The Burleigh Family taking tea at Wilbury Lodge, Hove, (c.1947) by Charles Burleigh.
The truly radical art of our time has nothing to do with Damien, Tracey and the other gilded self-publicists. The truly radical art is an exhibition of paintings of middle-class people doing middle-class things in middle-class homes. That's why, as soon as I have a chance, I'm going to visit the Geffrye Museum's new show, boringly entitled Home and Garden, 1914-1960. I wouldn't say the two pictures on the link - including Burleigh's family group - are particularly outstanding, but they still convey the illicit thrill of a taboo subject. And any excuse to see the work of Carel Weight or Paul Nash is worth taking.
Richard Dorment's review in the Telegraph touches on a provocative social sub-text:
Call it what you will - a loss of nerve, psychological damage, the end of an era - the show chronicles the disintegration of a whole class. After two centuries of growing self-confidence, two world wars took an appalling toll.
Dorment thinks the Burleigh picture is an example. I can't see the connection myself, but that's another reason to go and see the work in context.
I would value the exhibit not for the quality of the paintings, but for a view of another world. Any chance of this exhibit making its way to NYC?
Posted by: Joanne | Wednesday, March 07, 2007 at 03:10 PM