Exhibitions
American psyche
The latest exhibition at the Royal Academy is entitled America after the Fall. It deals with painting in the United…
On the make
Rudolfo Paolozzi was a great maker. In the summer, he worked almost without stopping in the family’s ice-cream shop, making…
The good, the bad and the ugly
Vladimir Putin notoriously declared the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 to be one of the greatest disasters of…
The good, the bad and the ugly
Vladimir Putin notoriously declared the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 to be one of the greatest disasters of…
Sunny delight
No Californian could have painted Hockney’s pools. No La-La Land artist, raised on sun and orange juice, would have done…
Sunny delight
No Californian could have painted Hockney’s pools. No La-La Land artist, raised on sun and orange juice, would have done…
Seeing everything in black and white
Two divergent approaches to printmaking are on view in an exhibition of graphic work by Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud…
Seeing everything in black and white
Two divergent approaches to printmaking are on view in an exhibition of graphic work by Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud…
Great leaps forward
In the 1940s Lucian Freud took another young painter, Sandra Blow, up to the top of a bombed church in…
Great leaps forward
In the 1940s Lucian Freud took another young painter, Sandra Blow, up to the top of a bombed church in…
Shape shifter
Victor Pasmore once told me how he greeted Pablo Picasso at Victoria station. The great man had come to Britain…
Shape shifter
Victor Pasmore once told me how he greeted Pablo Picasso at Victoria station. The great man had come to Britain…
Ways of seeing
‘Radical’ is like ‘creative’, a word that has been enfeebled to the point of meaninglessness. Everybody seems to want to…
Ways of seeing
‘Radical’ is like ‘creative’, a word that has been enfeebled to the point of meaninglessness. Everybody seems to want to…
Trivial pursuits
Robert Rauschenberg, like Autolycus in The Winter’s Tale, was a ‘snapper-up of unconsidered trifles’. Unlike Shakespeare’s character, however, he made…
Trivial pursuits
Robert Rauschenberg, like Autolycus in The Winter’s Tale, was a ‘snapper-up of unconsidered trifles’. Unlike Shakespeare’s character, however, he made…
The beast in man
Ernest Hemingway loved going to the zoo, but not on Sundays. The reason, he explained, was that, ‘I don’t like…
The beast in man
Ernest Hemingway loved going to the zoo, but not on Sundays. The reason, he explained, was that, ‘I don’t like…
Serious concerns
It’s funny, isn’t it, how a dust jacket on a book can draw you to it from the other end…
Serious concerns
It’s funny, isn’t it, how a dust jacket on a book can draw you to it from the other end…
Order, order
The catalogue to Pallant House Gallery’s latest exhibition features a favourite anecdote. It is 1924 and a competition is being…
Order, order
The catalogue to Pallant House Gallery’s latest exhibition features a favourite anecdote. It is 1924 and a competition is being…
Enigma variations
On 2 August 1933 one of the more improbable meetings of the 20th century took place when Albert Einstein had…
Enigma variations
On 2 August 1933 one of the more improbable meetings of the 20th century took place when Albert Einstein had…
Halloween hire
To use a vulgar phrase, I can’t get my head around this exhibition. It seems anything but ‘vulgar’. Daintily laid…
