Visual Arts Features
Listed: 10 American paintings before PollockSunday, 16 February 2014
The National Gallery recently embarked on a first: they acquired their first American painting. Men of the Docks, 1912, (main picture) may not be George Bellows’ most famous or best-regarded work; nonetheless, it’s a gritty and beautifully observed slice of New York life among the city’s dockside workers. Read more...
|
theartsdesk in the Shetlands: Seasick VikingsSunday, 16 February 2014
“Would we be able to prosecute the Vikings today, should we? I mean are there parallels between what the Nazis did by plundering art and gold, or what the German soldiers did who raped Norwegian women when they occupied Norway?” Silke Roeploeg might perhaps fit the Viking caricature: tall, blonde, physically fit, ruddy weathered cheeks, and smart. She is however German, and a lecturer on the Highland and Islands Nordic studies, which includes a component on Vikings. Read more... |
theartsdesk in Sydney: Upside Down UnderSunday, 26 January 2014
Sydney has a nervous tic. People think Australians are brash and bolshy but that's not true. There's a deep sense of ingrained anxiety here. That anxiety comes from being at the edge of the world, a long way from Europe and in an unfamiliar and unrelenting land. It has been expressed through the art of Australia for 200 years. Today the country and its biggest city are both more confident, so the anxiety expresses itself in subtler ways. 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 suggest your own favourites in the comments below. As you'll see, I've also nominated one "Disappointment of the year" and one "Most ill-conceived show of the year". Don't hesitate to suggest your own in these catagories too. 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 bustle of the narrow streets around San Marco. 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 Ghiberti, but his beautiful frescoes are to be found tucked away in hill towns, innocently crumbling in wayside Tuscan chapels, or locked in the basements of the great museums. 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 their native environment, their feelings for the motherland perhaps intensified among the more sophisticated the more they had travelled and studied in Europe. 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 Street (it also houses a great research library, open to all). 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 saggy-bottomed Long Johns. And before we even consider what the occupants of each bed are up to, look closely at the heads of some of those toy figures: their painted grimaces are the thing of children’s nightmares. 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’s only you and one other still up for it. They cry off – a mercy – and you’re alone, heading out across the garden, along the path towards the headland. Read more... |
Pages
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 10,000 pieces, we're asking for £3.95 per month or £30 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take an annual subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
latest in today
The Prince of Egypt, Dominion Theatre review - Moses musical...
The theatre gods rained down not fire and pestilence, but a 45-minute...
First Person: Hassan Abdulrazzak on the real-life drama behi...
You are at a party having a good time when someone gives you a glass of champagne. You take one and then another and soon the party...
The Windsors, Series 3, Channel 4 review - perfect timing fo...
The rage and bitterness surrounding the Brexit brouhaha have...
Back in Time for the Corner Shop, BBC Two review - open all...
Since Back in Time for Dinner in 2015, this BBC Two...
Flesh and Blood, ITV review - Vivien's new love affair...
“Everybody lies," says property developer Tony to his PA and secret lover Natalie. “Even your mum probably.” And of course he’s not wrong.
...
Gabetta, NHK SO, Järvi, RFH review - transparency and dynami...
This concert represented the British leg of the NHK Symphony Orchestra’s European tour. Tokyo’s radio orchestra is...
Alina, Sadler's Wells review - I think therefore I danc...
It’s common to see the term “vanity project” applied to self-produced shows by...
Joanna MacGregor, Adrian Brendel, Gildas Quartet, Wigmore Ha...
Startlingly high levels of expression and focused fire made this rich concert worthy of the dedicatee who radiated those qualities, Jacqueline du...
Actress Noémie Merlant: 'This is something that hasn...
Lest anyone believe that Parasite was the only ground-breaking...
DVD/Blu-ray: The Winslow Boy
Though set in a handsomely-realised 1912, many of The Winslow Boy’s period details seem disconcertingly contemporary, from aggressive...