
by Remedios Varo Uranga (1908-63), painted in 1958.
Follow @telescoperBack in Ireland on Thursday I was pottering about in my flat listening to the radio when I heard an interesting discussion about the work of art shown above, by Nathaniel Hone the Younger. It’s not a finished painting, but a small sketch made in watercolours, probably a study for a larger work. Hone made lots of these sketches over the years; this one was made in about 1890 at Kilkee and is in the National Gallery of Ireland. The dark palette and rough texture created by very thick application of the paint is unusual for a watercolour. No doubt all that is at least partly because of the windswept location in which the artist was working!
Follow @telescoperby Remedios Varo Uranga (1908-63), painted in 1945, 20 × 15.5cm, gouache on paper.
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Jasper Johns, Painting with Two Balls, 1960 Encaustic and collage on canvas with objects, 65 x 54 in, on display at the Royal Academy until December 10th 2017.
Follow @telescoperKazimir Malevich, The Black Square, 1915, oil on linen, 79.5 x 79.5 cm, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
Follow @telescoperKazimir Severinovich Malevich (1879–1935).Oil on canvas (79.5 x 70.5 cm); painted 1916. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
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Well, here I am in a misty and murky and rather cold Paris. My first trip on the Eurostar from St Pancras as it happens. I’ve used the train to get to Paris before, but the last time was a long time ago when it departed from a temporary station at Waterloo. Anyway, there’s a direct train from Brighton to St Pancras International. Although it was about half an hour late, I still had time for a bite to eat before boarding. The train was pretty full, but ran on time and I got into Gare du Nord just before 4pm local time. A short (and inexpensive) trip on the Metro brought me to the hotel where I’ll be staying the night.
There is a conference going on in Paris this week about Planck but that’s not why I’m here. In fact I’m attending the opening of “Contact”, an exhibition by Olafur Eliasson at the Fondation Louis Vuitton.
I was toying with the idea of combining this event with the Planck meeting, but (a) I’ve got too much to do to stay for the whole week and (b) I don’t think there’ll be much new at the Planck meeting anyway.
Anyway, Olafur very kindly asked me to write something for the catalogue, as the exhibition has something of an astronomical theme and I guess that’s why I got the VIP invitation. There’s something called a cocktail dinatoire afterwards which I presume involves large amounts of alcohol. That may fortify me for the impending REF results, which are due out later this week..
Anyway, I’ll post about the exhibition if I get time tomorrow morning before the journey home. It doesn’t open for the general public until Wednesday 17th December, by the way, in case you’re in Paris and thinking of taking a look for yourself.
Follow @telescoperI have acquired (for safe keeping) the plaster-cast portrait bust shown in the above image. Anyone care to guess (a) who it is and (b) which artist made it? Hint: there is a physics theme….
Answers through the comments box please!
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