- as promised
I finally made it back to the Contemporary Chinese exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art here in Southbank and took a couple of photos of the artworks I mentioned last time. The exhibition was being packed up on the day we were there, so I almost missed seeing it again.
We also popped over to the American Impressionism & Realism: A Landmark Exhibition from the Met and by far my favourite painting is the John Singer Sargent ‘Mr and Mrs Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes’ shown on the exhibition sites front page.
I don’t usually like the guided tours but I felt really lucky to reach this painting at the same time a tour did – it was very interesting to hear the history of this picture and in particular of Mrs Phelps Stokes, she was a trailblazer in so many ways and I love the story of how she turned up for the sitting. It was a commissioned portrait to celebrate her marriage and she was expected, as it was the norm, to dress in formal evening ware, instead she walked to the sitting in everyday clothes. I think Singer Sargent captured her strength and energetic nature, not least in the positioning of her new husband :)
Ginger aka Beethoven // August 3rd, 2009 // 10:34 pm
More people!