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Royal Academy, until 16 August
Every year the Summer Exhibition arrives with promises of innovation and difference, every year it’s much the same. People gamely ask ‘what’s it like this year?’, and the imaginative struggle for a novel way to describe it. Yet its great strength is its unchangeability — the extraordinary (occasionally preposterous) juxtaposition of the international avant-garde, establishment figures and amateurs from the Home Counties and beyond. Nowhere else can such diversity and potential richness be found. The Academy continues to try to tame this leviathan, to modify its rules, or to dedicate a whole gallery to some lately trendy off-shoot of art such as film and video. Photography is already well-established in Burlington House; now the moving image is rather belatedly making a bid for recognition. Man the barricades! The Summer Exhibition must be defended from such ephemeral fashions. For this is the greatest mixed show of painting, printmaking and sculpture anywhere in the world…
This year, at 1,266 exhibits, the show is larger than last year by more than 130 items, and, although there’s a great deal worth seeing, it’s simply not possible to view it all with the same freshness and enthusiasm. The packed contents of the Print Room (Large Weston Room) and its much-loved annexe (Small Weston Room), where little pictures are hung floor-to-ceiling, could easily take all your energy if you are looking with concentrated interest, so try to prioritise your viewing. One way to do this is to check the List of Works for your favourites and mark them before you start.
Outside, Bryan Kneale’s vast stainless steel sculpture ‘Triton III’ alternates satin and polished surfaces like spoons or mixer blades scooping up visitors from the courtyard and twirling them towards the foyer. In Gallery I, a few of the most distinguished foreigners are hung, along with a couple of tough, densely wrought realist scenes in acrylic by John Wragg, and a glowing recent oil by Freddy Gore, called ‘Sunburst’. Here are figure studies by Anthony Caro, a big painting and a small sleek sculpture by Allen Jones, and a monumental canvas by John Hoyland called ‘Winter Tiger’. This is hung on the other side of the doorway to a typical topsy-turvy Baselitz. As one senior Academician commented, Hoyland certainly gives Baselitz a run for his money.
In fact, this Hoyland together with one in Gallery II and another superb one in Gallery VIII called ‘Mind Horizon’, are some of the most powerful images in the exhibition. Even when the excited visitor strays into Gallery III to be knocked out by the large four-panel Cy Twombly of roses on the end wall, Hoyland continues to fizz in the mind and bloodstream. (The Twombly looked much better in his recent solo show at Gagosian; here everyone is in the same fight for space and attention.) Six portraits of chairs by Humphrey Ocean explore pattern and outline with elegant painterliness. A different kind of pattern, one controlled by numbers, is the essence of Michael Kidner’s cheerful geometric forays. A group of rich, dark, oddly shaped paintings by Jeffery Camp offers poetic insights on people and places. Four ravishing still-life paintings by Stephen Chambers are like enamelled jewels, while a cluster of wall-mounted mixed media sculptures by Phillip King give voice to colourful and sustaining abstract fantasies.
The Central Hall offers a poignant tribute to Jean Cooke who died last year: six paintings including a self-portrait and a study of her ex-husband, John Bratby. Here also are five robustly delicate Leonard Rosoman watercolours, and sculptures and prints by Ralph Brown, whose work is undergoing something of a revival. In the Lecture Room is a more distinguished selection of paintings than I’ve seen for many a year, as this gallery tends to become a lumber room for sculpture. There’s a group of Mick Rooney’s beguiling magic realist scenes with a couple of Alf Stockham sea subjects, and nearby a hieratic Shanti Panchal watercolour portrait. Here also is one of Eileen Cooper’s recent paintings featuring a screen, allowing new complications of space and subject matter. (More of these can be seen in Cooper’s solo show at Art First, 9 Cork Street, W1, until 28 June.)
Also in the Lecture Room is David Inshaw’s bold painting of two women drinking champagne, an intrigue of body language and symbolism. Anthony Eyton’s marvellous studio interior, colourful and lively, makes a startling contrast, while above is Eileen Hogan’s cool ambitious painting of beehives at Little Sparta. Don’t miss Derek Balmer’s oil of Menorca. Gallery VIII is dominated by a massive Caro steel sculpture, behind which lurks one of George Rowlett’s thickly painted bright landscapes. Here too are good things by Janet Nathan, Barbara Rae and Ken Draper. If you’ve time, dodge back to Gallery IV to contemplate Nigel Hall’s comely wall sculpture and a beautiful mixed media painting called ‘Tree Line’ by Mick Moon. It’s short-listed for the prestigious and valuable Woollaston Award, and if there’s any justice in the art world (don’t laugh) it should win.
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