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Friday 9 January 2009

Distinctly lacklustre

Radical light: Italy's Divisionist Painters 1891-1910
National Gallery, until 7 September, Sponsoered by Credit Suisse

‘It looks like your grandmother’s calendar,’ said one disaffected member of the press. The exhibition will tour to the Kunsthaus, Zurich (26 September 2008 to 11 January 2009). What a shame it’s not really radical, especially when you think of what the French were up to at the same time. It was perhaps unfortunate that I saw the Twombly exhibition just after the Divisionist one. Twombly is so uplifting and life-affirming that almost anything would suffer in comparison.

In my review of the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (Arts, 14 June), I completely missed out the sculpture in the courtyard. The Academy’s forecourt is a very fine outdoor venue for sculpture in the heart of London, which makes it slightly sad that Anthony Caro — who really doesn’t need the exposure — should be asked to fill it this year. Fine sculptor though he is, bigger is not necessarily better in his case, though I suppose this particular promenade of dark-grey and oddly shaped steel sentry boxes does provide a useful variety of seats for the fatigued public. However, it also distracts attention unfairly from another sculpture, sited to the right of the entrance to the Academy, an equestrian piece by Michael Sandle. Sandle is one of our most distinguished public sculptors, a great protestor and polemicist, who here shows ‘St George’s Horse’, a polished cross riding side-saddle on a chunky charger with a tail like a drill-bit. Sandle’s horse is part machine, part flayed or armoured animal, recalling both the wildly romantic horses in late de Chirico paintings and the Futurists’ dynamic sculptures. He should have had the whole courtyard.

Last chance to see a group of Helen Frankenthaler’s paintings, infrequently shown in England. At Bernard Jacobson, 6 Cork Street, W1 (until 5 July) are just 11 pictures from the 1950s to 2002. For ‘Vessel’ (1961) alone, this exhibition is worth a visit: a remarkable coming-together of colour and form, both expressive and inventive. Beautiful.

More articles from: Andrew Lambirth | this section

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