Economy vs extravagance of line

...or a tale of two exhibitions.  In this case E H Shephard at the House of Illustration and Giacometti at the National Portrait Gallery. Very different artists with very different styles squeezed together into the same blog by an ill-thought-out comparison.

E H Shephard was the illustrator of the Winnie the Pooh stories.  This is not what the exhibition shows though: it shows the illustrations, both comissioned and private, that he produced during the first World War. It is on display at the House of Illustration, which - and I mean this as a compliment - is the perfect lunchtime gallery, nestling as it does to the right of Granary Square in King's Cross.  I am a big fan and have been to several of its exhibitions.

Mr Shephard was clearly one of those people who can make the best of any situation.  He deployed his wry humour and economical use of line to produce cutting propaganda (one example of which can be seen top left). These are interesting in themselves and many of the images, particularly of the rotund German general with the spiky helment, were very familiar. 

Of perhaps even more interest were the drawings and illustrations he produced for himself. Diagrams of battlefields, watercolours of dugouts and - for me the most haunting and provocative - a watercolour of a large cruxifix on top of which the Germans had built an observation point.  It is an interesting exhibition and I recommend you go.  There is something strangely life-affirming about his work.

Across town in the National Portrait Gallery is Giacometti.

I went on Thursday evening when the National Portrait Gallery is open late. It was my first late-night visit.  They have a DJ, drinks for sale and lots of braying people called Anastasia and Terrence in attendance. 

Move past all that and at this time of night the paid exhibitions are sparsely occupied, which makes for a nicer, more relaxed experience.

It is a good exhibition, sensibly  dividing his Swiss and Parisian work and then sub-divided by model.  The only criticism I have is that it is a little small, and one room is given over to photos, which feels too much like filler (although is quite informative).

The exhibition is called Pure Presence.  This is not what Giacometti's work does for me.  I find it striking and evocative but there is no sense of the presence of the person.  Rather I feel it is just their structural form;  the subject is absent and you can pour yourself into it. 

Bust of Annette (above right) is one of my favourite pieces of his but is, for me, an example of this.  It reminds me very strongly of the automaton from Metropolis.

The sculptures, of which there are several on display,  don't have this issue.

A good exhibition that could have done with more.  However I recommend it.

Of the two, if you have to choose, choose the Giacometti.  It wrenches more stongly at the soul and, frankly, is just better art.

If you don't have to choose, go to both, obv.