Two exhibitions at Tate Modern

Before we even got to Tate Modern we had to look at the drawings on the construction fence - "London - an imagery" is by Martin Karlsson -And then there was this small exhibition, Chromatic Structures - it had a 1952 painting by Ellsworth Kelly in the further room, a relief by Sergio di Camargo, and prints by Helio Oiticica; oh and that Calder mobile --
Now to the exhibitions - the little books they give you are good to keep -
Van Doesburg did lots of graphic stuff - he was a leader of the De Stijl movement, of which Mondrian was also a part. Straight lines and primary colours. Van D. used diagonals a lot.
Furniture design was another aspect, using primary colours and straight lines. The construction is very simple and logical (though a bit stark). I was drawn [literally!] to a red high chair - it was simply put together, and looked wonderful - drawing allowed me to investigate the construction -
The Arshile Gorky booklet got spattered with drawings too; it's always instructive to "copy" a painting or two -- if only to get yourself to really look at it. Even better if you don't immediately "like" the work; the drawing is a way of getting to "like" it.
In that exhibition, the room with the most people was the one with his portraits, especially a pair he did of himself and his mother, after finding a photograph. Here they are hanging side by side in Philadelphia
Gorky (1904-1948) suffered a lot of calamities in the last years of his life, including his studio burning down. Nor was his early life an easy one - fleeing from Armenia. On the Tate website, there's a video of his wife talking about his work.

The view from Tate Modern across to St Paul's is always wonderful; I liked the way the reflections of lights inside the building added to it. Did you know that the chimney stack on Tate Modern is 99m high - slightly lower than St Pauls? For many years building that obscured the sight lines to St Pauls was not allowed.