Arts feature
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
Sale of the century
Nothing could have prepared the art world for the astounding moment in 1970 when, at a Christie’s sale on 27…
There’s something about Mary
A bogus history book and a new oratorio turn Mary Magdalene into the wife of Jesus and a human rights activist. Damian Thompson feels sorry for the poor woman
Mademoiselle Non
On the eve of her retirement, Sylvie Guillem talks to Ismene Brown about legs, boobs and changing people’s lives
On the waterfront
The current redevelopment of the city’s riverside is a lost opportunity to reclaim the Thames for Londoners, says Ellis Woodman
Pop provocateur
After years of being effectively banned from exhibiting in his own country, Allen Jones finally reaches the RA with his first major UK retrospective. Andrew Lambirth meets him
Supreme painter of the inner life
Martin Gayford sees Rembrandt’s late works at the National Gallery – is this the greatest show on earth?
Surviving the Soviets
Ismene Brown talks to the Russian super-couple Maya Plisetskaya and Rodion Shchedrin about ballet, opera and the KGB
