Visit to "Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde"

This major show at Tate Britain in London has been running a few months and was due to end this week, so I managed to squeeze in a visit on Monday.

Although many of the artists and their pictures were very familiar, the show included quite a few lesser known members of the movement, and some pictures that are usually in private collections.

I'm a big fan of Millais, one of the founders of the group, who had masses of raw talent from an early age and he is well represented. There is also plenty of work by other founders Holman Hunt and Rossetti.

What also struck me, though, was the work of Ford Madox Brown and Edward Burnes-Jones, plus some lesser know contemporaries such as John Brett. Also one painting by William Morris.

What hit me was the sheer technical mastery of the group, and also the volume of their output. Having progressed so far in this OCA course, I know how hard it can be to concentrate for a couple of hours on a bowl of fruit. These guys turned out lots of huge magnificent canvases, which shows they combined a strong work ethic with massive talen.

The show traced their development from the early focus on narrative paintings (ie they tell a story) to a more aesthetic approach, where beauty had a value in itself.

There were also some examples of tiles, furniture, carpets, stained glass and tapestries made by members of the group.

Although the Pre-Raphaelites have been dismissed in the past as being rather sentimental, the show made the argument that they were real rebels who changed the direction of painting. I think the argument was well made, but I think the movement's main achievement was to popularise art and to make design avalable to a wider audience. Indeed, William Morris designs are still very common in modern products.

However, the legacy in terms of paitning, I would argue, was short-lived. With the spread of photography, it was other art movements, such as the Impressionists and then more abstract schools of art that have had the more long-lasting effects.

However, that does not diminish their achievements or the powerful effects these works can have on a modern viewing public.

Drawing outside: early-morning scenes

These two drawings were done on a misty morning in Beckenham Place Park, which has a public golf course course.

The first picture is of a magnificent large oak which stands next to one of the golf greens. It has lost all its leaves at this time of year, but there was fuzz of twigs at the top which I've tried to show. This took me about 25 minutes, starting with a B pencil and finishing off with the 3B.

I think this exercise showed me that trees are actually quite a lot more difficult to draw than I had expected.

In the second picture, I discovered a little cabin by some abandoned tennis courts. The cabin has been boarded up and it has ivy growing up the side. I spent about 20 minutes on this, and probably should have switched to a softer pencil to get more contrast.