Dark Ages - age of art.

I've started watching the BBC's new series  The Dark Ages: An Age of Light which is very entertaining and does show that artistic work didn't die out when the 'barbarians' took over from the Roman Empire.

One striking moment for me so far was Waldemar Januszczak standing in front of Theodoric's tomb and saying "I love this thing its so stocky and unusual" which I thought could be applied to him too.

Well worth catching while its still available on iPlayer in the UK.

RIP Frank Frazetta

I was a fan of Frank Frazetta's art on the old Conan and other fantasy books from the 1970s and his work definitely influenced how I conceived the world that my D&D adventures took place in. Though I have to admit I preferred other versions of Conan, such as Barry Windsor-Smith's work for Marvel comics or Chris Quilliam's work for Mongoose Publishing. Some obituaries are at the Guardian and NY Times showing how well known his work was in the mainstream.

My personal favourite from Frazetta's artwork is the Death Dealer which has been widely used including as a model for miniature figures from various manufacturer.

100th anniversary of Akira Kurosawa's birth

A small celebration of a film maker whose work I have enjoyed greatly and who inspired a large number of film makers in Hollywood and Italy. So today I raise a glass to Akira Kurosawa. Unlike many people my introduction to his work was largely with the later works Kagemusha and Ran in the 1980s only getting to see some of the older films on a big screen in the 1990s with a season sponsored by the BFI.

His influence was pronounced particularly on western films many of which took themes or elements from the many samurai films that he made in the 1950s and 60s. Among the notable remakes or inspirations from Kurosawa's films are:
- Seven Samurai inspired The Magnificent Seven
- The Hidden Fortress inspired Star Wars: A New Hope
- Yojimbo inspired A Fistful of Dollars

Of course Kurosawa took a lot from earlier artists with Ran including elements from Shakespear's King Lear and Yojimbo having echoes of Dashiel Hammett's Red Harvest.

My personal favourites from Kurosawa's films are Ran, Seven Samurai and Rashomon.

London's Unknown Museums: 3 Vestry House Museum

The Vestry House Museum is a local history museum in Walthamstow, London. It is not far from the Walthamstow Central Station in the area known as Walthamstow Village. The building was built as a workhouse and had been used as a police station and private house before being used as a museum.

The collection includes the Bremer Car built by Frederick Bremer in 1892 and the first British 4 wheeled car with an internal combustion engine. There are displays relating to life in Walthamstow in the 19th century including a cell from the time that the building had been used as a police station and on dress from the 18th to 20th centuries. There is an interesting display about the industries that used to be based around Walthamstow mainly in the 20th century and it is interesting to get a feel of what life was like in outer London in those times.

This is a free museum and a visit to this could easily be combined with a visit to the Willam Morris Gallery that I featured in my first post in this series.

London's Unknown Museums: 2 Sir John Soane's Museum

Sir John Soane's Museum is a reasonably well know museum, but compared to its close neighbor the British Museum must count as a bit rarely visited. The collection is a miscellany of objects reflecting the original owner, Sir John Soane's tastes. As an architect Soane worked on a number of other buildings, apart from the museum itself, that can be seen around London such as the Dulwich Picture Gallery and Pitzhanger Manor.

My personal highlight from the collection is the Hogarth paintings, with the Election and Rake's Progress being on show here. A pleasing development is more exhibition space is planned with the architectural models due to go back onto public display.

As this museum is at Lincoln's Inn Fields more or less directly opposite the Hunterian museum of Surgery and Medicine it is well worth a trip to Holborn for. The Hunterian will be a subject of one of the entries in this series so that is all I'll add for now.

The Soane Museum is free entry and again I'll encourage visitors to donate or buy items in the shop to help support it.

London's Unknown Museums: 1 Willam Morris Gallery

Number one in an occasional series on museums and galleries in my native London. Unknown may be hyperboly, but they are less well known than the big ones like the British Museum

Willam Morris Gallery, Walthamstow
The first of these is my most local gallery as I as born not too far away from here in sunny Walthamstow. The gallery is fairly small and is unsurprisingly devoted to William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. The pieces that I like the most are often the furniture which is unsurprisingly made with excellent craftsmanship as I find some of Morris' textile design in particular to be rather densely patterned for my tastes. There are also various personal belongings of Morris which does help to build a picture of him as a man as well as an artist.

The exhibits include a bequest from Sir Frank Brangwyn RA of paintings, sketches and drawings. This does include some excellent pieces and I probably enjoy these more than most of Morris' work.

My most recent visit was prompted by an exhibition of drawings and paintings of Epping Forest, which runs close to the gallery and at one time extended over much of where Waltham Forest and the other North East London boroughs are.

I'd recommend this gallery to anyone with an interest in Morris and the Arts & Crafts movement or Frank Brangwyn. Otherwise it may not be so high up the list of places to visit, but if you have seen most or all of the major galleries in London it can be worth a visit. Like many local authority supported museums and galleries it is free, but visitors should try and buy postcards or other mementoes to help support these.