26 March 2022: The Sun Has Got His Hat On, Hip Hip Hip Hooray

Spring is well and truly upon us now, and the walk down the hill into Bath is glorious,

With its grass verges lined with daffodils and wild primrose.

Even after all this time
the sun never says to the earth,
“You owe me.”

Look what happens with
a love like that,
it lights the whole sky.

-Hafez

Our next exhibition features a painter who casts away distractions of any kind to focus on the mood and tone of light as it falls gently on the subjects of her paintings, namely objects from a burgeoning collection of silver and stainless steel utensils.

She employs a limited palette, further allowing her to concentrate on the play of light and shadow, space and form.

This results in simple, elegant compositions.

 

A light exists in spring
Not present on the year
At any other period.
When March is scarcely here

A color stands abroad
On solitary hills
That science cannot overtake,
But human naturefeels.

It waits upon the lawn;
It shows the furthest tree
Upon the furthest slope we know;
It almost speaks to me.

Then, as horizons step,
Or noons report away,
Without the formula of sound,
It passes, and we stay:

A quality of loss
Affecting our content,
As trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a sacrament.

Emily Dickinson, ‘A Light Exists in Spring’

Harriet is equally adept in lighter conditions, with a larger format:

And finally..

 I note from the obituaries that the Sun,
The legendary cinematographer,
has died. His work was highly regarded
in the business. J.M.W. Turner said,
‘The Sun is God’ -and you could see he meant it.
The French school, too – the Impressionists –
could hardly have achieved their revolution
without his technical savoire faire. Among poets,
Wallace Stevens voiced the most profuse
and frequent tributes, but I have reasons of my own
for gratitude. One morning, in particular,
in Granada, as I sipped on coffee on my balcony,
he lit the dawn for me. His art was both
panoramic and minutely detailed.
First, he touched the mountain to the left,
giving it a deep, umber, emberishly unsteady glow,
before moving on to the sky, from which he suggested
other mountains in shades of dark grey and indigo
so little different – mountains of air
shaped from a stony sky – that it seemed uncertain
how such indeterminacies could resolve;
thought they did, in time, in full clarity and vastness.
None of this happened in a hurry. It was all
gradual and considered. To watch was to take
a lesson in light and being alive. Which I have tried to
learn.
Only the death notices, coming so prematurely,
have dashed my spirits more than they usually do.
It’s plain that, not just I, but the whole world
should have paid closer attention while he was still
working.

                                            ‘The Late Sun’ by Christopher Reid

Bath in the gloaming 25 March 2022

Please click on the painting images for links to the artist’s work.

Harriet herself will be at the gallery between 1 and 4 pm on Saturday 2 April.

You are very welcome to attend the opening day.

Thank you as always for reading.

Aidan

Beaux Arts Bath