Features
New Music 2013: A Death-Defying IndustryTuesday, 31 December 2013
2013 was the year that Thom Yorke, somewhat tautologically, referred to the music business as “a dying corpse”, and Justin Bieber's manager Scooter Braun claimed that same business “doesn't exist any more.” This was slightly odd, given that it was... Read more... |
World Music 2013: A Quiet StormTuesday, 31 December 2013
Not a year in which big names came through, and many on the list below are actually quite introverted and low-key, but none the worse for that. Among numerous global musical gems this year were the following:The Fes Festival of World Sacred Music... Read more... |
theartsdesk's Top 13 Films of 2013: 13 - 6Monday, 30 December 2013
There are some that will tell you that they don't make movies like they used to. But even if that's true, film is an art-form that continues to thrive by moving with the times - reflecting change, reinventing itself and each year we're supplied with... Read more... |
Art: Top 10 exhibitions of 2013Friday, 27 December 2013
Not an exhaustive list, but, in no particular order, these are the shows I'm still left thinking about as the year draws to a close. The best have opened my eyes to new ways of thinking about an artist. A few are still on. Try not to miss. And do... Read more... |
Yuletide Scenes 7: Madonna and Child EnthronedWednesday, 25 December 2013
What better way to celebrate Christmas than by contemplating this sublime altarpiece by the celebrated Venetian artist Giovanni Bellini? It hangs above a sidechapel in the church of San Zaccaria in Venice offering blissful relief from the noise and... Read more... |
Yuletide Scenes 6: Journey of the MagiTuesday, 24 December 2013
It was the fate of Benozzo Gozzoli (c 1422-1497) to be a contemporary of the immortals. A merry journeyman dauber, his talents were overshadowed in his lifetime and are overlooked now. He had a good start in life, working for both Fra Angelico and... Read more... |
Yuletide Scenes 5: WinterMonday, 23 December 2013
Russia is the largest country on earth, unimaginably vast. Its people naturally have a great attachment to their country – and its landscape – in spite of their turbulent history, and in the late 19th century painters portrayed with deep feeling... Read more... |
Listed: The 12 Derangements of ChristmasSunday, 22 December 2013
We at The Arts Desk are as fond as the next person of swans-a-swimming, partridges and pear-trees, not to mention gold rings, but be honest: 'tis already the season to be jolly sick and tired of all those knee-jerk compilations of Slade, sleighbells... Read more... |
theartsdesk in New York: The Armory Show at 100Sunday, 22 December 2013
Walk up Central Park West, past the Dakota building and all those plush-looking podiatrists’ offices with their gold plaques, and just before you get to the Museum of Natural History you’ll find the New-York Historical Society and Museum at 77th... Read more... |
Yuletide Scenes 4: Nursery (Christmas Stockings)Sunday, 22 December 2013
Even by his own eerie-peculiar standards, this is a perturbingly odd painting by that gifted English eccentric Stanley Spencer. It’s the night before Christmas and Christmas stockings hang from each bed frame: in this case, long rubber boots and... Read more... |
'I've gone far far too early': David Coleman, voice of sportSaturday, 21 December 2013
David Coleman never said, "Juantorena opens his legs and shows his class," any more than Queen Victoria said, "We are not amused." The words belonged to Ron Pickering, but Private Eye got it wrong. The chances are that Coleman, who has died at the... Read more... |
Yuletide Scenes 3: Winter SeaSaturday, 21 December 2013
There’s movement towards a walk after lunch, but by the time everyone’s hummed and hawed about where they might go, rubbed their bellies after one too many forcemeat balls and argued about who put the Guardian Quiz where, it’s already dark and there... Read more... |
