SHARING WITH ME

  Before leaving for Russia, I decided to have a day to myself in London. It’s been a very long time since I have done this. There was one exhibition that I really was looking forward to and a couple of others which could be worthwhile. 
Let’s start with a very ambiguous exhibition « Queer British Art » 1861-1967. The Tate Britain notice had been on my « follow-up » list for three or more months. The exhibition explores connections between art and a wide range of sexualities and gender identities in a period of great change. It begins in 1861 when the death penalty for sodomy was abolished and ends in 1967…I am not going to go into the sexual implications of the law, except perhaps to say that women were not « implicated » by the single sex laws. The word queer was used for this exhibition to avoid imposing more specific identity labels. It won’t perhaps surprise you that we were not permitted to take pictures - and then, did I really wan...

  Remember the exhibition on the garden? How would you describe a garden? It was following this that  I had noted on my "To see List" an exhibition entitled "Le Pouvoir des Fleurs" ("The Power of Flowers" is a word for word translation). I  mentioned it to quite a few people but no-one seemed in the least bit interested in joining me for a visit to the Musee de la Vie Romantique.    The museum's courtyard This museum is a little off my usual route - I guess that I was never a romantic! So had I been there? Once inside the museum it came flashing back that I had seen something with Gianni and that was "forever" ago. The artist was unknown to me. This resumes who he was... Pierre-Joseph Redouté (10 July 1759 – 19 June 1840), was a painter and botanist from the Southern Netherlands , known for his watercolours of roses , lilies and other flowers at Malmaison . He was nicknamed "the Raphael of flowers" and has been ca...