diaghilev

One of the current exhibition going on at The Victoria and Albert Museum is the impressive Diaghilev and The Golden Age of The Ballets Russes.  This Russian-born impresario was  in changing the ballet scene in the early twentieth century.  On display are countless extravagant costumes, intricate small scale mock-up stage models, costume illustrations, painting and drawings for inspirational material, etc.  You really get a great sense of what it really must have been like to see one of the elaborate productions and everything that went on behind the curtains.  Diaghilev was definitely a dreamer and a man of detail and he often enlisted artists and composers like Picasso, Matisse and Stravinsky to collaborate on the productions.  

It is easy to dismiss the construction quality of some of the costumes as looking craft-like but then those thoughts soon turn into astonishment when you remember that his grand visions and ideas were executed and realized during the early twentieth century. 

I can only imagine how impressive it must have been to attend one of the shows and get lost in the elaborate production, like a form of escapism. 

exhibit c

Brown, sepia coloured

Black and white printed photographs

Discoloured from old age, soft edges

Starting to turn-up/roll, from age

Photographic paper

Glossy top coating

Somewhat creased at areas

Old memories, stories lost

Cameras, point and shoot, printed photographs, dark room developing

Black and white photography

Discarded memories

Images for sale

Friends, family 

Captured stories in time

Old technology

The market- Spitafields

If the old photograph was placed within another context, such as an art gallery, it would not be out of place.  Photography is an art form.

Boxes of old photographs are commonly found among antiques and vintage objects at market stalls.

Department store context would be odd.  It wouldn’t look out of place if it was placed in a picture frame and used as interior decoration with household furniture display.  Old imagery and photographs invite feelings of nostalgia and comfort.

exhibit b

Round, circular spheres, smooth and shiny surface

Glossy black strings of beads- wrapped and coiled

Dark and emotive, gothic/mysterious quality

Blurred vision, when viewed up close- clear perspective of the installation when the viewer steps back

Plastic beads are glued onto the white wall

Tactile qualities

Rhythmic quality in the curved lines which outline the tribal silhouettes-strings of beads, hang down off of them

Black, dark, gothic, mystical, cultural, mysterious, enchanted, spiritual, religious, ritual

Tribal, parade, spiritual- dancing procession of a group

Marching in one direction towards something but there is not a figure of superiority among them.  If so would it be placed higher, to signify superiority?

Each figure and detail has been constructed in black.  Is the uniformity of colour used intentional? Does the viewer now question the mural artwork because of this colour scheme choice?  Had one silhouette be singled out, by being coloured differently, the message might be clearer to the viewer..

An abstract piece of artwork is better received in the context of an art gallery, as it is open for interpretation from people whom are specifically in that setting- to view art.  Whereas; if it is within the context of a market stall it would not be received as it was intended, by the artist.  It may not even be acknowledged in another context, such as a department store or on the street.  Who is to say, that if the piece would end up simply being ignored or forgotten because it is placed within a different context.

Image via Hales Gallery

exhibit a

Three round circular tins, metal aluminum with closing top lids, stackable.

Outer cage-like contraption that holds the them together vertically, when the tins are placed on top of each other.  

Curve downward, the top handle of the cage, to secure the three tins in place.

Travel, convenience, practical, re-usable, sustainable

East indian, travel tins, food- rice, curry, lunch/dinner

Compact

Industrial, metal, strong

I associate these tins with Asian Culture because personally I have only seen them in the context of Chinatown or for sale at a local Chinese Restaurant.  I am not familiar with seeing them in the context of East Indian Culture.  I also associate  portable stainless steel containers with natural food shops from back home, as they are very popular to use for lunch.  I associate this object with previous thoughts and experiences and now with a new association of place.

I have prior familiarity with this particular object, so I can easily envision it placed within another context.  The tins would not be out of place within the context of a department store- they are currently viewed as sustainable housewares.  Taking something out of its original context and marketing it as a new product has been done before.  

Import or foreign products are most often for sale and associated with market stalls, therefore; these tins would not be out of place if found there.  

Art gallery- someone could argue it art.  I see it as a clever design.

trade between East and West

What you can’t have, is what you want; during the 1600-1900 Europeans wanted Asian goods.  By 1686 the British Colonies were already shipping goods worth over £1 million to London, mainly imported by the East India Trade Company based in London.  The imported items included spices, tea, sugar, tobacco.

Indian Textiles were viewed as luxury goods because they were made of fine cashmere and cotton; two textile resources not popularly farmed in Britain at the time.  The European equivalents available were not comparable in quality either.  Along with Indian Textiles, silk from Asia was also of high value and interest specifically because Asian silk worms only fed on mulberry leaves, unique to their region.  The dye fastness of the Indian Textiles also made their textiles highly covetable in the European market. 

However, around the 1770s Britain was becoming more technologically advanced, mainly in the fabrication of cotton; thus, beginning to export woolen textiles to India, around 1800.  Due to machinery advances in the production processes, Britain later took over the market by providing comparable products to the consumer.

Are you aware of where the products you currently buy come from?  What is their history?

Some more interesting information, about the current industry and trade, can be found here.

winter blanket

This lovely patterned wool blanket, from Pendleton, would be ideal to have during the current cold weather we are experiencing here, in London.

Warmer weather feels like so far away, I know, but once it does arrive the blanket could then double as a nice picnic blanket, during the summer months.

collecting things, collecting people

The origin of various museum collections began from gifted or donated personal collections.  Particularly, cabinets of curiosities during the sixteen hundreds, from wealthy affluent men who collected various objects, predominantly religious related, from distant and exotic travels abroad; such as, natural objects, crystals, fossils, preserved plants, skeletal bones, taxidermy animals.  

From 1870 onwards European museums, notably in London and France, started to ‘collect’ and display African artifacts.  These objects were viewed as primitive and exotic to the public and were of great appeal to museum visitors.  Notable admirers of such African Exhibits was Pablo Picasso, who was often inspired by the pieces and displayed reference in a few pieces of his work, like Demoiselles D’Avignon.

For a long time, African Art was being overlooked as art and was often associated with the connotation of being primitive but the foreigner’s view of Africa was later shed during 1960’s.

In The African Galleries, The British Museum has successfully curated ancient and contemporary objects and sculptures together cohesively, without forgetting to bring awareness to current issues (gang violence, HIV/Aids) facing Africa today.  There was also a range of both traditional and modern woven textiles, on display with traditional Kanga Fabrics made using non-conventional patterns.