Cardiff - John Piper and the Queen

On a trip back to Cardiff to see friends and my daughters, I popped in to the National Museum whose art galleries (link here) have had a complete make-over in the past year or so.  They are now very impressive - lots of space , more on display, and room for both small and larger special exhibitions.  There were two specials when I went.

I really liked the rom full of watercolours (mainly) by John Piper, (more info here) done (mainly) in mid and north Wales during the late 1940s and rely 1950s.  Mostly these were evocative sketchy ink drawings, with dark and sweeping bands of watercolour.  The paintings were matched up with photographs of the exact locations where Piper had been staying and drawing - and the relationship between photo and painting was remarkably exact in many cases.  The atmosphere of north wales, of the rugged mountains and the ever-present threat of rain, was wonderfully evoked.

The, quite differently, an exhibition of images of the Queen, (more info here) on tour from Buckingham Palace in honour of the jubilee.  I am no royalist, and thought I would not be interested in the collection.  But in fact some of the images, especially the later portraits, were striking.  I was glad to see the Annie Liebovitz photographs of the queen with her cloak, and the Warhol images.  I was quite surprised to find that the Lucien Freud portrait of her, which caused such stir when it was unveiled a few years ago, is actually very, very small - less than A4 size, and isn't even a complete 'head'.  It is uncompromisingly the portrait of an elderly woman, and it crossed my mind that the queen must have had the option of not having it made public. It is a striking portrait, and it is good it is on show.