London has long laid at the beating heart of Britain’s arts and culture scene and it’s here that you can discover the world’s best loved artists in some of the most iconic galleries. National treasures and modern accomplishments lie side-by-side in a vibrant and diverse array of gallery spaces dotted across the city.
London boasts a huge selection of art galleries, but many of the most popular are central and easy to get to, such as the striking Tate Modern. The Thames Bankside gallery is a shrine to modern art of the 20th century, hosting impressive contemporary exhibitions from Edward Hopper and Mark Rothko to Duchamp and Man Ray. Most permanent exhibits are free of charge so you can take in the remarkable interior architecture of the Bankside Power Station, which houses the Tate, and marvel at the iconic work of some of your favourite contemporary artists at your leisure.
London’s Victoria and Albert museum, or simply the V&A, can be found in South Kensington. Exhibitions at the V&A are also mostly free, and offer a wealth of opportunity to experience the regal splendour of royal artefacts, ceramics and medieval treasures. Besides objets d’art, visitors to the V&A can also wander around interactive costume exhibits, which are great fun for kids, as well as significant art collections from around the world.
More National treasures can be unearthed at Trafalgar Square’s National Gallery. This busy and popular Gallery boasts entire wings of period art and hosts treasures by famous names from Van Eyck to Vermeer, Caravaggio to Constable and Rembrandt to Renoir. You could wile away hours absorbing the sights of any number of seminal artistic movements, and with free entry you can do so any day of the week!
Taking art in London bang up-to-date is the eponymous Saatchi Gallery, which brims with exhibits by artists both up-and-coming and established media darlings. Proprietor Charles Saatchi recently moved the gallery to Chelsea and it’s now housed within the impressive Duke of York’s HQ. With particular prominence given to the Emin’s, Hirst’s and Chapmans of contemporary art, the Saatchi Gallery always offers vital insight into the goings on in the modern art world.
Art galleries in London vary between grand establishments and unique private galleries, many of which can be found in the city’s Piccadilly and Albemarle Streets. White Cube, The Portland Gallery and Marlborough Fine Art are all fine examples of private galleries and are well worth a look for a more intimate art experience.
Getting around London to experience it all is simple with its well-integrated transport system that combines underground and over ground network solutions, including tubes, buses and black cabs. London is abuzz with art galleries and you could find yourself lost for time to see everything, however, with so many London hotels centrally located, you could find a short break ideal for experiencing the art of London in your own time.
By: Paul McIndoe
Posts Tagged ‘Mark Rothko’
Discovering the Art of London
November 20th, 2009Abstract Art: a Breakthrough in Artistic Expression
November 8th, 2009The origins of abstract art can rightly be attributed to the imagination of man. Abstract art is distinguishable from fantasy art, which makes imaginative characters and myths its subject. It is closer to reality as it reflects the real in figurative terms. In other words, abstract art depicts real forms in a simplified or rather reduced way, keeping the original subject the same.
Abstract art did not originate all of a sudden nor is it the outcome of the 20th century thinkers. In the Jewish and Islamic religion, depiction of human beings was banned. As such, they took recourse to all forms of decorative and non-figurative arts or calligraphy.
Wassily Kandinsky is regarded as the inventor of non-figurative art in the 20th century. Gradually, his paintings moved out of figurative subjects. In 1910, he created the first figurative work of art- a watercolor sans any reference to reality. Kandinsky not only became the first abstract artist, he also took pains to promote it as a theorist. After Kandinsky, it was the Russian painter, Kasimir Malewich, who took abstract art to the next level. Melewich’s paintings mostly focused on simple geometrical forms.
The landmark events in the mid-twentieth century changed the course of abstract art. The World War II, persecution of Jewish people by Hitler, and denunciation of modern art by the Nazis led to the immigration of hundreds of avant-garde European artists into the United States of America, especially New York. This created a new wave in the American art scenario prompting the birth of Abstract Expressionism.
Abstract expressionism is more a concept of performing art than a style. This movement stresses the trend of pushing the conventional boundaries beyond all limits. Some of the famous artists of this movement are Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko.
Currently, there are two primary segments of abstract art. One segment, known as Color Field Abstract Art, features unified blocks of color. Mark Rothko is one of the pioneers of this genre. The second segment includes multiple genres- Surrealism, Expressionism, Cubism, and Action painting. Regardless of all these influences, the core of abstract art paintings remains the capturing of the essence of the artist’s subconscious on canvas.
By: Suzanne
