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iidtouudiiehav‘" Al honse Mucha - Master 0 Art Nouveau
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A survey of Mucha’s glittering career
Spread across two floors of the City Art Centre, the Mucha Retrospective is an enchanting encounter wrth the essence of Art Nouveau.
A masterful engineer of intricate designs, the Czech-born artist worked in a variety of mediums and this comprehenswe exhibition clearly illustrates his drversrty. Lesser known works of photography, Jewellery, sculpture and Oils are shown alongside his poster art and decorative panels which turned him into a household name. Portraying beautiful women, hrs posters were used to advertise everything from theatre to Nestle to nature.
But Mucha's dream work was The Slav Epic, which enabled him to depict his Slav nationality and history. Although the prints can only convey a miniaturised splendOur of the original oils, the detail and light source emanating from this work is mesmerisrng.
Mucha wanted to ’talk to the SOUl of the nation' and as this exhibition reveals, he certainly achieved his goal. (Isabella Weir)
E Alphonse Mucha — Master Of Art Nouveau, City Art Centre, 529 3993, until 30 Sep, Mon—Sat 70am—6pm, Sun noon—5pm. [3 (£2.50); season ticket f7. 50; family ticket f9.
ART REX/YET."
Heaven And Hell And Other Worlds
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Attitudes on the afterlife
Let's face rt, the Grim Reaper comes to us all eventually. And when rt does, what wrll happen? Will we experience Supreme bliss or suffer at the hands of Lucifer in a burning inferno? Often a taboo SUbJECI, Heaven And Hell looks
Laurence Olivier, The Entertainer (1957) photographed by Snowdon
death in the eye wrth a smorgasbord of global vrews on the afterlife. Illustrated wrth over 300 ObJECIS spanning 6,000 years, the display rs drvrded into SIX main themes, ranging from the diversity of funerals and reincarnation to communicating wrth and celebrating the dead. Absorbing and educational, the vrbrant recreation of a Mexican Day of the Dead stall and Sean Read's life-sized model of a modern immortal, Elvrs Presley are clear favourites. Concluding wrth vrdeo vrews on the afterlife from people of different faiths, you too can have y0ur say on the comments form provrded. (Helen Monaghan).
8 Heaven And Hell And Other Worlds, Royal Museum, 247 4279, until 77 Feb, Mon—Sat 70am—5pm; Tue 70am—8pm, Sun noon—5pm. £3
(f 7.50); under 785 free; Tue from 4.30—8.30pm, free.
PHOTOGRADHVREJETJ Euan Myles - Trap 6
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The award-winning photographer picks a winner
A glossy coat, a determined glint, or Sleekly attenuated hindguarters - how w0uld you pick a Winner? In Trap 6, award-Winning photographer Euan Myles depicts the greyhOund. Featuring a series of SIX sharp and striking photographs, we are given dogs one to SIX, wearing the customary racing Jackets, and standing in classical poses on conventional plinths. Carrying on in the tradition of Stubbs' paintings, Myles shows the grace and beauty, as well as the dOClle obedience, of these sinuous beasts. He also pushes yOu into choosing y0ur favourite, be it based on form, on a lucky number or one of six background colours. With these impressively effective photographs Myles leaves rt up to the amateur gambler to choose their own wrnner in this, a canine beauty contest,
(Claire Mitchell)
II Euan Myles — Trap 6, Ink Tank, 226
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INSTALLATION PREVIEW
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The aspects of female sexuality and personality that are not normally seen
Abigail O'Brien and Mary Kelly
Dublin artists Abigail O'Brien and Mary Kelly’s collaborative video piece How To Butterfly A Leg Of Lamb is just that — a visual representation of a recipe from start to finish. The work transports a domestic act into the
context of the gallery space.
‘One of the aspects of the work would be how context changes meaning,’ says Kelly, ’but that isn’t the main point. We’re both very interested in the domestic, the ritual, and how women are imaged. We wanted to make a piece of work about the aspects of female sexuality and personality that are not normally seen - that kind of ferociousness in the woman.’
’lt’s not a didactic piece,‘ O’Brien adds, 'lt’s more about questioning, looking and responding to an apparently simple domestic situation.’
How To Butterfly A Leg Of Lamb, then, is open to multiple interpretations, from an examination of gender roles in society, to comment on changing domestic practice. (Jack Mottram)
I Abigail O’Brien and Mary Kelly Edinburgh College Of Art (Venue 73) 227
5449, until 29 Sep, Mon—Fri 8.30am—630pm; Sat 81 Sun by appointment. Free.
PHOTOGRAPHY REVIE‘ll Photographs by Snowdon: A Retrospective
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A star-studded line-up of celebrity snapshots
Snowdon has certainly got ar0und over the years and snapped a diverse line-up of indiViduals. There’s Damien Hirst naked in a large fish tank. There’s Barbara Cartland whose dress sense is clearly inspired by Mr Kipling's Fondant FanCies: she is a Vision in frothy, sickly sweet pink. And of c0urse, there are the obligatory Royals, a veritable cavalcade of actors and ballerinas in tutus.
Yet Snowdon's photographs for all their gloss and stylish props are no fashion shots. You sense that Snowdon uses his camera to do a little character investigation. One wonders if he suggested to a perfectly-turned out Joan Collins that she should be photographed eating a banana or if Collins was jUSI feeling a little peckish at the time. Whatever the truth, it's good to behold, and somewhat fitting, to see Collins clearly relishing the said frurt. (Susanna Beaumont)
I Photographs By Snowdon. A Retrospective, City Art Centre, 529 3993, until 30 Sep, Mon—Sat 70am—6pm; Sun noon—5pm. {3 (£2.50), season ticket f 7. 50, family ticket [9.
PAILTING Ré‘i’lE'."r’
Men Of The Clyde: Stanley 5 encer’s Vision At Port
G asgow (1940—1947)
*t** Spencer’s working class heroes
In 1940 Stanley Spencer arrived in Port Glasgow. As OffiCial War Artist, Spencer had been commissioned to paint the workers of Lrthgow's shipyard. This may seem an unusual assignment, given that the shipyard was hardly a World War II battleground, yet as the yard produced the bulk of wartime merchant ships, the shipburlders were arguably a vital component of the 'war effort'.
The reSults of Spencer’s commisSion were eight frieze-like paintings. Here in the dimly lit Portrait Gallery, they are lent the solemnrty of Renaissance religious art. Spencer’s shipburlders are a thickset bunch ceaselessly tOiIrng as if they believe God is firmly on their side. And though these men are very much at work, one can't detect a bead of sweat or a patch of unsrghtly grime. These men are heroes, the paintings a glorification of manual labOur.
But Spencer was hardly at liberty to show them otherwrse. He was duty- bOund to produce a piece of uplifting propaganda, which is perhaps why these works pale when compared to his celebrated Cookham Resurrection, (Susanna Beaumont)
l Men Of The Clyde." Stanley Spencer’s Vision At Port Glasgow r l 940— l 94 7) National Portrait Gallery (Venue 44) 624 6200, until 7 Oct, Mon—Sat 70am—6pm, Sun 7 lam—6pm. Free.
72 THE lIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 3—10 Aug 2000