Twenty Four Hours in the Capital

Yesterday afternoon, complete with flask of tea, cake and overnight bag, I boarded the 15.57 to London.  The rush hour tube was quite manageable and soon it was dusk in Kentish Town and I was with my daughter.  I was lucky enough to meet her new flat mate before we rushed off to an event organised by Cambden Lib Dems.  In the brand new Hawley Road Primary School we had apple juice and nibbles and a good old catch up about her time in Malaga.  Baroness Claire Tyler arrived and spoke about her experience campaigning for parity between mental and physical health.  There was some optimism as she really believes mental health is getting a lot of attention and has seen pockets of excellence in some areas.  We battle on.  It finished too late for us to get into the pancakes, we had to get to J's excellent local to meet my chums.  Yes, my daughter lives a stone's throw from this award winning pub.  

http://www.tappingtheadmiral.co.uk/ 

Excellent beers and pasta were enjoyed then we headed on the overground to 
Kensall Rise where my mates live.  It was the first time I had seen their first floor flat.  Very cosy and welcoming it is too.  

This morning after porridge and a walk in Queen's Park I was back on the overground to Highbury & Islington.  Fab to be in the city and enjoying good transport links.  I meet my mate for coffee at the Italian Cafe at the Estorick Museum.  It's run by two young Spanish men!   This small museum, which has recently been beautifully refurbished, is free (except for the exhibitons)  It houses a substantial collection of Italian Modernist art, which has been bequeathed to the public by Eric Estorick, the distinguished American dealer.  Read about the building and the artists in this wonderful collection here. 

http://www.estorickcollection.com/

The main reason for my visit was to see the exhibition War in the Sunshine, featuring the paintings of Sydney Carline (1888-1929).  Sydney produced thrilling drawings and paintings of aerial battles which were much admired by his contemporaries Paul Nash and C.R.W. Nevinson.  Stanley Spencer was his brother in law and it is my interest in Stanley that wetted my apetite for this event.  

http://www.estorickcollection.com/exhibitions/war-in-the-sunshine-the-british-in-italy-1917-1918

Sydney first created such imagery in his own time as a fighter pilot flying a Sopwith Camel, but was subsequently engaged as an official war artist attached to the RAF.   He was a gentle man who loved flying.  We are told he made rough sketches while actually single handed in the air.  I drew parallels with texting while driving in our era.  I had no expecations but was bowled away by Sydney.  See the link above for some of his wonderful work. 

Ernest Brooks (1878-1941) worked as an official photographer on the Western Front, and is best known for his iconic images of British forces on the Somme and at Passchendaele. The lesser known photographs he took during his assignment to Italy sensitively portray the plight of front-line combat troops and dispossessed Italian civilians scratching a living behind Anglo-Italian lines. The images captured by William Joseph Brunell (b. 1878) reveal an instinctive feel for the stunning views of northern Italy’s mountainous terrain, but he also produced intimate and sympathetic images of the young Italian women employed by the British Army Service Corps, unloading railway wagons or washing British Army uniforms.
War in the Sunshine offers very different perspectives on this late phase of World War One, fought in what was undoubtedly one of the most formidable and challenging terrains of the entire conflict. 

Read more about Sydney here 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Carline

Next we took the tube to Green Park and met my own lovely art historian for a snack lunch.  D and I then walked to Temple.  A few years ago I went to Open Doors at  2 Temple Place and was back today to see Sussex Modernism, Retreat and Rebellion.  

http://twotempleplace.org/exhibitions/2017-2/ 

This is an extensive and comprehensive exhibition bringing together arts and crafts work form the late Victorian Era to the 60s; from Eric Gill (who it is hard to love) to Lee Miller, and featuring of course, the Bloomsbury Group.  Much of this was familiar to me from my frequent visits to the area with my own Sussex Man but I have noted down a few new places to visit with him.  Highly worth while and free. 

Finally, here is the link to 2 Temple Place http://twotempleplace.org/

Home on a fast train for fish, chips and a beer!  

A very successful day!