Having spent many years visiting art exhibitions, often buying large, glossy and expensive catalogues, it became clear that one can take a more personal (and less costly) path and devise one's own 'catalogue' of particular works of art that have caught the eye and resonated in some way. Using a digital note taking app on one's phone (eg Evernote) the titles and artists can be recorded and any particular observations that one wants to remember and ponder later. Many galleries allow photographs to be taken (without flash) and if not it is usually very easy to find the paintings through a search engine which are not under copyright. This therefore becomes a personal curation to add to the curation that has already taken place putting the exhibition together. Someone has already made a selection and many decisions about themes and ideas and history and even meaning. However as a visitor one has the ability to create a new 'view', new connections and interesting, perhaps unexpected selections. In my Evernote folder I currently have well over 100 notes of exhibitions I have attended, starting with Matisse Cut-Outs at the Tate in London in 2014 through, via galleries in France, Italy, Austria, Australia New Zealand and many locations in the UK to a more recent entry, back at Tate Britain again in 2023. Many were temporary exhibitions and so the particular gathering of paintings can no longer be seen in one place. However, the personal curations survive.
I plan to add to this page over the coming months.........
Matisse Cut Outs - Tate Modern
A small curation from a splendid and very memorable exhibition
Before coming to the Tate the exhibition was at MOMA in New York. Here is a good introduction to the exhibition and how and why Matisse used this technique