What’s Up with Hornel

The exhibition is at the City Art Centre in Edinburgh and it’s right across from the train station, so is in a very convenient place. It has a very nice gift shop that sells all sorts of things. I found a lovely plant pot for my cactus. The exhibition is on the second floor but there are exhibitions on the other floors too.

As you go round all the different paintings you see a variety of cultures depicted by Hornel. He took pictures of Japanese and Sri Lankan girls and women while he was travelling and then brought the photos back to Scotland with him. He then asked young girls to copy the poses in the photos while he painted them. In the exhibition you can see the original photos and the paintings side by side. They are easily compared to show the similarities and that he often just copied the photo pose but with a different background. It’s quite noticeable that he changed the expressions on the girls’ faces from serious in his photographs to happy in his paintings. This might have been because he thought people would want to buy paintings showing a happy childhood scene. The paintings are vibrant and eye-catching.