Three exhibitions. One Tate.
That was what I visited today at Tate Britain – a museum that I must admit I’ve not been to as much as I once did. Certainly not since Tate Modern opened.
Today I was specifically going to visit the Rude Britannia exhibition and also catch Fiona Banner’s “Harrier and Jaguar” exhibit. But since it was the final day of their Henry Moore exhibition, I went to that too.
Up in the Duveens Galleries, the two stripped out aircraft completely dominate the galleries. All around, people were taking photos of the exhibits, so I did so too. I overheard one gallery-goer tell another that she’d never seen a piece of art photographed so many times before.
Downstairs I entered the Henry Moore exhibition. There were notices strictly forbidding photography in that part of the museum. But in one room, filled with sketches and paintings made during the Second World War by Moore, an elderly gentleman was photographing a picture depicting miners working somewhere in Yorkshire or Lancashire.
A gallery attendant hot-footed it over to the man and politely told him that he wasn’t allowed to take photographs.
“That’s a picture of my father,” he succintly replied. This left the young gallery attendant non-plussed for a few seconds. But she stood her ground, and the man replied that he didn’t want to break the rules.
She went away, but then came back to say that if he wanted a photograph, he should talk the museum in Manchester that owned the piece.
The man seemed happy enough that he’d traced down the work. He had a folder that included pictures of the work and similar pieces. I should also point out that today was the last day of the exhibition.
I’ve got to say that I really enjoyed Moore modernist pieces, with works like his helmets being particular favourites.
Upstairs, it was very different in Rude Britannia, which had previously been accompanied by a similarly BBC Four documentary series. The exhibition covers cartoons and satire from the sixteenth century or so forwards, including many comic strips and pieces.
In some respects, it was overwhelming, with vast quantities of text to read. But it’s well worth a visit before it closes at the start of September. There’s a terrific Spitting Image “Maggie” puppet, as well as a great Tony Blair photograph, and a “rude” gallery (that’s probably the weakest bit). One of the rooms is heavily Viz influenced with Roger Melly The Man on The Telly introducing many of the works. But I think I liked the room curated by Harry Hill the best, he’d even scrawled messages on the wall as you went around.