With stage productions beamed into our cinemas, it is no surprise that the visual arts should get in on the act. LESLEY FINLAY joined a screening of a film about Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring as part of the Exhibition on Screen series…
You cannot beat standing in front of a painting to appreciate its beauty and the skill of the artist. But these days, some of the bigger exhibitions seem to resemble pop concerts – with the rush for tickets and the crush of visitors. This was borne out when the renowned Mauritshuis in The Hague closed its doors for refurbishment and took the paintings on a world tour – yes, really! The ‘poster girl’ for the exhibition was The Girl in the Pearl Earring – seen by an astonishing 1.2 million people in Japan alone. That really is showbiz.
But is this a result of a global renaissance in our love and interest in the visual arts, a world made smaller by technology and transport or a clever marketing ploy? Far from being a tick on a lengthy ‘to see’ list, these tours allow us to explore the sheer genius of artists working centuries ago – if they place you in front of a masterpiece, all well and good.
What you might miss is the benefit of the knowledge of experts and this is where Exhibition on Screen can help. Dubbed ‘your front row seat for the world’s greatest art’ the programme leaps gaily onto the hugely successful bandwagon using cinema to spread the world of culture. NT Live, Globe on Screen, OperaLive and others broadcasting live, delayed or recorded stage productions to our local picture house are now part of our cultural landscape so it does make sense for art to get a look in.
Now it does – and audiences love it. In fact, the joy of the shared experience cinema brings was expressed by the knowledgeable and appreciative audience at the Curzon Chelsea by applause at the end of this super film Girl with a Pearl Earring and Other Treasures form the Mauritshuis in the Hague.
This film is the second in a series of five produced by Phil Grabsky’s Seventh Art Productions and this showing was graced with the presence of Phil, director David Bickerstaff and author Tracy Chevalier, who wrote the acclaimed novel Girl with a Pearl Earring that no doubt has contributed to the painting’s appeal.
The film is comprehensive and gives audiences the benefit of the knowledge of world-renowned experts from Stephen Farthing, Rootstein Hopkins University Chair of Drawing at the University of Arts London and Emilie Gordenker, director of the Mauritshuis in The Hague, home of the painting and other masterpieces. Audiences leave the theatre informed not only about the painting, but about the context in which it was painted as well as an understanding of technique, conservation and other artists of the age. This is a most insightful way to learn about art.
The popularity of the painting was sealed during the world tour, mentioned above. Grabsky’s film picks up on this – the first scenes show an empty gallery and then cuts to its re-opening and delight as the ‘Girl’ comes home.
Johannes Vermeer was born in 1632 in Delft where he lived all his life. He married the well-to-do Catharina Bolnes, and they had 15 children, 11 of whom survived. Little is known of his life, although it is given he would have undertaken a six-year apprenticeship, and it is believed at one time his master might have been Carel Fabritius, a star pupil of Rembrandt.
In those days, art had become a business and Vermeer was able to make money in his lifetime from painting – selling his works for lucrative amounts.
Over the course of his life, he painted 36 works. After his death at 43, his reputation died with him and his works were lost for about 200 years. Many were missing. Girl with a Pearl Earring was found in poor condition in 1882 and bought by a Mr Des Tombes. The painting was restored in the Mauritshuis in 1915 and again in 1994.
So what of this painting? Who was the girl? Was she real? Of course, Chevalier’s beautiful story is a mere fantasy that places the subject as a servant girl in the Vermeer household, pitched against a fearsome Mme Vermeer.
But the general consensus is that she was a real person although her identity is a mystery unlikely to be solved. There is a theory that the painting is a ‘tronie’ – a defunct word meaning ‘mugshot’ – but a genre used a great deal in the Dutch Golden Age. These were studies, based on real people to depict ‘types’ as opposed to portraits. The film presents good examples of this comparing Frans Hals’ Laughing Boy (a tronie) with the formal portraits, which depicted likenesses of real people. Supporting this theory is the turban worn by the Girl in the painting.
However, expert consensus points to a portrait: Vermeer, a clever painter, had an intention (the brightness of the figure, the dark of the background, the look, the fall of the turban), the detail (in the earring, the lips), and the strength of the look points to the subject being a real person, with theories abounding it was his wife or one of his daughters. Gordenker says ‘She is a beautiful girl. The composition is clever – a bright figure against a dark background, strengthened by her gesture,’ while Chevalier says: ‘Vermeer managed to capture a lot of real contradictions. I have no idea if she is happy or sad.’
But painters of the time used several studies to create their final pieces, often idealised images. In his celebrated View of Delft, another of his works to feature in literature (Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps Perdu) Vermeer made changes to the harbour gates to suit, and the sky was nods to other works, to create the effect of pulling in the viewer to the painting.
And the film shows how Paulus Potter’s The Bull was drawn from several creatures to create the magnificent creature featured in this bucolic painting. This convention leads some experts to think Vermeer might have done this with Girl.
Along the way we learn about the Dutch Golden Age, the transition from subjects such as religious imagery as a result of the schism in the catholic and protestant church towards more decorative works, for display in homes to demonstrate wealth and social standing.
Exhibition on Screen is an excellent concept, giving a broad but detailed insight into the art world. How widely Arts Alliance can distribute is another story.
Watch out for the others in the series featuring the Impressionists, Matisse and Van Gogh. For more details visit www.exhibitiononscreen.com.