A trip to Swindon

As some respite from Brexititis, I head off to meet my chum in Swindon.  First stop though is the excellent Swindon Art Gallery and Museum.  

http://swindonmuseumandartgallery.org.uk/

The smallish gallery is situated in the old town in an unassuming Victorian or Georgian town house.  It includes a collection of 20th-century British art, one of the best in the country outside London.   The collection was established in 1944 by a local benefactor, H.J.P. Bomford, through a significant donation of artworks.  The collection focuses on major artists and movements of 20th and 21st century British art.  Artists in the collection include Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore, Lucian Freud, LS Lowry, Paul Nash, Maggi Hambling, Augustus John and others.  The media include paintings, photography and studio pottery.  

Presented in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Arts, there is currently a solo exhibition, Hide and Seek, which is a remarkable collection of Eileen Cooper’s unique works on paper spanning almost 40 years, and complimented with a number of drawings from the Swindon Collection hand-picked by Eileen Cooper. 

Cooper’s practice as a painter and printmaker is underpinned by highly individual drawings, which reveal her working methods and strongly autobiographical preoccupations. Celebrating themes including sexuality, birth, family, creativity and identity, Cooper’s distinctive imagery has afforded her much recognition and critical acclaim.  Animals frequently feature in her work. 

She is now the first female keeper of the RA Schools where my art historian works.  It is on her recommendation that we are here today.  I like the works very much.  It was permitted to take photos but the reflecting glass prevent this.  So please view her works on line.  My favourites were Red Sun, Fawn and Giant.  

T of N, who has come along for the ride heads to the Hop Inn.  Meanwhile we go to Balula for lovely goats cheese and fig relish sandwichs with sicilian lemonade.  

Back to the car through the oasis that is Old Town Gardens.  'Just like Central Park' I say.  And on the M4 the heavens open.