Laura Knight: a Panoramic View at the Milton Keynes Gallery

This was the first significant exhibition of Knight’s work for over 50 years and, to my surprise contained over 160 works in this very nice gallery. (An opportunity of visit Milton Keynes too, which was interesting, as I had been there last in 1982 when the New Town had only just been completed.)

Knight lived from 1877 to 1970 and her style developed but remained basically traditional — fine portraits, subjects in sunlit landscapes — but with original use of colour and composition. In the 1940s she was commissioned to represent the war effort with interiors of ordnance factories and other aspects of heavy engineering. A very busy and popular exhibition, despite its obscure location. 5*

Shilpa Gupta Sun at Night at the Curve, Barbican, London

This was a cleverly curated exhibition that concentrated on the voices of political oppression over the last several hundred years. The voices were presented as text, each one on a separate small illuminated pedestal that could be read by circulating through the otherwise dark room. The texts were also read out from suspended microphones at various points. There was also a series of other tangible exhibits of art work representing the same theme. The texts were in several languages.

It was easy to spend over an hour in this moving exhibition where we were invited to contemplate on how poetry, prose and visual art have contributed over centuries to the fight against oppression and unjust political imprisonment. 4*

The Camden Group at Brighton Art Gallery and Museum

These artists from the early part of the 20th century were associated with Walter Sickert and shared with his some of the characteristics of their work. Many of them were based in Brighton and the south coast. A smart little temporary exhibition of some of their work, concentrating on the best known of the group, Spencer Gore. 4*

Beano: the Art of Breaking the Rules at Somerset House, London

A surprisingly extensive and thorough exhibition, based on the characters of the famous Beano comic, first established in 1938. All the characters from the Beano and Dandy are there: Minnie the Minx, Desperate Dan, the Bash Street Kids, Biffo the Bear and of course, in the star role, Dennis the Menace.  We also find, from the same Dundee stable, Oor Wullie and the Broons. 

As a afficianado of the last two of these -- I was discouraged from reading the subversive Beano or Dandy, in favour of Dan Dare and other militant comic war heroes -- I somehow managed to have access to all the comic characters and can even remember the 'storylines' of some of the strips.  Particularly well documented were the obsessions of these plots: largely, how food was seen as a major reward for the characters (especially during times of rationing) and how corporal punishment by teachers or parents was a constant aspect of their life. These are absent now, of course, from current versions of the still published comics, as is the persecution by the rule-breaking boys and girls of the weak, bespectacled, effeminate, swotty classmate, who nevertheless always came out top in any conflict. 

The exhibition was enhanced with commisioned works from some contemporary artists, who clearly relished the idea of breaking the rules with their work, e.g. ceramics of insect- or mice- infested food items or Dennis the Menace posing as a gay icon. There is serious interpretation too of the important role the comics may have played in the development of attitudes, e.g. the early radical feminism of Minnie the Minx. 

Great fun. 5*

Watts Gallery, Guildford

Always wanted to visit this, but always dissuaded by the need to drive there from London. However, it turned out to be worth the effort of driving through South London for 2 hours -- avoiding bus lanes. George Frederick Watts was a respected Victorian artist and portrait painter whose later visionary style and rejection of conventional art media questionably led to some work of dubious merit.

Of more interest than his painting and sculpture was the Watts Chapel built by his wife Mary Watts, herself an accomplished artist and sculptor, in which she displayed her idiosyncratic 3-dimensional decorative tile work. Their house on the site is open to view and, although of only minor architectural merit itself, contains more of her interior decorative tile and plaster work. 4*