LET US ROLL

Happy International Women’s Day! Over the coming week, we will be publishing an A-Z list of women artists of whom you may not have heard. From classical to contemporary the following artists hail from across the globe, bringing with them bodies of work that are unique, empowering and, ultimately, inspiring. Check out our first segment, covering three artists, below...

From the moment Surrealism was ‘born’ in 1920s Paris, it possessed an ever-expansive nature and the power to trigger controversy. The Surrealist movement itself was first fully breathed life into by a small band of creatives, lead by André Breton. Influenced by psychoanalysis, Breton and the Surrealists proposed a variety of ways to achieve immediate expression. They believed the conscious mind impeded creativity, whilst an awareness of our unconscious state enabled raw imagination to flourish. These ideas would be challenged by the French intellectual, Georges Bataille. Instead of revealing the base and intense truths of desire and human nature, Bataille believed such ideas actually idealised and sublimated them. Bataille was a key figure in the publication of DOCUMENTS, a magazine that confronted these ideas of Breton’s Surrealism head on. The publication’s success, in this respect, was confirmed by Breton’s furious reaction in his Second Manifesto of Surrealism (1929), in which he named Bataille explicitly.

DOCUMENTS, which ran for fifteen issues between 1929 and 1930,  contained a variety of creative rubric, named on its cover as: ‘Doctrines, Archaeology, Fine Arts, Ethnography’. More than just a reflection of contemporary culture, the magazine challenged and attempted to deconstruct it. One instance is the ‘Critical Dictionary’ section of DOCUMENTS, in which short essays were published on a particular word ranging from ‘Man’ to ‘Abattoir.’ The meaning of each word was undermined and rewritten, focusing instead on the functions of language rather than its definitions. In challenging ‘mainstream’ Surrealism, the magazine moved away from idealising human desire and thought. Instead, DOCUMENTS confronts its audience with a raw and even violent insight into the mental and sexual impulses that define human life. This makes for a uncompromising publication which visually captivates its reader, whilst at the same time provoking her. DOCUMENTS received in the Undercover Surrealism show (2006) at the Hayward Gallery - the images here taken from the companion book to the exhibition. Keep reading below to see the visual world of dissident Surrealists...

At Let Us Roll, our desire to explore and discover is constantly increasing. One way to help us quench our ever-growing desire is through the latest segment on the blog: ‘Exploring the Art of...’ We have decided to document our visits to places from galleries to estates and share the general artwork available at each stop. To introduce this section is the Georgian estate of Saltram, a place tucked away in the South of England and which you may recognise as a location used for the film adaption of Austen’s Sense & Sensibility (1995). Perhaps most striking is that the majority of possessions within the grounds are authentic, having belonged to the ‘Parker’ generations who once inhabited it. This extends to the art collection of the house, which includes paintings by Angelica Kauffmann, Peter Paul Rubens, and Joshua Reynolds. Not too shabby at all. Read on to peruse the wonderful work of Saltram, as well as the artists and stories behind each one.

Also head over to our Flickr account to see each image in all their glory. If you have time, please let us know if you would like to see more ‘Exploring the Art of...’ (or less!) via our Tumblr or at [email protected]

LUR is an arts-based blog intended for the fellow culture vulture, a place where we wish to share information and stories about works and their artists. Whilst we are passionate about the creative world, we realise there exists within it an expansive infinity of artworks, oh so many of which we simply do not have the time to write about. 

This is where Let Us Roll (akin) comes in. It is our newly launched sister blog, through which we share all and any artists tickling our fancy and capturing our attention - but without the worded input. Whilst this saves our keyboard from extra heavy-typing abuse, LUR (akin) allows us to share more art and may work in a format preferable to you, the fellow culture vulture. Stay with the main LUR blog to find out more about specific artists, movements, and moments in time. But if perusing purely visual output is more your cup of tea, simply start scrolling away here!

On this day in 1884, the Italian sculptor and painter Amedeo Modigliani was born. An artist now revered for his portraits and nudes which are exhibited internationally, Modigliani was dismissed throughout his lifetime whilst his work was exchanged for meals. 

Despite being born in Tuscany, Modigliani mainly worked in France, where his fortunes and prospects would plummet dramatically. He first moved to Paris in his early-twenties and settled in Le Bateau-Lavoir, a base for artistic residents. Within this creative environment, Modigliani began to work prolifically but was waging many personal battles. One he desperately desired to conceal was his diagnosis with tuberculosis; contagious and often led to early graves, its victims were isolated and excluded from society. In order to alleviate his pain from the illness, Modigliani spiralled into drug addiction and alcoholism. Alongside this, he suffered much conflict regarding his own artistic endeavours and in one frustrated attempt to move forward with his work, the artist destroyed a great amount of his early pieces.

Hardly a rarity in male artists throughout history, Modigliani was intensely inspired by the female form. The subjects of his nude paintings are often positioned provocatively with pensive faces, creating a mixture of forcefulness and vulnerability in each work. His partners often served as the artist’s inspiration. His final muse would be Jeanette Hébuterne, who met him in 1917 at the age of nineteen. Their relationship caused intense controversy amongst her religious family, who renounced their illegitimate affair. Within a year, Hébuterne gave birth to their first child and the family moved into an apartment. Upon discovering she was pregnant for the second time, Hébuterne and Modigliani made plans to marry despite the fierce opposition she faced from her parents. Sadly, their ideas for the future would never be realised. Modligiani’s battle with tuberculosis intensified until he passed away in 1920. Jeanette Hébuterne, heavily pregnant and deeply distraught, committed suicide the day after his death. It would take a decade for her family’s anger to dissipate enough to allow their bodies to be buried together in Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris.

Amedeo Modigliani’s life is one characterised by struggles and hardships. His artwork followed in a similar vein during his lifetime; his only exhibition stirred public controversy and was closed on its opening day by the authorities, concerned about the sexual nature of the artworks. Now Modigliani is a name universally recognised and esteemed throughout the art world. His surviving work has been displayed in major retrospectives internationally, whilst his life has been subject to a range of films and books. Amongst the latter includes the biography Modigliani: Man and Myth, written by the artist’s daughter, Jeanne Modigliani. 

In January 1911, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska came to London at just nineteen years of age. The French sculptor was accompanied by his partner, Zofia Brzeska, whose name he adopted upon moving. It was within this city Gaudier-Brzeska would work prolifically, creating over one hundred sculptures and thousands of drawings over the following three years. It is a feat made all the more impressive, considering his incredibly short life: Gaudier-Brezska was killed in the trenches of the First World War, aged 23. Despite the brief nature of his life, the artist’s work endures and continues to be a source of intrigue and inspiration. Testimony to this is the recent digitisation of Gaudier-Brezska’s sketchbooks from 1910 to 1914, made available by Tate. 

The American photographer, Mary Ellen Mark, has passed away at the age of 75. She leaves behind a body a work that continues to shock, intrigue, and enlighten. Though also known for her portraits and advertising photography, Mark was particularly renowned for her photojournalism. She was drawn to the more marginalised figures of society, photographing those who danced upon its fringes. Her work drew attention to the various plights of human life - prostitution, drug addiction, homelessness, youth. Indeed, Mark’s images of children are perhaps the most provoking and touching examples of her work. Her 1983 series of the homeless youth of Seattle, for instance, captures at once the grit and vulnerability of her subjects.  As Mark once commented to TIME Magazine, “I don’t like to photograph children as children. I like to see them as adults, as who they really are. I’m always looking for the side of who they might become.” Here are a few of our favourite images, ones that reveal a young generation dealing with the struggles of the streets alongside the pains of adolescence. Images that are captured with a sense of respect, understanding and, above all, honesty. Images that transform the invisible into the unforgettable.

There is a world to discover in the images of Katrin Braga. The Icelandic-born photographer has a platter of work, which dances between landscape and human, fashion and documentary. In every shot, however, there is a delicate but candid beauty that characterises Braga’s work. Where the photographs are feminine and ethereal, they are also forceful and earthly. We caught up with the photographer herself to find out more about her work, her inspirations, and about being on both sides of the camera...

Something every prominent person must deal with is the interrogation of their private life. Nearly all of us are guilty of clicking the ‘Personal life’ section of a Wikipedia profile or reading a quasi-news article on a trivial celebrity story. We are, by nature, inquisitive and curious folk slash prying nosy-parkers. That is perhaps one reason why the intimate correspondence between Frida Kahlo and José Bartoli is estimated to sell for up to $120,000 at auction tomorrow.

Arm Josh Bryan with a single fine-liner and you will be amazed at what he can create. Take his series Triangulations, which contains a variety of instantly recognisable faces. Look a little closer at the style of each one, however, and your intrigue will increase to new levels. Each drawing is entirely constructed from triangular shapes, forming the 23-year-old’s unique style. His geometric approach lends the Triangulation series a sense of depth and texture in each individual drawing, as well as an air of mystery about these familiar faces. We spoke to this British talent to find out more...

We’ve all been told that old aphoristic saying to never judge a book by its cover. Yet that is all we can do when faced with the beautiful medley of editions found at BOOK/SHOP. Book cover designs are oh so important in tempting you into the ivory pages within, and our reading-list just quadrupled thanks to these vintage copies. Here’s just a few of our personal favourites, including ‘The Drawings of Roy Lichtenstein’ (above). 

Romain Laurent probably did not expect a side-line project to have garnered so much love - but when you create inventive GIFs, there's no hiding from Tumblr. We are, of course, talking about Laurent's 'One Loops Portrait a Week' series, which has gathered a plethora of attention and intrigue. Uniting the power of curiosity with the humour of the absurd, Laurent's portraits will inevitably entertain and fascinate their viewer. These are GIFted moments of motion, for sure.

Mouni Feddag is a Nottingham-based illustrator with a world to share. It is a world you might be familiar with - one of busy streets, cluttered rooms, make-up tutorial videos - but Feddag rejuvenates it in her vibrant and resplendent style. She has an eye for peopled scenes worthy of comparison with L.S. Lowry: take the reluctant party-goer in one illustration, for instance, begrudgingly clad with a festive jumper whilst wistfully checking the time. Such an eye for detail completes Feddag's colourful work with a warm humour, of which we simply cannot get enough. Describing her own artistic style in three words as 'sincerely, mockingly loving,' this illustrator is not only one to watch, but one to listen to...

Tell us a little about yourself... Hello, my name’s Mouni – you say it like ‘Moony’ (it’s Algerian, my dad was from there) – and I draw things. I suppose I’m an illustrator.  

1. Paris Review's Hemingway Interview  Paris Review's discussion with the American author is brimming with interesting thoughts and ideas (so do not be put off if you're unfamiliar with Hemingway's work).  

2. Documents, by Charles D'Ambrosio Beautiful, complex, and heart-breaking. To attempt to describe D'Ambrosio's essay in any more terms is to detract from the perfection with which he does it himself. 

3. Patti Smith on Writing Poetry For Smith, 'the act of writing poetry is torturous – and sometimes magnificently transporting'. Read more about the Just Kid's author and her thoughts on the medium over at Dazed.

4. Interview with Marina Abramović Abramović is perhaps the most famous living performance artist, and there's a good reason for it. Read up on her work and words in this 2010 interview.

Michael Howard's work is at once both soft and intense. The London-based illustrator - also known as NVM Illustration - creates images containing a plethora of emotions: passion, solemnity, strength, vulnerability. Just take a look at his Eden series, which embraces moments of intimacy and beard botany (what's not to love?). The quiet eroticism and natural scenes within the series bring to mind the poetry of Walt Whitman: 

I believe in you my soul, the other I am must not abase itself to you, And you must not be abased to the other.

Loafe with me on the grass, loose the stop from your throat, Not words, not music or rhyme I want, not custom or lecture, not           even the best, Only the lull I like, the hum of your valvèd voice.

I mind how once we lay such a transparent summer morning, How you settled your head athwart my hips and gently turn'd over           upon me, And parted the shirt from my bosom-bone, and plunged your           tongue to my bare-stript heart, And reach'd till you felt my beard, and reach'd till you held my feet.                                                               (excerpt: Section 5, 'Song of Myself')