SHARING WITH ME

This week was musical and despite a growing number of exhibitions  I want to see, I didn’t get around to anything until yesterday. The music was modern and in two cases the relationship between word and notes. One of the recitals was «Danses Nocturnes»  over the music of Benjamin Britten. Charlotte Rampling was reciting poetry by Sylvia Plath who played the only instrument - the violoncello. At least every word was distinct. Rampling comes from an English school who knows how to project. The first concert was not of that calibre. I was relieved to hear at interval spectators saying «I didn’t understand a word - did you?» But the most exciting concert was the pianist Piotr Anderszewski playing Bartok. My brother had introduced me to this musician a few years ago. I was thrilled to see he was playing in one of our season’s concerts. It was like no other experience I have had. The concerto n° 3 for piano is an extremely complex and difficult music to play and yet, Piotr became th...

I wonder what images you conjure up when the word Australia is mentioned? Mine are space, colour and star lit skies. The country originally belonged to the Aborigines and it wasn’t until the 1600s that explorers came in touch with the continent. There were other explorers before James Cook arrived and even noted that the «aboriginals were far happier than we the Europeans...» They had a close contact with their country. In fact when Cook dropped anchor in Botany Bay in 1770 and claimed Australia to be British he confronted mankind’s oldest continuous culture and disembarked on the most ancient land on earth. It’s not surprising that the indigenous art is so captivating and tells us all the stories of the dreamtime. We were cruel and destructive toward the aborigines. It’s not so long ago since the Australian Government asked to be pardoned. Today, I often ask myself if the Aboriginal tribes are happy - how much have they lost of their traditions? - are the artists painting for th...

"Looking at Lowry "(1887-1976) That's what the exhibition was called .We were to see it at the Tate Britain in London. Pierrette had pointed out some of his work to me, but I knew nothing other than the artist had depicted the industrial revolution in the UK with accuracy. He was also known for his "stick people" and I could add "stick dogs"! If he was a painter of "modern life", the period recalls that of the impressionists but that period in Europe was, as far as painting goes, much more serene. Lowry was obsessed by crowds and that was probably unfamiliar in painting of that period. Going to the Match 1953 The football match A sky full of black smoke belching out of industrial chimneys, Wigan 1925 A manufacturing town 1922 Strangely enough, he was better known in France between 1928 and 1933 as his work was presented in the autumn Salons and critics were good. I guess his work reminded the French critics of artists...