Konrad Mägi's gorgeous paintings at Dulwich Picture Gallery

Those clever curators at Dulwich PG have done it again. This time, Kathleen Soriano (yes, it's that lady from Sky's Landscape/Portrait Artist of the Year shows) has curated a fabulous collection of Konrad Mägi's work, and I can see why she loves them!

I was at the press view prior to the exhibition opening on 24th March and it was a delight seeing and hearing Kathleen enthuse about Konrad colourful life and artworks. We also got to meet and hear from Kristina Ollek whose evocative pieces fill the mausoleum space at the centre.

Konrad's work, especially his Baltic and Finnish, landscapes look like textile designs. There's definitely a hint of Klimt in there. His patterns, brushwork and colours is inspirational.

I'm here showing cropped sections of the paintings rather the full works: 

His portraits are absolutely gorgeous. Stylised Jazz Age sitters with big eyes and fulsome lips, mostly staring off into the distance and not looking at all jolly.

The last six pics show a selection of lovely lips and some smaller works. 

Finally, here are some pics I took of Kristina's creations:

A really good show – on until 12th July. Easily accessible by train or the P4 bus (Lewisham to Brixton) which stops right outside the gallery gate.

Lots to see at ING Discerning Eye 2025 art exhibition at The Mall Galleries – FREE! Closes 1pm Sunday 23rd Nov

One week / c750 artworks – Free admission, no booking required
Discerning Eye at The Mall Galleries – Enter via the first door nearest Admiralty Arch
Thu/Fri/Sat 10am–5pm  / Last day: Sunday 23rd 10am–1pm

I visited yesterday afternoon – here are some of my favourites:

The Birthday Party, John Walsom / High Heel at Fuseli [Room 17], James Gosling

Sgurr Finnisg-Aig, Inverness-shire, Sarah Crossfield / At Home, Walking the Dog, at Night, Adebola Bolarinwa

Someone I knew, Jo Harley / 3 Minutes (and 25 Years_, Jill Colchester

Protest 2, Andrew Newton / Robin, Lucy Stopford

Pizza, Robbie Wraith / Woolworths, Mandy Payne

White Goat, Lois Sykes / Pose - Expose, Patrick Baker

Twigs 3, Alex Price / Home from Sainsbury's, Simon Conolly

Being Serious, Paul Brown / Portal, Ruth Geldard

Discerning Eye – I'll enter something next year – hell, I managed to get into the RA Summer Show this year, so why not give this one a go? However, I have you ever seen a more ironic logo – there's nothing discerning about this typography car crash!

Religion and Rembrandt and black black BLACK at Dulwich Picture Gallery

After visiting the wonderful Anna Ancher show last week I skimmed the artworks in the other rooms. There are some corkers to be found – every rime I visit I spot something new, probably because they move and swop the works to keep us on our toes!

On this occasion, I was engaged by a couple of preparatory sketches for ceiling works by Tiepolo located in the central area, almost opposite the main entrance:

Sketches? Wow! Gorgeous! The second one is 'Virtue and Nobility Putting Ignorance to Flight' commissioned for the Villa Cordelina in Venice. I do love a bit allegory.

I am also keen on religious themed artworks even though I don't believe in fairy stories. Who doesn't love the depiction of a tortured saint?! Last time I was there I took snaps of some paintings which were also in the central section on the opposite wall to where the Tiepolos are today, though I can't guarantee they are currently on view:

St Catherine of Siena by Carlo Dolci, above, bottom left, next to an interestingly amended work attempting to keep up with the zeitgeist of that era. 

On that day I also snapped a pic of Mrs Joan Allen looking fiercely elegant in black: 

A touch of the Princess Anne, I think. I wonder if that's a riding outfit.  

Black Black BLACK!  Note the reference to black dye being expensive back then. 

Black dye it might be cheaper now, but it's still one of the most difficult dyes to fix, and one of the most damaging for the planet vis the processes involved (go google) yet it is the most prominent [non] colour being worn today – I have never before seen so many people head to foot in black clothes as there are out there in 2025.  It's become a lazy uniform. Has someone died? Is everyone in mourning? Have we time-travelled back to the 1880s? Perhaps there's a permanent Goth or witches' convention? Or is Hallowe'en a year-round event now? Actually, no – whilst I think of it, Hallowe'en has become just an excuse for any kind of fancy dress with fake blood added. Schoolgirl? Policeman? Robot? Clown? Just add flour, ketchup and black eyeliner and you too will go to the party. And don't get me started about all that non-recyclable polyester used as fake cobwebs. But you can't have a plastic straw for your Um Bongo, your Kia-ora, or your G&T.  

Anyway, enough observational ranting... back to the lovely artworks... 

First a bit of showing off by Fragonard. He's the fella who painted the girl on a swing which is on display at The Wallace Collection. Ooh naughty!

On the end wall adjacent to the excellent gift shop there are paintings by Rembrandt showing how his style changed from detailed brushwork in 1632 on the left when he was 26, to his later looser style in 1668. Clara Reubens, the young girl, was painted in 1620 by her father, Peter Paul. They are all lovely. 

Finally, one of my favourite Thomas Gainsborough paintings is At Dulwich Picture Gallery. Dated 1753, it depicts 'A Couple in a Landscape' illustrating the wealthy land owners of that era, although their identity has never been specified.

I've here married it with a section of a small painting that hangs on my wall at home. The artist, Christopher H. Grisley has named the couple in his Gainsborough pastiche as Mr & Mrs Andrews, whoever they might be.

Dulwich Picture Gallery – more info here – oh, and a new cafe space has opened up adjacent to the gallery building – it serves really good coffee, by which I mean I had an Americano and it was actually strong coffee as requested – I couldn't see the bottom of the cup!

Tirzah Garwood: Beyond Ravilious at Dulwich Picture Gallery – a very talented lady

Dulwich Gallery as done it again... yet another excellent exhibition .This is the first major exhibition of Tirzah Garwood's work, ever, since her death in1951. 

98% of Tirzah's work is today in private collections. As such, most of this show is comprised of artworks that have never before been available to the public. A multi-talented artist, she was already producing wonderfully-detailled woodcuts in her teens, well before she met and married Eric Ravilious (Dulwich exhibition 2015). It can now be seen that she was the greater talent of this couple, accomplished in many additional creative techniques including oil paintings and watercolours, marbling techniques, 3D models and textural embroidery.

This excellent show is on until 26th May 2025. More info here. Form a neat crocodile and enter Tirzah's world... 

Photo of the artist as a young woman and two versions of the same subject matter employing very different techniques.

Much of Tirzah's work has a human element to it, full of wonderful little observations about our quirks and the the little details in the world around us, whether on paper or as small 3D scenes.

The little 3D worlds are a delight, capturing a time forgotten. 

An accomplished paper marbler, Tirzah also created designs for lampshades and produced gorgeous handmade marbled papers in various designs:  

These paper examples are some of my favourite pieces at the exhibition. It beggars belief how she managed to achieve these repeat patterns, let alone fulfill orders for multiples of 50, which must have taken ages to produce. However, she never was able to find a company who could produce her designs in larger formats, such as wallpaper.

A 3D house, a handmade patchwork quilt and another example of her multi-stitch embroidery.

What an amazing talent. This is an inspirational show. Since seeing Tirzah's work I have dug out some of my own creations. I can't help but think she and I are kindred spirits, what with all the various skills and techniques I have turned my own hands to over the years. 

Tirzah Garwood: she really was Beyond Ravilious

Only a few days left to see these delightful dolls' houses at The Guildhall Gallery – ends 31st Oct

There's a lovely a wall of miniature worlds created within shoes boxes and the like either side of Lord Tennyson 's bust at The Guildhall Art Gallery. 

As I say in the title; it's delightful in many ways. If you can't manage to get there yourself, you can find out more about the Giant Dolls' House Project here.

The Guildhall's excellent gallery and Roman amphitheatre are always worth a visit – and FREE to enter! 

I see stripes – Portrait Award 2024 at NPG – ends 27th October

Every year I try to see the final cut for the National Portrait Gallery's award. Find out more here. 

On this occasion, I visited with a friend and discovered that we liked a lot of the same paintings, which is interesting because none of our favourites won a prize, these having been awarded pieces that we'd given less than a few seconds of our time. I'm not a fan of photo-realistic art; there are cameras for that!

One thing I did find interesting – many the subjects in this year's paintings are wearing stripey things:

Only ten days left to see this show. Ends on Sunday 27th October.

Gabriel von Max and Rene Magritte – 'Jesus Christus' on my wall and at Christie's London

A couple of weeks ago I bought this old framed print “Jesus Christus” from a local second hand shop. It's behind glass and hard to photograph. Even though I’m an atheist, I'm a sucker for a beautiful religious piece, and I was drawn to this dark brooding version of Christ. I immediately hung it the wall when I got home that day. 

Ten days later, yesterday, walking down Duke Street, St James's, heading to Christie’s to see the latest auction (wow! fab). This street offers a view into some of the sale rooms. I stopped in my tracks when I saw what I assumed to be the original painting of my new Jesus acquisition! We whizzed inside and discovered the painting is by Rene Magritte, completed in 1918 when he was only 20 years old, long before he was seduced by surrealism (theres's a lot of that stuff in the other rooms).

It’s a beautiful painting, signed clearly by the Magritte at top right. Hmm, I thought, I don’t recall seeing that sig on my print. And then I noticed other things about that didn’t seem ‘right’ as I was sure my print was of a painting that was more delicate/fine. I took some photos and decided to delve further at a later date.

When I got home, I studied my print and discovered it’s not the same work. A bit of quick online research makes it clear that Magritte's work is a copy of an 1885 painting by Gabriel von Max, his version of The Veil of Veronica. 

Indeed, I looked at my snap of the Christie's info card at the side of the Magritte work and noticed that it does indeed show 'After Gab Max' on it – that hadn't meant anything to me at the time.

Max's art was popular during his lifetime and his image of Jesus quickly became available as lithographic prints, such as mine. He appears to have been a rather interesting man – amongst other things, he kept a ‘herd of monkeys’ in his garden house!

As these comparisons show (not taken at the exact same angle), Max's 1885 painting (L) and Magritte's 1918 painting (R) differ in many places: 

Magritte’s version is more about the paint, which I love. Well, I love them both. Although Magritte has taken pains to copy some of Max's delicate red marks, he loses subtlety in the face especially around the eyes (which can be viewed as open or closed). Magritte has also enhanced the edges of the cloth (a fabrication by Max) and altered the position of the title at the bottom (see the framed versions above). And the signature – on close inspection, I can see on my print that there is a hint of a signature at top left (not visible here) that Magritte has chosen to replace with his own.  

It's all a lovely coincidence, seeing as I had no idea about this image until ten days ago and would have been entranced by the Magritte version had I never see the Max one. I am now buzzing with questions: 

Why did Magritte paint a copy of another man’s painting? Was it simply a training piece? 

Where was Max's painting hanging at that time? Is that where Magritte made the copy? Or did he copy one of the many lithographic copies?

What other paintings did Magritte copy at this time?

Would Magritte's painting be worth Christie's estimated auction price of £70-100K had not later become famous for gravity-defying apples and pipes? 

In comparison, how much is Max’s painting today? And where is it? 

Christie’s sale rooms are always worth visiting. Ditto all other auction rooms. They are free to view and often it’s the only way to see beautiful works that will end up in private collections.