“LOOKING SIDEWAYS”
Sir Gabriele Finaldi: A Life In Paintings
OAA PHOTO COMPETITION
The inaugural OAA Photographic Competition on the theme of Community was judged by Patrick Whibley, a member of the teaching staff at the College. Apart from being an enthusiastic photographer himself he also runs our Liberal Studies photography programme. He was joined by Ed Brilliant (14-21) who is currently the College’s artist in residence, teaching photography to students. From the Judges A wonderful array of photographic styles and subjects comprise this inaugural alumni competition. We aimed to be open-minded, rather than technically obsessive. Still, there are technical commonalities between the shortlisted images, including a range of effective compositions that emphasise the representation of community. Interestingly, between the three winning entries, we see environment playing very different supporting roles to the community of subjects: it might be an integral part of the story (how did they get there?); a feature of scale and context; or it can be very much secondary to the composition and character of the group. What the six shortlisted images all do successfully is invite the viewer to ask questions about the featured group – what have they been up to? what is about to happen? do we want to be part of the action? Thank you to all those who shared their images – a wide representation of vibrant life, captured by the lens and together making up a unique visual tapestry that belongs uniquely to this OA community.s uniquely to this OA community.
Rembrandt himself was trying to achieve. The goal is not merely information. It is a hook that will engage people’s enthusiasm or their imagination so that they leave enriched or changed by what they’ve seen”. He is candid that art is not always comforting. Some works are challenging; they ask for “serious engagement,” emotional or intellectual. Museums are not only about wellbeing; they are also about paying attention. Home Life: Seventeen Grandchildren and a Piano That Moved Office What does a man responsible for one of the world’s great painting collections do when he’s not among the paintings? Family, first. “I’ve got six children,” Finaldi says, “I’ve got 17 grandchildren and fortunately they don't all live with me at home!" His life has long been international: London, Madrid (a long period there) and Italy, where his family is from. And then there is music which he admits is an important part of his life. He once had a grand piano in his office, but with so little time to play “I had to take it home”. “I did though acquire a grand piano for the Gallery and a harpsichord, so there is plenty of music in the Gallery, which is wonderful and without a doubt belongs in such a place.” A Final Allegiance: Italy, England, Spain The interview ends with a question designed to tease out identity. If Italy don’t make the World Cup, who does he support, given his tangled loyalties? “Emotionally,” he says, he has always felt attached to the Italian team. “They’ve done us proud in the past, although not so much in the last few years.” But he also feels attached to England: that is the reality of growing up in a culturally Italian family “based in Britain.” Then he admits the Spanish factor: his wife is Spanish and has “probably been more successful” at making their children feel Spanish than either Italian or British. So, the order, he says, is: “Italy, England, Spain.” It is a playful ending, but it also quietly mirrors the whole shape of his life: rooted in one tradition, formed in another and enriched by a third.
WINNER Amongst a Greater Hall Ben Schlossman (09-16)
The photo depicts six Old Alleynians (Hugh Skepper, Johnny Vineall, Finn Lanchester, Alex Gorvett, Milo Jackson- Brown, and Alfred Curry) pitching their tents in Snowdonia this past summer's solstice - almost a decade since leaving the college, but still very much together. It was shot on an Olympus XA that was my great-grandfather's (an architect from Chicago) with Portra 400 film. Judges' Remarks While we aren’t in the thick of the action, the balanced composition (a rare portrait orientation among a mainly landscape group of submitted images) gives us a strong sense that the group has reached this peninsular after some sort of adventure and is setting up camp ahead of what promises to be a special night beneath the stars.
all images © National Gallery, London.
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