Exhibitions 2
Modern Art in Britain 1910-1914 (Barbican Art Gallery, till 26 May)
Homage to the revolutionaries
Martin Bailey
It is difficult to imagine the scandal which Post-Impressionism once caused in London. Outrage and fascination greeted the arrival of pictures by Cezanne, Gauguin and Van Gogh, brought across the Channel in 1910 for a show at the Grafton Galleries. `All London is going to the Exhibition, and is deriving much amusement from it,' reported the Daily Sketch. Bateman com- mented on the occasion with a cartoon of shocked gentlemen attending the opening, appropriately held on Guy Fawkes night.
But even if Britain lagged behind the Continent in appreciating the latest art, it did at least invent the label for it. Critic and artist Roger Fry made a last-minute decision to call his groundbreaking show, Manet and the Post-Impressionists. Although he had intended to describe the artists as 'expressionists', a journalist friend with whom he discussed the proposed title scorned the term. Fry then impatiently exclaimed, 'Oh, let's just call them Post- Impressionists; at any rate, they came after the Impressionists.'
The Barbican Art Gallery's homage to the revolutionary show evolved out of a recent effort to identify the major pictures which had been exhibited in 1910. Although titles were published in Fry's slim catalogue, it required art historical detec- tive work to identify precisely which works they were. Reading University art historian Anna Robins eventually succeeded in tracking down most of the 250 pictures.
It would have been a dream come true to have brought these paintings back together, but this proved impossible. Many of the Post-Impressionist works are so important that owners are understandably reluctant to lend. The fact that most ended up in for- eign collections made this even more of a hurdle. Robins knew it would be a chal- lenge to secure loans. She admits that, if the paintings from the 1910 show could ever be reassembled, they would form 'the most superb collection of modern art in the world'. Not surprisingly, the Barbican found it impossible to wave the magic wand.
The Barbican therefore opted for the more realistic goal of showing contempo- rary pictures by British artists beside some representative examples of Post-Impres- sionism. This makes it possible once again to see Vanessa Bell, Augustus John, Harold Gilman, Spencer Gore, Duncan Grant, and Roger Fry himself, alongside the European masters who inspired them. The time period was also extended slightly by the Barbican, to cover not only the 1910 show, but several others in the period up to the outbreak of the first world war.
Although the idea was a good one, the Barbican presentation is confusing. The main difficulty is that it is unclear which paintings were actually exhibited in the highlighted 1910-14 shows. For example, only one of the Barbican's four Van Goghs was in Manet and the Post-Impressionists, the powerful Pieta' done when the artist was in the asylum at St-Remy. The other three were presumably selected because they are now in British collections, and eas- ier to borrow. It is a similar story with the British works, which represent a mixture of pictures from the 1910-14 shows and others which were not exhibited. Although Robins's catalogue identifies the paintings featured in these early exhibitions, it would have been helpful to have included this key detail on the labels.
The Barbican's presentation is also made more complicated by the decision to cover not only Manet and the Post-Impressionists, but several other shows in the period up to first world war — including Picasso draw- ings in 1912 and Italian Futurists a year later. Although this is revealing in empha- sising the range of modern European art which was being discovered in Britain, it `Gauguins and Connoisseurs at the Stafford Gallery, 1911, by Spencer Gore does mean that the later sections of the Barbican show begin to lose their focus.
Despite these reservations, some stun- ning paintings have been borrowed. From New York, there is Derain's marvellous `Window at Vers' and Gauguin's imposing `Tahitian Women Bathing'. Although another Gauguin, 'Tahitians', comes from just a mile away at the Tate, it will be a sur- prise to many Londoners. 'Tahitians', which is rarely exhibited, is not only an unfinished work, but it is partly drawn with charcoal and cannot be exposed to the light for long periods. Lhote's large 'Port de Bordeaux', in its striking frame, is a Cubist masterpiece from a private collection. Sev- erini's 'The Boulevard' now belongs to the Estorick Foundation and hopefully it will be seen more often once their new gallery opens in Islington at the end of the year. Delaunay's 'The Cardiff Football Team from Eindhoven's Van Abbemuseum is a Futuristic delight. Perhaps the most fascinating work which now hangs next to the Post-Impressionist masterpieces is Spencer Gore's `Gauguins and Connoisseurs at the Stafford Gallery '• This homage depicts a scene from the November 1911 London Exhibition of Pic- tures by Paul Cizanne and Paul Gauguin. Gore's unconventional view looks down on three Gauguins which were displayed: the naked Tahitian girl `Mango Tupapau `Christ in the Garden of Olives' and 'Vision after the Sermon' (the only one of the trio to remain in Britain, now at the National Gallery of Scotland). The connoisseurs intently studying the Gauguins are Gore's colleagues: Augustus John is the bearded figure in the left foreground and Wilson Steer looks towards the wall on the right. Gore's painting can also be regarded as a witty tribute to the composition of 'Vision after the Sermon'. The red background of `Vision after the Sermon' is reflected in the Stafford Gallery's carpet, Gauguin's curved tree trunk is mirrored in the shape of the balcony or arch, and the praying Breton women are transformed into the connois- seurs. It was seeing the work of Cezanne, and Gauguin which encouraged Gore and his friends to set up the Camden Tom Group, artists who went for bold, flat colour. On leaving the Barbican, one's main regret is that so few of the Post-Impres- sionist works on offer were bought by British collectors. None was purchased by public galleries. In 1911 the critic Hiigh Blaker wrote a letter to the Saturday Review in which he made the bold suggestion that the National Gallery should buy pictures hY Manet and Cezanne. He concluded: `Dare , we also hope for the one of the beautiful pastorals of Gauguin? Flandrin, Denis and Van Gogh will not percolate into official craniums until about the year 2000 when the help of the National Art Collections Fund may be invoked to prevent the few remaining examples from leaving the coup try.' Blaker's pleas were ignored.
Previous page
