Study visit now with added Matisse

Further to the Richard Hamilton study visit post, tutors Angela Rogers and Gerald Deslandes are going to take students on a chronological segue providing a wonderful opportunity to visit two unique exhibitions.
In the morning we will see 120 of Matisse’s most celebratory works in colour, the cut-outs he invented in his final years between 1936 and his death in November 1954 and following that we will look at Richard Hamilton’s retrospective.
Both artists were ahead of their time. The way that Matisse’s large scale cut-outs are experienced within the space around them, means they can be seen as precursors to installations or environments. Hamilton’s early engagement with the language, materials and subject matter of popular consumption, demonstrated the possibilities of bringing together painting and printmaking with all sorts of other materials.
In the early 1940’s,Matisse began to draw with scissors, to cut out paper shapes, which under his guidance his assistants could assemble into large pieces of work. From this pragmatic start ‘he realised the potential in the method, and stopped painting, choosing to focus on the cut-outs … he talked about how liberated he felt; how he had been given a second life.’ said Nicholas Cullinan, the exhibition’s curator.

For anyone interested in working across different media, Hamilton is an excellent teacher, he seemed to have no fear. He exploited any medium that served his purpose, including painting, print, television and photography. He continually updated his skills to take advantage of the latest technology and was brave enough to reconstruct his and other’s earlier works. He appropriated any imagery that would help communicate his interest and concerns with popular culture, artistic tradition and what art might be in the age of mass production.

PLEASE NOTE there are limited spaces for this visit and to ensure entry we have to book and purchase tickets with the TATE in advance.
You will need to sign up with OCA by Thursday 1 May. To book please email enquiries@oca-uk.com
If you have a TATE membership card with free exhibition entry for yourself or you and an extra person, let us know when you book and bring it with you on the day.  
 
PS Gerald still has a few tickets left for his talks about contemporary art on the 10 May – see here
 
Image Credits: 
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Swingeing London 67 (1968-1969) TATE