The re-opening of the Estorick Collection
Laura MarianiShare
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Canonbury is an area in north London, roughly between Essex Road, Upper Street, and Cross Street and either side of St Paul's Rod, a small but diverse subsection of Islington, with streets grande in scale. Canonbury's greatest appeal is its proximity to all that Islington has to offer, being close to Upper Street and North of the hip Essex Road and surrounded by great transport links, plus arts & culture and a multitude of restaurants and bars on the doorstep. As one must have noticed from my previous blogs about Islington, I am a fan and proud resident; I absolutely love the community feel, the fact that it seems like a self-contained old town, culturally vibrant and with a great nightlife within a few minutes of the "Big City". Canonbury Square is the home of a small museum, a little gem tucked away in this leafy part of Islington, the Estorick Collection, which has finally reopened after an extensive refurbishment. "War in the Sunshine" is the opening exhibition of 75 rarely shown artworks revealing the little-known role of British forces in Italy during the First World War, the pieces are on special loan from the Imperial War Museum. The show highlights the often forgotten involvement of the British forces in Italy during the First World War, comprising a range of artworks by Sydney Carline and Ernest Brooks, including 24 drawings and paintings by official war artist Sydney Carline, and 50 odd images by war photographers W.J. Brunell and E. Brooks., an overall reflection on the experience of British soldiers who fought in northern Italy a century ago. A series of works by London-based contemporary artist Keith Roberts is also on display, in line with the theme of the show.Ernest Brooks was an official photographer on the Western Front, best known for his images of British forces on the Somme and at Passchendaele; the photographs on display (taken during his official assignment to Italy in 1917-1918) have not been exhibited since 1919, they portray the sad condition of front-line combat troops and dispossessed Italian civilians scratching a living behind the Anglo-Italian lines.
The photographs taken by William Joseph Brunell reveal an intuitive view of northern Italy’s mountains and of ruins dotting the front line along il Piave (river) north of Venice. There are also images of many of the young Italian women employed by the British Army Service Corps, unloading railway wagons of supplies, washing British Army uniforms, and preparing meals.
I personally really enjoyed the exhibition and felt quite touched by it, one cannot look at those pieces without feeling something. Go and visit the museum, it is definitely worthed for art lovers and novices alike.
The Exhibition has been reviewed in great extent in the national newspapers, click on the links to know more:
The Guardian
The Independent
The Telegraph
