The Art Galleries
London, like Paris and New York, is famous for its many public galleries and private collections.
In London the Tate and Tate Modern have more recent works as well as a large collection of the works of Turner; while the National Gallery has a more classical collection; although there is some overlap. The National Portrait Gallery has what the name implies. Many artists represented in these collections also have works in Australian public collections, so it is interesting to see their other works close at hand and to compare techniques and subject matter.
The Tate holds a number of English pre-Raphaelites and their Royal Academy contemporaries. These were also enormously popular with nineteenth century Australian collectors.
Australian artists have long studied in London and Paris and some English artists made their home in Australia so we find numerous artists of the period in common between English and Australian collections.
 The Queen of Sheba before Soloman E J Poynter 1890 - in Sydney |
 The Lady of Shalott John William Waterhouse 1888 - in London |
Amongst the pre-Raphaelites was Solomon J Soloman's Birth of Eve that until recently hung in the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney (as part of the Schaeffer Collection); where I thought it still was. To my surprise there it was in London in the Tate; so I presume that it has been sold, back to where it was painted. But it was like running into someone you know.
 Birth of Eve in Sydney in 2011 |
 Birth of Eve in London in 2013 |
It is also interesting these days to see works by often more contemporary British artists not represented in Australia. Australian curators and trustees have a more active domestic art scene to buy from and seem to look more towards America and Asia for overseas acquisitions these days.
Here are some more contemporary images from the Tate Modern and the Tate; not all British.
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I can't see an Epstein sculpture without remembering the patently untrue but amusing limerick:
| There's an extraordinary family named Stein There's Gert and there's Ep and there's Ein Gert's poetry's bunk Ep's sculpture is junk And nobody understands Ein |
Unfortunately, as I have complained elsewhere, several galleries in London prohibit photographs. But you can see many of them 'on line', many in Google's Art-Project, in much better definition than you might be able to get by photographing them without optimal lighting.
Edinburgh is home to the Scottish National Gallery collection; Again there are resonances with Australian collections. I spent several happy hours there and was pleased to be allowed to take photographs. This is a brief snapshot:
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Two Rembrandts; he certainly was prolific. He seems to be represented in almost every major collection including several in Russia and Australia; as is Monet. And you may notice that Rodin's The Kiss is unexpectedly in Scotland. It's on loan from the Tate in London.