The Bottom Line
Pros
- Showcases a less famous art movement that also focused on light and color.
- Some 50 paintings on display. Includes works from private collections, which you don't otherwise.
- Final room in the exhibition shows Futurist artists who had painted in a Divisionist style.
- No huge crowds to elbow your way through to see the paintings. Timed entry tickets available too.
- From London the exhibition travels to the Kunsthaus in Zurich (until 11 Jan 2009).
Cons
- Exhibition will be at two locations only (London and Zurich).
- Some paintings in catalog not on show (not unusual as catalogs are put together well in advance).
Description
- Radical Light: Italy's Divisionist Painters 1891--1910 exhibition showcases 50 paintings by various artists.
- At the National Gallery in London, 18 June to 7 September 2008. Open 10:00 to 18:00, and until 21:00 on Wednesdays.
- Works on loan from public and private collections. Exhibition sponsored by Credit Suisse.
- Free exhibition booklet provides short biographies of the painters, useful for further study back home.
- Exhibition catalog available from National Gallery bookstore. (Read review)
Guide Review - Exhibition Review: Radical Light, Italy's Divisionist Painters
In his review of the Radical Light exhibition Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones said the price of a ticket (£8) was worth it to see just Umberto Boccioni's 1910 masterpiece The City Rises. My choice of paintings would be these two: Emilio Longoni's Glacier, which from a distance looks so realist but up close is a simmering mass of flecks of color, and on the opposite wall Bouberto Boccionni's Roman Landscape or Midday, of a cow in a lush flower meadow with only a sliver of sky in the composition.
That's not to say the other paintings aren't worth seeing. If you enjoy the Pre-Raphaelites, you will likely enjoy the saturated colors and intense light. If you're interested in broken color or Pointillism, you will enjoy standing up close to inspect just how the paint has been applied and where individual colors have been located to build up the picture. There are subjects with a social theme (e.g. poverty, motherhood), some with strong symbolism, and in the last room a selection showing the way to Futurism (a movement which rejected past traditions and embraced modernism; to me the paintings are chaotic and unappealing but I overheard people raving about them).
I found this exhibition stimulating. First was the exposure to new paintings, a good third of which I walked around again for a second look and a few which I could have looked at for hours. It was intriguing comparing how various paintings had been done. Some used the weave of the canvas with touches of paint catching the thread, others had no visible canvas at all but layers of tiny flecks of color. Some used brushmarks to define a shape (e.g. a hill) and others up close were just swirls of intermingled color that give form only when you step away. Some signatures even had shadows. Definitely worth the entry fee.
