At its best, vacation is time away from routine, with wide open spaces of receiving, listening, and leaning toward new experience. It is a wonderful avenue of inspiration. With that intention, a predominant theme of my recent UK visit was Art. (other themes were family, history and gin-&-tonics).
Visits to the richness of UK museums included London’s National Gallery, Courtauld Gallery, Tate Britain and Tate Modern — and even a show of the little-known Papier Machistas. In Scotland, we went to National Gallery Modern with its neon welcome of “Everything’s Going to be Alright” and rolling, swirling grass and water installation. The Tate Modern highlight was Matisse: Cut Outs — a remarkably exhaustive view into the genesis, process (and genius) of this last phase of Matisse’s colorful and prolific work.
I love seeing into artist process. At the Courtauld, a few of the pieces by impressionist greats were unfinished or preparatory, and at Tate Britain, there were small sculpture marquettes by Henry Moore as well as old video showing him at work. It strikes me how much simple, hard labor goes into making art. Hands on, time-intensive, experimentational — all before a piece could be considered done. Maybe I like unfinished pieces because they express the essence, before detail obscures the gesture.
Sketching is a staple of my travel activity. Capturing a scene inspires me to really look, to stop and see. In the next blog posting, I’ll talk more about how I work “on the road.”
Interior - Burlington Lane
Grass Market Flat
Houses of Parliment from Westminster Bridge