I am very fond of a good portrait, especially female portraiture (as artist or subject), as I have mentioned in previous posts. Therefore, on my wee escape from real life, I made a point of visiting the Scottish Portrait Gallery, which has several exhibitions on currently. I started at the top of the building and really enjoyed The Scots in Italy exhibition where I discovered the Swiss artist, Angelica Kauffman. I will be investigating her and her work more carefully.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelica_Kauffman
The Heroes and Heroines: The Victorian Age was, however, disappointing in the most part, not least as it began with a bust of Victoria and centralised, in a very grand velvet-curtained booth, a portrait of the young Victoria . I was very taken with a portrait entitled The Lullaby though. It reminded me of a similar portrayal of motherhood I saw at the Musee D’Orsay earlier this year. Motherhood and the stay at home mum were Victorian ideals but this portrait shows a mother that, to me at least, seems ever so slightly disenchanted with the role. I think there is a need for a thorough study of portraits of mothers and motherhood!
The galleries with The Modern Portrait exhibition I had seen before but enjoyed another walk through. However, the highlight of my tour was the Alfred Buckham: Daredevil Photographer exhibition. From the first photograph, entitled The Loop, and especially the corresponding label, I was hooked! The label stated, “Despite the obvious danger, Buckham [1879-1956] had a laid back approach to safety. ‘It is not easy to tumble out of an aeroplane, unless you really want to’ he said ‘and on considerably more than a thousand flights I have used a safety belt only once, and then it was thrust upon me. I always stand up to make an exposure and, taking the precaution to tie my right leg to the seat, I am free to move rapidly, and easily, in any desired direction; and loop-the-loop; and indulge in other such delights, with perfect safety.'” Alfred was basically the Biggles of the photography world! I was completely unaware of the photographer and his work and while the photographs themselves are stunning I found the explanations of how he created his photos fascinating, The process involved layering various negatives of planes, clouds and landscapes together and subjecting certain parts of the image to different degrees of exposure. Finally he used watercolour paints to highlight areas of the final photograph. The results were truly works of art!
Get along to see the exhibition in Edinburgh if you can but if you cannot then feast your eyes here:
https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/artists/alfred-buckham
The most surprising find in the galleries was a portrait entitled The Cromartie Fool by Richard Waitt (1684-1733). It depicts the Earl of Cromarty’s Fool or jester holding a kail (cabbage) stock which has a burning candle on top. This object, according to the label ‘played an important role’ in Halloween festivities. Apparently Robert Burns, in his poem Halloween (1785) (one I have not read or previously known about) describes ‘the tradition of unmarried men and women uprooting kail stocks at this time of year, the shape of which revealed the character of their future partner.’
I leave the interpretation of ‘character’ to your own imaginations…
Significantly Different 