I have been in London for the last couple of days, enjoying catching up with some family and friends as well as seeing two (very different, but both impressive) art exhibitions.
Matisse at the Tate Modern
The first exhibition I went to was the Tate Modern's 14-room display of Matisse's famous cut-out works.
The exhibition suffered slightly for lack of seating space as you wandered round, but was a great chance to see how Matisse developed his cutting technique from a composition aid to an art form in its own right. One of the later rooms displayed a series of his incredibly well-known 'blue nude' images and there were also a couple of videos showing the artist at work.
I think it is only when you remind yourself of how ahead of his time Matisse was that his cut-outs become as impressive as their reputation demands - not all of the images on display are to my tastes, but the whole approach was groundbreaking!
Old Masters and Drawings and Watercolours at Christies
Then this evening I met up with a friend to attend a lecture and private viewing of a large collection of drawings at Christies auction house.
The auction, which takes place tomorrow, includes some incredible drawings and sketches by some 'old masters', including Rubens and (my favourite) Rembrandt (a small ink sketch of a beggar shows off just how different Rembrandt was from his contemporaries - with a price tag to match!). There are also 3 Turner watercolours in the sale (though only one is truly characteristic of Turner's most notable works - think of the style of his painting of the fighting temaraire...).
This was also a great opportunity to find out about the history of drawings in art collecting and discover something of the travels of artists in the 17th Century around Europe, collecting new styles and visual inspiration as they went (there seemed to be a common theme of going to Italy... I can't say I blame them!)
Also, I can't not mention the excellent canapés which were floating around! They were amazing and were at risk of distracting me rather too easily from the art! Yum yum!