John Webb
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The Dulwich Picture Gallery

1/5/2015

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A few days after the wedding we went with friends to The Dulwich Picture Gallery to see the latest Eric Ravillious exhibition.  Now here is someone who eschewed figures in his paintings – not entirely but he did what I think is much the role of the artist.  Taking the mundane, utilitarian and as a war artist the defensive/aggressive/harsh/melancholy and portraying in his art their depth, feeling, the sense of the huge range of emotional things that are going on.

The excellent catalogue (James Russell/Philip Wilson Publishers) identifies that ’…he appreciated that inanimate objects had their own kind of life’ and  ‘…found decorative motifs in the most unpromising material’.  ‘Having little or no interest in military might he chose to study naval vessels in his own way, approaching them from unusual angles to create the kind of interesting shapes he needed.’

Learning to not just look but see - if that’s not too subtle a difference.

The often used tutor’s task of a half an hour sketch facing one way followed by a 180º turn to draw what ever you see taught me a lot about seeing interesting shapes and juxtapositions in what is around us.  We were confined to within 50 ft of the studio; I found a new tree & supports.  Not knowing what was next!  Amazing what can be done with a discarded fish ‘n chips box!
Picture
And in seeing see the fun things …..what is happening.

That is what I wanted to pick up at the wedding … the queue for the ice cream van, boules, archery, the cheeky fella in the maroon top hat, the 3 kids on the wall, Bridegroom’s parents waiting – and well pleased.  

Adding captions for emphasis.   
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