Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park

Besides 'my' house in Leamington Spa, this is my favorite place in the Midlands. 

The art collection and special exhibits are housed in a restored 18th-centuraly mansion surrounded by 120 acres of parkland which was landscaped by Lancelot "Capability" Brown (c. 1715-16 -- 1783), known as "England's greatest gardener." 

The grounds currently include this installation in the meadow by Morag Myerscough. 




The rest of the grounds are peaceful and lovely, a beautiful place to spend the day. 



I love museums that are small enough to see every piece in the collection, including special exhibits, which is the case at Compton Verney. The permanent collection includes a bunch of Renaissance Art. I'm not a huge fan of Renaissance Art, but for some reason, this collection was so vibrant and just... pretty... and of course weird, because those dudes were definitely weird. 




Like I said, weird. 

I've been creeped out by the work of Cranach the Elder for years. 
chunkster

The first special exhibition was by David Batchelor: Colour Is.






The second special exhibition was Magnum Photos: Where Ideas are Born. This was a super-cool exhibit of journalistic photographs or some of my favorite artists in their studios. 
Alexander Calder in his studio

Keith Haring at work

Andy Warhol in his studio
Yayoi Kusama painting her famous dots

Roy Lichtenstein in his studio


The last part of the permanent collection I visited was of British folk art. Again, I don't typically love folk art. It usually looks... messy to me. But I really liked much of this collection; it was weird and whimsical.