Today’s u3a session was Exploring Art. The subject we were talking about was “Family in Art”. This group is structured like most others, each member can prepare a small presentation or discussion point, or bring in an object to talk about, wach lasting say ten minutes on average.
Today, there were enould people who prepared a discussion paper and power point on various topics one which occurred a couple of times (that doesn’t matter, it’s not repetition, its individuals perspectives) is the Jan Van Eyck picture, The Arnolfini Portrait.
I first encountered this fascinating portrait when I was reading The History of Art by E.H. Gombrich, during the COVID lockdowns. The National Gallery has a superb web page that allows you to explore this amazing picture in depth to see the detail that Eyck put into it. There are many interpretations of the story the picture tells. Look at this web page:
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/jan-van-eyck-the-arnolfini-portrait
use the slider to zoom in on the mirror between Arnolfini and his wife. It clearly shows at least one person, who may be the artist himself.
I was a bit frustrated because I hadn’t prepared anything. I did have one idea in mind, but I never got around to doing it. I’m hoping that the group leader will issue a follow-up email. It was decided that the next topic for members would be The Everyday Family, which could be described as domesticity. Now, I do have an idea for this. Can I really do it?
The Camera club evening was the PDI competition that should have happened last week. It got delayed because our club was involved in a three-way competition with local clubs.
The header picture is one of my entries for tonights. When I took the picture I was quite pleased with it, but I felt embarrassed when it was projected. Focus was poor, and it just didn’t look right. Bit dissappointing really, but I totally agreed with the judges summary – he wasn’t impressed, and neither was I.
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