My Top 5 Exhibitions of 2015

If you've read my blog for a while, you'll know that I love a good exhibition. And 2015 was no exception! Scanning through my diary I realised that I've visited a whopping 15 exhibitions at 9 different museums and galleries over the last 12 months including galleries in London, Paris, Bath, Budapest and little old Eastbourne. My ArtFund Pass definitely worked out overcome and more than paid for itself! So, I thought I narrow them down to my top 5 museum events of the year and have a good ol' reminisce about my favourites.

1. Savage Beauty at the V&A

The Alexander McQueen exhibition was one of the most anticipated of the year and I remember logging on to my computer the moment tickets came on sale. I was not disappointed - this was a showstopper in every sense of the word. Beautifully displayed outfits in glass cages conjured up a cabinet of curiosities feel and showcased McQueen's sheer creative genius perfectly. Read my full review here.

2. Sonia Delaunay at the Tate Modern

I hadn't heard much about Sonia Delaunay before exploring the summer exhibition at the Tate, but now she is one of my absolute favourites. A textile designer, painter, tapestry weaver, and fashion designer; the sheer abundance of her creative output is so very impressive. I couldn't help but be inspired by her as you can read in this blog post here. She truly was an incredibly talented woman.

3. Silent Partners at the Fitzwilliam Museum

Back in January I visited the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge for the first time and saw the Silent Partners exhibition. The 'silent partners' showcased were artist's dummies of all different types and varieties, from wooden mannequins and childlike dolls to more sinister creations. This was one of the most eery and magical displays I saw this year and something a little bit different!

4. Liberty in Fashion at the Fashion & Textile Museum

When I heard that the Fashion & Textile Museum in London (one of my perennial faves) would be putting on an exhibition of Liberty fashion in the autumn I knew it would be right up my street. Florals and fashion are a match made in heaven, and the exhibition gave a wonderful look at how Liberty has influenced what we wear through the decades, from smocked blouses to ditsy print dresses. Read my full review here.

5. Splendour and Misery: Pictures of Prostitution at the Musee D'Orsary

Earlier this year I went on a mini weekend break to Paris with some friends. Luckily they also enjoy museums and were happy to come along to the Musee D'Orsay where there was an exhibition on prostitution in art. Not your average topic for a fine art gallery but I really loved what they did with this concept. Aside from some rather risque photographs from the Victorian era that would make your grandma blush, there were some beautiful paintings by Toulouse Lautrec, Degas and Manet. It was so special to see these in real life and the whole exhibition really opened me up to look at art in a different way and to see how women in Paris were seen by these predominately male artists. 

So that's my round-up of what I saw in 2015. Let me know what exhibitions you loved last year and what you are looking forward to in 2016. Here's to many more hours spent in museums and galleries!

A bientot!
Xx

Silent Partners

I feel so lucky that I managed to catch the very last day of 'Silent Partners' at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. I'd been dying to see it ever since I first saw posters about it all over the tube and knew it would be right up my street. Entitled 'Artist & Mannequin from Function to Fetish', the exhibition looks at mannequins throughout history, as props used for paintings and later as the main focus of the images themselves.

The first mannequins we encountered were ones used for medical study, with the ceramic body cut away to reveal neatly carved internal organs. There were also miniature mannequins used to model clothes on a tiny scale, including a Marie-Antoinette style doll with painted on rosy cheeks and a made-to-measure dress with delicate embroidery. But the majority of the exhibition focused on the use of mannequins by artists, as a means of replacing life models. These were created in France and were skilfully designed to mimic the human body, with moveable limbs and sculpted faces. A short film - a piece of early French cinema by Georges Melieres - was also on display and showed some hilarious battles between artist and mannequin.

I loved seeing the Pre-Raphaelite paintings by the likes of Burne-Junes and Ford Madox Brown and was to surprised to learn how often they used mannequins in their work. 'The Black Brunswicker' by Millais shows Kate Dickens (daughter of Charles) in an embrace with a soldier. However, as she was unmarried the artist had to make use of mannequins so that the two where never in the room at the same time!

As well as the main exhibit, throughout the museum there were a selection of photographs by Tim Walker, hidden in various rooms. Tim Walker is one of my favourite photographers, so it was lovely to see some of his pictures blown up. I had never really thought about the influence that mannequins have on his photography, but he so often references them in his work (type in 'Tim Walker mannequin' into Google and you'll see what I mean). This is why I love going to museums and exhibitions so much as you get to learn who inspired who and find out how everything is connected.

There is something eery and unsettling about mannequins, and the exhibition captured this perfectly, with the life-like dolls sitting throughout the exhibition, staring blankly into space. And, whilst I would not like to be trapped in this exhibition at night, I honestly found it to be one of the most intriguing and inspiring that I've been to in a long time.

If you missed the exhibition (like I very nearly did) then you'll be able to catch it across the Channel in Paris! For more information see here.