The Modern Muse of 1960s

Twiggy
by Barry Lategan, 1966
© Barry Lategan
Image from NPG

And when I was just pondering where is Twiggy, the face of 1966? The National Portrait Gallery has in fact reserved a separate exhibition for her 60th birthday: 'Twiggy: A Life in Photographs', in conjunction with the 'Beatles to Bowie: The 60s Exposed' exhibition. Perhaps it is just time for the 60s to become an object of nostalgia.

Talking about 'Swinging London' of the 1960s, one just cannot miss out Twiggy, the modern muse who redefined the idea of feminine beauty. I am not sure how this appealed to the male sex, but for most of the female sex (perhaps especially the feminists), Twiggy's androgynous style and silhouette as opposed to the often angelic/erotic femininity celebrated by the arts and culture of the preceding centuries was outrageously rebellious and appealing.

Though Twiggy herself expressed that at the time she was not fully aware that she was creating a new style for the world, that being a teenage model she was just acting according to instructions, it is obvious that her phenomenon has carried through to this day. Kate Moss has been hailed the second Twiggy, but personally, I find Agyness Deyn much more the Twiggy spirit. But I guess for most of the male sex today, the female ideal is still the one in the 16th Century.

The Faces of the 60s

The Beatles by Robert Whitaker, 1964
Robert Whitaker Archive
© Robert Whitaker
Image from NPG

The National Portrait Gallery, London had just had the exhibition 'Beatles to Bowie: The 60s Exposed', showcasing photographs of the leading pop music figures that defined the 'Swinging London' of the 1960s. This undoubtedly would draw a lot of fans, but then while paying homage to the superstars, it is as well interesting to take note of the photography styles of the 60s and how those contributed to the creation of the imagery for the pop.

I used to go to the NPG for my MA assignments (once being to pick a 15th Century English Royal portrait and make a presentation of it), and this treasure trove has always been outshone by its glorious neighbour, the National Gallery. Nevertheless the NPG hosts portraits of historic figures across several centuries, tracing the nation's history and its evolution of artistic style, and is a great place for students both of history and art. I therefore sincerely applaud NPG's endeavour this time to bring more life and glamour to its exhibition halls while at the same time extend their notion of historic portraiture.

The Cremaster - A Feast of the Senses

A scene from The Cremaster Cycle One

It happened during my first days in the library. While I was wondering how crazy about art people who work in the art industry can be, one day during lunch, my colleagues set up the projector in the laboratory and started showing a BBC documentary on The Cremaster. So that is it, they do not stop looking at art even when they are having lunch.

But this is just joking. Watching that documentary was indeed a feast of the senses. I did not know about The Cremaster Cycles nor Matthew Barney then, not to mention the complicated allegory and non-linear narrative. But the costumes and installations gave me that cult impression and I was especially attracted to the Baroque visual elements. I hope someday I will be able to watch all five cycles in one go and to appreciate The Cremaster both in terms of its narrative and its visual representation.

The Bleakness of Childhood

Mayuka Yamamoto
Deer Boy, 2006
Oil on Canvas
227cm x 162cm

It was another "Deer Boy" painting that first attracted my eyes while I was flipping through a recent auction catalogue in the art gallery I worked for previously. But when I was looking up the artist on the internet, this painting of a "deer boy" against an easily recognizable Japanese landscape suddenly brought me back to some remote place in my memory. It was then that I recalled a scene in A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro, my favourite Japanese novelist (the only Japanese who has ever won a Booker Prize). I was made to study this difficult and depressing novel for my A-Level English Literature exam, and it was only until much later that I could fully comprehend the powerful force of the narrative. And this painting of the quiet pale boy revokes again all these sentiments. The river banks covered by untrimmed reeds, the silent child, the unrecoverable loss of the post-war Japanese, the pale view of hills, the bleakness of it all.

MAYUKA YAMAMOTO was born in 1964 in Okayama. Her artwork has been exhibited worldwide and she currently lives and works in Gunma. She completed the Master Program of Musashino Art University in 1990, and in 1998, she was selected by the Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artists to study in London. Her early work focused on etching, but she also worked with oil. Her paintings remained ambiguous and fluid in style. In 2002, at the time of the birth of her child, she seemed to have had a strange experience - as if her pregnancy had reminded her of her own animal nature. "I could concentrate only on my child, and when I think about this now it seems so odd to me. I found myself instinctively involved in this nest-making-process." From that point, her art-work became more focused and she is currently working on a series of oil paintings. The boy painted by Mayuka Yamamoto looks sad and uneasy, and the viewer can find something mysterious. Her paintings are holding a fascinating allure.