28 February 2011

Some things never change


Watercolour by surgeon Charles Bell of a solider wounded at the Battle of Waterloo



Watercolour of Private Green, September 1918 prior to reconstructive surgery by Harold Gillies, the ather of modern plastic surgery.


The surgical skills may have improved in the intervening century but the workload of the army surgeon certainly did not...

Both paintings are included in the current Watercolour exhibition at the Tate Britain.

The exhibition which I visited today, is a comprehensive study of (mainly) British watercolour art from about 1200 to 2010. Arranged by themes it was unsurprising that the wart art had the greatest impact on me, especially Eric Taylor's study of corpses at Belsen.

The exhibition has some dross and a fair few works that left me unmoved either way. That said there is plenty to enjoy (particularly some well loved Turners and Blakes) and it is wel worth a couple of hours.



The same could not be said for the Susan Hiller exhibition - Except for the installation Witness which I loved

8 comments:

susan said...

I'd love to see the exhibit but I'm just a little too far away.

jams o donnell said...

It is well worth a visit Susan but perhaps not from Hamilton!

nursemyra said...

The show looks excellent, lucky you

jams o donnell said...

Overall it was definitely worth the visit Nursie

Knatolee said...

Those paintings are fascinating. I wish I were closer so I could see the exhibit!

jams o donnell said...

Thanks Knatolee it as worth the visit and then some

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Yeah. Wars are ever the same.

jams o donnell said...

They certainly are Snoopy