Milliners trimmed and sold hats to customers, which appeared to be more rewarding, and the chance to wear the latest fashions.
Zorn
Before we masked up for Covid, covering the face had connotations. Here they’re explored, from the niqāb and widow’s veil to the aversion that makes us voyeur.
As tried by Pissarro, Degas, Carl Larsson, Gauguin, Anders Zorn, Charles Conder, and Louis Welden Hawkins.
An overview starting with the sculptural folds of the late 13th century, peaking with Raphael and Rembrandt, and dissolving with Renoir and Sargent in the early 20th century.
In Spain, Sorolla was first Naturalist, then his style loosened to resemble that of Sargent; Zorn in Sweden painted early detailed watercolours before loosening up in oils.
A grisaille turned into a trompe l’oeil, symphonies in white, making the transition to oil paints, an exercise for pupils, and vibrant primary colours.
There were few good reasons to blur what should be sharp edges in paintings. Aerial perspective and Vermeer’s unusual optical effects explored in paintings.
Anders Zorn, William Blake, John Constable, the amazing Pre-Raphaelite Kate Bunce, and Samuel Palmer’s painting of Sir Guyon and the Palmer.
Zorn’s finest art seen through his paintings of ordinary people, particularly those of his home town Mora in Sweden.
In 1911, he sailed to the US to paint its President, the third he had made a portrait of. But less than ten years later, Zorn was dead.