Two Temple Place

“Two Temple Place is London’s first venue to specifically showcase publicly-owned art from UK regional collections. The building is one of London's hidden architectural gems, an extraordinary late Victorian mansion built by William Waldorf Astor on Embankment”

The Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or Neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England. It became well known in the early nineteenth century, when increasingly serious and learned admirers of neo-Gothic styles sought to revive medieval forms, in contrast to the neoclassical styles prevalent at the time. An example of gothic revival architecture is two temple place which represents the medieval way of design.

The current exhibition shown at two temple place gives us an insight to the work of William Morris, sharing his passion alongside Walter Gropius creating the structure of Bauhaus. A few years into the idea of individual talents the new slogan became art and technology as William Morris bought the unity of teamwork into practice making his work the history of well knows craft and pattern to inspire and remember.  

 William Morris 24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement.

The amazing architectural design of the building leaves and represents an insight to historical art, on the 28^Th October 2011; Two Temple place opened a showcase of publicly owned art from UK regional collections. In 

collaboration with the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, it was the first exhibitions to launch the building.  

As you enter the building you are approached by two magnificent bronze lamp standards either side of the main front doors and steps, representing the body of two boys one holds up a telephone and the other holds up a globe, they celebrate the new age of telecommunication.

The main staircase rises up from the Staircase Hall to the Gallery on the first floor. It comprises three flights of stairs. Before it used to have seven mahogany carvings by Thomas Nicholls on the newel posts, these representing characters from Alexandre Dumas’ “The Three Musketeers”. However they were replaced, by seven bronze sculptures with a Robin Hood theme by the sculptor David Williams-Ellis. 

Édouard Manet

Édouard Manet was a French painter. Approaching modern life subjects he was the first in the 19^th century to do this, his work showed Realism to Impressionism.

His early masterworks, The Luncheon on the Grass (Le déjeuner sur l'herbe) and Olympia, challenged those of the younger generation who would create Impressionism. Today, these are considered paintings that mark the genesis of modern art. He completed painting his last major work, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère in 1882.

A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (French: Un bar aux Folies Bergère), painted and exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1882,. It shows a time in the Folies Bergère nightclub in Paris. It was originally Emmanuel Chabriers who was Manet's neighbour.

The painting is very detailed, the beer would have catered not to the liking of Parisians, but the the English tourists, suggesting a British clientele.

 Manet signed his name on the label of the bottle, mixing together the practise of old centuries of art with the new modern self promotion of art. Giving my interpretation of the piece I believe the woman is selling herself, the expression on her face also supports my opinion, the man talking to the woman behind may be suggesting he is a client.

If you notice that the background of this picture is meant to be a mirror on the wall reflecting the bar, however the reflections are not accurate and the woman’s reflection is not shown directly behind her nut beside her. The bottles are also not in accurate reflection in the mirror. These details were criticized in the French press when the painting was shown. The assumption is faulty. Many critics view the faults in the reflection to be a message that the women show a double reality. 

Paul McCarthy

Paul McCarthy (born August 4, 1945), is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

Often considered to be influenced by Viennese Actionism, however McCarthy disagreed and found his work was very different. "Vienna is not Los Angeles. My work came out of kids' television in Los Angeles. I didn’t go through Catholicism and World War II as a teenager; I didn't live in a European environment. People make references to Viennese art without really questioning the fact that there is a big difference between ketchup and blood. I never thought of my work as shamanistic. My work is more about being a clown than a shaman."McCarthy’s work portrays the message of “the myth of artistic greatness” and ignores the perception of the heroic male artist.

Paul McCarthy’s new edition of sculptures has been put of display in the galleries of Hauser & Writh. McCarthy’s work represents the mayhem and fictive universe of his unique style making it a new idea for modern art making. 

Captain Ballsack (Original) (2001-2009) is a heterogeneous three metre high sculpture that combines clay, carpet, foam and fibreglass with found objects. His giant cleft chin is in fact an enormous rancid-looking scrotum. On a pair of knock-kneed legs, he stands on a red- carpeted platform with what looks to be semen over it its a kind of extreme cartoon character.

George Bush is featured alongside pigs in several new sculptures. Mountain (2009), shown in the gallery, is a foam sculpture of Bush heads and pig bodies resting upon auction catalogues. The sculptures show each of the figures performing actions, moving backwards and forward spinning their heads around following the viewers around the space.

Viewing the gallery I seemed to have found the sculptures were half finished figures which is a part of McCarthy’s work that he tries to portray as being unique. Every detail of each sculpture is positioned as if it were a film set. Different from the picture perfect Disney fairytales, McCarthy suggests his “pig island” shows off its unfinished state, giving the viewer the process and development of his never ending work.

 Elizabeth Butterworth (born 1949) is an English artist, especially known for her paintings of Parrots. She was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, and studied at the Rochdale School Of Art  1966-1968,  Maidstone College Of 1968-1971, and at the Royal College of Art in London 1971-1974. She has had numerous solo exhibitions of her work.

Looking at a piece I found in the gallery by Elizabeth attracted me to the amazing detail and perfection of her work. Painted with fine smooth water colour, she has created an almost life like image of a parrots wing representing the beauty of nature.

“Scarlet Macaws Wing” 1949 watercolour on paper.

Graham Crowleys peice also describes the beauty of nature and the realism of his painting by creating something which almost looks like a photo. The snow gently settled on the grass in a feild, nearby a home gives the picture a homely feel. Just like Elizabeth he has created an image with so much detail and time taken which shows throughout the painting.

“Blue Lane” 2003-4 1950 Oil on canvas

Wilhelm Sasnal

Wilhelm Sasnal (born December 29, 1972 ) is a Polish painter. Sasnal received his diploma of painting in 1999 from the Academy of fine arts in Krakow.

Sasnal produces pencil drawings, ink drawings, photographs, videos and paintings. He is primarily a painter. He paints everyday objects, portraits of historical figures, views of his home town Cracow, snapshots of friends and family members, however images off the interent are his starting points. While painting is still at the centre of Sasnal’s work, he has also increasingly turned to photography and film in recent years. 

This is one of Wilhelm’s pieces and he has created a landscape, with what looks like to be a child standing in front of an adult looking into the lake. Bearing in mind his work describes the complex experience of life today. 

Comparing this piece to Peter Blake’s “Love me do” I found Wilhelm showed more of a life like image to me in my opinion whereas Peter describes today’s pop art, very entertaining colourful pieces, non realistic. Making him very 1950s retro. 

Love me do 2004
Is a screen-print with diamond dust, it shows the retro style of Blake’s work which represent colour and more attraction than a message. This is what makes the piece very different from Wilhelm.  

GOVERNMENT ART COLLECTION

"With over 13,500 works of art spanning five centuries, the Government Art Collection is the most dispersed collection of British art in the world. Placed in offices and official residences, two thirds of the works are on display in British Government buildings in nearly every capital city. Dating from 1898, the Collection helps promote British art and history while contributing to cultural diplomacy".