Already you can see the high perspective and a simplified flatness of view that are a characteristic of his work throughout the following decades.
Morris had an ability to capture the essence of wildlife. In this 1929 painting from the Suffolk coast, Pin Mill and Black-Headed Gulls, you can almost hear the seabirds as they swoop and scavenge at the water's edge:
There are views from near and far, unpeopled as a rule. House on a Welsh Hillside, from 1935, sees Morris returning to his homeland, while Connemara Landscape, painted a year later, shows how well he was able to depict the breeze rippling the water with those dabs of blue paint in his impasto technique:
This rather forgotten artist, who died in 1982, has two main claims to fame: firstly, as a botanist who developed nearly 100 irises, and secondly, as a teacher of Lucian Freud. Now he's being brought back to the public eye with two concurrent exhibitions in London: Artist Plantsman at the Garden Museum in Lambeth and Beyond the Garden Wall at Philip Mould in Pall Mall.
Morris was born in Swansea in 1889, the son of an industrialist, and his story really begins after World War I, when he met and fell in love with fellow artist Arthur Lett-Haines, known as Lett. They went off to Paris and got to know a circle that included Gris, Léger, Duchamp, Man Ray and Hemingway, as well as travelling extensively.
As you enter the Garden Museum exhibition, one of the first pictures you see is a 1919 portrait of Lett, looking louche in slouch hat and bow tie. We see Morris next to him in a self-portrait from about 1930, appearing very much the artist before a landscape that seems to endow him with a semi-halo of greenery.
It's a relatively small show in Lambeth -- this is not a big exhibition space -- and the emphasis is very much on Morris's flower paintings. There are sunflowers, poppies, tulips and irises, extremely bright and canvas-filling but not garish. Morris, who loved wild plants, disliked flamboyant hybridised varieties in shades like salmon pink, which he disparaged as "knicker pink".
After the fire, Morris and Lett moved to a rambling house, Benton End, where they could also accommodate the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing. And it was here that Morris became celebrated internationally for his breeding of irises, and his reputation as a plantsman began to outstrip that for his painting. Iris Seedlings from 1943 perfectly captures the short-lived blooms.
Across the Thames, the Philip Mould gallery concentrates on Morris's landscapes, many of them painted on his travels, and starting with his first oil work, Landscape at Newlyn in Cornwall, from 1919. Already you can see the high perspective and a simplified flatness of view that are a characteristic of his work throughout the following decades.
Morris had an ability to capture the essence of wildlife. In this 1929 painting from the Suffolk coast, Pin Mill and Black-Headed Gulls, you can almost hear the seabirds as they swoop and scavenge at the water's edge:
Spain and Portugal feature strongly, and a 1955 painting of Agaete, Gran Canaria, with its road looping around the valley and slightly out-of-kilter perspective, could almost prefigure views by David Hockney of the American West, or more recently Yorkshire.
And Morris even made it to the South Atlantic. Landscape, Diana's Peak, St Helena shows the artist still going strong in his mid-70s, oranges and yellows set off against multiple hues of green depicting what he loved best -- plants.
The two shows bring together several dozen pictures by Morris, providing the ideal opportunity to make a new artistic acquaintance. And because it's Morris and not Monet, you won't be battling through the crowds to get a good view.
Practicalities
Cedric Morris: Artist Plantsman is on at the Garden Museum from 1030 to 1700 Sundays to Fridays, and until 1600 on Saturdays, though the museum is closed on the first Monday each month. Full-price entry to the museum, including the exhibition, is £10. It's located right next to Lambeth Palace, 10 minutes walk from either Waterloo or Vauxhall rail and Tube stations.
Cedric Morris: Beyond the Garden Wall is open on Monday to Friday from 0930 to 1800 at Philip Mould, 18-19 Pall Mall, just a few minutes walk from Piccadilly Circus or Charing Cross Underground. Entry is free.
It's a 30-minute walk from Pall Mall to the Garden Museum, or vice versa. Both shows run until July 22.
Yet more Morris!
Gainsborough's House in Sudbury, Suffolk, was given a collection of more than 100 works by Morris last year. A selection chosen by Maggi Hambling, another former pupil, is on show until June 17.
Images
Sir Cedric Morris, Cedric Morris, c. 1930. (c) National Portrait Gallery, London. Courtesy the Cedric Morris Estate
View of the Garden Museum exhibition. Photo Art Exhibitions Blog
Sir Cedric Morris, Pin Mill and Black-Headed Gulls, 1929. (c) Philip Mould & Company
Sir Cedric Morris, Connemara Landscape, 1936. (c) Philip Mould & Company
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