I surprised even myself when I
walked away from the National Gallery of Victoria and the only thing I could
think about was a painting from 1822.
That’s not a typo. Eighteen twenty-two.
Normally I’d be super keen to
check out the modern and contemporary art on display if I got the chance to go
through a major collection like the NGV, and at first I was. The collection was as impressive as I
expected. Being able to be in a building
with artworks from masters like Picasso, Max Ernst, Jeff Koons, Man Ray, Rothko
and Lee Kranser is awe inspiring. It was
flipping my switch, so to speak. I was
happy with my experience, taking in the glory of the modern masterpieces and
being grateful to be seeing them.
For some people, this is the kind
of art you have to walk past to get to the good stuff; the old, gilded framed
‘classic’ masterpieces. Realistic paintings
of icons and metaphoric poses of animals and brooding, windswept figures. I appreciate it. I get it.
Art has a very long history and not all of it appeals to everyone. That’s cool.
I do like looking at the skill and technique of these kinds of paintings
and sculptures, but they don’t excite me the way modern and contemporary art
does. But then again, there’s always an
exception to the rule.
After moving through a huge hall
filled to the brim with centuries-old works I came across a small collection of
works by John Constable. For those of
you who are a little rusty on your 19th Century landscape artists,
Constable is considered one of the best.
He was an innovator in the way he represented the natural world. He had an undeniable talent for combining
truthful and natural representation of the world around him with compositional
skill which communicated his own emotional response to that place.1 He’s an impressive and very important artist,
just normally not my cup of tea.
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John Constable
Clouds, 1822
Oil on paper and cardboard
National Gallery of Victoria
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At the very top of the view2
of Constables, there was a painting of some clouds. It was made in 1822, and was originally a
study for part of another larger painting.
Constable was almost obsessed with the sky. Clouds
(1822), was part of a series of about fifty very detailed studies of different weather
conditions around Hampstead in England.3 It’s quite a striking image to be seen with
the other regular-looking landscapes. It
has no land references whatsoever. It’s
all cloud and beautiful blue sky. I
think the most interesting thing is that the meaning I read from it was due in
part to the position in which it was hung.
I don’t want to make it sound like the only reason I liked it was
because of the installation, the painting is absolutely stunning, but its
position gave it added meaning.
In a room full of romantic bronze
figures, biblical scenes, and foreign landscapes there was this little porthole
to the outside world. Because Clouds is nothing but the sky, it doesn’t
reference its native England. It felt
like a snapshot of the beautiful Australian sky just outside. In that moment, I was reminded that I was
deep inside a climate controlled, concrete bunker where stuff is made to last
forever. Constable was speaking to me
saying, “Dude, pictures of nature are good, but go outside, it’s all real! There is no substitute!” Okay, John Constable probably never called
anyone ‘dude’, but the intent was there.
It was a wonderful reminder of the beauty of the world outside, and that
we shouldn’t take it for granted. Through
exquisite execution, he is saying that no matter how well we represent the
world, that’s all art will ever be, a copy.
The fact that it’s a preparatory
exercise being exhibited as a finished work means that it doesn’t operate like the
other landscape paintings surrounding it. It reads more like a contemporary work subtly inserted
into a room of antiquity. Clouds isn’t a representation of a specific
geographic location, it could be anywhere in the world, which means that there’s
a far greater chance that each viewer will have a connection to it, reminding
them of familiar outside spaces. In this
way, the very general image becomes very specific to each viewer.
When I began thinking of the
beauty of nature outside the gallery, I was also reminded of the wonders of nature
inside the gallery with me, my family. It
was a very serene and grounding experience.
Life’s made better by sharing it
with others, and in my case, my kids. Through the most frivolous thing in the
world, art, Constable seems to have the uncanny ability to remind us of the most
important things in life. This humble
statement from a master painter made my trip to the NGV so much more than just a
visit to another gallery. Thanks John.
1 Nga.gov.au. 2013. CONSTABLE : impressions
of land, sea and sky. [online] Available at:
http://nga.gov.au/Exhibition/CONSTABLE/Default.cfm [Accessed: 2 Oct 2013].
2 I just invented the collective noun for a
group of Constable paintings.
3 John Constable: English 1776 - 1837. n.d. [Gallery didactic]. Felton Bequest, 1938, 455-4. National Gallery of
Victoria, Melbourne.
