- This group meets on the 3rd Monday each month from 10.30 am – 12.00 pm. We are currently meeting in Brinsley Parish Hall meeting room. New members are welcome.
For more information contact Helen Baker tel. 01773 710743 or email helenbaker2@hotmail.com
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Future Meetings:
Art Appreciation – Programme for 2024
|
15th January |
Planning | All |
| 19th February | Book illustrators | All to contribute |
| 27th February | Visit to Djanogly Gallery to see Saad Qureshi’s exhibition ‘Something about Paradise’ | |
| 18th March | Sagrada Familia | Margaret Naylor |
| 15th April | Renoir | Helen |
| 20th May | Visit to Leicester Museum and Art Gallery to see ‘National Treasures: Renoir in Leicester’ | |
| 17th June | Hockney | Suzanne |
| 15th July | ‘Show and Tell’ at Colliers Wood | All |
| 19th Aug | No meeting | |
| 16th Sept | tba | |
| 21st Oct | tba | |
| 18th Nov | Giacometti |
Janet |
December 16th – no meeting
Past meetings and visits:
April 2024
At our April meeting we had a presentation on Pierre Auguste Renoir, a leading member of the Impressionist movement. We heard how he progressed from starting work in Limoges painting on fine china to Paris where he became friends with other Impressionists such as Monet.
He was a painter of portraits and still-life, but he was also famed for his paintings of social scenes.
(Image of ‘Luncheon of the Boating Party. 1881)
He was particularly interested in depicting the reflections of light and colour on water and colours in shadows. He painted ‘en plein air’, out in the open, and often sat alongside Monet. Several pairs of paintings exist where they painted the same scene.
In 1881 Renoir began ‘The Umbrellas’. Whilst painting it, he travelled to Italy and there studied the grand masters. He began to question whether he was taking the right path and returned to complete ‘The Umbrellas’ in a more severe classical style. This change can easily be seen when looking at the painting and the mystery of why it took 5 years to complete is explained. (Image ‘The Umbrellas’ 1881-6)
It may not reproduce here but we were very lucky to see it for ourselves when for our June meeting we visited Leicester’s Museum and Art Gallery. As part of the National Gallery’s 200th Anniversary, 12 museums around the country are displaying 12 iconic artworks from the national collection during this summer, under the title ‘National Treasures’. Leicester is displaying Pierre Auguste Renoir’s masterpiece “The Umbrellas” (c 1886), one of the most famous artworks in the world.
Visit – November 2022
A group of us went to Patchings Art Centre near Calverton to see two exhibitions.
The first called ‘The Artist Collection 2022’ was a collection of works from 8 winners of ‘The Artist’ Exhibition awards 2021. There was a great variety of styles to look at and we had fun picking out our favourites. Unfortunately, my favourite of Whitby Beach had been sold – it was only £1400!
Whitby Beach – Michael Salt
The Diagnosis – Mark Fennell
A stitch in time – Michelle Ashby
The second exhibition was ‘Transcribing the Landscape’ by Susan Isaac, a local artist.
We were initially struck by the rather imposing images in this exhibition. There was a lot of dark outlining of buildings and features. However, as we acclimatised and began to study the paintings inclose up we were able to appreciate them more. The artist has worked as an archaeologist and is trained in fine art and sculpture. We could see the influence of her interest in architecture in the strong shapes of the buildings she painted and saw her bold use of colour. She has been a wild card winner on ‘Landscape Painter of the Year’.
Helen Baker
Here are some links to follow. They allow you to ‘visit’ some great museums worldwide:
Guggenheim Museum, New York – 3D tour
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam – 3D tour
Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Uffizi Gallery, Florence – install Google Arts & Culture app to explore virtual reality tour
MASP, Sao Paulo – install Google Arts & Culture app to explore virtual reality tour
National Gallery of Art, Washington – install Google Arts & Culture app to explore virtual reality tour
Paris Museums – 100,000 images online for free viewing
Googles Art site – explore in 3D many places of interest
Most detailed ever photograph of The Night Watch goes online – Rijksmuseum
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/