The Tate Modern was a museum full of absolutely beautiful pieces, though I honestly did not enjoy viewing them. The Tate Modern is a museum unlike any other I’ve been too. It’s almost complete lack of natural light and starch white walls gave me the feeling like I was walking through a hospital. The bleak lighting inside also did not help in attempting to show off the art. A good museum will help guide the viewer as well as help them explore the space, the Tate does not do this. Instead you have to go up strangely places escalators and weird corridors in order to get to what you want to see. The way the art was organized as well was off putting. At times the rooms seemed cramped with the amount of work in them, like there wasn’t enough space between each one. This coupled with the unnatural lighting made me feel like I was in a warehouse.

One of the pieces that I think made the best use of this space was Babel. This tower alone in the high ceilinged room with no windows and limited light really benefited from how it was displayed. In other modern museums I have been to the gallery tend to focus on how the space is designed just as much as where the pieces are displayed. In the St.Louis museum there is a large focus on light and color, the rooms are designed in a way that focuses on making each piece stand out against the bright white walls as they are suppose to. The Tate does none of this. I also question their strange organization of art, specifically puting 4 the four women artists in one gallery all in the corner. Art should be displayed based on style and how each piece related to the other, not gender.

That aside, there were a lot of pieces in the museum that I likes, but I would almost recommend someone to look at a digital photo or a postcard instead.

(photos by me)

The Wellcome collection reminded me a lot of the science museums I went to as a kid, but creepier. It had a lot of really fascinating exhibits, the library especially was very nice, it felt like the kind of place I could sit in and really explore. One of the things that interested me the most though was exhibit where you simply just sat down and draw. I’m sure it was supposed to be an area where you can relax with your kids and let them draw but I found it really nice. The drawings on the wall were a mix of all ranges of skill as well as a very large age range. The single word prompts on the backs of the cards was also a nice idea.

On the particular day we visited this collection I was honestly a bit stressed out. I was trying to organize things going on across the ocean while still doing class so I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. But when we were able to take a moment to sit down and draw for 15 minutes in the middle of class I honestly felt so much better. I have come to view art as a career choice as well as something I enjoy doing, but sometimes it is hard to not overthink it and instead just make something ridiculous for the hell of it. It is often said that things like running, spending time outside, and eating healthy food will naturally lift your mood. I think this is all true, but I also think doing something creative that makes your brain active for a little while will help as well, at least in my case.

Going forward i’m going to try and remember to take a step back every now and again and let myself draw something silly and inconsequential, i’m sure my brain will thank me for it later.

In our time at the British Film Institute, I wanted to watch some kind of obscure documentary. When I saw The Gender Bender scrolling along on the home screen, i’ll admit it peaked my interest. Gender has always been an interesting topic for me, we live in a very gender binary society so seeing other people explore that binary in new ways fascinates me. In The Gender Bender a drag queen and host of a disco night club, Winston, explains his relationship with gender as well as his thoughts on how England perceives gender. His words were very inspiring, he talked about freedom of expression, about being who you are and letting yourself enjoy the things you enjoy. What I loved to see what how much he laughed and smiled with people, both in costume and out. Seeing people do what they love and enjoy life to the fullest extent always makes me so happy.

Though while this film was made in 1992, I still feel like a lot of his words rang true for today. Gender and free sexual expression has had a rough history in America, and whenever people go outside what is considered the norm they are often treated like something is wrong with them. Popular shows like Rupaul’s Drag Race I think have helped these issues become more normalized, but actual trans people still go through a lot of ridicule.

In this film Winston talked a lot about how England was a very sexually repressed country, and because of that going outside the norm was made more difficult. I think this is the same for America too, people would rather be miserable than accept and be a part of things outside the gender binary. I can hope that as more young people become adults and have a larger effect on my country’s culture the conversation will change into something more than just a man in a dress. 

I have never been a fan of the glorification of war, as in America is feels so very common to turn war into this amazing thing. The troops are heroes, we are harbingers of peace, our massive military budget that takes up the largest amount of our government spending is certainly justified, in fact it’s fine to add hundreds of billions more to it. In America, most don’t blink an eye to praise war. That is partially why I was worried at first to go to the National War Museum. I was expecting more of the same. I was happy when I learned that this museum had a very different take on war. Instead it uses the past to act as a warning. Though while the wartime imagery got a bit much sometimes, its purpose was obvious, to educate and prevent.

Some of the exhibits of the museum felt all too familiar though. The government propaganda, the first signs of genocide, those hit a bit too close to home. My country has been at war most of my life. Since 2001 we have been in Afghanistan, so I don’t really remember a time when we haven’t been at war. We as a country have grown so accustomed to war, almost everything it creates is justified, and if you don’t believe so you unpatriotic, you are spitting in the face of veterans and their families.

A war that happens across an ocean feels so far away, but walking through this museum made it feel much closer. I can only hope that there will be a time in the future where we will no longer be at war, where it is not fetishised to an absurd degree. Until then I will focus on the home-front, as there is a lot of work needed to be done there as well.

“Image of Imperial War Museum.” IWM, www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-london.

(Flower Photo by me)

While visiting the British Library I saw a lot of amazing works. Seeing books and pages centuries old really gave a perspective of how humanity has changed over the years. One of the things we saw that interested me the most was the three volume collection of the first edition of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I have always respected Shelley’s work, even though I have yet to read her famous book. Instead I know her as the inventor of the Sci-Fi genre, something I rarely heard her getting credit for.

I have always loved sci-fi when it’s written well, but unfortunately it has been historically a male-centered genre in modern pop culture. From Flash Gordon to Star Wars to the hundreds of other sci-fi books and movies, while these pieces of media are enjoyable they often are written, produced, and marketed to men. Just about anything that includes excessive action and violence is usually assumed to be a masculine medium, which often goes hand in hand with sexist tropes.

It is for this reason that Mary Shelley’s work fascinates me. She wrote Frankenstein when she was only 19, a year younger than me. Her butterfly effect on culture has influenced writers from every corner of the world. It was quite amazing to see the first edition of this legendary story. It only makes sense for it to be displayed next to the works of Da Vinci, the Beatles, and the Magna Carta.

The V and A museum had a lot of spectacular pieces of work. I really loved how extensive the exhibits were in their focus of other cultures and specific eras. Though if I can to choose a  favorite work from this museum I would choose the Raphael Cartoons. I had remembered reading about cartoons in my art history classes, and I knew how rare they were considering they were usually discarded after the final piece was finished. Looking at these drawing I just knew how special they were.

What I loved most about these works is how they were made with what seemed like a less common material from the time, gouache, a type of water color. While this material may have been used commonly by the artists of this period as a preparatory or sketching material, it is rarely something you see in museums. What is interesting about the gouache is that it creates a kind of looseness in the painting which lets the viewer see a bit more of the artists motions while painting. Part of the appeal of oil painting is that it drys in a way that hides the brushstrokes. This gives the oil masterworks of this era a sense of wonder, as trying to image how they pulled off such a feat is hard to comprehend.

Yet with gouache I can see how Raphael filled in the shadows of the saint’s robes, or delicately painted around the highlights of trees. It makes his work feel more real in a sense, more relatable. It also makes me respect his work even more. These works are complete masterpieces and I hope everyone gets a chance to see them in their lifetime.

(Raphael Cartoon, Christ’s Charge to Peter: Matthew Chapter 16: Verses 18 & 19, & John Chapter 21: Verses 15–18, by Raphael, 1515 – 16, Italy. Museum no. ROYAL LOANS.3. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London)

Dame Laura Knight is an artist that caught my eye while looking through the national portrait gallery with her work, Self-Portrait with Nude. What was interesting about this painting is that it really stood out against the bleak faces of men covering every wall. Most of the paintings in this gallery, while visually beautiful, often depicted the figure as static. Few of the portraits depicted movement or action, and what made this painting stand out what the feeling of the figures being caught in the moment.

What I also really enjoy about this painting is its cleverness. This is a painting with a very clear statement. Dame Laura Knight was trained at the British Royal Academy, and was the first Woman to be elected full membership. One of the common troubles of this era for women artists though was that they were not permitted to draw from the nude model. Instead they had to draw from casts and other peoples drawings. As a figure based artist, Knight was not especially happy about this. In fact, she very vocally resented this rule and constantly challenged it. This painting is a strong statement against the art institution and the art world in general.

What I love the most about this painting though is the fascinating perspective of watching the artist (Knight) paint the painting in her paintings. This was done using several mirrors, and the end result is a fantastic piece of art.

What is interesting is that this painting had plenty of positive reviews to go along with the negative. While it was not permitted to be shown at Royal Academy exhibitions, for several years it toured around England and other countries as a fantastic work of art.

Laura Knight is a fascinating artist, her talent transcended social barriers and she helped pave the way for many more female artists in England. I greatly respect her work and I really admire this painting. Learning about her is an experience I won’t soon forget. I also learned that ‘Dame’ is the title given to women who were knighted, so she is Knight Laura Knight, which is also pretty amazing.

(Pictures by me)

84 Charing Cross Road really surprised me with its wholesome story. In today’s media, we rarely see stories that focus on friendship and love in such a kind way. When I first saw the poster for the play outside the theatre, I was worried it would be about some kind of long distance romance that would include cliche drama and “will she, won’t she” tropes. Instead, as the play went on, I realized that this was a story about life and relationships and not a dramatized tragedy based on true events.

What I loved most about the play was the fact that it focused on the platonic relationship between a man and a women. The nature of Helena’s and Frank’s friendship was never put into question, there was no drama about Frank’s wife becoming concerned or jealous of Helena, no trope of Helena suddenly falling in love with this man who lived across the sea, just a nice story.

Though while I do think that this play suffered a bit in the second act of going on a bit to long, I can also understand that the reason why the second act felt more dry was because throughout the play more and more of the characters and friends Helena had made from this bookstore were disappearing and moving away, as friends do sometimes. As their characters left, I as a viewer became sad for their absence just as Helena felt. So in a sense, I so think the length of the second act makes sense for what it was trying to accomplish.

Overall I did enjoy the play, it is not something I would normally go out of my way to see, so i’m happy I got the chance to see it during this class. The building was also very beautiful and the theatre was one of nicer ones I’ve been to in the last few years. I’m planning on being on the lookout for more plays I can go to in the future.

(photo by me)

Gwen John is an artist that caught my eye while in the Tate Britain. Her painting at first seemed simple, a portrait of a woman reading from a book. It was such an elegant piece, simply capturing a moment, a snapshot into this woman’s life. When I was told that John almost exclusively painted woman in these kinds of portraits I immediately looked up her wikipedia page to confirm my suspicions. I was happy to see that I was correct in my guess, that John was a queer woman, bisexual in fact.

It is very rare for me to find the historical work of queer artists in the world, as oftentimes it is hidden or not spoken of, especially in academic settings. When I do find these artists I always want to learn more about them, how they incorporated their sexuality into their work, and what it means to them.

In the case of John, I believe her work was certainly an expression of her attraction to women, and while very few of these painting are actually sexualized in any way they instead focus on the beauty of subtlety. The figures in Johns paintings rarely address the viewer, they don’t make eye contact and are often performing some kind of action, almost like they are ignoring the viewer or at the very least not addressing them. Johns paintings make the point that it is the woman in these painting that are the most important subject, but the way she paints them captures their beauty in a unique way.

They are not posed to show off or to make a statement. Her works instead focus on the sunny afternoons sitting in the sun, or the rainy days when a young women will sit in with her cat and read from her favorite book. These paintings come from a place of admiration for the everyday, from a place of love that appreciates the little moments.

I find Gwen John’s work lovely, not just for their meaning but also for their great skill. I will have to be on the lookout for an artbook of hers in the future.

Sources:

John, Gwen. “Girl Reading at the Window.” WikiArt, www.wikiart.org/en/gwen-john/girl-reading-at-the-window-1911.

John, Gwen. “Interior with Figures.” WikiArt, www.wikiart.org/en/gwen-john/interior-with-figures-1899.

John, Gwen. “The Precious Book.” WikiArt, www.wikiart.org/en/gwen-john/interior-with-figures-1899.