The Arts Online - July 8-14

Vermeer – The Exhibition of the Century

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In the spring of 2023, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam opened its doors to the largest Vermeer exhibition in history. By the time I found out about it and tried to book tickets the show was completely sold out.

It’s not the same, of course, but this award-winning film offers you the chance to experience the exhibition of the century on screen.

With loans from across the world, this major retrospective brings together Vermeer’s most famous masterpieces including Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Geographer, The Milkmaid, The Little Street, Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid, and Woman Holding a Balance. In all, 28 of his surviving 37 works.

This film invites audiences to a privileged view of the exhibition, accompanied by the director of the Rijksmuseum and the curators of the show. A truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to discover the genius of Vermeer and his fascinating and mysterious life.

The director is David Bickerstaff and the film is narrated by Robert Lindsay 

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Princess Elizabeth’s Bridesmaid’s Dress – Christie’s

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This is a sweet film about a dress, worn only twice, which embodies a time long past when the country needed a spectacle and a Royal Wedding provided it.

Benedict Winter who is the Private and Iconic Collections Specialist at Christie’s auction house in London, explains what it is and why it matters, in this glimpse of history.
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When the late Queen Elizabeth II married H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey in 1947, she had eight bridesmaids to accompany her down the aisle. Among them was Lady Elizabeth Longman, née Lambart (1924-2016), the daughter of the Earl and Countess of Cavan. This is her dress, now included in a Christie’s sale. She's the second bridesmaid on the right.

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The second time it was worn was for a photo shoot in 2012 with Lady Elizabeth and the model, Kate Moss. ‘It’s an incredibly poignant image, which shows the old world of aristocratic glamour and the new world of popular culture colliding,’ says Winter of the photograph, now released by the family to mark the sale of the dress.
 
The bridesmaids’ dresses were commissioned by H.M. Queen Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother) and designed by the celebrated British couturier Sir Norman Hartnell, who also created the late Queen’s 1953 coronation gown. The naturalistic floral motifs, which echoed those on the royal bridal gown, were symbolic of rebirth in post-war Britain.
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‘Sir Norman Hartnell’s designs in the inter-war period have come to epitomise the glamour and taste of the aristocracy at that time,’ says Winter, adding that ‘The dress is an incredible survivor and a remarkable piece of fashion history. It has been much loved, but the family feel it is now time for a wider audience to appreciate it.’

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Frida Kahlo – A Life of Pain
 
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On Sunday it will be 70 years since Frida Kahlo died. The groundbreaking Mexican artist was best known for her vivid and explorative self-portraits. 

Her life was eventful, full of incident, pain and art. She met and interracted with some of the most significant people of her time – Trotsky, Georgia Okeefe, Diego Rivera, many others - and had affairs with most of them. Her art was supremely personal, she painted herself in many guises and didn’t stint on depicting her suffering, mental and physical.

There are many films about Kahlo but I’ve chosen this one by Professor Graeme Yorston, an adademic psychiatrist who is an expert in the connections between mental health and the arts. It’s a bit dry and pedagogical, but it’s the only one that simply tells who she was, what she did, and what happened to her, without a lot of editorialising, hagiography, or criticism. “Just the facts, Ma’am”, in other words.

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Sonya Yoncheva - Italian songs from France 

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Here is an enchanting evening from the banks of Lake Geneva with one of the most sought-after sopranos of today's opera and concert stages, Sonya Yoncheva, joined by piano accompanist Malcolm Martineau.

She opens this summer programme from the ​Evian Festival with standalone songs by Puccini, Martucci, Tosti, and Verdi, then moves on to powerhouse arias from favorite operas like "Vissi d'arte" (Tosca), "Donde lieta uscì" (La Bohème), and the heartbreaking "Un bel dì, vedremo" from Madama Butterfly.

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Pocket Review

The Voice of the Turtle – Jermyn Street Theatre

This week’s welcome discovery is a play with a happy ending. Maybe I shouldn’t have told you that. Maybe I just should have said that John van Druten’s The Voice of the Turtle is a funny, smart, well-acted, elegantly directed, forgotten play from 1943 and I, for one, am delighted that it has been revived at Jermyn Street Theatre. Well, I’ve said all that now.

Set in New York in the middle of World War Two, it revolves around an Army sergeant on leave and his unexected date with a young actress on the rebound. Playing the young couple are excellent Nathan Ives-Moiba and Imogen Elliott (making her astonishing professional debut here), with a hilarious Skye Hallam as the Best Friend who makes it all happen.

John van Druten is these days known primarily for his adaptation of Isherwood’s The Berlin Stories which was in turn adapted into the musical Cabaret, but he was much more than that, one of the most successful playwrights of the 1930s, having written more than 25 plays to great critical and commercial success.

On this happy showing of The Voice of The Turtle, I hope to become acquainted with many more.

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