Started the day with coming across what struck me as an odd young couple at Epsom station. The lady, with pram was ordinary enough, all nicely dressed and presented. But the gent. struck me as rather showy, a prancer. Carefully dressed, very conscious of the image he was making on others beside his partner. Gave the impression of someone for whom that image was a lot more important than his partner, whom he would dump without too many qualms. From which the reader can deduce that I disliked the chap on sight, without very good reason.
On to Waterloo and across the concourse area on the way to the ramp to come across a couple of burly policemen sporting machine guns at port. Past them to pull a Bullingdon at Waterloo Station 1 and pedaled off to Millbank Tower, managing the roundabout round the back of the station without incident.
Once in the Tate, struck for once by what a fine space the central gallery was, the space which used to be the Duveen Gallery for the display of figure sculpture. Used on this occasion for a rather feeble display of tapered, coloured and rather flimsy looking silk net tubes hanging from the ceiling. Tubes which I understand to be this year's special commission.
Hepworth rather better, rather good in fact. I liked the stuff in the middle rooms best, corresponding I think to her middle years. Particularly the geometric wooden carvings, inspired in part, I think I was told, by the Russian constructivists. The late works I found empty, despite the fancy pavilion in which someone had thought to exhibit them - the Rietveld Pavilion.
The geometric wooden carvings looked a lot better in real life than they do in their pictures - of which google offers lots, so if they are all by her she was a busy lady. While the labels at the show suggested that she also took good care of her image and of the media - but at least, unlike Hirst in our own time, she had something to say; there was some serious talent behind the image, she was more than a show man. Rather too much to take in in one sitting so I shall be back.
A minor point of interest was the way in which the strings of the stringed pieces were attached. In some cases, for example that illustrated above, visibly strung through a line of holes, in some cases with holes but carefully patched over and in others with slots, also patched over.
I was reminded at different times of the sculptors Moore and Frink and of the roughly contemporary wood cutter Poole. And associated from the smaller early works to Gudrun, the sculptress of 'Women in Love'.
My only criticism of the show was the oddly variable quality of the wooden mats on which the pieces were mounted, with some of them being oddly scruffy.
Refreshed myself with a fancy sausage roll in the members lounge and discovered afterwards a very pleasant annex to that lounge overlooking the river. Pleasantly quiet place in which to sit and read or to sit and do nothing. Having done that for a bit, pulled the second Bullingdon of the day to take me from Millbank Tower to Binfield Road at Stockwell, savouring the fine new southbound segregated cycle lane on Vauxhall Bridge along the way.
On to the Delta Café at Tooting Broadway which did me a fine bacon roll, continental style. The café also did an interesting range of cakes and I bought four described as scones, with the serving suggestion of butter and marmalade, Later on, they turned out to be a rather good variation on rock cakes, and we knocked them back without either butter or marmalade. The proprietor might have been Greek or Turkish and may have thought that Englishmen take everything with marmalade.
Noted in passing that in the place where Wetherpoons had once had a sign saying no smoking beyond this point they now have a sign saying no drinkers beyond this point. Diners only - which seemed a bit rich in this particular establishment, where few of the customers would know their dinner from their dining room.
No aeroplanes at all at Earlsfield, but once home the mystery was partially solved by reference 1. For some reason, instead of flying in from the east, as per usual, aeroplanes were looping around either to the north or the south of London and flying in from the west. What disturbance - mechanical or meteorological - did this? Today, when I am not out and about, they are firmly back on the flying in from the east.
I also noted that the fashion for sturdy public exercise equipment has reached the Gibraltar recreation ground at Ewell. See reference 2.
Reference 1: http://www.heathrow-london.co.uk/airport/live-air-traffic-radar.
Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/sculpture-victorious.html.
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