COULD we be looking to artists to lead us into the new Eden? The thought occurred as I asked six well-established gallery owners which of their contemporary artists are currently most in-demand and why their work is striking a particular chord.
Covid-19, it seems, has intensified what was already a growing interest in works inspired by the natural world, with landscape painting—in an echo of its flowering after the First World War—proving particularly popular, together with botanical art and other works on environmental themes.
‘People are sitting at home looking out of their windows. Landscape means so much to us; we’re British, we can’t help it. It’s a metaphor for everything,’ says Johnny Messum of Messums London and Wiltshire (www.messumswiltshire.com), whose two recent exhibitions of works by artist and environmentalist Kurt Jackson—watery scenes that explore fragile landscapes as they change over time—have been sell-outs.
‘There’s so much anxiety and uncertainty at the moment, people are turning to art to help lead them through,’ says Sarah Long, co-director of the London gallery Long & Ryle (www.longandryle.com). ‘We’re looking for paintings that feel optimistic, but also that have a depth, even a certain spirituality or sense of longing.’ She singles out John Monks, whose recent painting Distant Landscape, rendered in thick impasto, the paint poured on and scraped with a palette knife, the surface glazed in layers, views its subject from a huge, ambiguous space filled with shafts of light: ‘Never before has he connected the light within and beyond with such weighted contemplation and relevance.’
Denne historien er fra June 03, 2020-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra June 03, 2020-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
