Friday, September 10, 2010

Tate Favourite






The Tate must be one of very few galleries to feature the classical and contemporary with what appears and feels to be a very natural and shock free ride. Something like a Rolls with satellite technology. All the leather and walnut with the cutting edge technology providing an effortless ride from Elizabethan to Hirst in a few yards of each other. Five hundred years seems to have passed in a flash this afternoon.
Of all the stunning works that confront the viewer on the ground floor the ones that took my breath away were those of John Singer Sargent. For me the most alluring work was a study for Madam X.
Perhaps it was the contemporary and classical blend within the painting (much like the Tate itself). The so called incompleteness of it is like breathing, it's warmth, space and presence floored me.
His work as a figurative painter is yet to be surpassed I believe.
There's no point in going on about the works, it's all been said thousands of times but for the sake of kicking my blog off again this is very good subject. I took a couple of highlights of details of some paintings.
I expect you'll excuse the quality of the photography, no flash iphone snaps with a tinge of guilt(given cameras were not supposed to be used).If I'd tried this in Perth I would be in the electric chair by now...of course Perth has some 'real treasures' compared to the Tate.