"Besotted by paint"

Byblos

2017

Gillian Ayres

Some artists are simply heroic.

Gillian Ayres went to study art at Camberwell College of Arts, but found the course too restrictive. So she left and went to work as a chambermaid in a Paris hotel. Neither she nor her vibrant art ever looked back.

This is abstract art.

People often call any art which is hazy or strange 'abstract', but really it's work like this which works purely with colour and shape.

I love this particular work which Ayres painted just a year before her death. We imagine that we can see movement and depth in it (although that's just an illusion), and there's a pleasing sense of balance about it. But, for me, it's the colour: the bouncing, lively colour which is such fun and so beautiful.

Her obituary in the New York Times said she was "besotted by paint". What a legacy she's left us.

en fleuri

Almond Tree in Blossom

date uncertain

Pierre Bonnard

My aesthetics tutor would remind us after each tutorial in Spring "Go and look at some cherry blossom". Here is Pierre Bonnard painting almond blossom. This is a lovely painting which revels in strong sunlight exploding off the white and pink flowers.

Bonnard and his peers wanted to take art beyond Impressionism, filling it with meaning, expressive emotion and symbolism. It's easy to imagine that Bonnard was inspired by the sight of this tree. He seems to have gone to lengths to depict the sharp angles of the older lower branches, and set them against the frothy blossom. And perhaps this is more than simple contrast. Is Bonnard rejoicing at the yearly emergence of beauty out of old and unpromising stock?

For people who know their Bibles, the almond branch bursting into bloom was the vision of reassurance given to the Prophet Jeremiah. Perhaps it was a vision for Bonnard too.

wistful

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose.

1886

John Singer Sargent

It would be easy to dismiss this offering from the much-travelled artist John Singer-Sargent as a piece of Victorian sentimentality. It's certainly a painting that tempts you to create stories about the subject.

But there is far more here.

Compared to his fairly restrained portraits, the artist has really let go here. We have a storm of lilies and carnations (with a scattering of pink roses), glowing Chinese lanterns in pastel colours, two young girls in white, and all set in the purple of evening light. The gentle torrent of colour is almost overwhelming.

The colours are accentuated by the dusk-tones and the sharp points of light on the girls' smocks and the closest blooms. The girls' focus and concentration tend to make them one with the flowers and the lanterns. And the flat feel of the painting - there's no horizon line to give us a sense of depth - brings the subject very close to us.

We don't need to use this painting to remind us of fond memories or as a springboard for wistful daydreaming (although it might work as both of those),

It's a painting to simply delight in.