John Kaufmann Retrospective at the Bermuda National Gallery

LAST weekend four art shows opened, two on Thursday and two on Friday. This seems to be overkill with so few galleries available to our artists. A modicum of communication between galleries could have averted the needless congestion. Those of us who love the whimsical miniature work of Elizabeth Mulderig, but for one reason or another had to be at the National Gallery’s opening of the splendid Kaufmann Retrospective missed it altogether. It was a one-off charity evening. On Friday there was a show opening at the Maritime Museum and another at Masterworks. A lot of people like to go to openings and this excess must have left many disappointed.I don’t, as a rule, comment on retrospectives.

The paintings in such shows have all been seen before and have passed the acid test of public approval.

The Kaufmann Retrospective at the National Gallery, however, covers so many years in the life of the artist (60 to be precise) that a great many people will be just plain not old enough to have seen them all before.

This is very much the kind of show that the National Gallery should be mounting. It is a laudable undertaking and there is comfortable time to drop in to see the show.

It was my great honour and privilege to be invited to open the show and thus spent some time beforehand looking at my old friend’s work for a second, more contemplative time.

The paintings are not mounted chronologically for various good reasons associated with hanging space and the arrangement of the gallery, itself designed by Mr. Kaufmann.

It is, however, well worth paying attention to the date of each work. There are three small works done at the ages of 10, 12 and 13.

Obviously they are not mature works, but it is fascinating to see the seeds of Mr. Kaufmann’s later style already forming in these very youthful works.

I was expecting to see a change in style over the half-century the mature works cover.

To my great fascination, what I found was that Mr. Kaufmann has three styles one of which dominates for a while and then gives way to another before returning to dominance years later.

Mr. Kaufmann doesn’t need any words of mine to add to his formidable reputation as an artist: the public will know that this is a show made up entirely of splendid works.

Enjoyment can be multiplied by becoming aware of the chronological time frame in which they were painted.

On Friday afternoon I went to the Masterworks Gallery in the hope of seeing the new oil paintings of Christopher Marson.

To cut a long story short, I wasn’t able to see the show and for personal reasons will not be able to do so until much too late for a timely review. I apologise to Mr. Marson, whose work I very much enjoy.

Traffic congestion combined with advancing years have made it more and more trying to get to and from art shows.

It has become progressively more difficult to see shows in what has been my hitherto customary 90 minutes before the opening, or even, increasingly often, on the day after the opening.

The opening itself is, of course, not an option. The crush of people and the noise make reviewing impossible.

Today therefore I offered notice of my retirement to my Editor.

He has been kind enough to invite to me to review what I want to when I wish to, but no longer when I feel I must.

To Bermuda’s artists I wish all the best.

I have tried to be as positive as I can and as supportive as possible. In the end, however, critics are little more than parasites, feeding on your talent as a basis for their words. If I have offended, I humbly beg your pardon.

To the galleries, however, my words have often been less than complimentary.

Now that all our professional galleries have closed, unable to afford the rents demanded in today’s economic circumstances, it is incumbent on the charitably supported galleries to get their acts together and do a better and more efficient job than they have done in the past.

Our artists deserve better.