Masterpiece

10/05/2021

Object of the Month | “Chasing is a way of working the metal. Here a gold sheet as fine as paper, is worked from the front with hammers, in this case undoubtedly as small as pencils. It is a drawing brought to life in three-dimensions.” Alice Minter

Picked by Alice Minter, Curator of the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Read more about this and our other #OOTM here: https://bit.ly/33thagv

This small snuffbox – only 7.7cm wide and 1.6cm high– embodies the art of the goldsmith at its utmost. Made exclusively of gold, the panel forming the lid is superbly chased with a scene from the Old Testament: Rebecca at the Well.

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Pictured:
A Dutch gold snuffbox with Rebecca at the well, Louis Métayer (active 1730–74), probably chased by Philippe Métayer (1697–1763), Amsterdam, 1739.
© The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria & Albert Museum, London

06/05/2021

BASTIAN’s exhibition ‘Metal, Ink & Dye: Late Works from Captiva Island’ closes this Saturday 8 May.

This exhibition focuses on Robert Rauschenberg’s metal assemblages from the Glut series (1986–89 and 1991–94) and a selection of innovative dye-transfer works from the Anagram (A Pun) (1997–2002) and Short Stories (2000–2002) series.

Escaping the dizzying hurriedness of New York in the early 70s, Rauschenberg found sanctuary on a small sun-drenched island just off the coast of Florida, called Captiva. It was this new island home that proved to be a fertile domain for some of the artist’s most remarkable and challenging works. Here, BASTIAN uncover a selection of works from this late period on Captiva Island which showcase not only Rauschenberg’s use of ink transfers and printing technology but his use of metal in ever more imaginative and inventive ways.

Visit the London gallery at 8 Davies Street or browse the online viewing room through their website bastian-gallery.com.
Installation shot by Luca Walker
Courtesy of BASTIAN

05/05/2021

“When I think of art I think of beauty. Beauty is the mystery of life. It is not just in the eye. It is in the mind. It is our positive response to life.” - Agnes Martin

Watch “Encountering Beauty Through the Material World” as Ben Street guides us through Agnes Martin’s ‘Morning,’ 1965. View the full series here: https://bit.ly/3tlSam2

30/04/2021

Our exhibitor Rose Uniacke has a selection of rare and refined antiques dating from the 17th to the 20th centuries.

Pictured here is a North Italian commode 'A Bambocci', c. 1600 – 1650, a unique antique piece composed of carcass and drawer linings in pine & poplar with gilded gesso mouldings and later inset tooled leather panels. The gilded cast brass drop handles formed as grotesque masks with child nereids. The acanthus clasped feet later, probably early twentieth century. It has been paired with an 18th Century Italian carved gilt wood antique mirror.

Browse Rose’s website to find more unique pieces (roseuniacke.com) or visit their Pimlico Showroom.

29/04/2021

In this episode of “Encountering Beauty Through the Material World”, Ben Street guides us through Berthe Morisot’s ‘Girl on a Divan’ c.1884.

Morisot was always remarkably free in her distinctive handling of paint, the canvas animated here by vivid, quick touches of colour.
View the full series here: https://bit.ly/3t2puyq.

28/04/2021

Our exhibitor David Aaron’s 2021 Online Catalogue is available to view online. Immerse yourself in the world of ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Near Eastern & Islamic works of art.

Featured in the catalogue is this torso of Apollo from the 1st- 2nd Century A.D, that would have once stood in a unique but classical pose emphasising a sense of realism and movement.

Apollo is one of the most complex and important gods in the canon of Roman deities, and is he god of many things, including music, archery, poetry, art, oracles, plague, medicine, sun, light and knowledge. He is the ideal of the kouros (nude male noble youth), which means he has a beardless, athletic and youthful appearance.

Learn more about this and other works of art, via their website davidaaron.com.

Pictured:
Torso of Apollo
Italy
1st – 2nd Century CE
Marble
H: 87cm

27/04/2021

Watch ‘Through the Eyes of the Maker’ this month featuring artist Teresa Kutala Firmino. Full video available here https://bit.ly/3vq96tc.
Teresa Kutala Firmino discusses the use of pigment in her work, revealing the significance of colour in her narratives and the technical advantages of learning how to 'balance the canvas'. She is represented by Masterpiece Exhibitor Everard Read London.

26/04/2021

Object of the Month: Discover Tai Xaingzhou’s “Yang guan chui xiang” or “Looking up at the Configuration from Heaven,” 2014, selected by Tao Wang, Pritzker Chair of Asian Art and curator of Chinese Art at The Art Institute of Chicago. Read more about this and our other Objects of the Month here: https://bit.ly/3gDVPsy.

The work consists of four panels (each 100 X 200 cm) painted in Chinese ink on silk, and is on view at the museum as part of “Cosmoscapes: Ink Paintings by Tai Xaingzhou” exhibition which runs until September 20, 2021.

Its subject is cosmological flux—a depiction of celestial chaos, with asteroid-like rocks floating in vaporous mist against a dissolving background. Despite the fact ink is the only pigment applied onto white silk, the painting gives an impression of multi-layers of shades, light and colour.

Pictured:
Tai Xaingzhou
“Yang guan chui xiang”
2014
Chinese ink on silk

Object of the Month: Discover Tai Xaingzhou’s “Yang guan chui xiang” or “Looking up at the Configuration from Heaven,” 2014, selected by Tao Wang, Pritzker Chair of Asian Art and curator of Chinese Art at The Art Institute of Chicago. Read more about this and our other Objects of the Month here: https://bit.ly/3gDVPsy.

The work consists of four panels (each 100 X 200 cm) painted in Chinese ink on silk, and is on view at the museum as part of “Cosmoscapes: Ink Paintings by Tai Xaingzhou” exhibition which runs until September 20, 2021.

Its subject is cosmological flux—a depiction of celestial chaos, with asteroid-like rocks floating in vaporous mist against a dissolving background. Despite the fact ink is the only pigment applied onto white silk, the painting gives an impression of multi-layers of shades, light and colour.

Pictured:
Tai Xaingzhou
“Yang guan chui xiang”
2014
Chinese ink on silk

23/04/2021

“An outstanding example of contemporary craftsmanship and great design” -Masterpiece Award Committee 2018

Cindy Chao’s Peony brooch Black Label Masterpiece XVIII, 2018 which won the Outstanding Object award during Masterpiece London 2018 is now part of the V&A permanent collection.

Opulence and delicacy are exquisitely matched in this virtuoso celebration of nature’s beauty. The undulating petals were first carved in wax, then cast in titanium to form a complex lattice of individual settings. The oval rubies come from a family necklace belonging to Yu Hsiang who asked for them to be reset in 2008. Cindy Chao transformed them into a peony - in Chinese tradition an imperial flower and a bringer of good fortune. It brought inspiration to Ms Yu following a life-threatening illness.

Taiwan and France; designed by Cindy Chao (born 1974)
Ruby, diamond, titanium, gold and lacquer
Winner of the Outstanding Exhibit at Masterpiece, London, 2018
Museum no. M.8:1-2020
Given by Yu Hsiang

22/04/2021

Object of the Month: Discover Francisco de Zurbarán ‘Still Life with a Cup of Water and a Rose’, c. 1630, selected by Dr Gabriele Finaldi, director National Gallery Read more about this and our other Objects of the Month here: https://bit.ly/3ernfz4.

It is unassuming in size and subject matter but Finaldi finds it achingly beautiful. It carries with it an aura of profound seriousness and it invites slow looking and reflection. For him, it speaks as a metaphor of the kind of simplicity that one can only aspire to achieving in one’s own life.

Francisco de Zurbarán
‘Still Life with a Cup of Water and a Rose’
c. 1630
© The National Gallery, London

Object of the Month: Discover Francisco de Zurbarán ‘Still Life with a Cup of Water and a Rose’, c. 1630, selected by Dr Gabriele Finaldi, director National Gallery Read more about this and our other Objects of the Month here: https://bit.ly/3ernfz4.

It is unassuming in size and subject matter but Finaldi finds it achingly beautiful. It carries with it an aura of profound seriousness and it invites slow looking and reflection. For him, it speaks as a metaphor of the kind of simplicity that one can only aspire to achieving in one’s own life.

Francisco de Zurbarán
‘Still Life with a Cup of Water and a Rose’
c. 1630
© The National Gallery, London

21/04/2021

Sundaram Tagore Gallery’s exhibition ‘Now, Then and Always’ a retrospective of work by Susan Weil is opening tomorrow in New York. Browse their online catalogue here: sundaramtagore.com/exhibitions.

Weil is among the key female figures who pushed the boundaries of Abstract Expressionism, a movement largely defined by male painters. As the narrative of modern art is rewritten and women artists are finally entering the spotlight, Weil’s contribution is coming to the fore.

Tracing the arc of her career, which spans more than 70 years, this exhibition features Weil’s early landscapes from the 1950s, iconic blueprints (1949–2020), seminal figurative paintings, series inspired by the natural world and work made this year. Rare archival images will also be on view, offering a window into her practice and the formative years of the New York School in the 1950s.

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Pictured:
1.Susan Weil
Walking Figure
1967
Plexiglas and aluminium
118.8 x 63.5 cm

2.Susan Weil
Torso
1999
Acrylic on paper
99.1 x 69.9 cm

3.Susan Weil
Squared Circle
2021
Acrylic on canvas
85.1 x 85.1 x 9.5 cm

20/04/2021

Listen to the third instalment of ‘Encountering Beauty: A Masterpiece Podcast’ now using this link https://bit.ly/3gkjrCy or through your favourite podcast platform.

This month, Masterpiece London exhibitors Molly Dorkin (Dickinson gallery) and Neil Wenman (Hauser & Wirth gallery) will explore how far an understanding of pigment has been fundamental to the painting of the past, including how certain colours have been valued or venerated – as well as what contemporary painters know, or need to know, about the materials that they use.

Listen to the third instalment of ‘Encountering Beauty: A Masterpiece Podcast’ now using this link https://bit.ly/3gkjrCy or through your favourite podcast platform.

This month, Masterpiece London exhibitors Molly Dorkin (Dickinson gallery) and Neil Wenman (Hauser & Wirth gallery) will explore how far an understanding of pigment has been fundamental to the painting of the past, including how certain colours have been valued or venerated – as well as what contemporary painters know, or need to know, about the materials that they use.

19/04/2021

Object of the Month: Discover ‘Daydreaming about Ice-Fishing,’ from The Royal Bank of Canada Art Collection painted by Darcie Bernhardt in 2019. The work was selected by Corrie Jackson, Senior Curator at RBC. Read more about this and our other Objects of the Month here: https://bit.ly/2Qllueo.

Darcie Bernharardt’s Daydreaming about ice fishing is a piece whose colour and composition are truly transporting. The abstracted colours are a reminder of not only the dimensional colour and light held in ice and snow, but the crisp lines and patterning remind one of the sounds of stepping across a crunching, frozen surface. Darcy brings a unique perspective to our relationship to landscape and colour. Her practice counties to push me to evolve my own relationship to memory when standing in front of her stunning compositions.

Pictured:
Darcie Bernhardt
‘Daydreaming about Ice-Fishing’
2019
Oil on canvas
142 cm x 127 cm

16/04/2021

You can now visit ‘Charles Gaines. Multiples of Nature, Trees and Faces,’ Gaines’ first ever solo exhibition in London at Hauser & Wirth. Visit the gallery’s website hauserwirth.com to arrange a viewing.

Comprising two new bodies of Gaines’ critically acclaimed Plexiglas gridworks, the exhibition includes his institutionally heralded ‘Numbers and Trees’ and ‘Numbers and Faces’ series. With this exhibition, Gaines continues to engage formulas and systems that interrogate relationships between the objective and the subjective realms, as well as navigating ideas around identity and diversity. Gaines’ distinctive and generative approach forges a critical link between first generation American conceptualists and subsequent generations of artists who are pushing the limits of conceptualism today.

Pictured:

1.
Numbers and Trees: London Series 1, Tree #6 Fetter Lane
Charles Gaines
Acrylic paint, acrylic sheet and photograph
162.2 x 223.5 x 14.6 cm.
Courtesy of Charles Gaines and Hauser and Wirth
Photo by Fredrik Nilsen

2.
Numbers and Faces: Multi-Racial/Ethnic Combinations Series 1, Set A: Face #11, Martina Crouch (Nigerian Igbo Tribe/White)
Charles Gaines
2020
Acrylic paint, acrylic sheet and photograph
96.5 x 81.3 x 8.9 cm
Courtesy of Charles Gaines and Hauser and Wirth
Photo by Fredrik Nilsen

15/04/2021

Watch this month’s “Encountering Beauty Through the Material World” presented by art historian and writer Ben Street. Enjoy the full series here: https://bit.ly/3tl74tB.

In this first episode of the Pigment series, Ben explores The Fayum Portrait ‘Man with a Wreath’, c. 2nd century CE, which is part of the National Gallery collection.

This portrait was excavated from a burial chamber and dates to the second century AD, when Egypt was part of the Roman Empire.

As non-Western paintings, these portraits were unusual purchases for the National Gallery, but Sir Frederic Burton (Gallery Director at the time of the purchase in 1888) thought they showed the link in the history of painting between the ancient Greeks and Romans, and the painters of the Renaissance.

14/04/2021

Marlborough gallery’s exhibition ‘Victor Pasmore: Line & Space’ is now open. Visit marlboroughgallerylondon.com to arrange a time to visit.

Pasmore’s pioneering development of abstract art is considered to be one of the most significant achievements in 20th century British art. The show explores the artist’s incredibly versatile output over his long career.

Pasmore holds a unique place in the canon of British art. His work reflects and anticipates the changes that occurred in art and art practice throughout the twentieth century. A career that evolved from the lyrical landscapes of the young artist through the development of a new, pure abstraction to experiments with constructivist sculpture, spray painting, collage and Perspex, and involvement with the planning of Peterlee New Town, made Pasmore one of the foremost exponents and theorists of abstract art. His work, in all its diversity, remains challenging and relevant today.

Pictured:
1.Untitled, 1996
Victor Pasmore
Oil, spray paint and pencil on board
36 x 92 in. / 91.4 x 233.7 cm
Courtesy of The Estate of Victor Pasmore and Marlborough Gallery

2. Abstract in Black, White and Mahogany, 1965-66
Victor Pasmore
Projective relief construction, transparent (mixed media)
48 x 48 in. / 122 x 122 x 36 cm
Courtesy of The Estate of Victor Pasmore and Marlborough Gallery

13/04/2021

Object of the Month: These two leaves are part of a sixteenth-century book of hours of the Flemish School, picked by Sue Palmer, Archivist and Head of Library Services Sir John Soane's Museum. Learn more here: https://bit.ly/2PRozU1

A small volume (measuring 209 x 142 mm) with a red velvet binding with decorative metal corners, this was intended as an aid to private devotion and contains, written in gothic script in Latin, the main prayers to be said by the faithful organised according to the liturgical structure of each day’s offices – the Hours of the Cross, the Hours of the Holy Spirit, the Hours of the Virgin and the Penitential Psalms, illustrated by no less than 78 exquisitely painted miniatures.

12/04/2021

Please join us at 5pm BST, next Thursday 22 April for this month’s panel discussion, ‘The Origin of Pigment’. Register here https://bit.ly/3wQrzk4.

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- Corrie Jackson, Senior Curator, Royal Bank of Canada
- Larry Keith, Head of Conservation and Keeper, National Gallery
- Kate Malone, Ceramic artist and ceramic stoneware glaze research expert
- Moderator: Susan Moore, Art market correspondent and associate editor of Apollo

�Discover more about how pigment has been used by artists through time and across cultures, with our podcasts, panel discussion, videos. Explore our programme with the link in our bio.

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#Marble – February
�#Wood – March
�#Pigment – April
�#Bronze – May
�#Ceramic – June
�#PreciousStone – July

Please join us at 5pm BST, next Thursday 22 April for this month’s panel discussion, ‘The Origin of Pigment’. Register here https://bit.ly/3wQrzk4.

-

- Corrie Jackson, Senior Curator, Royal Bank of Canada
- Larry Keith, Head of Conservation and Keeper, National Gallery
- Kate Malone, Ceramic artist and ceramic stoneware glaze research expert
- Moderator: Susan Moore, Art market correspondent and associate editor of Apollo

�Discover more about how pigment has been used by artists through time and across cultures, with our podcasts, panel discussion, videos. Explore our programme with the link in our bio.

-
#Marble – February
�#Wood – March
�#Pigment – April
�#Bronze – May
�#Ceramic – June
�#PreciousStone – July