The Courtauld acquires major new work by Claudette Johnson
A centre piece for Claudette Johnson’s solo exhibition at The Courtauld is on display as part of her solo-exhibition which runs at until 14 January 2024.
This remarkable work will be a significant addition to The Courtauld’s renowned collection, which ranges from the Renaissance to the contemporary. Recent exhibitions have included work by Munch, modernist Helen Saunders and famous forgeries from across the ages.
The acquisition has been made possible through funding from the Garcia Family Foundation and the Samuel Courtauld Trust.
The Courtauld Gallery recently announced the acquisition of Blues Dance, 2023, by British artist Claudette Johnson. She is one of the leading figures of the Black British Arts Movement.
Blues Dance was created especially for The Courtauld’s current major exhibition, Claudette Johnson: Presence.
It’s on display in its Denise Coates Exhibition Galleries until 14 January 2024 and presents a selection of Johnson’s larger-than-life drawings of Black women and men from across her career.
‘I am honoured that Blues Dance will be entering The Courtauld collection after being shown for the first time at the Courtauld Gallery,’ says Claudette Johnson.
‘I’m excited about visitors going from seeing a Gauguin, a Manet or a Vanessa Bell to my work. It’s good to know that there will be another story being told about women, Black women and Black people that will encourage questions about the stories that prevail within the canon of Western art history.’
The Courtauld says Blues Dance is ‘a remarkable example of Johnson’s epically scaled works on paper. A powerful but nuanced depiction of a Black woman dancing, it reflects the significance of music within the artist’s practice.’
Photographic inspiration
The figure of a woman swaying to a beat is inspired by a photograph that resonated with Johnson.
Claudette Johnson Blues Dance 2023. Pastel, watercolour and gouache on paper. 183 x 122cm. Copyright Claudette Johnson. Image courtesy the artist and Hollybush Gardens, London Photo Andy Keate.
Blues Dance is imbued with her own memories of being part of the Blue Beat reggae dance scene in the 1980s, when dances were often held in people’s homes, as well as referring to the great tradition of Blues music.
The title also picks up the colour of the woman’s dress, painted with the aim, as Johnson has remarked, ‘to make the blues move in the work.’
The Courtauld says the ‘drawing conveys the feeling of a woman being at one with herself, fully absorbed in the music and moving to her own beat.’
‘Blues Dance will be a major contemporary addition to The Courtauld’s holdings,’ says Ernst Vegelin, Head of The Courtauld Gallery.
‘It resonates strongly with earlier drawings and paintings in the collection as well as being a significant part of our efforts to build the representation of contemporary art at The Courtauld.’
One of the most significant figurative artists of her generation, Johnson creates drawings of Black women and men that are at once intimate and powerful.
For more than 30 years, she has consistently pushed herself to create the most authentic renderings of her sitters, addressing both Black bodies and interior lives and lending them a profound sense of presence.
The exhibition at The Courtauld is the first monographic show of Johnson’s work at a major public gallery in London.
