Museum Visited: Tate Britain
Before
The exhibition is dedicated to a single artist, Walter Sickert and that's the title of the show as well, which will go on display from the 28th of April to the 18th of September in 2022. The key theme is to "show how Sickert transformed the representation of everyday life, with his innovative approach to subject matter, radical compositions and the evocation of the materiality of existence in paint", or in short to present Sickert's own take on illustrating everyday life. His works are heavily influenced by the observations that he made such as newspaper photography, current events from when he was making them, for example, the Candem Town Murders, with the addition of pop culture from that time. Due to this, the pieces will be limited to Western culture.
What is the title of the show? What are the key themes, styles, artists? What is the cultural context and background?
Activity 1.
Describing Before Reading Description
This piece seems to have been done by some sort of paint and the scene contains two figures, a woman and a man. They must be intimate due to their proximity, but in an argument of some sort due to their seating positions and actions. The man is smoking a cigarette with his leg crossed and appears to be deep in thought or ignoring his partner on the left. The woman also has her legs crossed, but is sitting on a separate chair which makes me question. My interpretation of this piece is to illustrate the hardships in marriage by showing a couple arguing. Based on their clothing this can be dated to the late 1800s or early 1900s.
Describing After Reading Description
This piece is titled The Little Tea Party an oil painting painted by Walter Sickerts during 1915-1916 of Nina Hamnett and Roald Kristian. With the context provided, we can assume that couple in the illustration must be Walter Sickert's friends, or at least one of them is and they have invited him to a tea party. Elements of art present in this piece are the texture, value and color. The painting is not highly detailed where some aspects of the painting can't be identified such as the shoes, hands, coat and the faces are blurred or unclear. The colors used are dark, even the yellow coat of the woman and this creates an atmosphere of tension since the relationships between the two in the picture is not a happy one at that moment.
Analyzing
The artwork is mainly constructed out of highlights and shadows, in addition to the strokes of the brush which creates a grainy effect, hence the lack of details. There is a repetition of lines on the wall that seem like wallpaper, but variation of tone in each line suggests that it's rather a wooden wall. Three main subjects are present: the man, the woman and tea set on the table. The gentleman occupies half of the vertical space, whereas the other two are divided into 1/4 of the overall space. All of them are isolated from each other. From left to right, the background becomes darker in tone and it's complementary to the subjects since the light wall at the left contrasts with the man in the dark blue suit and so on.
Interpret
My interpretation for The Little Tea Party is that it is the scene showing the aftermath of an altercation between the couple since they seem to have calmed down, but is still keeping their distance. The man is either smoking as a way to cope with stress or to show that he doesn't care about his wife's wants/needs. The lady is sitting with her hands locked, which clearly shows that she is still thinking about the argument. It is likely that this is a recreation of a scene that Sickert witnessed when going over to his friend's house, seeing it as an opportunity to show the aspect of marriage isn't always sunshine and rainbows.
Judge/Evaluate
What attracted me to this artwork initially were the rough features where it is almost sketch like. It makes itself distinct from other works that highly concentrate on including every detail, which I personally believe doesn't always result in a good piece. I think that Sickert is able to portray the tension between their relationship pretty well only based on their demeanor and posture. The title is also ironic in that tea parties are meant to be a fun occasion, but this is clearly not reflected in the work. I also like the decision for the setting to be indoors since it fits the mood more than an outdoor location and make the subjects dense into a corner, adding to the tension.
Activity 2.
Lubaina Himid Le Rodeur: The Exchange 2016
Leonora Carrington, Self Portrait ca. 1937–38
Comparative Analysis
At first glance, the two artworks look nothing alike other than the fact that they don't make any sense. However, that leads to their first similarity which is how they approach a surrealist look where reality and fiction are mixed together. If broken down to simpler components such as the back ground and foreground, it become pretty blatant that they are near identical. Both images have a window that shows a scene of nature entirely different from within the room and a point of interception of the three walls almost at the same location. There is a subject sitting on an object in both artworks that's interacting with an animal like figure. The animals could be there as symbolism for the artist and since Leonora's art is a self portrait, the animals could be a representation of who she is as a person. However, The Exchange is the more modern piece while Self Portrait was made almost a century ago and it's reflected in the artworks themselves. Contemporary art is more clean and less detailed as can be seen with the usage of basic colors on the walls without the addition of change in values to make it more realistic. The one on the right, however, have shadows and highlights even in the background that, although surreal, gives the illusion of realism.
Activity 3.
Visual Annotation: Aide Memoir
