Sunday at London Art shows

I caught up with some London art shows today. I list them in my own order of merit, with my favourite first.
The Sacred Made Real show at the National Gallery was a delight. Polychromed wooden sacred sculptures from Granada, Sevilla and Toledo alongside paintings by Velázquez and Zurbarán, all shown in darkened galleries have a big impact. It is a must see for anybody with an interest in Spanish art.
Turner and the Masters at Tate Britain attracted bigger crowds but was the lesser exhibition for me. Interesting rather than thrilling. Turner was shown in lots of styles I had not seen from him before as he aped Rembrandt, Claude, Watteau or many others. Some of these were declared unsuccessful. So this was not "best of Turner".
Ed Ruscha at Hayward Gallery showed 50 years of putting lettering on simple paintings. Rew Shay seemed a bit of an arsonist.
Kienholz: The Hoerengracht (means whore's canal) back at the National was a reconstruction of Amsterdam's red light district. Not so much fun as the real thing.

Turner Prize 2009 back at Tate Britain was deservedly won by Richard Wright whose intricate gold leaf wall will be destroyed at the end of the show. We could only read about Roger Hiorns' house full of blue copper sulphate

Falstaff from Liege Cine-opera

25th November: Yelmo cinema in Plaza Mayor played Falstaff from Liege in HD via live satellite. The Opéra Royal de Wallonie is rebuilding its main house over the next three years and has set up camp in a luxurious tent. The inaugural production was Falstaff with the 68 year old Ruggero Raimondi in the title role, Paola Arravabeni as conductor and Stefano Poda as director. Arravabeni (or at least the top of his head) was on screen throughout as the new venue does not have a conventional pit. The cine projection was fine apart from a few satellite signal glitches and the curious reversion to German subtitles at the beginning of Act 3. But it was the production that left me scratching my head. Has Poda seen a religious theme in Falstaff?. Act 1 saw men in pointed hats a la Klu Klux Klan or, more likely, Andalucian Easter processionals. Act 3 had nuns in wimples and Herne's Oak beacame a Christian cross- seemingly burning. Falstaff's page had angel wings. I could go on. Costumes were black or white. Mistresses Page, Ford and Quickly were in evening gowns with elaborate hats. Add to that Brechtian style banners spelling out the theme of several scenes, and words projected on the backdrop in case we still did not get the message. Best forgotten. Raimondi did well, but at 68 remains too slim for Falstaff.

Three Days in London

Thursday 19th November Tate Modern
Miroslaw Balka's dark container in the Turbine Hall was my first stop.
Walking into darkness is not new for me- except in the context of an art gallery.
Sections of Pop Life had over 18 only warnings and they were needed. Jeff Koons presented material that was more suitable for a porn mag, and then Cosy Fanny Tutti's exhibit consisted of just that- pages from a 1970's Knave top shelf issue. Spiritual America, Richard Prince's erotic nude portrait of a twelve year old Brooke Shields had been removed and replaced with a bikini clad adult Brooke Shields called Spiritual America IV on "advice" from the police.
John Baldessari's conceptual art was somewhat tame after the other two. Burning your complete ouevre and painting with words did not have the same shock value.
Friday 20th November ENO Duke Bluebeard's Castle/ Rite of Spring
Rave reviews for the Rite sent me along to this double bill. Edward Gardner conducted brilliantly in both pieces, but the Bluebeard production disappointed. Neither Bluebeard nor Judith seemed credible characters to me and the gruesome production was just revolting. The finale with Bluebeard dropping his trousers to rape Judith with a sword left a nasty taste. The choreography of Rite- by Michael Keegan-Dolan of Fabuluous Beast Dance Company was exhilarating. I wasn't too sure at first, with characters arriving on bicycles and on-stage (post-coital?) smoking. But the rhythms were soon established to great effect. But it was a trouser dropping evening as soon the whole male cast joined in. And they looked lovely in their frocks.
Sunday 22nd November Wallace Collection Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst's Blue Paintings seemed out of place here, but all credit to the Wallace for putting the show on. I liked "Floating Skull" alone. It was an opportunity to see again the fabulous Bouchard's and Fragonard's swing.
Sunday 22nd November Royal Academy Anish Kapoor / Wild Thing
I was taken aback by how much sheer fun there was at the Anish Kapoor show.
The queues stretched all the way round the entrance square, but inside all was joy. The mirrors were fascinating. There's going to be a lot of work to do cleaning red gloop off walls and door frames when this show ends on 11 December.
Jacob Epstein, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Eric Gill were the wild things. This was a cohesive show from which one remembers particularly Gill's eroticism and Epstein's shocking Rock Drill.

Glyndebourne Rusalka

La Mesa Redonda, Jerez

Found this restaurant in GourmetTour (rating 6.5/10). Quite difficult to locate- it is in an apartment block between the Riding School and the Bull Ring with access from the gated car park. Booked in four for lunch after the horse show on Thursday 22 January.

Charmingly decorated dining room almost in English club style. Permits smoking, but we were not bothered until the end of the meal. Service excellent. Menus in English and Spanish differed in prices! Prices including wine list very reasonable. There was a menu del dia "for the crisis" at 20€ but we opted for a la carte. Albondiguillas Marineras (fish and seafood balls) al vino Fino 11.50€ and Canapes Calientes de Gambas al Curry (curried prawns) 7€ were both excellent starters. Tosta de vieriras (scallops) gratinada  10.50€ and Codillo de cerdo con salsa de ciruelas (pork knuckle with cherry sauce) 13€ were equally good. Antonio Barbadillo Castillo de San Diego local white wine (palomino grape from Sanlucar) 8.50€ accompanied the meal.

The chef came out after we ate to check all was OK. That was a nice touch and we can thoroughly recommend La Mesa Redonda

San Antón blessing of the animals

17th January is the feast day of San Antón. At the small church Ermita de San Antón above Mijas the parish priest Francisco Villasclaras blessed pets brought to the ceremony. I walked Leo up there and he was blessed. It can be seen in the Flickr video
Later local spinsters threw stones at the genitals of the statue of San Antón in the belief this will bring them a boyfriend or husband. I didn't stay for that!

A news story covered the events throughout Spain.

Rex Whistler Restaurant at Tate Britain

The Rex Whistler Restaurant is a gem that can easily be combined with a visit to admire the art at Tate Britain. Indeed you can admire the art from inside the restaurant as Whistler painted the walls. It was my seventh visit as the food and the wine list in particular have been consistently excellent. We had booked in advance for a party of four between Christmas and New Year; just as well as the restaurant was full. That was the problem this time as service did not seem to be as prompt as on previous visits.

The parsnip soup (£5.80) was given full marks by all of us. The pheasant stew (£15.55) was also well appreciated. Il Molino di Grace Chianti Classico 2003 (£29) complemented the stew well but we had to ask for it to be decanted.