Picasso and Modern British Art at Tate Britain

so many Picasso exhibitions, so many different perspectives on one person's somewhat over-rated life... Perhaps I am a tad cynical and perhaps I have been lucky to have seen so many different exhibitions... But I can say that I did appreciate this well curated exhibition - they wanted to showcase how 7 British artists have been influenced by Picasso - and illustrated this with a selection of their own collection - some a bit more convincing than others. I was really impressed with the diversity of work by Ben Nicholson and it was great to see the links between Henry Moore and Picasso.

Damien Hirst - a maverick and genius at Tate Modern

Is Damien Hirst over-rated, an emperor in new clothes, or is he is genius of our current generation? I am really not sure, I can see something of a genius and maverick in the amazing diversity of his work. I was a bit ambivalent about seeing this exhibition, more like a current retrospective, at Tate Modern. I have seen a lot of the individual pieces at exhibitions across Europe and was uncertain as to whether seeing more together would necessarily be better! So I put my concerns to one side, set up myself for the audio guide and worked my way through the rather large and interactive exhibition. There were people and families everywhere - in the first room a group of impulsive children had knocked the ping pong ball off the airstream of the cold hairdryer and the room attendant was understandably stressed when the parents seemed totally unconcerned! I then watched a toddler realise he was looking at a shark and become really upset - no parent was around to help him out! For the first few dot paintings I was quite interested in checking out my visual capability of distinguishing different tones of the same colour; some of those purple and orange dots looked very similar to me! Later, as the dots became smaller and the number of dot paintings increased, I lost interest... And then I was impressed when I realised the similarities between his dots and his pharmacy cabinets and even his tablet displays. Apparently he was shocked at how much faith people put into drugs and medication, at the expense of art and creativity... I was impressed at his butterflies - the contrast between a room of carefully protected live animals with a room of dead wings arranged to resemble stained glass!! And I was impressed at his animals in formaldehyde and their catchy names - like mother and son divided - both animals were divided as well! But I did think the last 2 rooms were such strong statements; full wall cabinets of hand made diamonds, as evidence of over the top opulence on the one hand and a perfect dove in flight in light blue formaldehyde, signifying some perfect catholic peace... His ideas may well be impressive, but he cannot possibly do it all by himself, yet he can receive all the accolades for his own ideas and work?!?

Buckinghamshire artists open their doors

I had previously thought that Oxford was unique in having Oxfordshire Art Weeks around the city and county, where artists open their homes and collect together in groups to display and sell their work. But then it seems this might well be normal practice around the country. We were surprised to see a flyer for Bucks Open Studios. We visited the Clare Foundation in Saunderton, just north of High Wycombe, to see exhibitions of over 30 artists displaying their photographs, paintings, drawings, sculptures, jewellery and installations. With so much talent and so many different perspectives it was both inspirational and fun. I think my favourite was the photographer Stuart Feurtado, who appreciates colour and design, and who has travelled extensively in Europe. I particularly liked this close up of a chameleon's tail.

Sunday lunch at the Mole Inn, Toot Baldon

We found this traditional coaching inn in the small village of Toot Baldon on one of our cycling tours of southern Oxfordshire. After a great evening meal several months ago, we decided to return for a classic English sunday lunch. We were undecided about whether it was really warm enough to sit outside in the large and leafy garden and opted for a table inside the original inn. We had to walk carefully under the wooden beams and sat by the old fireplace. We chose respectively roast lamb and beef and thoroughly enjoyed all the trappings. Roast potatoes cooked in goose fat, a gaint yorkshire pudding on mashed potatoes all complemented by a rich warm gravy. The vegetables were lightly (and healthily) boiled and balanced the richness of the wonderful roast.

Creative Food at The Angel Restaurant, Long Crendon

We had cycled through Long Crendon several weeks ago on a southern circuit of Oxford - we were looking for the signposts to turn right towards Shabbington and in their absence, I decided to ask for directions at this restaurant! Outside, it looked like a classic coaching inn, evolved into a country gastro pub. But inside, it became clear this was no pub - the food smells and ambience were of a different order! So, it took us a few weeks to find the right occasion to return, for saturday evening dinner. I loved the way we started with an aperitif and olives in the brown leather couches in the front reception room, it what might have been the old bar. The matching pillows and curtains subtlely combined pink and green dots and stripes. We were then taken to our table as the entrees were served - we had decided on seafood and meat tapas platters to share. With 4 different surprises on each platter, this was like a culinary discovery of tastes, textures and temperatures. Despite an impressive printed menu, we decided from the 6 fish specials on the blackboard menu. I chose a trio of salmon, sea bass and prawn, presented with warm asparagus and beans in a tasty creamy white wine sauce. The grilled mullet was equally impressive and was complemented by another sauce. It is obvious that the selection and preparation of quality food is taken seriously by this restaurant. The many small rooms of this old inn also provide a variety of small and intimate rooms for enjoying a great meal.

Matthew Bourne's Early Adventures in Oxford

Funny, quirky and totally engaging. The costumes were absolutely impeccable and the music was very recognisable. We were treated to 3 segments of nostalgia, presented in a contemporary and sometimes challenging manner. Matthew Bourne, today's choreographer had in fact danced in these shows over 20 years ago and they must have been quite radical at the time. The first show, Spitfire, has four men dancing in a slightly variant classical style in their underwear. The inspiration from underwear catalogues was clear and the stances and facial expressions were so well connected through some amazing moves - these men really danced together, lifted each other and moved with dynamism and force. I had never seen anything like this before and was totally spellbound. The next 2 part show Town and Country offered contrasting vignettes from aristocratic post war Britain. Town scenes included drinking tea in hotel lobbies, a secret rendezvous at the station, and the maid and butler assisted bathing and dressing in grand style. I loved the tweeds and jodhpurs of the country scenes,contrasted by the white frills and flowery bodices in the next. The final segment, Infernal Galop, took us to 1930's Paris, accompanied by the expected music of Edith Piaf and the can-can. It was really uplifting and showcased gay lovers within the normal hub bub of the time. I love watching Matthew Bourne's compositions and can only look forward to the next one...

Sculptures in the garden - Waddesdon Manor

I was quite overwhelmed by the house and gardens at Waddesdon - so it was quite a pleasure to discover an amazing range of diverse sculptures dotted around the massive gardens. Apparently Christie's chose a selection of indoor and outdoor installations to comemmorate a recent Rothschild acquisition of Chardin’s painting, depicting a boy building a house of cards.

We did not find all 33 works but were extremely impressd by some great names; Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, Anthony Gormley, Urs Fischer and Anish Kapoor. Apparently, quite a few are for sale at crazy prices!

So it was fun to walk and recognise these greats - I really wanted to lie down beside Antony Gormley to appreciate the house and gardens. This life size iron man looks tiny in comparison to its surroundings and it is also quietly reminiscent of the new sculpture standing atop of Exeter College in Oxford.

Previously, I had seen this bright red LOVE sculpture on the busy streets of New York - so it was fun to see it again in a small sunny courtyard with the more traditional statues of love; Cupid and his mother, a classic pair of young lovers and another of two young brothers; and surrounded by sub tropical palms and small banana trees...

So I almost had to be dragged home - and my final sight of the manor was complemented by this disorienting yet fantastical sculpture by the Swiss artist Urs Fischer 'Bad Timing Lamb Chop!' I felt like Alice leaving her Wonderland and simultaneously as if I was closing the wardrobe door on Narnia.

Waddsedon Manor - a Buckinghamshire chateau

I was unsure what to expect as a good friend took me to visit this very European Rothschild family home. Initally I was impressed by the enormity of the estate - green meadows and forests surrounding a natural hillock between Bicester and Aylsebury, just north of Oxford. As we approached the north facing main entrance across a massive lawn, I was transported back to the Loire Chateaux.

Although Waddesdon was built almost 200 years later, it seems that Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild built this house between 1874 and 1889 to display his outstanding art treasures to his social set, inspired specifically by Chambord, which had 2 similar towers. Inside, there are 45 rooms to view across 3 levels, all connected by 2 superb spiral staircases, currently carpeted in red. The rooms are large, immaculately restored and furnished with so much that is good and great - paintings, tapestries, furniture, carpets, crockery, books and artefacts.

No doubt, each one has a detailed and significant history. It seems that this wealthy family were appreciative collectors of great things. And it seems that this pattern is continuing as there are recent acquisitions, including a selection of Lucian Freud portraits, the story of Sleeping Beauty illustrated across 7 panels by Leon Bakst and Ingo Maurer's exploding porcelain chandelier, which was commissioned by Lord Rothschild in 2003.

Outside the English gardens are wonderfully proportioned and maintained. The southern terrace has manicured gardens around a classic fountain, overlooking the rolling green Berkshire hills. There are white marble statues everywhere and I was particularly impressed by subtropical ferns, palms and banana trees growing, albeit very slowly! Even the forests seem to have been planted with an eye for colour and complementary texture... such attention to detail...

The Hare with Amber Eyes - a family biography

I was excited to start reading this book, because of the European history. I had spent a weekend in Vienna not long before reading about the family's move there at the turn of 1900, until the second world war. It seems we had stayed with friends very close to the area where the Ephrussi mansion was, and so I could quickly take myself back to this amazing city. I must say I was ignorant of Edmund de Waal, sometimes described as the greatest living british potter, and of netsuke, apparently tiny wooden hand crafted amulets, exported from Japan to Europe as part of the Japonisme movement also around 1900. So I was caught in the tension set up by Edmund that these netsuke were more than a device to trace a rather tragic family story. I think he wanted to project something deep and psychological about why people collect and share objects within and beyond families - but I was left feeling a bit confused and disappointed - is there anything deeper than some families have more secrets than others - and that some secrets are genuinely lost and others need to be stitched together? Anyway, I decided just to enjoy the family story - of a large Jewish family dispersed from Odessa to Paris and Vienna and the twisted fates of both arms - interrupted by the dreadful wave of anti-semitism linked to the second world war. The lives of the wealthy and the challenges of sharing inheritances between generations of people with different interests and skill sets were cleverly described. I do wonder why the family did not leave Vienna, as many succesful Jews must have - but their choice to stay enabled the creation of a very different set of circumstances. I liked the way these netsuke connected the family - originally bought by Charles in Paris, somewhere around 1880, given to Viktor and Emmy in Vienna as a wedding present. They were seemingly undervalued amongst the many ostentacious art objects and remained in Emmy's dressing room, as objects the children loved playing with. It seems they were lost during the war, but they were rescued by the family's maid and hidden in a mattress, until they were reunited with the family. It is not clear whether they influenced (great uncle) Iggie to move to Japan, but it seemed important that they were taken 'home' before becoming part of Edmund's home in London.

Moonrise Kingdom - young love in strange places

Almost at the end, it became clear that Moonrise Kingdom was the descriptive name of a time-limited tidal inlet, where Sam and Suzy really set up their alternative camp-house and recognised each other. This was also the site for their clichaic falling in love scene. It seems as if I am attracted to quirky films at the moment. Although I have not seen other movies by Wes Anderson, I should have expected it. This story was set in 1960's conservative family America, on an island off the coast of New England. I liked the way the movie began by panning through each room of a family house, some empty, some with adults and children occupied in normal activities... We realised early on that, while this might have been a normal family, fairly unusual communication and relationships were the norm. On the other side of the island was a military style scout camp, from which orhpaned Sam had run away. It was kind of fun to realise that Suzy and Sam would meet up in the middle of a large wheat field to enact their planned escape, and that Sam had learned a lot as a scout! Their social alienation as children united them as they recognised and valued this in each other. But then, the adult issues overtook and reduced this film; an unhappy marriage, an affair between 2 disturbed adults, the usual immature ego competitions between adult scout leaders vying for control and a rare and terrible thunderstorm... So the usual formulas of cat and mouse took over and eclipsed the humanity of the scouts trying to protect Sam being taken away again and prescribed ECT by 'Social Services'. Overall, an entertaining film, celebrating eccentricities in a visually spectacular style.

Moon - a quirky film from the other side

I was loaned this DVD after answering yes to the question about whether I like sci-fi films - well I don't dislike them but then I am not a real fan - but maybe that is due to limited exposure... So I decided to get into this one, despite it being released over 3 years ago... Sam Rothwell, the only real actor played Sam Bell, an astronaut miner, who was extracting helium 3 from the dark side of the moon, to solve the earth's energy crisis. He lived alone on this futuristic moon base and was 2 weeks away from returning to earth at the end of his 3 year contract - at least that is what he thought, until he realised that the next astronaut had been thawed and was ready to start working - a super enthusiastic clone. So I was with the first Sam, assuming he was the real one and this new one was the first clone - but as he challenged Sam, we realised that perhaps Sam was also a clone - this was at first unnerving. But then it became clear that maybe human bodies only last 3 years in this hostile environment, psychologically and physically. Had the corporation, Lunar Industries, solved the human resource and safety issue by cloning enough 'people' to keep their mine going ad infinitum? The skype type of interface with his earth family may well have been a re-run of old tapes. The only other interaction he had was with the robot Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey) - and this was also confusing because while we expected total confirmity to the company mantra, there were hints of almost human understanding, at least before he rebooted Gerty as he walked away... And then I found out that the director and writer Duncan Jones is David Bowie's son - and that it had been made on a shoestring budget... Did he really overdose on Major Tom and Ziggy Stardust as a child?