Arthur in Avalon and Radical Slogans
Stephanie and I visited Tate Britain on the bank of the Thames on Monday. They have three exhibitions at the moment that all have England as part of their theme.
Upstairs they have on loan from Puerto Rico ‘The Sleep of Arthur in Avalon’ by Edward Burne-Jones, who worked on this painting for 18 years before he died. It is absolutely vast and immensely evocative. Above the figure of Arthur is a golden canopy with 12 scenes of the search for the grail.
All the figures around him are women. To the right there is a mysterious figure, evocative of Merlin but who may well be meant as a woman since all the others are, apart from Arthur. The figure has their back to us, and gazes into a hand-held mirror, as if scrying the future, or as if gazing at the figure of Arthur in reflection. This reminds me of a Jain practice in which devotees gaze upon the sacred image of the Tirthankara (Enlightened One) not directly but through a hand held mirror.
In another room there is a special exhibition on William Blake’s work, which reminded me of how important Albion, the Druids and Stonehenge was to his vision. And in the basement there was a film of Derek Jarman’s, with music by Benjamin Britten and Genesis P.Orridge.
At the height of the Thatcher era and before the arrival of Glasnost Jarman had filmed in secret in Moscow. Interposed between grainy shots of the city filmed at dawn with a hand-held camera and slowed down to a hypnotic pace was a re-enactment of artists painting men in communist ‘heroic’ poses. And at a certain moment the screen was simply filled with statements about the way Britain had become a country ruled by bankers and advertising men.
It was powerful stuff. And reminded anyone watching of how little has really changed. We came out wanting to make grainy hand-held films in the street interspersed with radical slogans. We probably should have bought some spray cans and done a ‘Bansky’ or two…
5 Responses to “Arthur in Avalon and Radical Slogans”
Loved your account of the exhibits, but I also think that the Tate Britain is really evocative in itself. It was built on the site of Millbank Prison where a lot of prisoners were picked up from and deported to the prison colonies in the Australias. The pub next door, the Morpeth Arms, tells the whole story and it has the obligatory ghosts plus some old cells in the cellar…
The pre-Raphaelite works, which we have seen so widely reproduced, are so startling when you see the originals – the colours so jewellike, they really are beautiful. I’d like to see ‘The Sleep of Arthur in Avalon’ – will need to take a trip down there after Beltane Camp!
Happy St George’s Day!
Glad to see that there is at least one exhibition on England – you lot don’t make enough of it, imo.
Re Banksy – love that man’s work – very politically astute, culturally aware and witty. Mind you, wouldn’t want it on the side of my house.
Is it true that he created a piece of work on the external wall of the Tate Modern and the cleaners came out and scrubbed it off?
AX
Quite possibly Alison. I know he added an exhibit to the British Museum which was a slate with an image of a Neanderthal pushing a supermarket trolley. It stayed there for weeks I believe!
Nice that this post went up on St.George’s Day – I didn’t realise this until you pointed it out.
Philip – There are no coincidences….. 🙂
AX
Sounds like a beautiful painting! I have to say though that the Tate modern give me the creeps – there is so much… how can I put it… mmm artistically challenged stuff in there…. but then that does make the gems stand out even more – anyway I will shut up because I could go on for ages about this country’s determined efforts to call a used plastic cup ‘art’ – however the Wiliam Blake exhibition sounds great – he was one fascinating and complex man!
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