Exhibition: The American Scene, British Museum

[major_clanger]

Tuesday afternoon I found myself with a spare hour or so between a meeting in Holborn and a conference in Bloomsbury. Going from the former to the latter took me past the British Museum, so I thought I'd pop in and have a look at one of the current exhibitions, The American Scene: Prints from Hopper to Pollock. I'm glad I did, as I found it one of the most interesting art shows I've recently seen.

'Prints', as in printed artwork created from some form of cutting or engraving, seem unfairly neglected in modern art. Prior to the invention of photography and photolithography, they were the main medium of reproduced illustration, and artists evolved a wide range of techniques to convey shade and texture. Indeed, it's very evident from looking at the American Scene exhibition that such development continued well after the introduction of photography; arguably it had to, for the print to hold its own as a visual medium.

Being interested as a photographer in the use of light and illumination I was fascinated by some of the lighting and composition techniques used. The prints by Martin Lewis, in particular, were masterpieces of the use of light and shadow to create depth and focus attention. Many of the works on display had been created through government art programmes during the Depression and then WWII, and give insights into very varied aspects of American life and landscape.

Free, and well worth going to see if you can. I'd allow at least half an hour for a quick view, or longer if you want more time to study the prints, as there are 150 or so on display.

Comments

[hatusu.livejournal.com]

It would be a long trip for me. :-P

There are still examples of Depression era art all over Chicago, especially in huge murals. It's very "Ann Rand" in style with muscular bodies and right angles. It's really grand. My local post office has a huge mural and statues, too. It's much more fun than modern post offices.

There are nice examples of Art Deco, too.

[owlfish]

My mother is a copper engraver and printer. I'm glad to read your support for the printing arts!