The Tate Britain
Hello again! I have had a most splendid day, and as the hostel computers are for once not jammed, I am going to tell you all about it.
I began at the Tate Britain, which I meant to get to earlier this trip, only I kept going to the National Gallery instead. The National Gallery took up part of three days, partly because I kept getting lost, giving up, and repairing to the cafe to have a slice of cake and tea.
The Tate Britain, however, went much more smoothly! I believe I saw all the best things - I didn't go over the modern galleries very firmly, but then, I am rarely in sympathy with modern art.
I arrived right after the museum opened, so I had the pre-Raphaelite room more or less to myself, which was lovely. It isn't actually the pre-Raphaelite room - there's a lot of other things in there, Sargents and Watts and so on. Possibly it's the "here's all the stuff people come to the Tate to see, we're going to put them all in one place so the more hardcore art enthusiasts can enjoy the rest of the museum in peace" room.
But quite a lot of those works are pre-Raphaelite. I particularly enjoyed the Burne-Jones paintings, the staircases with all the maidens descending down it in particular, and even the Rosettis seemed charming in person (although I still think he is always drawing the same ideal maiden). Not a big fan of William Holman Hunt, though. I'm not sure why, given that he tends to choose rather grim subjects - fallen women, goats wandering through salt plains, etc - but something about the brashness of his color use always reminds me of a kitschy Christmas card.
And John Singer Sargent's Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose! It's huge in real life. I bought a notebook with the painting (suitably miniaturized) on the cover, I liked it so much. It looks like a suitable book for composing a children's book.
(Speaking of composing books, The English Breakfast Affair is going very, very well! I have decided to cut out the virgin martyrs subplot and consequently it is going rather more smoothly. Perhaps I will have to chance to reference them, at least?)
The Tate also had a room devoted to paintings that had been very popular in Edwardian times (Forgotten Faces), which inevitably - my artistic tastes are probably best described as Edwardian - I enjoyed very much; Edwardian art often suggests stories (without tying you down by alluding to a specific story, which earlier works generally do), which is fun.
After that - after the inevitable tea and cake, I mean; I am going to be so disappointed with American museums and their lack of tea and cake after this - I went to Ripping Yarns, which is a bookstore that specializes in children's books from around the turn of the twentieth century, which: !!!!!!!!!!
But ultimately I didn't buy anything: there was so much choice that I quite lost my head and couldn't make any decisions at all. And so I went to the park and walked through the forest, and at last came back to the hostel.
I began at the Tate Britain, which I meant to get to earlier this trip, only I kept going to the National Gallery instead. The National Gallery took up part of three days, partly because I kept getting lost, giving up, and repairing to the cafe to have a slice of cake and tea.
The Tate Britain, however, went much more smoothly! I believe I saw all the best things - I didn't go over the modern galleries very firmly, but then, I am rarely in sympathy with modern art.
I arrived right after the museum opened, so I had the pre-Raphaelite room more or less to myself, which was lovely. It isn't actually the pre-Raphaelite room - there's a lot of other things in there, Sargents and Watts and so on. Possibly it's the "here's all the stuff people come to the Tate to see, we're going to put them all in one place so the more hardcore art enthusiasts can enjoy the rest of the museum in peace" room.
But quite a lot of those works are pre-Raphaelite. I particularly enjoyed the Burne-Jones paintings, the staircases with all the maidens descending down it in particular, and even the Rosettis seemed charming in person (although I still think he is always drawing the same ideal maiden). Not a big fan of William Holman Hunt, though. I'm not sure why, given that he tends to choose rather grim subjects - fallen women, goats wandering through salt plains, etc - but something about the brashness of his color use always reminds me of a kitschy Christmas card.
And John Singer Sargent's Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose! It's huge in real life. I bought a notebook with the painting (suitably miniaturized) on the cover, I liked it so much. It looks like a suitable book for composing a children's book.
(Speaking of composing books, The English Breakfast Affair is going very, very well! I have decided to cut out the virgin martyrs subplot and consequently it is going rather more smoothly. Perhaps I will have to chance to reference them, at least?)
The Tate also had a room devoted to paintings that had been very popular in Edwardian times (Forgotten Faces), which inevitably - my artistic tastes are probably best described as Edwardian - I enjoyed very much; Edwardian art often suggests stories (without tying you down by alluding to a specific story, which earlier works generally do), which is fun.
After that - after the inevitable tea and cake, I mean; I am going to be so disappointed with American museums and their lack of tea and cake after this - I went to Ripping Yarns, which is a bookstore that specializes in children's books from around the turn of the twentieth century, which: !!!!!!!!!!
But ultimately I didn't buy anything: there was so much choice that I quite lost my head and couldn't make any decisions at all. And so I went to the park and walked through the forest, and at last came back to the hostel.