In the far left-hand corner of the room, you can see two pictures hanging, one above the other [1, 2]. If you half close your eyes and stand back a bit, you can see that they're roughly the same with a kind of streak of shadow coming towards you.
And if you move closer up, thinking 'What is that?', and look at the bottom picture [1], it's really hard to make out. It's something moving, there seem to be flashes of colour and darkness, of a crowd. And is it flags that are waving?
But in the picture above [2], you can see something that is much less lively and more recognisable as a procession going through the streets. This was an absolutely characteristic piece of work on Leonid's part.
He was watching what was known as the Munich Fasching, which was a festival procession with trumpets and drums and flags and crowds watching. And he did more closer-up sketches, very quick ones [3, 4], like the one that hangs below, and then later he did the static version, which I think is only interesting as the finished version, because it’s so much less vital than the, the [impressionistically immediate] ones.
It's characteristic of Leonid that he wanted to catch things in movement. This is why he loved doing drawings of children. In the last half of his life, he spent a lot of time sketching his grandchildren [5].
In the Green Room, you will have seen the beautiful, very finished sketch of Josephine and Rosalia in the nursery [6], [and another of them playing out of doors [7].] Leonid believed that it was important for artists to practise trying to catch things in movement. He said the nursery is the ideal studio for that.
The Pink Room
The Munich Fasching
Make sure your volume is on
In the far left-hand corner of the room, you can see two pictures hanging, one above the other. And if you sort of half close your eyes and stand back a bit, you can see that they're roughly the same with a kind of streak of shadow coming towards you.
And if you move closer up thinking: 'What is that?', and look at the bottom one, it's really hard to make out. It's something moving, there seem to be flashes of colour and darkness, of a crowd. And is it flags that are waving?
And in the picture above, you can see something that is much less lively and more recognisable as a procession going through the streets. And this was absolutely characteristic piece of work on Leonid's part.
He was watching what was known as the Munich Fasching, which was a festival procession with trumpets and drums and flags and crowds watching. And he did sketches, very quick ones like the one that's shown below, and then later he did the static version, which I think is only interesting as the finished version, which is less interesting than the the abstract one.
But it's characteristic of Leonid that he wanted to catch things in movement. And this is why that he loved doing drawings of children. In the last half of his life, he spent a lot of time drawing sketches of his grandchildren.
In the Green Room, you will have seen the beautiful, very finished sketch of Josephine and Rosalia in the nursery. And for Leonid, he believed that it is important for artists to practise trying to catch things in movement, and the nursery is the ideal studio for that.
