A Day out in Central and West London

The weather has been rubbish for days, I'm all stiff from sorting out the patio and haven't slept well but it's always lovely to go back to the Courtauld.  First of all, in order to travel with the boys who are going to West London, I change at Reading and get breakfast in Pret. Their porridge is always good.  

 I have loved the Courtauld Gallery since before our own Art Historian studied there.  I believe it used to be near Coram Fields and I remember visiting it in the early 80s and falling for the fine impressionist collection.   One of my favourites is the disturbing renaissance painting of Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach

First I look at the exhibition ' William Henry Hunt: Country People' a display of 20 drawings and watercolours of rural figures in his work of the 1820s and 1830s.  Very real and touching.  Informative too, of the type of lives people led. View some of his beautiful work here

I'm really here to see  'Bloomsbury Art & Design'

The Courtauld holds one of the most extensive collections of works by artists from the Bloomsbury Group. This display presents a wide-ranging selection of objects from its holdings, many of which were bequeathed by the artist and art critic Roger Fry (1866 – 1934) to the newly formed Courtauld Institute of Art in 1935.  Thus many of the works pertain to Roger or Duncan Grant, whereas to me the most interesting are those of Vanessa Bell.

Lilies and Iris, Vanessa Bell, 1919 

The Conversation, Vanessa Bell, 1913-16

Read more here

After a small snack in the lovely cafe at the Courtauld, which by the way is a nice quiet place, I avoid a shower and head to Embankment Tube.  I take a district line train all the way to Turnham Green which turns out to be a cute place with proper shops and where you can buy an unassuming small terraced house for a million pounds.  National disgrace.  

I enjoy a seven minute walk to Hogarth House

It's a local authority run place that could be so much better but has a nice exhbition of his prints

Read more about the house's history here

And read more about Hogarth, who I very much admire, and his work here  

I bought a book to learn more. 

 

Hogarth realised that beer is good and gin is bad.  His work Gin Alley is really famous and often used to show the evils of substance misuse.   The work below is less well known but shows that beer is good for our mental and social well being!   Surely if Hogarth were alive nowadays he would be a keen CAMRA member!  

Now it's time for a well deserved cup of tea and a brownie.  The Urban Pantry is great but it is a big shame they have their massive front window open allowing in smoke from those polluting the pavement seating! 

Revived, I head back to the underground and Ealing Broadway station.