Just over a week ago my friend Annie and I undertook a spontaneous trip down to London. Well, when I say spontaneous I really mean a kind of pseudo-spontaneity. But hey, that’s good enough for us! One day we will be so spontaneous you won’t see us coming. The truth is we had already booked some free tickets to a preview of Summer Screen Prints; a film poster exhibition in association with Film4’s Summer Screen and Print Club London, but were unsure whether to take the plunge. I had been aware that Film4 held outdoor cinema screenings at Somerset House, and had felt frequently disheartened that I couldn’t attend one, not being local to London (sigh). However, I had no knowledge of the film print exhibition that is now coming into its third year! Film4 has over the last 3 years commissioned Print Club London, a Dalston based print screening studio and gallery, to curate a number of exclusive screen-printed posters inspired by each season of films. So in the end, how could two film lovers resist this opportunity and a trip to our beautiful capital city? Which, by the way, I have not explored enough, it’s really quite embarrassing. Plus no entry ticket was needed, our names were to be included on a list and so you see we were practically VIP’s (at least that’s what we were readily telling ourselves!). Films, illustration, free beverages and popcorn, all set in a stunning Neoclassical listed building that itself has been used frequently as a film set, what’s not to like?
The lovely poster for the event! Note that it was a “launch night” – probably the first and last launch night I will ever attend! Here’s to dreaming.
On the train we discussed what we should do in the time before the exhibition, as the Summer Screen Prints event wasn’t due to open until 6. This is definitely not easy in a city so full of possibilities. Luckily, we are like-minded friends, so we knew that some form of gallery or museum was on the cards and we finally decided on the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery, to which neither of us had ever visited before – to our own surprise! Food, however, was to be our first priority (as usual) and so we endeavoured to find some delicious food tucked away somewhere in – Trafalgar Square, what a paradox that is! To cut a long story short our idealistic view to finding a secluded haven, a quirky artisan cafe serving the most delicious treats, vanished all too quickly. (This includes the debacle of: sitting down in the National Gallery’s restaurant naively thinking it will be reasonably priced, to find we could not even afford the afternoon tea, swiftly followed by the walk of shame to a chain cafe – smooth.) Note to self, and indeed to you dear reader, that Trafalgar Square is to our new-found knowledge not the place to find such establishments. In the end we ate some lunch in Pret A Manger, which was pretty tasty and I actually think that as chains go, its one of the best.
And so off we went to set our eyes on some glorious works of art. The National Gallery is said to house one of the greatest selections of paintings in the world, so no pressure! Although I cannot claim to have been to many of the worlds greatest galleries, we definitely saw some incredible and awe-inspiring paintings! There is huge a difference between reading about a painting (especially the more illustrious), and feeling like you have experienced it in its full effect, to actually observing it in the flesh. In all that stillness, once was motion – you can sense this much more acutely when the painting is right in front of you, it is a lot easier to imagine its creation and its past. We saw paintings by Turner, Van Gogh, Klimt, Degas, Monet, as well as countless paintings of Jesus. If you want to see a lot of Jesus, I would certainly say that the National Gallery is one of the places to be.
The Beach at Trouville (1870) by Claude Monet. The caption read that this sketch of his wife and friend was done in the open air, and so grains of sand and shell are still embedded in the surface of the painting – amazing!
We spent a couple of hours in the National Gallery, spent mostly in awe at some of the incredible works, the collection was so vast and our time so short, that we didn’t get the chance to dedicate as much time as we may have liked before making our way to Somerset House. The original plan to visit the National Portrait Gallery was out of the question!
It appeared it would be a day of firsts for both Annie and I, as neither of us had ever been to Somerset House before either. It certainly is a beautiful building, and you can certainly see why so many films have chosen to utilise its versatile but all the more impressive aesthetic. The courtyard was slightly smaller than we expected it to be, but not necessarily in a bad way as I couldn’t help thinking that it would make a great setting for an outdoor cinema – hopefully one day we will be able to attend one, when I am living in my swanky London home with ten or so dogs. On a more serious note (though that is a fairly serious ambition of mine), there was something quite relaxing and intimately social about Somerset House, being tucked away from the bustle of the city in the just the right amount. Although, it may of course have been the effect of a slightly overcast British summer evening. We sat down to collect our thoughts on the day so far, and attempted to look cool calm and collected while looking to see who would start the queue for the exhibition. A queue which we joined after a safe amount of time passed since it was initiated – an awkward British person can’t actually start a queue, right? It is when we are in the queue that our stoic queueing talent really starts to shine through.
These are the first series of photographs I have featured on laurawrites that are taken by my new film camera, a Zenit TTL, what do you think? Improvement is undoubtedly needed, but hopefully I will be a top photographer in no time. (Remembering whether I have wound the film or not ready for the next photograph would be a good start, Laura.)
When we were finally allowed entry, and our names were duly ticked off the list we entered the exhibition. It seemed to be a great success, and became busy very quickly! Many people seemed to know each other which made it feel relaxed and intimate, the perfect kind of busy. (Even if it made us anxious that the artists were there attempting to overhear opinions on their work!). The exhibition was made up of a series of posters by fifteen different artists, curated by Print Club London, with each artist illustrating a different film. Each illustration was as beautiful as the next yet still remained individual by incorporating different styles and compositions – adapting their film from screen to paper, moving image to still, with great distinctive insight, flair and skill! As well as enjoying each print, a free Jameson and popcorn was provided – and who doesn’t love free food? It is ingrained in the mentality of a student that free things are good. My favourite prints included The Last of the Mohicans by Claudia Borfiga and West Side Story by Rose Blake. I also loved Roman Holiday by Patrick Concepción; maybe this was because, as you may know, I was lucky enough to visit Rome this year, and seeing the Colosseum and a vesper on a poster was too much for me to handle. In reality though, I just loved its simple, geometric design that gave a classic film a modern twist, and the colours worked wonderfully too – che bella! Unfortunately being a student meant that we weren’t in the position to buy a full-sized print, and so we were delighted to see that they were also selling selected prints as postcards which were only £1 each! I went a bit crazy and bought postcards of The Graduate, West Side Story and Roman Holiday.
The Graduate by Holly Wales.
The pretty spectacular view from Waterloo Bridge.
We ended our day with a walk along the river at Southbank, a few minutes walk away from Somerset House, an area with fantastic views over the Thames and a place I would recommend to anyone visiting London. It is such a vibrant space full of street food and music, restaurants and what looked like a sea of second-hand books, which as literature students, we were drawn to browse almost immediately. We spent a substantial amount of time in BFI Southbank (which I would happily move into by the way), being completely in our element and getting excited about the vast collection of books that were on offer. We were only disheartened at our inability to purchase anything, and the fact that there was simply not enough time to sample the cinema – any time is cinema time, but we did not want to miss our train home, ahem. (We have never missed a train in our lives I will have you know). After managing to drag ourselves away from the BFI the search for food began, and we eventually settled on the first place that caught our eye, as is often the case. The restaurant of choice was The Riverfront which, yes you guessed it, boasted an amazing riverside location with a view to match. It was incredibly busy both inside and out, but luckily we managed to get a table straight away inside – the occasional perk of being a party of two! It was one of the best dinner atmospheres I have experienced in quite a while, it was busy and loud but it didn’t feel stressful at all, pretty relaxed in fact! Annie had a burger while I had a steak baguette, which at my expense and Annie’s benefit was difficult for me to eat without looking like a dog aggressively chewing on a steak. Not a very attractive image, really. Anyway, to continue, both came with an abundance of fries, which is never a bad thing, and so all in all it was a great meal.
Although there was limited time before we had to catch our train home, we wanted to make the most of the time that we did have and decided to take a short trip on the tube to Camden. Camden is a borough I have heard a lot about, its markets, bars, live music and the general eclecticism it has to offer. We only got a taste of this as we walked up Camden high street, it was fairly deserted and at that odd time in-between the end of dinner and when nightlife begins. Despite this it certainly seemed like an interesting area and the sort of place we would want to explore further, the live music in particular! All that was left was to hop on our train home and sleepily remark on the brilliant day that had gone by. I hope, dear reader that you have enjoyed reading about our day, even if it was a day that took place more than a week ago! I would definitely recommend visiting Summer Screen Prints if you live in the area or if you are visiting, and especially if you enjoy the combination of illustration and film! Somerset House has so many interesting, diverse events and exhibitions on (I envy you if you live nearby), including Film4’s Summer Screen of course which includes a typically diverse range of films, and just take a look at the events for August! There’s definitely something for everyone to experience.
Summer Screen Prints is being exhibited in the West Wing Galleries until the 23rd August and is absolutely free! More information and details of the artists and their titles is available on the link provided, and more photos from the day can be found on my Instagram! Once again I would like to thank you for taking the time to visit laurawrites and hope that you continue to enjoy my writing.
Laura Hancock 