Arts feature
The dreamer
Ian Thomson on the creative limbo that spawned Fellini’s modernist masterpiece, 8½
His remastered voice
Damian Thompson on the audio anoraks rescuing some of the greatest recordings ever made
Survivors
Martin Gayford visits two new surveys of Greek and Roman sculpture at the British Museum and Palazzo Strozzi. Reimagining what’s lost is as much of an inspiration as what remains
Independents’ day
Sometimes a guy feels abstracted from the world. He visits Europe’s finest galleries, but the paintings seem to hang like…
Artificial life
Mad Men looked great but, as the final season draws to a close, was there really anything to it, wonders James Delingpole
Shock and awe
Alexander McQueen may have been a prat but at least he was an interesting one, says Shura Slater
Back to the future
How Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, made 33 years ago, foresaw the way we live today, by William Cook
Public enemy
Stephen Bayley announces the launch of What’s That Thing?, The Spectator’s award for bad public art
Swan’s way
Ismene Brown unpicks the great enigma of ballet theatre
Christ of the coal mines
William Cook reports from the sooty netherworld that made an artist of Vincent Van Gogh
Pop icon
The Coca-Cola ‘contour’ bottle is 100 years old. Stephen Bayley salutes a design classic
Japanomania
Peter Hoskin on the island nation that has taken over popular culture
Cellulite factor
Are Rubens’s figures too fat for the British to appreciate them? Martin Gayford investigates
Depicting the Prophet
Two months ago I was sitting beside the tomb of a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed, telling a story about…
Great Brittain
Jasper Rees talks to Shirley Williams about the forthcoming screen portrayal of her mother
Marx men
Ian Thomson celebrates the anarchic genius of Groucho and his brothers
Strokes of genius
The art on show over the coming year demonstrates that we still live in an age of mighty painters, says Martin Gayford
Bruegel’s Bethlehem
The world depicted by the Flemish master is not so different from our own, says Martin Gayford
Dirty dancing
Vienna’s New Year’s Day concert is still tarnished by its Nazi origins, says Norman Lebrecht
Snow men
In owning a flock of artificial sheep, Joseph Farquharson must have been unusual among Highland lairds a century ago. His…
Le French bashing
The popular sport has spread to France. Are things really that bad, wonders Jonathan Meades
North star
Fortune tellers, pound shops and Orville: it’s easy to take the piss out of Blackpool, but William Cook loves it
Sistema’s secrets
An explosive new book uncovers abuse at the heart of one of classical music’s most revered institutions. Damian Thompson investigates
Death of a screenwriter
Cinema is tough right now for writers. Thomas W. Hodgkinson reports from the front line at the Austin Film Festival
Bradford bohemian
David Hockney talks to Martin Gayford about 60 years of ignoring art fashion
