High Culture to Toilet Culture

B and I went along to the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts in Norwich today.  We went along to see their ‘Russian Season, opened in October 2017 to mark the anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the exhibition contrasts art and life before and after this historical period, the first part was: Royal Fabergé, which explores the extraordinary production and glittering saga of Fabergé, the leading artist-jewellers during the decades preceding the First World War. Which included the Sandringham animals illustrating the naturalistic genius of Fabergé which so appealed to Royal tastes both in Britain and in Russia.
The second part was: Radical Russia which shows how in a few short years a new approach to art emerged. The exhibition includes pre-revolution works, showing the way in which Russian abstraction included specific Russian themes – especially relating to the Russian peasantry. The exhibition also includes a wide variety of objects, ranging from suprematist ceramics that utilised revolutionary symbolism, to book covers, which exemplify the unity between the written word and the visual arts.
 
I have to say that ‘Radical Russia’ seemed a stark and brutal contrast after seeing the beautiful and delicate items on display in the Fabergé part of the exhibition.
 
We took advantage of a free guided talk around the two exhibitions which really brought to life the art, photographs and beautiful items we were looking at.  The Sainsbury Centre do these guided talks so well.  This exhibition was a complement to an earlier lecture we had attended last year by the grandson of the Grounds Keeper who was at Sandringham around this time, and he shared the fascinating history of Sandringham between the World Wars and documents kept by his grandfather.
 
We weren’t allowed to take any photographs in the exhibition of course, but I had been very keen on taking a photo of the ladies toilet in the centre for a while, so I took my DSLR along today.  As you can see, it is very modern and reflective and after a bit of faffing in Silver fx I was happy to include it as a blip to mark the day.  Yes…I know, I was doing so well…then I just had to lower the tone!!

Apologies...behind on commenting again...I will catch up soon.