Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640, Flemish), Peace Embracing Plenty, between 1633 and 1634, oil on panel,
24 3/4 x 18 1/2 in. (62.9 x 47 cm),
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Photograph: Yale Center for British Art
The Yale Center for British Art celebrates the launch of their new online catalogue in an exhibition entitled Connections. Considered the most comprehensive collection of British Art outside of the United Kingdom, the Center’s holdings include some 2,000 paintings, 200 sculptures, 20,000 drawings and watercolors, and 31,000 prints, 35,000 rare books and manuscripts, an Archive and Reference Library. The entire collection will eventually be accessible through its impressive website, http://britishart.yale.edu. Presently entries for painting, sculpture and the Reference Library are complete; other areas are partially finished. Initial records cover essential information. Digital images in the public domain are included. Details concerning an object’s provenance, exhibition history, bibliography and conservation will be added as the site expands and evolves making possible unparalleled opportunities for online research. It’s free and available to everyone.
Connections stimulates the mind and pleases the eyes. Viewers get a sense of being in a tangible cyberspace where ”clicks” lead to a variety of paths. The exhibit demonstrates physically the extent and diversity of the Center’s collections by exploring different approaches to the meaning of relationships. Ten themed sections look at individual artists, periods, mediums, artists’ movements, genres, styles, history and places. Displays express interdisciplinary ties by juxtaposing paintings, drawings, watercolors, sculptures, books and prints. Topics such as Sporting Art, the Academy and the Human Body, Egypt, British Modernism in the 1930s, Samuel Palmer and the Ancients, and Hogarth and History bring to light fascinating linkages.
Thomas Forster (ca. 1677-after 1712, British), Banqueting House, Whitehall, undated, pen and brown ink, graphite, gray wash, heightened with white on medium, slightly textured, beige wove paper, sheet: 10 3/8 x 14 in. (26.4 x 35.6 cm),
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Photograph: Yale Center for British Art
The segment devoted to British Art in the 1630s is one of my favorites. Here drawings, paintings, books and prints focus on the work, artists and history associated with the Banqueting House at Whitehall. This edifice was part of the royal palace complex designed in 1622 by Indigo Jones for the Stuart monarch James I. It was the first building in England using classical vocabulary and ushered in the modern Italian Renaissance style of architecture.
pen and brown ink on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper,
sheet: 5 5/8 x 5 in. (14.3 x 12.7 cm),
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Photograph: Yale Center for British Art
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Inigo Jones (1573-1652, British), Design for a Temporary Arch Ornamented with Putti and Allegorical Figures of Music and War, ca. 1622,
pen and brown ink and brown wash; verso: graphite on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper, sheet: 9 1/2 x 6 3/4 inches (24.1 x 17.1 cm),
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Photograph: Yale Center for British Art
Royal ceremonies, receptions and entertainments called masques that combined theatre, music, dancing, elaborate scenery and costumes took place at the Banqueting House. Stage sets and other elements for these festivities were often devised by prominent architects like Jones.
James I was succeeded by his son Charles I who commissioned the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens to paint the Banqueting House’s ceiling glorifying his father and the Stuart reign.
Simon Gribelin (1662-1733, French, active in Britain), after Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640, Flemish), From the Painting of the Ceiling in the Banqueting House at White-Hall in the Year 1720, ca. 1720, line engraving on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper,
3 sheets pasted together,
sheet (cropped inside plate): 37 3/4 x 18 1/2 in. (95.9 x 47 cm),
image: 36 3/8 x 18 1/8 in. (92.4 x 46 cm),
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Photograph: Yale Center for British Art
The king wanted Rubens to stay and work for him but the painter went back home to Antwerp. He left his pupil Anthony van Dyck to satisfy the monarch’s plans. Van Dyck thereafter became principal court painter. In 1649, Banqueting House was also the scene of Charles I’s execution. The king probably walked through one of the hall’s windows onto a platform erected on the building’s north end for his beheading. The building is the only structure remaining of the old palace.
Historical events, artworks, architecture, artists, architects, printmakers, spectacles, societal events, patronage and the role and status of artists are some of the subjects considered in this area. The artifacts on display pack a wallop of mental activity.
Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795, British) and Thomas Bentley (1731-1780, British) after George Stubbs (1724-1806, British), Horse Frightened by a Lion (Episode A),
modelled 1780, solid blue jasper with white relief, shallow oval,
frame: 14 5/8 x 14 1/4 in. (37.1 x 36.2 cm),
image (oval): 10 x 16 in. (25.4 x 40.6 cm),
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Photograph: Yale Center for British Art
The section on George Stubbs also enthralls making apparent the scope of this artist’s achievements. There is much of merit to take in but of special note is a Wedgwood relief, enamel paintings and rarely exhibited human figure and animal drawings.
George Stubbs (1724-1806, British), A Comparative Anatomical Exposition of the Structure of the Human Body with that of a Tiger and a Common Fowl: Human Figure, Lateral View, Undissected (Finished Study for Table VIII),
between 1795 and 1806, graphite on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper,
sheet: 21 1/4 x 16 in. (54 x 40.6 cm),
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Photograph: Yale Center for British Art
George Stubbs (1724-1806, British), A Comparative Anatomical Exposition of the Structure of the Human Body with that of a Tiger and a Common Fowl: Tiger, Lateral View, with Skin and Tissue Removed (Finished Study for Table IX),
between 1795 and 1806, graphite on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper,
sheet: 16 x 21 1/4 in. (40.6 x 54 cm),
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Photograph: Yale Center for British Art
George Stubbs (1724-1806, British), A Comparative Anatomical Exposition of the Structure of the Human Body with that of a Tiger and a Common Fowl: Fowl, Lateral View with Most Feathers Removed (Finished Study for Table X), between 1795 and 1806, graphite on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper, with a strip of same wove paper joined to bottom edge,
sheet: 22 1/4 x 16 in. (56.5 x 40.6 cm),
sheet: 22 1/4 x 16 in. (56.5 x 40.6 cm),
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Photograph: Yale Center for British Art
In the gallery devoted to Thomas Gainsborough, the artist came alive as I read the letter he wrote to his friend William Jackson, composer, essayist and organist of Exeter Cathedral (letter, 1773 Jan. 29, Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection). In his clear script, the artist precisely discloses his methodology for making chalk drawings look like oil paintings. His words make evident the two men’s close friendship. Also on view is a beautiful portrait of a young women. She has been called the "Mona Lisa of British Art" because of her smile and expression.
Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788, British), Portrait of a Woman, ca. 1750,
oil on canvas, 29 7/8 x 26 1/4 inches (75.9 x 66.7 cm)
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Photograph: Yale Center for British Art
The last two rooms introduces visitors to the Seven & Five Society, an early twentieth-century art group whose artist members sought to combine modernity with Britishness. As the Society evolved, the group’s intention became experimental and abstract. Among the members were Henry Moore, John Piper, Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth. Examples of their work are installed admirably for easy comparison.
Although the show may lack what is considered great masterpieces, it offers much that educates and delights. For those who can not make it to New Haven, go to the Center’s “user friendly” website and experiment with their online catalogue. There are many options to begin searches, various ways to narrow and refine results, mix filters or widen inquires. The database is a work in progress. Advance capabilities lie ahead
May 20, 2011–September 11, 2011
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