see three excellent exhibitions in the Xmas holidays

was the Rodin exhibition, which was at the Royal Academy. I was expecting it to be quite a small exhibition of 4 or 5 rooms, and to my amazement it was quite a major one of 10 rooms, all very well-filled. I only just had time to see it all!

When anybody tries to describe Rodin’s work, it makes it seem somehow smaller than it is. Some of his sculptures express vast emotions, so they need plenty of space. Sometimes the emotion is so inchoate and primitive it is quite amazing that these quite small sculptures can be vehicles for such things.

There were also very large works in the exhibition, like a huge “Thinker” and a large “The Kiss” and “the Burghers of Calais” which was the best in the exhibition, from my point of view, because I had never studied it before. I spent plenty of time looking at things from every angle. I loved “John the Baptist” from the side, for example.

My criticism is that it was all a bit crowded with exhibits, and that there was not enough annotation, just a title and date for each piece. They should buck up their ideas at the Royal Academy!

The first was the most disappointing. At the Victoria and Albert Museum (the V&A) the Leonardo exhibition sounded very good fun – with animations and models!! Unfortunately the main part of the exhibition was lots of people shuffling around a darkened room looking at very tiny faded drawings. These were interesting, of course, as we are told so often that L De V dissected the human body, found the perfect proportions for the human body, and designed the helicopter and the tank. Well, I’ve seen all the evidence; like back-of-the-envelope scribblings – all higgledy piggledy, tiny and faded. The Queen usually keeps these drawings at Windsor and shows them to distinguished visitors. So I’m pleased to say I’ve seen them.

The models and animations were not very interesting.

The Holbein exhibition today was fab. Within the limits of the conventions he made strides in depicting different personalities by their eyes or the set of the mouth. Amazing draughtsman. I loved the drawings, and the painting that were all Holbein’s work were stunning. This was a very popular exhibition. It was also very well-annotated, so if you are a boffin like me, you could learn a lot from looking at the notes and at the pictures.

The whole family is going to the Leonardo. I’ve booked the tickets. It will be good for them!!!

are the Holbein exhibition, the Leonardo exhibition and the Rodin exhibition.