My Life in Art - Roger Neill
Roger Neill researches and writes about artists, musicians and writers and is particularly interested in the connections between those apparently independent art forms. Previously, he worked internationally in marketing communications and creativity and innovation. Roger is currently Chair of the Friends of the Heseltine Gallery. Thank you, Roger, for sharing your life in art with us!
The Nativity by Piero della Francesca (1470-5)
Piero della Francesca, The Nativity, 1470-5, oil on poplar, 124.4 x 122.6 cm (The National Gallery, London)
Roger: I grew up in a house in the English Midlands with few pictures on the walls, but nothing I recognised as ‘art’; it was only when I took a job in advertising in London that I decided to explore that world. So, on my way to and from work, I dropped into the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square each day and looked at three paintings – yesterday’s, today’s and tomorrow’s. Gradually I got around all that was there, but over time I realised that I was constantly being drawn back to this extraordinary Nativity by Piero della Francesca – so old, yet so modern.
One: Number 31 by Jackson Pollock (1950)
Jacson Pollock, One: Number 31, 1950, oil and enamel paint on canvas, 269.5 x 530.8 cm (Museum of Modern Art, New York)
Roger: Based in London, as soon as I was able, I moved into jobs that would involve international travel, partly in order to expand my awareness of different artists and art around the world. In every city I visited, I made time to visit local art museums and galleries. It was on a trip to New York in the early 1970s that I turned the corner at MoMA and was confronted by this dazzling Abstract Expressionist work by Jackson Pollock. Quite unprepared for its power and impact, I remember going into a sort of trance in front of it.
Golden Summer, Eaglemont by Arthur Streeton (1889)
Arthur Streeton, Golden Summer, Eaglemont, 1889, oil on canvas, 81.3 x 152.6 cm (National Gallery of Australia, Canberra)
Roger: I first arrived to live and work in Australia in March 1981 and soon discovered that there had been a flourishing impressionist movement there with its own characteristics, driven by the unique climate, topography and light of the country. Of course, I was already fully aware of Impressionism, so long as it was French ― the only kind that seemed to find its way into art books up to that time; so, the fact that there had been a movement in Australia (and New Zealand) was news to me. A great favourite is this landscape by Arthur Streeton.
Portrait of Nellie Melba by H Walter Barnett (1903)
H Walter Barnett, Portrait of Nellie Melba, 1903, photograph (National Portrait Gallery, London)
Roger: I was lucky enough to be asked by my friend, Leo Schofield, to curate an exhibition for the recently opened National Portrait Gallery in Canberra in 2000. It was of the work of Australian-born portrait photographer, Walter Barnett. His portraits had mostly been forgotten and I had discovered him initially through my work on a portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson by G P Nerli (another Australian impressionist), the subject of my first book. For its time, this portrait of the great diva, Nellie Melba, is unusually direct, fully capturing her strength of character and purpose.
Portrait of Katherine Mansfield by Anne Estelle Rice (1918)
Anne Estelle Rice, Portrait of Katherine Mansfield, 1918, oil on canvas, 52 x 65.5 cm (Te Papa, Museum of New Zealand, Wellington)
Roger: For a long time I have been fascinated by the short stories of Katherine Mansfield; this is the best known portrait of her by her friend, the American artist, Anne Estelle Rice. I always visited it on trips to Te Papa, the New Zealand National Museum in Wellington. Quite separately, I would visit J D Fergusson Gallery in Perth, Scotland and realised that Rice and Fergusson had very similar styles and techniques – in fact, the two artists had met and become lovers in Paris around 1907. While Fergusson and three other artists have become celebrated as the ‘Scottish Colourists’, Rice’s work remains neglected. Because she isn’t Scottish? Because she is a woman?
Isaac Blessing Jacob by Matthias Stom (c. 1635)
Matthias Stom, Isaac Blessing Jacob, c. 1635, oil on canvas, 136.5 x 182 cm (The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham)
Roger: For 25 years my wife, Sophie, was administrator of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Birmingham, and over that time the wonderful Barber became the art museum (and concert hall) I visited most frequently, many of its paintings and sculptures becoming good friends. Its former director, Richard Verdi, made several major acquisitions for the collection and my personal favourite is Isaac blessing Jacob by Matthias Stom, a little-known Dutch follower of Caravaggio. Aged, blind Isaac wishes to bless his favourite son, Esau, but Isaac’s wife Rebecca substitutes her favourite son, Jacob. She slips goat skin gloves on to Jacob’s hands, so that he will feel to Isaac like the hairy Esau. Notice Rebecca’s raised finger, cautioning us to keep the secret…
Why do you #LOVEArt?
Roger: Not such an easy question. I gradually came to realise that, while some creative people express themselves through sounds, and others through the written word, visual artists express life and experience through an infinite variety of imagery – some communicating instantly, while others only doing so only as a result of close inspection and personal introspection.
Read more #LOVEArt blog features from ‘My Life in Art‘ & more here.