Overlooked women

Finally managed to get to Tate Britain to see this exhibition before it closes.  It’s so important, so overdue and ever so slightly disappointing.  To qualify there are gems within it but it is only British painting and through periods where painting itself seemed purely transactional.  And when the first painting you see is by Artemesia Genteleschi, who was a British court painter for a time, it is hard to follow that.  But Tudor miniaturists, portraitists such as Mary Beale, the beautiful 18th C portrait of Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire by Maria Cosway through to a wall of paintings by Laura Knight there were wonderful highs.   And of course the Gwen John self portrait, owned by the Tate which is pictured in the poster. 

The main take away is that women have always painted it is just that many of their works have been forgotten, misfiled, lost or overlooked.  

In the morning I came up for a meeting about a new place to work, in a possible new way.  Enough said, fingers crossed. 

We met HB for dinner at Soho Mews House a new one in Mayfair for founder members, which Vikram is so OLDER PEOPLE. It was very nice indeed and we had a jolly evening.  The trains were slow so we were back quite late.