A Day in London - The American Dream, Regent Canal and Covent Garden

A perfect day in late May took Alison and I to the city, Alison to see the The Museum of London Dockland's exhibition of "Tunnel: The Archaeology of Crossrail" and me to the British Museum for "The American Dream: pop to the present".

Although art exhibitions are not really my thing, there was so much here that caught my imagination. I find it difficult to explain what the exhibition is about so here is what the museum says:

Starting with the explosion of pop art in the 1960s, the exhibition includes works by the most celebrated American artists. From Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg to Ed Ruscha, Kara Walker and Julie Mehretu – all boldly experimented with printmaking. Experience this extraordinary history through their eyes.

Taking inspiration from the world around them – billboard advertising, global politics, Hollywood and household objects – American artists created highly original prints to rival their paintings and sculptures. Printmaking brought their work to a much wider and more diverse audience.

The sheer inventiveness and technical ingenuity of their prints reflects America’s power and influence during this period. Many of these works also address the deep divisions in society that continue to resonate with us today – there are as many American dreams as there are Americans.

This exhibition presents the Museum’s outstanding collection of modern and contemporary American prints for the first time. These will be shown with important works from museums and private collections around the world. 

Now I know very little about printing as an art form, so it was educational to find out about the various forms.

An original print is a work of art created by hand and printed by hand, either by the artist or by a professional assistant (often called an artisan), from a plate, block, stone, or stencil that has been hand created by the artist for the sole purpose of producing the desired image. The plates or stencils it is printed from bear no resemblance to the finished work of art, which means it is not a copy or a reproduction of anything. In fact, in all print media but two, the image on the matrix (what the print is produced from) is mirror image or backwards from what the finished work will be. The image reverses in the printing process so the artist has to think and draw backwards. Each print produced is technically a unique work although produced as a signed and numbered multiple. The technical term for this is monoprint. The original print is usually produced as a limited number of impressions, another word for print. The term for this group of prints is the edition. Although there are many of the same image in an edition, each print is an individual part of the whole, the whole being the edition. An original print is actually one piece of a multiple original work of art.

Although Warhol adopted a bland, detached persona, he was an extremely energetic artist and self-promoter who played a significant role in redirecting the course of art. Rather than deriving his work from subjective personal feelings or idealist visions for abstraction, Warhol embraced popular culture and commercial processes. He eventually set up his own print-publishing company called Factory Additions, issuing portfolios of his signature themes. For Marilyn, he created ten highly variable portraits, exploiting the possibilities in screenprinting for shifting colors and off-register effects. By celebrating the seemingly impervious veneer of glamour and fame, but acknowledging its darker inner complexity, these prints reveal Warhol's subtle grasp of American culture.

As you go in, you are immediately confronted with Andy Warhol’s series of 10 Marilyn's. Seen together in their original size, they are quite something.

Not only do we have many Warhol colour screen prints, but he and other artists demonstrate techniques such as lithographs (colour and black and white), etching (with aquatint or drypoint), colour linocuts and woodcuts, all of which I am gradually finding out about. I liked Jim Dine's "Five Paintbrushes".

And the famous Ed Rusha's "Standard Station".

Also Andy Warhol's "Jackie 11"

and his "Nixon".

Even on show were some of David Hockney's colour lithographs. All a bit much, actually.

After some refreshments, I had time to revisit the Kings Cross development. I had joined Zoe and Hannah for a tour there over two and a half years ago, so it was interesting to see what had changed. The first thing of note was the new boardwalk down the Regents Canal.

This took me to the brand new Somers Town Bridge that opens later this year.

And then St Pancras Lock.

The narrow boats are moored right alongside the Eurostar line.

Round the corner and there is Gasholder Park dominated by the new residential towers.

A selfie in the park.

The apartments are nearing completion.

The fountains in Granary Square were at their lowest jet.

I was meeting Alison at 4pm outside Covent Garden Underground so we could have an early tea. We sat outside at Le Pain Quotidien and had a lovely salad, which on a very warm and sunny day was very welcome.

Afterwards, we wandered down to The Strand and Victoria Embankment Gardens and across the footbridge to the South Bank before calling it a day. What a day.