The Engine

RED STAR OVER RUSSIA: A REVOLUTION IN VISUAL CULTURE 1905-1955 at the TATE MODERN The Tate Modern is examining the influence of the Russian revolution which occurred 100 years ago.  The exhibition grew out of the collection of Russian art, films, posters, memorabilia in the possession of David King (1943-2016) who acquired the vast material presented here over 50 years.  His book Red Star Over Russia published in 2009 is the basis for this exhibition. Russia had been ruled by the Romanov dynasty for over 400 years but Tsar Nicholas II (1868-1918) led Russia into the First World War which turned out to be disastrous.  Russia was insufficiently economically or politically advanced to fight a war on such a scale.  There had been earlier discontent such as the 1905 revolution which had been a consequence of Tsarist incompetence, the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese war.  Various radical groups such as the Social Democrats and Social Revolutionaries (S...

Paul Cezanne: Painting People at the National Portrait Gallery and Amadeo Modigliani at the Tate Modern on the 26 th & 27 th of November 2017 Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) was born in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France but soon moved to Paris to be with his childhood friend, the writer Emile Zola.  Throughout his life he divided his time between Paris and Aix.  Cezanne’s father, Louis-Auguste Cezanne (1798-1886) had accrued a fortune firstly by selling hats and then as a banker.   He wanted his son to be a lawyer. However, Cezanne’s ambition was to be an artist.   His wish to be purposefully engaged in a creative life and to marry the woman he loved were all opposed by his father who also happens to be the subject of the first major painting in this exhibition.  Cezanne’s painting of his father, ‘The Artist’s Father reading L’Evenement’ (oil on canvas, 1866) demonstrates the dominant influence of Cezanne’s early life.  Louis-Auguste is ...