Scones and soft furnishings (and some modern British art)

   
    You may say I've got my priorities all wrong, but nonetheless I'm going to skim over a major exhibition on twentieth century art and talk chiefly about cakes and cushions instead.

    Go, if you possibly can, to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and see Picasso & Modern British Art which closes next Sunday. We were there yesterday, and what an interesting and surprising show it is - very much worth a visit. There are Picasso pieces* of all periods and beside them works by the British artists on whom his influence is clearly seen, among them Ben Nicholson, Duncan Grant, Wyndham Lewis, Henry Moore and David Hockney.

    Modern One as it's now called (some of us remember it as John Watson's School) has a good café at basement/garden level, and we stopped there first for coffee and a fortifying scone (see above). There were three varieties of scone, all large, warm and served with lovely jam, and cream if wished, and I can recommend my rosemary, honey and lemon one, but all the baking on offer looked delicious and you'll find it hard to choose.

    On the way through the café I paused to look at the gallery shop merchandise on display in glass cases there and my eye was caught by a couple of cushions by the Glasgow company Bluebellgray. I've since been admiring their fresh, bold, flower prints and their saturated colours and making a mental wishlist. You can watch a short video here, and go here for a look at the home of Fiona Douglas, the lady behind Bluebellgray - as you'll see, she clearly loves blue and even has a step on her stairs labelled 'Cornflower'!

                                                  ~~~~~    

*Speaking of blue, Picasso's Girl in a Chemise, from his blue period, caught my attention particularly. It featured in James Fox's recent programme, and its blues are dim and moody, but viewed from across the room, not close up, it has an arresting quality about it. Upstairs, there's a Hockney (that link doesn't give much of an idea of it) which uses a cobalt blue to stunning effect.

Comments

[Dark Puss]

Your priorities are your own and I'm certainly not going to say whether they are right or wrong. I'd have concentrated the weblog post on the art however! Sadly I will not be able to make that exhibition and it is over two months since I've been to one in London so thank you for reminding me to change my priorities.

[Claire]

Another good reason to visit. As I recall their soup is excellent too - something will certainly be partaken of!

[Mary]

Lucky you, cakes at the Scottish National Gallery are miles better than the Tate's!
But it was a fascinating exhibition, even if none of the other artists could hold a candle to Picasso.
Bit like the cakes, really!

[Rosie]

Sounds an interesting exhibition. I keep a mental register of where to get the best cheese scones: Durham Cathedral leads by a mile and the V&A cafe's Stilton and chive were exceedingly disappointing.

[Cornflower]

I had a plain scone at Durham Cathedral recently and it was very good.

[Cornflower]

It is a nice cafe - ages since I've had lunch there, though.

[Cornflower]

It is fascinating, and I'm so glad I went.

[Cornflower]

You need to get out more, DP! (says she ...)

[Dark Puss]

You are right! I'm off to Geneva in about three weeks ;-)

[Dark Puss]

I have taken your excellent advice to "get out more" and went to see an exhibition at the british Museaum on Spanish drawing, etching, lithography from C15 to Goya. Lots of fabulous technical ability throughout the ages and then finally we got with Goya really outstanding art. He was just in a different class from what went before in Spain (including Murillo, Velasquez etc.) as far as drawing was concerned.

PS I cannot comment on the scones and I did not look in the shop for cushions.

[Cornflower]

Well done, DP!