Sunday morning, quite early (1030am) and the Tate Britain is already busy. Crowds of people at the Picasso exhibition. But I found another, much less busy, show more appealing. Migrations: journeys into British Art has some interesting paintings, and statistics. The exhibition shows how migration into this country has influenced British art over the past 500 years. There's quite a big gap - the 19th century! - but otherwise some fascinating insights.
In the 16th century, artists from the Netherlands introduced a new style of portraiture. Here Portrait of an Unknown Lady by Hans Eworth. He - and others - created iconic portraits of celebrities of the day - in other words, royals and the nobility. No one now knows who the unknown lady in this portrait is/was. But her clothes and jewellery show that she is clearly of high status.
Two hundred years later Italy and its classical tradition had a strong hold on holiday choices and painting styles. The Grand Tour - wealthy young Englishmen's equivalent of a Gap Year expedition - was popular and sparked an interest in antiquity and classical art. A new, neoclassical style developed and greatly influenced the development of art in the UK. A VERY interesting statistic (source: Tate Britain): a third of the founding artists of the Royal Academy were migrant artists.
Here, one such artist: Canaletto and his painting of Horseguards Parade (central London). Canaletto, famous of course for his Venetian scenes (often painted for British tourists), lived in London for nine years. Have made a mental note to seek out his house in Beak Street, Soho.
Then there were the Americans, in the late 19th century, who injected the energy and fresh vision of the New World into portraiture, raising eyebrows in some cases. John Singer Sargent's Study of Mme Garnier (an American herself) is a good example of that.
The Tate, in its free leaflet accompanying the exhibition, garners comments from Bonnie Greer (playright (sic) and novelist), Michael Rosen (broadcaster, children's novelist and poet) and Shami Chakrabarti (Director of human rights organisation, Liberty).
Two hundred years later Italy and its classical tradition had a strong hold on holiday choices and painting styles. The Grand Tour - wealthy young Englishmen's equivalent of a Gap Year expedition - was popular and sparked an interest in antiquity and classical art. A new, neoclassical style developed and greatly influenced the development of art in the UK. A VERY interesting statistic (source: Tate Britain): a third of the founding artists of the Royal Academy were migrant artists.
Here, one such artist: Canaletto and his painting of Horseguards Parade (central London). Canaletto, famous of course for his Venetian scenes (often painted for British tourists), lived in London for nine years. Have made a mental note to seek out his house in Beak Street, Soho.
The Tate, in its free leaflet accompanying the exhibition, garners comments from Bonnie Greer (playright (sic) and novelist), Michael Rosen (broadcaster, children's novelist and poet) and Shami Chakrabarti (Director of human rights organisation, Liberty).
"This exhibition interests me because it addresses one of my favourite topics - 'interculturalism'. People have always migrated, whether it has been to escape persecution or poverty or to exchange ideas. We should get away from the notion of host and migrant. Cultures mix and we should celebrate that." Michael RosenI visit Migrations with my son's wise words ringing in my ear: "Of course, Mum, only white middle class people go to that kind of exhibition." And sadly, to judge from the visitors on Sunday morning, he was right.
