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Arts Feature
Ashmolean Museum Broadway
British Born Edward Lear (1812–1888) was "probably the best
ornithological illustrator that ever was," according to David
Attenborough and until 8th May you can catch his popular
‘Travels and Nonsense’ exhibition the Ashmolean Museum.
This exhibition displays many watercolours and sketches from his
travels around Europe as well as scribbles for his illustrated books
as featured in the March edition of SLAP.
Visitors from far-flung corners of the world have converged on
the museum so what is all the fuss about?
The landscape paintings are
beautifully detailed, tiny portraits
of animals and people going about
their everyday business. The
sketches look like a snapshot of
real life from various European
countries. Goat herders watch as
their goats take a rest or a wellearned
munch on the grass,
children playing by a well, hunters
gather on a hilltop, guns by their
sides, to admire the view.
Perhaps my favourite of all the
sketches is one from India, and it
is full of life. Men bathe in the
foreground, while behind them you see buffalo pulling wagons and
people riding elephants. In many of the sketches Lear has left
himself notes, to
remind himself of the
colours he sees, or
what he will add to
the painting back in
his studio.
The exhibition
includes a few
finished paintings,
almost postcard
sized, and looking
resplendent, but
somehow the
sketches feel more
alive, more genuine,
and more what the
artist really saw than
what he wanted to represent to a paying customer.
The exhibition is on until 8th May, with a talk by the curator Colin
Harrison, Senior Curator of European Art, on Friday 6th May at
5pm. Tickets are £10. For details telephone 01386 859047 or
email housemanager@ashmoleanbroadway.org.
8 SLAP MAY
Also this month you can see an exhibition of etchings by F.L.
Griggs (1876–1938)
Visions of England
celebrate the work of this
Royal Academy artist who
lived and worked locally in
Chipping Campden.
It is as a draughtsman
and print maker that Griggs
is best known, his work
demonstrating an equal
mastery of meticulous architectural detail and poetic effects of
light and atmosphere, creating images of compelling visionary
intensity.
In early twentieth
century he completed
twelve volumes of the
Macmillan illustrated
guidebook series
Highways and Byways
including one devoted
to Oxford and the
Cotswolds (1905).
Places that he
originally encountered
as an illustrator often subsequently provided him with inspiration
for his own topographical and imaginative work.
11 May–11 September 2016 with a talk on June 17th by the
exhibition curator, tickets £10
ashmoleanbroadway.org
Sarah Ganderton