Painting

Yesterday, while the coronation parties were meant to be in full force, my republican self went to see the ‘Berthe Morisot: Shaping Impressionism’ exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery. I had been reading about Berthe Morisot in my current read, ‘The Story of Art Without Men’, and was pleased to see that there was an exhibition of her work on display locally. It was a small show, with Morisot’s works mainly confined to the mid-1870s to 1880s, alongside works by other artists who apparently were an influence on her work....

As I’m moving from this area soon, I’ve been doing some sketches and paintings of the views from the windows. This is a small oil on linen panel that I made the other day. A few months ago I painted a different view. I really struggled with perspective as that is one of my weak points. View from window, oil on panel, Thalia 2023

On a visit to the National Gallery a couple of months ago, I picked up a book on Holbein from the shop. I can’t remember the name of it and can’t find it online – it’s currently packed ready for our house move. Anyway, I was struck by Holbein’s portrait of his wife Elsbeth (born Binzenstock) in the painting ‘The artist’s family’ from c.1528. She just looks so much like a real person and also so expressive, sad even....

There is a new exhibition in Malmo called ‘Lotte Laserstein: A Divided Life’ which features Laserstein’s paintings from both her Berlin and Sweden eras. This is unusual as her later Swedish work is usually not featured – somehow it’s seen as less ‘important’. Laserstein fled Germany at the start of the war as she was part Jewish. Obviously the upheaval of moving from what was a burgeoning successful career in Berlin to having to start again in Sweden where Laserstein didn’t know anyone, would have had a tremendous impact on her work, and I was interested to see her Swedish works....