Hidden Treasures

You may have read recently about the Zurbarán paintings at Auckland Castle being sold off by their owner, the Church Commissioners. Concern over losing these historical pictures caused an outcry and led to campaigns across the region to prevent the sale. Fortunately, in March, a generous donation of £15 million was received from a City investment manager, Jonathan Ruffer, and the paintings are no longer under threat.

Tucked away in a quiet corner of County Durham, the pictures do not get the exposure of more famous works exhibited in London and other large cities. So what are the paintings like? And are they really worth £15 million? I decided to pay a visit to Auckland Castle over Easter to see them for myself.

The series of paintings is commonly referred to as the Zurburáns although the official name of the group is "Jacob and his Twelve Sons". The picture of Benjamin is actually a copy made by Arthur Pond of the Zurburán original which hangs in Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire.

On entering the Long Dining Room you are immediately confronted with the huge, larger-than-life, 8ft high portraits. There are thirteen portraits in all, one each of Jacob and his 12 sons. Zurbarán based his portraits on the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament and uses the descriptions of the sons to create recognisable figures. Some are obvious: Judah is depicted as a king wearing a crown and robes, and holding a sceptre; Asher is shown as a farmer carrying loaves of bread.

The portraits are dramatic, the ones showing Jacob, Judah, Zebulun, Dan, Gad, Joseph and Bejamin are full of rich reds, greens and gold in their clothing. Issachar is dressed more humbly in a plain green smock working on the land. Simeon is clad in animal skins and his uncivilised vengefulness is hinted at by the sword and the stick he is carrying.

These are an unusual group of religious paintings and it is fitting that they hang in Auckland Castle, the seat of the Bishop of Durham. I'm not sure I would pay £15 million for them but now they have been saved, I hope that many more people will be able to come and see the Zurburáns in the future. These have been hidden treasures for too long and deserve a wider audience. 

Vicky,
Love Your Art.

Relaxing On The Beach

Over the past few weeks we've been busy making some alterations to our kitchen. Moving cupboards around means we've also had to take down or move some of the artwork we have on the walls. Fortunately one of our favourite pictures, a view looking across sand dunes towards the sea, can be left where it is.

The kitchen has a coastal and boating theme and the artworks in the room follow that theme. All the items of art were bought cheaply as we were concerned about damage from the heat and humdity in the room. This picture was one of the earliest we chose together. We picked it up for a fiver in a home decoration shop while out and about on our travels.

It has no frame, but the clipped edges of its composition give the effect of a window, perhaps in a beach hut. It gives us an alternative view to the main kitchen window: an urban scene with patio, concrete path, brick walls and neighbouring houses.

The sand dunes scene has a calm, atmospheric feel to it. You can easily imagine strolling hand in hand along the wooden boardwalk towards the secluded shoreline on a warm summer's evening. With the gentle sound of waves washing over the sand it is a haven of tranquility compared with the realtively hectic activites that go on in the kitchen.

We are pleased that we have been able to keep this picture in its place within the new kitchen arrangement. So now, when we've finished baking bread and cooking soup, we can relax over lunch with a wonderful view to enjoy.

Vicky and Vince,
Love Your Art.

Arts Centre Update 2

Darlington Borough Council, having re-arranged the existing activities at Darlington Arts Centre to run on fewer days, have made the Arts Centre available to Darlington for Culture (DfC) on Monday and Tuesday evenings to run their own programme of events. These would be additional activities, expanding the use of the centre.

Ideas for what to do will largely come from supporters of DfC and at a meeting on 31st March a number of people outlined the ideas they had. They were then hit with a "single whammy" - they must plan and organise their event themselves. This may be a great way to get people more involved in supporting DfC's campaign to save the Arts Centre but it seems like a case of being dropped into the "Big Society" deep end.

It also stopped us putting forward a few vague ideas we have because:

a) we don't know enough about the facilities to work out if an idea is possible
b) we don't know how to assess the overall feasibility of each idea
c) we don't have a broad enough range of skills or experience to take on a broad range of ideas
d) we don't know how to develop the ideas into fully formed proposals
e) we don't have the time to research all the above and work out how the ideas could be implemented
f) we're not in a position to underwrite them financially
g) we can't run three or four ideas on our own

Perhaps a better alternative may be for the steering committee to take each of these ideas, decide how workable it is then organise a small team of people, including the person who suggested it, to plan and implement the idea. This would combine the innovative ideas with the experience and support of others. It could also protect DfC from running unsustainable activities and may also lead to other ideas being considered.

We are hoping to attend the next meeting on Thursday when more details of the programme up to March 2012 will be discussed. But we suspect that our ideas will stay on scraps of paper for now.

Another development coming up in May is that Darlington For Culture are to officially become a Community Benefit Society, a type of co-operative. This approach is more democratic than alternative structures such as the Community Interest Company originally mooted and means that groups and individuals with an interest in the arts can be more directly involved.

This poses an interesting challenge for us: should we become members of this organisation to show our support for the arts in the town? We have discussed this at length between ourselves, debating the pros and cons, trying to predict the future and looking out for alternative proposals that may interfere with DfC's plans. We haven't convinced ourselves either way yet. Here are some of the issues we have considered.

Pros: If DfC take over the running of the Arts Centre it would continue to be used for all its current activities and probably more; DfC's democratic structure would be good for the arts community and should help with funding applications; the cultural parliament meetings that DfC have already been holding helps to direct and validate arts activities in the town.

Cons: Running or expanding the arts centre will be a mammoth task and could be overwhelming; there is no guarantee that DfC will be allowed take control in the future; as a group they have no track record of running such a complex organisation (although the individual experience of the people involved would help); will DfC be able to attract the substantial funding necessary and co-ordinate the resources when Darlington Council finally withdraw all their financial support?

The opportunity for running activities on Monday and Tuesday evenings will allow DfC to begin to show what they are capable of doing. Perhaps we should wait until this is under way before we make our final decision.

Vicky and Vince,
Love Your Art.

Press Freedom

We always look forward to our trips to Richmond Station in North Yorkshire. And on Friday evening we were rewarded as usual with an exciting show of works by twenty of the UK's most popular printmakers.

As we strolled around the building, we were amazed at the broad variety of techniques used: etching, linocut, lithography, aquatint etching, screen printing and engraving. And with an even wider range of subjects and styles there was literally something for everyone to enjoy.

This made it very difficult for us to pick out a couple of particularly interesting pictures to write about. In the end, we agreed that everything was attractive and of high quality. So here are just a few of the things we saw in no particular order of preference.

Tescopolis, by Martin Langford, showed a busy townscape where all the buildings, vehicles and signs were branded or referred to Tesco, suggesting they are taking over the world. The only exception was an advertisement for The History Channel showing a program about Sainsburys.

Vicky's eye was caught by linocuts produced by Colin Moore. He has been influenced by Edward Bawden among others and Vicky instantly recognised the general style. The print "Suffolk" was her favourite with its soft colours and English themes.

Appropriate to the location in a former railway station, Gail Brodholt had a number of pictures showing railway stations and scenes. These were quite atmospheric, and were printed in strong, unusual, almost neon colours.

Ghost by Chris Pig was a detailed engraving that showed a building with ghost-like clouds swirling overhead. Chris has been influenced by film noire amongst other things and the building looks like it has a dark and scary past.

There were several attractive etchings of animals by Sonia Rollo including hares and cows. And Maggie, the cute little dog with big eyes made you just want to say "Ahhh".

We are hoping to win the competition running during the show. The prize is a copy of Nige Barges Past by Anita Klein. It shows a domestic scene which, like our own kitchen, is cramped, limited in space and means we are always bumping into each other. It is also typical of the way we use our kitchen: Vicky likes to cook and Vince likes to clear the cupboards of crisps, biscuits, etc. Hang on, that looks like our oven in the background too!

The show runs until 6th May 2011 and all the prints are available for sale. More details on the Press Freedom exhibition web site.

Vicky and Vince,

Love Your Art