What an unexpected pleasure! ‘Comrades in Art: Artists against Fascism’, a really great exhibition, dominated Battleaxe’s week. It even overshadowed a frazzlingly hot visit to Great Dixter, meeting friend Jan’s grandson for the first time, and another friend’s sunny garden party on Saturday night. A busy – and hot – week!
I’ll start with the exhibition. Battleaxe regrets to say she hadn’t even thought about it in advance. So much so, that when we were waiting for our friends Sean and Janet in the coffee bar in the downstairs foyer of the Towner (gone ore the days when you could enjoy the top-floor cafe, looking out over Eastbourne – it is now a poncey restaurant) I said vaguely to Philosopher, ‘is it landscapes we are seeing?’ He sez no, and pointed to a poster in front of us. ‘It’s artists against fascism’. ‘Er – oh.’ I sez. Well, I have been a bit busy… Well, you see, friend Sean Sayers is a lifelong, committed socialist. He has recently published an autobiography/memoir, ‘The Making of a Marxist Philosopher’.
When we got in there, I was riveted. I’ve mentioned before that Battleaxe and Philosopher can gut any of the great sights of the world in 20 minutes. Well, for this, two hours would not be enough. It centred on the work of the Artists International Association, that existed in this country from the early 30’s through to the early sixties, and primarily presented the work of artists that have been totally overlooked by art history. The AIA was a collective of artists promoting anti-fascism and peace. Many of its members were communists, and a good few visited the USSR. The rise of Stalinism dented their enthusiasm… These days, we are only used to seeing the work of the ‘establishment’ British artists of that period – Ravilious, the Bloomsbury set, Bawden, Paul Nash, Laura Knight, Henry Moore etc etc. Many of these well-known artists contributed to AIA exhibitions or donated money to them, and many of their works appear in the exhibition alongside the AIA artists. So, I wonder why the AIA artists are so little known and promoted today…Ooh, I can’t begin to guess… sarcastic sigh. The exhibition was enormous, and every bit of it was fascinating. It was very interesting to see how artistic expression and preoccupations changed as 1930s slump and depression moved past the Spanish Civil War into to WW2, and then peace. The exhibition was based on a book by the same name, by Andy Friend. I’m not getting into a detailed review of the exhibition. All I’ll say is, go and see it. It is on until 18 October. Battleaxe would totally recommend. There are reviews in the FT, Times etc, but they are behind paywalls, so Battleaxe can’t access them. Information about the AIA is limited, but at least read this. Here are a few more pictures.
Then, there was Great Dixter. I wanted to see which of their plants are coping best with prolonged dryness, with the future of our own garden in mind, but of course they go in for massive amounts of watering, so the beds and borders were looking pretty good. Stocks obviously do well – see below. However, it is very sheltered, particularly in the areas surrounded by high yew hedges, so the heat was savage. So, we didn’t stay that long… here are a couple of pictures. That dress is terribly fattening…
Grand baby? Our friends Jan and Tom now have two, after years of thinking they would never have any, and are, not surprisingly, besotted with them. Their daughter Jessica was staying for the week and Jan and I went out for a coffee with the 8 month old in his pushchair. Later in the week we went round to their house so Philosopher could meet the babe. Look, don’t get me wrong, Philosopher and I often wish we could have had more, and the baby was very cute and smiley, but the reality of looking after them? Hmm… Lovely for a quick visit, a cuddle and a play, but perhaps not for prolonged exposure? Leave that to the parents, I say. And he weighed a ton. Photos? No, sorry. These days one can’t put people’s babies on the internet.
