Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
Bath Spa University
Daddy Witch - exhibited in the group show The Dark Monarch: Magic and Modernity in British Art
Daddy Witch (a two-panel painting, 218cm x 351cm, enamel and oil on aluminium, May 2008) was purchased for the Arts Council Collection in 2008. It was initially displayed at the Royal Festival Hall, London then loaned to the Tate for The Dark Monarch exhibition (2009). Subsequently, it has been displayed at the Arts Council Office and included in the exhibition, Contested Ground, at Leeds City Art Gallery where it is now on long-term loan.
This group exhibition (titled after a book by St Ives artist, Sven Berlin, 1962) explores the influence of folklore, mysticism, mythology and the occult on the development of art in Britain. Including works from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day it considered the relationship they have to the landscape and legends of the British Isles. Curated by Martin Clark, Michael Bracewell and Alun Rowlands, the show was arranged thematically rather than chronologically, representing artists and influences across generations. It examined the development of early Modernism, Surrealism and Neo-Romanticism in the UK, as well as the reappearance of esoteric references in a significant strand of contemporary art practice.
The exhibition included works by important modernists and surrealists including Colquhoun, Hepworth, Moore, Nash, Sutherland; Neo-Romantics such Collins, Craxton and Piper, as well as contemporary artists including Claydon, Hirst, Jarman, Periton, Rothschild, Stezaker, Titchner, Woods and Wyn Evans.
The tension between progressive modernity and romantic knowledge was explored, together with the way the British landscape is encoded with histories: geological, mythical and magical. The tendency represented in the exhibition is sometimes viewed as counter to Modernism: Dark Monarch set out to counter this view.
The Tate St Ives exhibition catalogue, The Dark Monarch, Magic and Modernity in British Art, included essays by Michael Bracewell, Martin Clarke and Alun Rowlands (Tate Publishing, ISBN 1854378740).
