Art Department Working Visit to the Courtauld Gallery and National Gallery with Year 12

On the 18th November, Year 12 Art students had a fantastic day out at the Courtauld Gallery in Somerset House and the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. We spent the morning at the Courtauld visiting the Frank Auerbach exhibition as well as seeing the general collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings and sculpture. We made several studies from pieces relevant to our work and particularly focused on unusual early Frank Auerbach paintings.

We went our separate ways for lunch and then met at the National Gallery. On the way, we wandered through the ‘Ghosts of the Forest’ exhibition by Angela Palmer, which was by Nelson’s Column and open to the public. It consisted of complicated structures of tree roots of the fallen trees from a tropical rainforest in Ghana.

Once inside, and raring to go, we parted in search of a painting to work from in the gallery. Once inspired, we made a two hour drawing and were interrupted many a time by peeking tourists trying to get  a glimpse of our work in progress! A bonus just before the end of the trip was a quick pose outside for a group photograph to conclude an enjoyable day of Art.

A good time was had by all.

Gabrielle Cottam and Anna Brightman