I ended the old year with a visit to this extraordinary exhibition which I highly recommend although, sadly, there are only a few days left.
It’s described in the introduction material as follows: Featuring artwork by over 30 Indian artists, this major exhibition is bookended by two transformative events in India’s history: Indira Gandhi’s declaration of a state of emergency in 1975 and the Pokhran nuclear tests in 1998. The fraught period between these years was marked by social upheaval, economic collapse, and rapid urbanisation.
Within this turbulence, ordinary life continued, and artists made work that distilled historically significant episodes as well as intimate moments and shared experiences. Across a range of media, the vivid, urgent works on show – about friendship, love, desire, family, religion, violence, caste, community, protest – are deeply personal documents from a period of tremendous change.
This is the first institutional exhibition to cover these definitive years, with many works never before seen in the UK.
You can buy timed tickets and watch a short video here.
A Christmas present I would have liked as a child (in fact, I’d probably enjoy getting it now) …
Illustration from the Transport Ticket Society newsletter (yes, I confess to being a member!).
The St Mary Woolnoth 1810 ‘price list’ …
Note the fees for ‘Churching a Woman’ …
Childbirth was seen as dangerous for both mother and child so the churching ceremony was viewed as a way to give thanks for a successful delivery. It was performed even when the child was stillborn or had died unbaptised.
Concert Hall delivery, I think I can guess what’s in them …
What could those wriggly white things possibly be?
It’s an art work by UrbanSolid. The premises were once an art gallery but are now a nail bar.
Morning visitor to my office …
At Liverpool Street Station …
A joyful doorway in Kensington …
Sweet meeting place idea at London Bridge Station ..
Pretty door and heart combined at 65 Banner Street – surely the same artist …
One of my favourite paintings at the Guildhall Art Gallery, The Carlyle Hotel, Bayswater …
It’s by the wonderfully talented Doreen Fletcher. As is this print, Hot Dogs, Mile End Park, which I’m delighted to own …
Disgruntled ULEZ objector …
Memento Mori – a lady dances with Death in St Stephen Walbrook. Like the lady, Death also wears a skirt …
Stunning stained glass at Two Temple Place, commissioned by and built for William Waldorf Astor in the 1890s …
An owl casts a worried glance at a woodsman doing some drastic pruning …
I almost can’t believe that this is my eighth Christmas quiz. When I started my blog way back in 2017 I wasn’t sure I could maintain a weekly publication, but here I am now writing blog number 379!
Happy Christmas and thank you so much for subscribing.
Here are the questions. They are all based on blogs published during 2024 and the answers are at the end of today’s edition.
1. What animals are waddling around Fleet Street this Christmas?
2. Where can you find this friar carrying a pig in a wheelbarrow …
3. What was in this box on display at the Ashmolean Museum and mysteriously marked NOT TO BE OPENED EXCEPT IN THE PRESENCE OF TWO SENIOR OFFICERS OF THE ROYAL MINT …
4. Where am I ‘driving’ the train …
5. Where is the origin of the mysterious green glow …
6. This exotic Indian Bean Tree can be found on what 19th century estate …
7. What’s wrong with this signage in Gresham Street …
8. What famous store at the junction of Queen Victoria Street and Poultry did this clock once adorn …
9. This is Wesley’s Chapel on City Road, home of Methodism …
A very famous lady got married here, had her children baptised here, and donated these altar rails …
Who was she?
10. In St Botolph without Aldersgate is this memorial window commemorating the life of Matthew Webb. What was he famous for?
11. Is the symbol of the City of London a dragon or a gryphon …
12. On Watling Street, what ancient trade is this man practising …
13. At the Guildhall Art Gallery, who is the subject of this terrific sculpture of a thoughtful, gentle man, created by someone who knew him very well personally …
14. This font cover in All Hallows by the Tower is by one of the most famous sculptors and wood carvers of all time. Who was he (a clue, his initials were GG) …
15. This memorial on the Embankment commemorates a famous Brigade consisting of four regiments, a mixture of British, Australian and New Zealand soldiers. What was the Brigade commonly known as …
16. In this church you will find Wren’s finest dome based on his original design for St Paul’s …
There’s also an old fashioned telephone …
What’s the name of the church and what’s the significance of the telephone?
17. This is one of the Guildhall Art Gallery’s most famous paintings. It’s called La Ghirlandata, who is it by …
18. There are six churches in the City that include the name Mary in their title but only one of them contains a fabulous plaster fan-vaulted ceiling that is more reminiscent of a cathedral. It’s is the only parish church in England known to have one, which ‘Mary’ is it ?
This is the nave …
This is the south side aisle …
19. This man is Percivall Pott (1714-1788) as painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds …
And here’s his tombstone outside St Mary Aldermary …
Why is his name familiar to most medical professionals?
20. An easy one to finish. He was often known as ‘The Bastard’ and he started the construction of this building in 1066 ….
7. The Apostrophe is in the wrong place – surely it should be before the ‘S’?
8. Mappin & Webb. The old building in 1994 just before demolition …
It’s replacement …
I make no comment!
9. Baroness Margaret Thatcher. You can see more of the chapel and the surrounding area here.
10. He was the first man to successfully swim the English Channel. His first attempt was on 12 August 1875 but poor weather and sea conditions forced him to abandon his attempt. Twelve days later, he set off again and, despite several jellyfish stings and strong currents, he completed the swim, which was calculated at 40 miles, in 21 hours and 40 minutes …
Tragically, he drowned in 1883 while attempting to cross the Whirlpool Rapids below Niagara Falls. A memorial in his home town of Daley, Shropshire, reads: “Nothing great is easy.”
12. He is a Cordwainer. Here on Watling Street you are in the Ward of Cordwainer which in medieval times was the centre of shoe-making in the City of London. The finest leather from Cordoba in Spain was used which gave rise to the name of the Ward’s craftsmen.
13. It’s a sculpture of Terry Thomas, a major star in the 1950s and 60s best known for playing disreputable members of the upper classes especially ‘cads’, ‘toffs’ and ‘bounders’ …
19. Today, over 300 years since his birth, he is known as one of the founders of orthopaedics and occupational health. His name lives on in a number of conditions that he identified, such as Pott’s disease of the spine and Pott’s Puffy Tumour. The one that initially intrigued me, however, was Pott’s Fracture and how it came to get its name. It was literally by accident! Read all about it and this very likeable man here.
20. William the the Conqueror. Read more about him and other famous monarchs with City connections here.
Happy New Year! Thank you again for subscribing.
If you would like to follow me on Instagram here is the link …
Wandering around the streets at this time of year can be rather atmospheric and gets me into quite a Christmassy mood.
My first images are from 5 Aldermanbury Square, which is the first office I pass as I head into the City. I was taking pictures from the outside to start with …
Then I got into a conversation with the building manager who was outside having a vape. I congratulated him on this year’s display (which they are very proud of) and he invited me in so I could get a fuller picture. Here it is …
Writing this blog can be such fun!
More office trees. Somehow they make these reception areas look more cosy …
A few reindeer on the loose …
I don’t know about you, but I think that wall in the background is rather creepy.
I popped into the lovely St Lawrence Jewry church, where the tree has a slightly wonky star …
The church contains some of the best stained glass in the City and I particularly love the two angels. One is holding the shell of the destroyed church, roof and windows gone and what is left of the building filled with rubble. St Paul’s in the background is silhouetted by fire and the buildings on the right are ablaze as searchlights pierce the sky, the Blitz in all its horror …
The second angel is holding the church after restoration …
Last Monday I had the pleasure of visiting this super exhibition and I hope you will enjoy my report even though I have travelled once more outside my usual beat of the City.
The exhibition is described as follows: ‘Art and money have much in common. Both influence who and what we think of as valuable. It can be surprising to think of money, so functional in form, starting its life as drawing or sculpture. The current Money Talks exhibition at the Ashmolean explores the place of money in our world through art, highlighting a multitude of global perspectives across time. Works on show range from rare monetary portraits and historic depictions of wealth to contemporary activist Money Art, alongside more unusual examples from some of the best-known artists including Rembrandt and Warhol. Together, they expose the tension between the power of money and the playfulness of art’.
Here are some of my favourite exhibits.
The exhibition entrance, with a dollar sign by Andy Warhol …
There is the fascinating story of the design for the coinage of Edward VIII who chose to abdicate before any came into circulation. I like the ‘warning’ on this box: NOT TO BE OPENED EXCEPT IN THE PRESENCE OF TWO SENIOR OFFICERS OF THE ROYAL MINT …
What it contained …
Edward proved rather difficult because he wanted the coins to incorporate his ‘best’ profile …
‘Cubist’ designs submitted for the reverse of Edward’s coinage. They were rejected, with the Mint Advisory Committe declaring that they ‘could not be taken seriously’ …
They probably had a point.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II …
The slightly disconcerting hologram …
An enormous tapestry ‘Comfort Blanket’ by Sir Grayson Perry is based on the design of a very familiar monetary object – the £10 banknote. In Sir Grayson’s own words, it is ‘a portrait of Britain to wrap yourself up in, a giant banknote; things we love, and love to hate’
The two defining artistic movements of Art Nouveau and Art Deco left their imprint in monetary art, much as architecture, jewellery and furniture. ‘Jugendstil’ or German Art Nouveau in money can be best exemplified through the works of the Viennese ‘Avant Garde’ artists like Gustav Klimt, Franz Matsch and Koloman Moser. This is Moser’s draft artwork for 50-crown note for the Austro-Hungarian Bank …
The Inflation Display – some crazy high value notes …
Artists have always highlighted and reflected on wealth, power and money. But the contrasting way in which money is depicted and treated in Eastern and Western traditions of art is interesting in itself. Perhaps owing to the bad press money gets in the Bible and the Christian world view, money is often depicted in negative ways in Western Art.
Greedy usurers and tax collectors, miserly men, conniving and hoarding women are often the subjects associated with money. The ‘crookedness’ of money is also physiognomic: these subjects are often shown with grotesque features, unkempt appearances and unsavoury expressions.
Two Tax Gathererers, 1540s, Workshop of Marius van Reymerseale, an artist known for his satirical paintings of greed and corruption …
Tax collectors were paid percentages of the revenues they collected and would extort every last penny from taxpayers.
The Miser, 1780s, by Thomas Barker of Bath …
His unwillingness to part with money is underlined by the poor quality of his clothing and a generally unkempt look.
The man with the moneybag and his flatterers, Johnnnes Wierix, around 1620 …
This crude composition based on a Flemish proverb uses toilet humour to allude to the power of wealth. A defecating rich man scatters coins from a sack and ‘ass-kissers’ and ‘brownnosers’ scuttle up his humongous behind.
On the contrary, in the Eastern traditions, money is celebrated as an agent of fulfilment, plenitude and fertility.
This shift in attitude prompts Eastern artistic engagement with money to be far more positive and fun. It celebrates money’s agency in bringing prosperity, wealth and happiness. Here we see representations of gods and goddesses, symbolisms and happy cultural associations with money …
A seated figure of Kubera, Buddhist god of wealth, Tibet, 18th–19th century.
Lakshmi, Hindu goddess of wealth …
Humour, satire, irony and wit are often deployed as critical tools by artists to playfully poke fun or shine a light on different social and political topics. These include many of the enduring questions and issues facing society, from the pressures of inflation to the intersections between gender, celebrity and status.
James Gillray lampoons a belching and farting prime minister …
Pitt the Younger, depicted as Midas, Transmuting All into Paper, 1797.
Another Gillray. Political Ravishment, or the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street in Danger, 1797 …
Prime Minister Wlliam Pitt, the young man, is shown trying to woo an old lady, the Bank of England, as he slips his hand into her pocket.
Bringing us up to date, a rather careworn looking King Charles III …
The final exhibit, Susan Stockwell’s sculpture ‘Money Dress’ is an excellent example of a ‘feminist’ intervention using money as medium. Shaped like an impressive Victorian gown, it is dedicated to the early 20th-century explorer and anthropologist Mary Kingsley (1862-1900) …
The exhibition is open until 5th January 2025 – highly recommended.
Finally, some images from the streets.
Last Saturday I was feeling a bit grumpy as I went to buy a paper when I met this lovely man pushing his beautiful Christmas dust cart …
We shook hands, wished one another a Happy Christmas, and I didn’t stop smiling for ages!
Obviously many people cycle to Oxford Station to catch the train. How do they get to their bike if it’s in the middle of this lot …
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