I had the day off on Friday and spent the afternoon checking out the exhibitions at Somerset House. This place, on the north bank of the Thames near Temple station, has a lot going on, most famously – at this time of year – the ice rink. I’ve never been ice skating in my life, but it does look fun, and the surroundings are beautiful.
I arrived via the Embankment and the first exhibition I came across was Valentino: Master of Couture, in the Embankment Galleries. This exhibition displayed personal letters and other items from the designer’s personal archives, as well as outfits spanning over fifty years. These were interesting and extremely varied: I had my own favourites, which were generally the fifties-style outfits, but there should be something here to appeal to everyone. The exhibition concluded with the wedding dress of Princess Marie Chantal of Greece, which was beautiful, but not as nice as Kate Middleton’s wedding dress as far as I am concerned. There was also a small section looking at how different design effects are achieved, including the famous Valentino rose.
I enjoyed the exhibition, but I think it was quite expensive (£12.50) and would be of greatest interest to design students or those with a strong interest in fashion. I would have liked to learn more about the context of the items on display. However, I did enjoy looking at them.
The next exhibition was free, and I actually enjoyed this one more. Tim Walker: Storyteller displayed the photographer’s unusual, fantastical and dreamlike pictures, many of which are fashion photographs taken to promote a specific brand. There were also celebrity pictures including striking images of Helena Bonham Carter, the Pythons and Tilda Swinton. Props used in several of the photographs, including a giant skeleton, an enormous and rather creepy doll and jelly-mould hats, are shown alongside the images in which they appear. I thought the photographs were beautiful and unusual, often with narrative, nightmarish or bizarre undertones.
Finally, I revisited the Courtauld Gallery (for free, with my National Art Pass) to look at the small one-room exhibition Peter Lely: A Lyrical Vision. Lely is most famous for his portraits of the beauties of the court of Charles II, so it was interesting to see landscapes and paintings on Biblical and classical themes, completed before he began to concentrate entirely on portraits.
After visiting all of the exhibitions I popped into the Christmas shopping gallery, but I didn’t buy anything as it was all a bit expensive.