One Down

London, England It was a damp and grey day, which didn’t prevent our friends from planning a lovely quest for art. But one of the four of us didn’t join the hunt. Poor Don is down with a nasty ‘thing’ which manifested itself by a constant and awful cough, and a general feeling of despair.

Not deterred, the three of us left standing traveled to the lovely village of Dulwich, which features its own picture gallery. It has a respectable permanent collection, which seems to include many famous Renaissance paintings, though closer inspection reveals many “school of” or “studio of” labels. Still, it’s a lovely gallery space.

We were there to see an exhibition of a woman artist, Tirzah Garwood, which was a treat to discover. Her career flourished between the world wars, and she worked in several mediums.

Her wood engravings are very special, small treasures of detail.

She even translated some of her engravings to embroidery, then turned to painting, marbleized paper, three-dimensional creations, collages and a naive primitivism with equal success.

She died of cancer in 1951, at the age of 43, leaving three children. She was preceded in death by her husband, better-known painter Eric Ravilious, who died in WWII. During their marriage they had formed a creative partnership that was evidently quite a happy pairing of talents and interests.

Some of his work was also shown, as an accompaniment to hers.

It was a lovely exhibition, giving this artist a well-deserved chance to meet new audiences.

(Not) Don’s Food Corner

Art does create the need for refreshment, so we three enlightened souls sat down for a late lunch. The theme was Italian, and our choices were a pepperoni pizza and two salads Nicoise.

All were consumed with relish and approval, but we managed to save some room for that most magnificent of deserts — sticky toffee pudding.

Sorry, Don. You missed it. Feel better soon!