Greetings Britlings!
ONE OF THE crown jewels of the City of Angels is the Getty Center, located just off the 405 freeway in the Sepulveda Pass. Since it opened its doors in 1997 the Getty has featured one great British exhibit after another. But if you haven’t yet visited, you now have the perfect excuse with their LondonCalling Exhibit, which I was fortunate enough to catch this week.
The show features six of the leading postwar artists from the so-called “School of London” who rejected the artworld of the time’s preoccupation with abstraction and conceptualism in favor of the human figure and everyday landscape. Drawn primarily from the Tate in London, this exhibition highlights the work of Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Leon Kossoff, Michael Andrews, Frank Auerbach, and R.B. Kitaj.
Now you may be forgiven for thinking that all these artists are from the UK. But only a half were born there. Bacon, Kossoff and Andrews. The group was named after the American artist R.J. Kitaj realized there was quite a significant amount of working painters in London during the 70’s, but they needed more publicity and recognition. You had the school of Paris already, whose artists were already making waves. So he coined the phrase School of London to develop interest. And boy did it!
And, while it was none too clear how much they had in common, they at least flew the flag of figurative painting when it was distinctly unfashionable.
Along with some of Brits in LA key members, I got to listen to a talk with Andrea Rose and Art dealer William Acquavella, moderated by Julian Brooks who shared some wonderful anecdotes about the artists. For example, did you know Lucian was the grandson of Sigmund and this was considered his Achilles’ heel, with most people initially assuming he was merely trading on the family name? Or that he loved to gamble and once had a gambling debt of £1.2 million? These and many other stores about the artists had us entertained for over an hour. The show ends November 13th so do try to see it before it moves on. I am particularly fond of Bacon’s work, so if anyone has a few million dollars to give me I’ll happily make an investment on one of his works. A Triptych of his sold at auction for $140m just a couple of years ago, which is more money than I can usually find down the back of my couch.
I also got to see the #fivefilms4freedom screening at the London Hotel as part of the BFI series showcasing filmmakers from around the world making films that portray the LGBT community in their neighborhoods. Stephen Fry was among the panelists who discussed the importance of these stories and others like them. Among the audience were BILA members Manny Patel and Fiona Harden, as well as Consul-General Chris O’Connor, John Scott, BAFTA/LA CEO Chantel Rickard and filmmaker Julia Verdin.
In a more escapist vein I was also lucky enough to catch the Pet Shop Boys in concert at The Microsoft Theatre this past week. They were in fine form, singing a lot of new songs but making sure to play plenty of oldies to please the, ahem, oldies in the crowd.
Have a great week!
Craig
