Out Of Chaos: Ben Uri
I'm going to be doing some volunteering with the Ben Uri Gallery at Somerset House and went to a training day there yesterday. The gallery is named after Bezalel Ben Uri, a master craftsman from The Bible. Nine years prior to the formation of Ben Uri, the Bezalel School of Art was formed in Switzerland, so the founders elected to use the second half of the name for their new institution.
The challenge of getting on top of a collection in terms of knowledge can be tricky but there was a great deal there of interest. The exhibition is a generally chronical look at the history of Jewish emigre art and the history of Ben Uri. My highlights were the particularly haunting "Merry-Go-Round" by Mark Gertler, depicting soldiers on a carousel at the height of World War I and "D-Day Preparations/The Briefing" by Barnett Freedman, an official War Artist, depicting a scene at a military base in Portsmouth.
Celebrating the centenary of Ben Uri, the exhibition is entitled "Out Of Chaos; Ben Uri: 100 Years In London". It runs from 1st July-13th December, in the Inigo Rooms in the East Wing of Somerset House and will be free to view. More information can be found at benuri100.org. The Ben Uri Gallery itself currently operates from a shop front in Kilburn and are currently searching for new premises. Hopefully the exposure from this exhibition will assist the effort to do that.
EDIT 25/12: The exhibition was a great success but unfortunately there has been no further movement on new premises at the time of writing.
The challenge of getting on top of a collection in terms of knowledge can be tricky but there was a great deal there of interest. The exhibition is a generally chronical look at the history of Jewish emigre art and the history of Ben Uri. My highlights were the particularly haunting "Merry-Go-Round" by Mark Gertler, depicting soldiers on a carousel at the height of World War I and "D-Day Preparations/The Briefing" by Barnett Freedman, an official War Artist, depicting a scene at a military base in Portsmouth.
Celebrating the centenary of Ben Uri, the exhibition is entitled "Out Of Chaos; Ben Uri: 100 Years In London". It runs from 1st July-13th December, in the Inigo Rooms in the East Wing of Somerset House and will be free to view. More information can be found at benuri100.org. The Ben Uri Gallery itself currently operates from a shop front in Kilburn and are currently searching for new premises. Hopefully the exposure from this exhibition will assist the effort to do that.
EDIT 25/12: The exhibition was a great success but unfortunately there has been no further movement on new premises at the time of writing.
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