Small but deadly - Lautrec at the Courtauld

A summer gem glinting in the London galleries this season is the excellent Toulouse-Lautrec / Jane Avril exhibition at the Courtauld...

This small top-floor show (tip - pack extra oxygen and wear flats, or prepare to join a long queue for the lift!) focuses on the painter's works featuring Moulin Rouge muse, dancer Avril - notorious for her skeletal frame and erratic bird-like movements.

Of Lautrec, Avril said "Without a doubt I owed him the fame I enjoyed from that very first moment his poster of me appeared."

Lautrec's intense, studied and vibrant works absorb the viewer into the skewed, bohemian world of 1890's Paris.

The exhibition includes sketches and studies for some of Lautrec's most famous paintings and poster-works, giving an insight into his creative energy and composition process.

A major highlight is his iconic 'At the Moulin Rouge' group portrait - on special loan from the Art Institute of Chicago - a dynamically composed homage to the major players in his Montmartre circle.

Speaking of Lautrec's unique rapport with his female models, which shines through in these works, Avril commented "They were his friends as well as his models. He in turn had an uplifting effect on them. In his presence they were just women, and he treated them as equals. When he ate with them, often bringing a party of friends, they held their knives and forks daintily, restrained their conversation, had the feeling of being women of some standing. Lautrec's almost womanly intuition and sympathy shone like a light for them."

There is also a portrait of Avril dancing made by her eventual painter husband Maurice Biais. This offers a fascinating contrast in view of this otherwise familiar subject - a rare and somehow strangely inauthentic glimpse of Avril smiling.

Many historical documents accompany the exhibition (including photographs, playbills and letters) which follow Avril from the genesis of her erratic style - discovered whilst incarcerated in a mental hospital, at the bizarrely conceived 'Madwoman's Ball' - through her rise to fame at the Moulin and subsequent London tour.

To read more about the exhibition click here. To read more about the life of Jane Avril click here.

The show runs until 18 September 2011. Entry: £6 (£4.50 concessions) but admission is FREE on Mondays 10am-2pm.

Behind the Scenes at Sheringham

Thank you to all the Gallery clients who joined us on Monday to celebrate the launch of our brand new art space at Sheringham Little Theatre.

Guests first enjoyed drinks in our new Gallery space before taking a VIP backstage tour with theatre Director Debbie Thompson.

Tour highlights included the hi-tech wizardry (and incredibly tidy cables!) of the lighting booth.

This was followed by an actors-eye-view walk through the set to the dressing rooms for a backstage meet-and-greet with rep stars of the theatre's current production 'Last of the Red Hot Lovers'.

We were then treated to a special performance of the play.

A great evening was had by all, so thanks for coming along and making the event such a success!

To make sure that you receive a personal invitation for our future events, register for our mailing list HERE.

The Art of 'Come Dine With Me' - Norwich!

Addicts of hit Channel 4 reality show 'Come Dine With Me' might have noticed a few empty picture hooks over recent mantlepieces...

If you've ever been intrigued by this 'missing picture' phenomenon, Hatfield Hines can now reveal the reason...

Before shooting, the production team have to research and contact the copyright holder of all artworks which are likely to be shown in the programme to obtain explicit permission for them to appear. Without this, the artworks must be removed from view.

How do we know this..? Hatfield Hines can also exclusively reveal that 'Come Dine With Me' are shooting in Norwich next week, at the home of a Henry Holzer collector, hence we've been contacted on this very issue!

To learn more about Henry Holzer, see our artist profile.

To try out some of Come Dine With Me's magic/tragic recipes for yourself, see their website here.

Hatfield Hines goes Coastal at Sheringham...

This month Hatfield Hines goes coastal with a brand new show opening at the Sheringham Little Theatre...

Get ready for drama with a selection of major new panoramic pieces during June - making the most of the size and scope our brand new coastal art space!

Coast to Coast at Hatfield Hines

Throughout the bank holiday period Hatfield Hines Gallery will be celebrating East Anglian coastlines, with works from 1900 to the present day.

This will be a diverse show, with a few surprises..from fresh takes on some of the most well known coastal views by Gilia Florentin-Lee, David Baxter, Geoffrey Chatten, Derek Inwood and John Tookey, to some slightly rougher seas painted earlier in the 20th Century by accomplished seascape artist Rowland Fisher (1885-1969).

Art all night long at Nuit Blanche, Paris

Visitors to Paris last weekend were treated to a night of spectacular (and not so spectacular) free installations, courtesy of Nuit Blanche, the French capital's annual all-night-art-fest...

Contributions viewed by Hatfield Hines' roving Girl Friday included:

- 'Reflexion!?' a giant exclamation mark constructed of tiny illuminated micro-fans, suspended in mid-air inside the ancient church of Saint-Paul

- 'Crisis' an illuminated shed which promised (but did not deliver) smoke effects, at Square Leopold Achille, in the Marais

- 'Aurora Borealis' an amazing Swedish installation of gauzy banners, billowing in the breeze, projected with luminous images, inspired by the northern lights

- 'Cinema en Plein Air' an all-night open air cinema at Place du Marche Ste Catherine, showing a series of short films

-An amazing walk-through '3D Bridge' installation on the Pont Saint-Louis

-'(M)ondes' - a courtyard installation with light projections reflected from suspended wire structures, to create an animated firefly effect

- 'The Kiss' - an installation at the Ecole Nationale Des Beaux-Arts where two naked dancers, housed inside a canvas-covered box, press against the screen to recreate elements from celebrated sculpture. Also at the same venue, a spectacular glass room within which actors pose inanimate - like mannequins of the 1940s - until a spectator is invited to enter, to interact with them.

Art Alfresco at Sheringham Woods...

For North-Norfolk-dwellers, a walk in the woods can involve a bit more than botany, boots and bird-watching these days...

In Sheringham Park's new 'Bower' area - complete with disabled-friendly nature ponds and a wildflower meadow full of intriguing-sounding 'mini-beasts' - the National Trust team are inviting locals to get creative in 3D with a selection of natural 'found' objects.

Snaps of woodland works of art can be emailed for display on the Park's website at: sheringhampark@nationaltrust.org.uk

Here's one they prepared earlier! Is it 'art'? You decide?

Naomi Munuo at Gallery late night view

Hatfield Hines was pleased to welcome special guest - artist Naomi Munuo - at Holt Festival's 'late shift' evening opening at the Gallery on Tuesday.

Munuo joined staff and exhibition browsers for a glass of wine and spoke of her latest project-in-progress - a series of unique local landscapes.

The new works - inspired by the ambience and architecture of the parklands surrounding her home - carry Munuo's distinctive style into new and exciting territories.

Watch this space for further developments!

Art hits the streets in Holt...

Thanks to pavement posse 'Urban Canvas', who took their chalks for a walk in Fish Hill yesterday, creating an amazing 30 foot multi-colour pencil doodle.

Today's browsers have been equally entertained by glimpses of a bowler-hatted gent power-walking through the town playing audio clips of helicopter landings from his concealed-speaker-briefcase!

Raise a Glass to Holt Summer Festival...

Holt Summer Festival kicks off this Sunday with a week of special arts events and workshops in store...

From July 25th to 31st Festival-goers can take a songwriting workshop, paint pots, enjoy a blues picnic in the woods or hitch a ride on a free shuttle bus to explore contemporary greek myths in Holt Country Park.

For our own artistic contribution to this year's festival, Hatfield Hines are taking part in the Holt Gallery Trail.

On Monday there will be pavement art to enjoy outside on Fish Hill and on Tuesday and Thursday evening we will stay open with drinks until 8pm for two special after-hours viewings of our current exhibition - Naomi Munuo.

We're also launching a new competition to find Norfolk's Best Loved View. All entries will go into a prize draw and the winner will receive a specially commissioned oil of their own favourite Norfolk landscape.

To enter, either pick up a nomination form in the Gallery or click here to enter via email.

What's Your Favourite Norfolk View?

Tell us and you could win a specially commissioned oil painting in our new survey competition!

Your County Needs You!
At Hatfield Hines we're always keen on introducing visiting art lovers to new views of Norfolk, so we're launching a summer competition to find the most enjoyed view in the area.

To nominate your own favourite, simply click on our recruiting poster to email us the details.

As a thank-you for taking part, we'll enter you into our free summer prize draw.

The lucky winner will receive a painting of their own favourite Norfolk view by local landscape artist David Baxter (so it will be your opportunity to specially commission your own painting for free..!)

Surreal Summer at Hatfield Hines

For our summer 'Spotlight' show, we focus on the work of emerging local talent, Naomi Munuo.

This exhibition, running until 31st July, highlights the vibrant life studies and surreal still lifes of Cental St. Martin's and Goldsmith's-trained Munuo, whose works have featured at The Royal Academy.

Beginning her artistic life in fashion design, Ipwsich-based Munuo has continued to be inspired by the human figure, illustrating it using richly textured, irregular shapes in works which often involve layered collage techniques.

She says of her artworks 'In my paintings, I explore the relationship between the object and its environment...I observe the world around me with passion and interpret it spontaneously'.

Her use of colourful figures and modeled pieces set in abstracted, patterned backgrounds are inspired both by the angular works of her sculptor-father as well as an early interest in Japanese art - with its flat shapes and controlled lines.

The textural tapestries which also feature strongly in her work are interwoven from elements of wax resist, batik, ink, oil, pastels and acrylic - contrasting grainy texture with glassy transparency - to dramatic effect.

This exhibition charts the evolution of Munuo's distinctive style over two decades, from early fashion-sketches to recent canvas and collage pieces. Prices: £125 - £1500

The exhibition forms part of Holt Festival's Gallery Trail.
All participating Galleries will be open for drinks from 6-8pm on Tuesday 27th & Thursday 29th July, so please do come and join us.

Museum 'Nights Out' - too much fun..?

As a friendly kinda gallery, we were intrigued recently when Radio 4 aired the issue of whether Britain's art venues and museums are becoming simply 'too much fun'...

During May - as part of the nationwide 'Museums at Night' scheme - intrepid culture-vultures were given the chance to 'sleepover' with Churchill in the Cabinet War Rooms, or could opt for a surgical slumber at The Old Operating Theatre...

In Coventry, the Herbert Gallery offered string quartets; at Newcastle's Discovery Museum there were human fruit machines, whist in Worcestershire, the Avoncroft Museum relied on the lure of free chocolate to pull in hordes of children to take part in their song-and-dance extravaganza.

Here in Norfolk, we got stuck in with a 'light in the night' lantern-making workshop courtesy of the Henry Blogg Lifeboat Musem in Cromer. These would certainly have come in handy for the Cornish - evidently made of sterner stuff - who were offered the chance to 'follow a night shift' down the Geevor tin mine...

So - 'bring it on' or 'rein it in' - fun or fundamentals? What's your view? Let us know by posting your comments below...

From Abstract to Pastoral...

After a great reaction to our Abstracts Made Real exhibition through April, Hatfield Hines has decided to calm the pace down with a serene exhibition of Fields and Farms for May.

The front gallery showcases some wonderful rural views by a variety of artists from Norfolk and beyond, including Sir Daniel Lascelles, Philippa Bewley-Pope and Peter Jamieson.

The diversity of style and content illustrates that some of the best subjects for art are just outside the window. The more contemporary scenes also reaffirm that - luckily - so much of the British landscape still remains unspoilt, and is out there waiting to be rediscovered...

Get Romantic in the Local Landscape...

Garden lovers can enjoy a private view al-fresco today at The Romatic Garden Nursery in Swannington...

Local leadwork artist Brian Turner is hosting a special preview of his newest designs.

Artisan-of-choice to a coveted roster of celebrated garden designers including George Carter (one of the Times' Top Ten horticultural designers) and Bunny Guinness, Turner has already brought home five Cheslea Gold Medals for his creative installations, in collaboration with the Romantic Garden Nursery's topiary and planting.

As well as an amazing display of plants, on show today will be a selection of water features, fountains, plaques, cisterns and urns, together with a display of 'the tools of the trade' showing the complex process of creating art in lead.

There will also be exclusive access to Swannington Manor Gardens, as well as the chance to meet George Carter, who will have a selection of his books on sale.

The event will be open 10-5pm today, with a drinks reception at lunchtime at:

The Romantic Garden Nursery
The Street, Swannington
Norfolk NR9 5NW

The Body in the Gallery...

All of us have 'a book' in them, or so they say...

If yours is a potential bunny-boiler, cop-caper or heist-fest, you'll delight this weekend.

Sleuth fiction is set to turn sea-ward on Saturday 6th February as crime writer Kelvin I Jones offers an introductory one day writing course in Crime Fiction...

Jones is a creative writing tutor at the University of East Anglia, specialising in crime and horror fiction. He has written extensively about Sherlock Holmes and his creator, Conan Doyle. His own detective creation - John Botrell - features in a series of novels (see Amazon). He is also the author of many ghost and horror stories.

Budding Chandlers, Christies or Cornwell's should walk the grid, dust for prints and grill Kelvin for further clues on cunningman@hotmail.co.uk or phone: 07976 507954

Featured image: Artist and Model Reflected, by Gerald Meares

Spotlight on - Ipswich painter Naomi Munuo

Ipswich-based artist Naomi Munuo revels in the big, the bold and the vibrant.

Her distinctive artistic style evolved whilst studying for a degree in fashion at St Martin's College, London - loose illustration of the human figure combined with interests in both Cubism and Abstract Expressionism to create a scuptural, colour-rich collage effect.

In Munuo's vision, simplified forms of the female body and still life subjects such as busts, plants and flowers are set within a dynamic framework of angular line.

The resulting images are a series of highly arresting scenes which grip the viewer, pulling them into intense, surreal compositions of many textured layers.

The effect is heightened by the varied mark-making made possible through combining media such as thickly applied acrylic paint, oil pastel, wax resist, ink and paper strips. This texural richness is enhanced by the use of pattern blocks which further dramatise the sense of scale within her compositions.

To see further examples of Munuo's pieces, click here.

To view this artist's profile, click here.

Climate Crisis - Autumn renders Holt Soupless!

Yup - autumn is really here...

1. This morning's school run required a rapid U-turn to don an extra layer.

2. The Gallery heater has been cranked back into service for the first time since last winter.

3. Chilled-out of hiding, Holt's 'invisible army' of lunching lawyers, epicurean estate agents, hungry hairdressers and snacking shop-assistants had drunk Byfords dry of soup by lunchtime!

GirlFriday was thereby rendered lunchless - even the very name of the tasty-looking 'Friday Staple' flavour chalked-up on the blackboard was gone by 1pm!

Falling back on takeaway cappuccino and a micro-ed plastic pot of pesto pasta (just not the same...) an online horoscope instructs 'share fondest fantasies today'.

Thus - by clicking on the above image - this blogger is happy to provide a DIY 'Delia-Deli-dejeuner' for fellow art-n-soup-lovers who might find themselves similarly (dis)-placed...

Hatfield Hines' Naomi Clements inspires the EDP

Hatfield Hines artist Naomi Clements talks to the EDP about drawing, Old Masters and a room of one's own - down at the bottom of the garden...

"Naomi is a stickler when it comes to drawing. 'For me drawing is the key to good painting - you can tell by looking at a painting if the artist can draw. Drawing forms the basis of everything from the composition to the execution,' she explains.

She is very inspired by the Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershoi. 'He does these marvellous paintings of interiors where he often paints his wife as well - not as a portrait but as a rather fleeting figure who seems to add something mysterious to the mix.'

She is fascinated by the Old Masters and often visits the National Gallery to research her work. 'For portraits it may be Goya, Rembrandt or Durer. For interiors I may look at Pieter de Hooch, Vermeer and Hammershoi. I long to achieve the depth and beauty of the Old Masters but with comtemporary settings and subjects.'

Naomi's studio - at the bottom of the garden - is pristine and tidy. 'I do find my studio a haven of tranquility after the chaos and noise of family life in the main house. When I get in and close the door I breathe a huge sigh of relief,' she says."

To see more of Naomi Clements' work click here.

King Henry's single handed band-aid for Salthouse

Last weekend St. Nicholas's Church Salthouse was crammed with 'krummhorns', 'nakers' and 'sorduns' in the name of charity, as mad-early-music-minstrel Robert Fitzgerald brought King Henry's Band to town.

As the concert began, it occurred to the uninitiated in the audience that Ye Olde Facebook could be called for, since the 'Band' consists of Fitzgerald plus four 'missing members' (variously dismissed for a string of historic misdemeanours involving excessive imbibing, unseemly lustiness and generally ill-considered merry making).

The ensemble sound is achieved by the layered use of pre-recorded backing tracks (in which Fitzgerald plays each individual instrument) augmented with his live performance of a 'missing' instrument.

Between tunes, Kelling-dweller Fitzgerald waxed lyrical about the history, pedigree and construction of the many wind, string and percussion instruments presented including the bizarre 'gemshorn' crafted from an exotic-looking animal's horn.

The concert continued for a marathon three hours on a revolving come-and-go-as-you-please programme and raised over £400 towards church funds through contributions and CD sales.

Afterwards, Fitzgerald still had enough puff left - incredibly - to furnish groupies with tales of construction ups and downs.

We left with extensive programme notes and a CD, desperate for a peek into his garden shed!