The 'new' Tate Britain

The £45 million renovation of Tate Britain is complete, and it was a real pleasure to visit during our recent trip to London. The first thing that's changed is that the riverside entrance is back and you can enter the gallery from the Millbank side, and enjoy the grand porticoed entranceway, the way Sidney R.J. Smith, the gallery's architect intended it when it first opened in 1897.

This was our first view of the newly refurbished gallery

 

and then we entered the rotunda which has been closed since the 1920s. The circular balcony of the rotunda's domed atrium takes your breath away

 

 

 

The whole area is very light and airy, light pouring in from the dome above

another look at the circular balcony

 

 

 

 

 

Our first stop was the members' room with its 14 metre-long mirrored bar, inspired by Manet's Bar at the Folies-Bergere.

 

 

 

 

 

The members' area covers the whole of the circular balcony of the rotunda's domed atrium, full of nooks, crannies, domes and busts. It's a very comfortable place to sit, and one can choose to sit in the asymmetric armchairs by Edwin Lutyens (I forgot to take a photograph). Another point of interest are the double-ended spoons by Nicole Wermers (again, unfortunately, no photographs). 

 

  

 

 

 

The views of the circular balcony are delightful

 

 



 

Looking down from the balcony one can see the new circular marble staircase in the rotunda, scalloped with Art Deco patterns which recall the Tate's original marble mosaic floor






one more photograph

looking down at the magnificent spiral staircase

looking closer at the steps

We then went down the spiral staircase into the huge basement, full of arches and vaulted ceilings, a space that was once a swamp and then the infamous Millbank penitentiary - the last stop in England for thousands of transported prisoners.

 



Lots of space in the basement, which includes classrooms, gallery space and the cloakroom

On the way out I was taken by this patterned window

looking  closer.





Sources:

http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/blogs/six-things-know-about-new-tate-Britain

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/architecture/tate-britain-unveils-45m-refurbishment-8946655.html

http://www.dezeen.com/2013/11/19/tate-britain-millbank-renovation-caruso-st-john/

Carolee Schneemann

 

 

Water Light/Water Needle, Carolee Schneemann,

 

 

 

 

 

at the Hales Gallery, London E1. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went to see this exhibition after reading  Steve Rose's  'I never thought I was shocking' fascinating  review in the Guardian. The text in this post is all taken from his review..

 

 

The work in this exhibition is a series of films, sketches and painted photographs of a 1966 performance staged by Schneemann in which performers spinned and danced like trapeze artists on ropes strung high across a church hall in New York. It was inspired by her first trip to Venice in 1965: she was struck by the balance between the sky and the water, the pervading sensation of floating.

 

Schneeman is now 73 and has spent her life smashing taboos and shocking audiences. She caused outrage in Britain in 1968 when she gave a talk about Cezanne: 'I wore farmer's overalls, she says, and I had lots of oranges stuffed everywhere. I showed slides and talked about Cezanne's influence - and I kept undressing and dressing. I was naked under my overalls and I'd throw these oranges into the audience, like a still life escaping. Then I'd do my overalls back up and continue the lecture. They went a bit nuts. They were outraged, 'what does this mean?' How can she be naked and talk about art history?' But that was the point'. 

 

Schneemann was at the forefront of movements that later came to be known as body art, performance art and feminist art, paving the way for artists like Marina Abramovic, Cindy Sherman, Tracey Emin. 'My work became a bridge that had to be crossed by young feminists working with their bodies'.

 

In 1975 she performed Interior Scroll, which culminated in Schneemann standing naked on a table and removing a long strip of paper from her vagina, from which she read out an imaginary conversation with a dismissive male film-maker: 'I never thought I was shocking, she says, I always thought, 'This is something they need. My culture is going to recognise it's missing something'.

 

And: 'I called [the series Eye Body] being the image and the image maker...The female nude is part of a revered tradition, although she is not to take authority over depictions of her nudity. She is just to be available'.

 

 

Apologies for all the light reflections on the photographs.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Entropy and denial

 

Entropy and Denial by Panagiotis Kefalas at Gallery Genesis. 

 

 

 

 

 

I really like the atmospheric paintings of Kefalas, who has just finished art school. Seeing the exhibition was a real pleasure.

 

 

 

 

Limit, (oil on canvas)



 

 

 

Shelter (oil on canvas)

 





 

 

 

A Pair of Boots (oil on canvas)

 



 

 

 



Grow Up (oil on canvas)

 

 



 

 

Entropy (oil on canvas)

 

 

 

 

The Yellow House (oil on canvas)

 

 

 

The following 5 paintings are part of the series The Green Room (oil on wood):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another series of paintings, Nostos (oil on wood) follow: