Exhibition | From Life
Thomas Rowlandson, Drawing from Life at the Royal Academy, (Somerset House), hand-coloured aquatint by A. C. Pugin and Thomas Rowlandson published in Ackermann’s The Microcosm of London, 1 January 1808. 20 × 26 cm (London: Royal Academy of Arts).
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
Press release from the RA for the exhibition:
From Life
Royal Academy of Arts, London, 11 December 2017 — 11 March 2018
Curated by Adrian Locke
The Royal Academy of Arts presents From Life, a special exhibition project taking place across two distinct spaces: the Sackler Wing of Galleries and the Tennant Gallery. From Life examines what making art from life has meant to artists throughout history and how the practice is evolving as technology opens up new ways of creating and visualising artwork.
Drawing from casts of Classical and Renaissance sculpture and life models was long considered essential training for any aspiring artist, and was once a staple of the RA Schools, Britain’s longest established fine art school. Beginning with a display of historic paintings and works on paper drawn from the RA Collection, From Life explores the practice of life drawing, from the origins of the Royal Academy in the 18th century to the present day, whilst also looking to the future. Historic paintings by artists such as Johann Zoffany are followed by works in a diverse range of media by contemporary artists, including Jeremy Deller’s Iggy Pop Life Class (2016), Cai Guo-Qiang’s film One Thousand Youngsters Drawing David (2010), and Jenny Saville’s Entry (2004). From Life also presents work by Royal Academicians who continue to interrogate the practice of working from life, among them Antony Gormley, Chantal Joffe, Michael Landy, and Gillian Wearing.
Liane Lang, Casts Series (Royal Academy), Ars Equina, 2006–07, c-type photographic print.
For the first time the Royal Academy is working with artists exploring emerging technologies, which presents them with new ways to both observe and represent themselves and the world around them. Farshid Moussavi RA, Humphrey Ocean RA, Yinka Shonibare RA, and Jonathan Yeo have experimented with virtual reality technologies, creating new artwork for the exhibition using virtual reality platform HTC Vive, Tilt Brush by Google, and artistic software programmes, including MakeVR Pro. Farshid Moussavi’s VR experience transports visitors into masterpieces of ecclesiastical architecture, which they can adapt and transform themselves, while creative technology and content studio Happy Finish have worked with Yinka Shonibare to develop a three-dimensional rendering of a neo-classical painting, featuring a cast of Venus dressed in Shonibare’s trademark batik fabric. Meanwhile, Humphrey Ocean invites audiences to create their own three-dimensional sketches within a playful virtual environment centred on the artist’s fascination with chairs.
From Life reveals the creative process in making these new artworks, as well as opening up the exciting potential of future artistic applications of virtual reality. HTC Vive has supported the development of these works, which will also be available for audiences to experience at home on Viveport, HTC’s global VR app store. Artist Jonathan Yeo has collaborated with Google Arts & Culture to create the first physical free-standing sculpture in metal made by using Tilt Brush, his creative process is captured in a VR film to be published on Google Arts & Culture Youtube channel. The visitors’ experience of the virtual reality element within the exhibition will depend on availability. As each virtual reality artwork can only be experienced individually, access cannot be guaranteed.
Tim Marlow, Artistic Director of the Royal Academy of Arts said: “This is an experimental project that explores everything from artistic process to technological evolution and creative collaboration. In a sense, From Life embodies what an artist-run academy was, is and might become.”
Sky Arts have commissioned immersive content studio Factory 42 to produce a documentary entitled Virtual Reality: Mystery of Creativity, which explores creating art in a virtual environment and how artists use these cutting-edge technologies to explore the limits of traditional artistic methods. There are also a series of short films across the Royal Academy’s online platforms, as well as available via the Sky VR and Google Arts & Culture apps.
To coincide with From Life and as part of the 250th anniversary celebrations in 2018, the Royal Academy is offering free life drawing classes for 250 people of all abilities in the historic Life Room in the RA Schools [dating to the 1860s]. Each class is for a particular group that has a special relationship with either the RA, drawing, or the human body, from members of the Royal Academy’s outreach programmes to nurses and architects. The guest tutors will not be revealed until the life drawing class begins. The project will be documented by online features and videos. The RA is also inviting the public and Friends of the RA to participate through an open ballot to win 50 places at the following free classes, led by guest tutors who will be revealed on the day. Enter the ballot here.
13 December 2017 (10.30am–1.30pm), exclusive to Friends of the RA
24 January 2018 (10.30am–1.30pm), open to all
Sam Phillips, ed., Artists Working From Life (London: Royal Academy, 2017), 160 pages, ISBN: 978 19103 50904, £22.
From Michelangelo’s marbles to photographer’s self-portraits, artists have always been fascinated by their creative encounters with the human body. Often a key part of their early training, drawing and sculpting from life go on to inform their later work in unexpected and inspiring ways. This illuminating publication brings together interviews with over 19 artists from all disciplines, including painters, sculptors and conceptual artists, working in a variety of different media. Through in-depth conversations with them, the authors explore the many ways artists work ‘from life’: from Jeremy Deller’s open life class with Iggy Pop as model, to Jonathan Yeo’s innovative use of 3D scanners and virtual reality. The interviews are written by contributors including Caroline Bugler, Martin Gayford, Laura Gascoigne, Angela Kingston, Adrian Locke, Ben Luke, Sam Phillips, and Michael Prodger. The book is introduced by an essay on the history of life drawing by Annette Wickham, the Royal Academy’s Curator of Works on Paper.
Sam Phillips is editor of the Royal Academy of Arts Magazine.
Colin Sheaf on Chinese Art for Western Interiors, 1650–1850
From the Society of Antiquaries:
Colin Sheaf | Chinese Art for Western Interiors, 1650–1850
Society of Antiquaries of London, 16 January 2018
Linking Asian craftsmanship with evolving Western tastes in interior decoration and passion for Chinoiserie, the ‘China Trade’ facilitated the arrival in London of principally Chinese artefacts and traditions like tea-drinking, which greatly enriched English polite society between about 1600 and 1850. This lecture will explore this exotic yet fundamentally commercial maritime relationship, illustrating some of the fine lacquers, ‘Export-taste’ ceramics, silks and wallpapers which the ‘Honourable East India Company’ regularly imported.
Colin Sheaf has enjoyed a distinguished 40-year career in the London art auction world after reading Modern History at Worcester College Oxford. A world authority on Asian ceramics and Chinese Art, as Chairman of Bonhams UK and Asia, and Global Head, he directs Asian Art specialist teams across four continents. He has lectured widely in the UK and Asia, and—besides publishing some 120 specialist articles—is co-author of a definitive study of Qing Dynasty Chinese ceramics. He was recently appointed Chairman of the world-famous Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, and chairs the Company running an award-winning historic London Square garden.
All lectures begin at 13.00. Doors open at 12.30 on the day of the lecture. Our Public Lectures are free and open to the public, but space is limited and reservations are strongly recommended to avoid disappointment. To book online, simply click the ‘Reserve Your Seat’ button at the Society of Antiquaries website.
Call for Papers | Fashioning the Early Modern Courtier
From the Call for Papers:
Fashioning the Early Modern Courtier
St John’s College, Cambridge, 16 May 2018
Proposals due by 22 January 2018
Early modern courts were crucial sites for the elaboration and diffusion of specific corporeal models aspiring to shape the ideal man and woman. Fashion, then as now, provides a very material setting that has the power to promote specific patterns of thought and action. This one-day workshop sets out to explore the ways in which clothing contributed to the gendered (self)fashioning of the courtier in early modern Europe (ca. 1500–1750), examining both its symbolic significance and its action on and interaction with the body.
Embracing a corporealist perspective, we endeavour to integrate a semiotic reading of fashion with accounts of its fundamentally embodied nature, both in its creation and in its wearing. Topics examined may range from sartorial trends and beautification techniques to issues related to etiquette and courtly rituals more broadly. The circulation of such practices as well as the making and commercialising of fashionable goods within and beyond courtly circles will also be investigated. Methodological reflections concerning historical research in the field of fashion studies are also welcome, such as the juxtaposition of different types of sources or the epistemological significance of dress reconstruction.
We are delighted to announce two keynote lectures to be delivered by leading scholars, Evelyn Welch (King’s College, London) and Maria Hayward (University of Southampton).
We warmly invite contributions broadly relating to this theme, which may approach questions of early modern fashion and courtly culture from a variety of disciplines including history, art, fashion, textile, and literary studies. Graduate students, early career researchers, and junior curators and conservators are particularly encouraged to apply. Those interested in delivering a paper are invited to submit a proposal of up to 300 words and a brief biographical note to Valerio Zanetti (vz218@cam.ac.uk) by 22nd January 2018.
Enfilade 
leave a comment