A Closer Look
The latest in a series of promising exhibitions at the National Gallery is Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakes & Discoveries, which runs from 30th June – 12th September 2010. Having been impressed by the recent Hoerengracht exhibition, and intrigued by the prospect of a look into the hidden world of art, I went along.
The first impression is a good one: the exhibition is impressive in both scale and design. Covering an entire floor of the Sainsbury Wing, the gallery is decked out in garish block colour, quite a contrast to the more staid surroundings of the rest of the National Gallery.
The marketing campaign, from Tube posters to the bright green exterior of the exhibition, has highlighted Close Examination as a contemporary, accessible exhibition. In reality, the paintings themselves are of more appeal to those with an appreciation of art history – pieces that have been re-painted, altered or reconstructed, with an impressive amount of detail on the world of art reconstruction. There’s perhaps a lack of standout exhibits, but the six galleries each offer a different insight into how art historians piece together the history of a painting.
What’s also fascinating is the questions the exhibition asks about the role museums play in public appreciation of art vs. other types of exhibition stands. Artworks by anonymous artists, which would ordinarily not reach such a wide audience, are displayed prominently, and are deserving of their place – particularly a powerful image of a fallen soldier, by an artist known only as ‘A’. There’s also a large amount of wall space devoted to contentious pieces, where the artist is uncertain. Often the debate is around whether the work is by a famous hand, or an impressive impersonator. To many observers, this may feel irrelevant; to a gallery, it makes a difference to the value and credibility of a piece of work.
Overall, Close Examination is certainly a worthwhile diversion, with something to capture most imaginations (I particularly enjoyed the remarkably spooky X-rays of otherwise picturesque paintings), but is perhaps not the exciting peek into the mysteries of art that the posters suggest. There may not be a Thomas Crown-esque Mona Lisa hidden behind a watercolour, but there are a number of great paintings by sadly anonymous artists, and an interesting debate as to what makes a painting great.