Got up at 6.30. Mostly clear skies with some clouds. Sun shining as usual. Quite warm. Very sore right hip during the night. Woke me up several times. Otherwise slept well. Blood Pressure 108/57 Pulse 83. Worked on computer and read the Age for 1 hour. We took the train to Euston Square and then walked through Bloomsbury area to The British Museum. Very enjoyable. Saw a plaque saying that Lady Ottoline Morell had lived there. I wonder if this was where she and Bertrand Russell had their liaisons. Russell says in his autobiography he could not control himself in her presence. She was just so alluring. We had a good look at London University. Also Bloomsbury. Today was market farmers day. All very good quality produce. We had lunch there. I had fish soup. Jenny had a hot dog. Students everywhere. All looking very privileged which of course they are. More students than I thought went to London University. We went to The British Museum. It was crowded. Loads of schoolkids. We attempted to listen to a guided tour of The Romans in Britain but it was not possible to hear. What I did notice is how many artifacts have been discovered recently. Metal detectors do work. The crowds defeated us. When I went to the British Museum 45 years ago I cannot recall anyone in the square at the front. Not one space anywhere to sit down today I'm afraid. This is the same for all of London. There are a lot of tourists from the continent in London. We then took the Pimlico bus to The Tate Britain. Quite an interesting journey through Westminster. I have to say that The Tate Britain is overall disappointing. They have a lot of old paintings that do not have a lot to do with Art. Its only in the 18th Century when Art actually comes into the equation that the pictures get interesting. Of course I exaggerate. There were genuine Artists from that time and they are featured. Van Dyke, Velasquez, Gainsborough, Turner etc. But they have collected a lot of paintings simply because they are portraits of Aristocrats. Very good room of the Pre Raphaelites. One good Bacon painting. One good room of Hockney. One large room of conceptual Art. If I can be indulged I would like to allow my misogynist nature to become evident. The main attraction in the conceptual art room is Tracey Emin's Bedroom. Why is this Art? Is it only taken seriously because she is a woman? Maybe. Not that I think any of the other pieces in the room are Art either. I listened for a while to the tour guide trying to explain where the Art was in the displays but he was battling uphill and I dropped out. Art has to have something to say and you have to understand it. Contrast the conceptual art in this room with the sculptures of Henry Moore elsewhere in the gallery. Moore's sculptures could be considered conceptual art. But he has come up with shapes and sizes we recognise and understand. I admit that his work is genuine art. Some are great art. The big question is - what is art and how do we recognise it? Who recognised that Tracy Emin's Bed is Art? What annoys me is that Tracey insisted that as part of her installation the gallery had to buy 3 Bacon Paintings and hang them on the walls surrounding her bed. The 3 bacon paintings are from his early period before he got into his stride. And they are not very good. They could have been pot boilers he painted to finance his gambling. They were probably be some of his early paintings that he tried to destroy when he became known. Is she trying to make Bacon look bad? Is she using the paintings to make people think more about her installation. Is there a contrast and connection between Bacon's Paintings and her disheveled bed? Are they equally disheveled? Maybe this is where the Art is? I don't know. We shared a pot of tea in the cafeteria. We brought our own biscuits. We took the bus back to Charing Cross and Jenny bought some theatre tickets. Kenneth Branaghs tickets were 90 Pounds each so we gave it a miss.
1 Comment
Liz
15/4/2016 15:15:25
I'm enjoying your blog Neville. What is Jenny's blog address?
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