Post-Art Clarity

Some artists' reputations precede them to the extent that the prospect of seeing an exhibition by them is not as exciting as it perhaps should be, particularly when they are no longer alive. During a recent visit to the coastal town, I visited Hastings Contemporary, which like Turner Contemporary in Margate is located directly facing the sea, and its surroundings are a great source inspiration for all forms of creative outputs. When I arrived and saw that the themes of this brief exhibition of works by Henry Moore and Lucian Freud are family and kinship, I did take a closer interest, mostly due to the fact that these more emotive themes are usually the curatorial focus of women artists, as if men artists orbit outside of the family unit and keep their professional creative lives entirely separate. It got me thinking about what might these two profoundly successful men might tell us about their attitudes towards family, and how would Hastings Contemporary take this on? My initial th...