England
Two weeks of family, art and strikes
I’ve just returned from 2 weeks in England, spending a week in the Peak District followed by a week in Brighton. I have to admit to having been rather nervous, probably unreasonably nervous, about a visit to the old country. The last time I spent any time there was at least a decade ago. I mean, since then there’s been Brexit: which I still find wholly unforgivable, the death of our dear Queen, and five different prime ministers (including a circus clown). But once Corrine and I had landed at Manchester airport my nerves were calmed; things became so easy - and we were though passport control and baggage collection so quickly and smoothly. Well, if this is how it’s going to be then I shouldn’t be worried - or should I?
Driving and walking in Derbyshire is so beautiful at this time of year. It was obvious that landscape painters found a vision of Arcadia in this pleasant land, with sheep grazing in fields of lush green, and pheasants loitering in packs on roads ready to challenge my car bumper. The changing light from thick rolling clouds is something to behold to someone whose sky is usually wall-to-wall blue with fluffy / high white clouds (you know it’s not like that all the time, but I like to think so 😄).
We took the opportunity to drive down to the Derby Museum to see the work of Joseph Wright. He was a painter who created some extraordinary works around 250 years ago in the town of Derby. He’s not widely known, but in the art world he’s acclaimed for depicting scientists and philosophers in ways previously reserved for biblical heroes and Greek gods. Rather than depicting scenes of the moral of leadership or heroism, his painting’s are about the “moral” pursuit of scientific knowledge. He was ground-breaking for his time, and has his most famous works in the National Gallery in London.
If you’re familiar with the paintings of Caravaggio then you’ll see how Wright uses constructed darks and lights (‘chiaroscuro’) in the same way that Caravaggio is famous for. In these days of mass image making and digital corruption it’s always good to remember that painters of 250 years ago were simply using canvas, oil and pigment: no photography to help composition, and no paints conveniently available in tubes (all paints were mixed by hand). Wright was a painting genius.
One of the happiest moments was spending time with my great nephew Oliver Bell (age 5 ½). We had an hour or so making paintings together, using tubes of acrylics and water, discovering what colours can be created using just the primaries of blue, red and yellow. I hope he remembers how he made the lush greens, vibrant oranges and muted violets. It was fantastic just to watch him going through the process of opening tubes, and squeezing out the pure colour and tentatively adding other colours to see the effects. Below is one of Oliver’s paintings which I’ve titled Midday Landscape. He’s got plenty of talent which I hope will be developed in the coming years.
After Hope Valley, the next stop was Brighton by train from Sheffield, via St Pancras International. We had a recommendation to stop and see Paul Day’s statue and frieze on the main concourse. It’s HUGE. Viewing from the base, it’s difficult to appreciate the work when looking up at the two lovers in their embrace. I wonder why it wasn’t positioned on the lower concourse so people on the upper balcony could look down or across to it. However, at ground level it’s the frieze of scenes of British life which I find extraordinary - it goes all around the base. There’s some brilliant design and interpretation there. Excellent work.
On into Brighton with its gentrification, and huge sky-scraping residential blocks under construction. I lived there for 20 years and while many things are very familiar, so much has also changed. It was like walking in a parallel universe. We visited familiar bars, and caught up with family and friends we hadn’t seen for more than a decade. We’re older, but not necessarily wiser.
I had planned many visits to London by train, but ASLEF had chosen the week to go on strike on two days, and work to rule on the remainder days. Nevertheless, I worked around the inconvenience, and had some excellent visits to the National Gallery, Tate Modern and the Royal Academy, and met up with some fellow degree students.
While at the National Gallery, I eventually found a work that I know really well. It’s Landscape with a Man Killed by a Snake by French artist Nicolas Poussin, painted 375 years ago. I spent a few months in 2022 studying this work online while following the daily diary entries of T. J Clark in his book The Sight of Death. It’s an extraordinary experiment in art writing, in which Clark unpicks the meaning behind the painting over the course of 6 months or so. It was great for me to finally witness the work and explore all its fascinating features at first hand .
There’s so much to write about, and I plan to explore some of the art and my experiences in future news-blog posts. But, for now, I’d just like to thank British Airways for cancelling our return flight, and rescheduling it to go from Heathrow instead of Gatwick, and then gifting us the opportunity to sit on the tarmac for an hour.
I also want to thank French immigration at Nice airport for not putting an EU entry stamp in my passport, having flourished my Italian residency card and announcing “je suis résident permanent en Italie”, he said “très bien” and waved me through. Yes it is “very good” and, after having a brilliant time with friends and family, I’m at home again in bella Italia 🌞
About me
My name is David Bell and I’m an artist living in Sanremo, Italy. I write this blog for my band of supporters, giving an insight to my art and life generally living on the beautiful Riviera of Flowers.
Ciao4now … alla prossima.
Lovely, I like the little boys painting.