A silvery bronze sculpture of pioneer feminist Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) by Maggi Hambling has been unveiled on Newington Green in north London. Revolutionary thinker Wollstonecraft lived nearby. The £143,000 cost, which took ten years to collect, was raised by public subscription, some of which donors may now be wishing they had more productively spent their… Continue reading Mary Wollstonecraft Memorial, Newington Green
Laura Gascoigne: The Experience Economy – January 2019
Laura Gascoigne January/February 2019 The buzz of anticipation in the COL Ballroom in Davenport Iowa is audible, the audience murmurating like a flock of starlings; then the first twangs of an electric guitar tuning up, followed by a smoky voice: “I’m going to ask one question before we start: Are y’all experienced?” “Yeah!” roars the… Continue reading Laura Gascoigne: The Experience Economy – January 2019
Laura Gascoigne: The Gold Standard – November 2019
Laura Gascoigne November/December 2019 In October of last year, under the title ‘The Midas Touch’, Sotheby’s held a special sale of ‘objets de vertu’ made of gold. “In a world that speaks 6,900 languages,” cooed the catalogue, “the language of gold remains universal”. To prove it, the auction house promised to take collectors “on a… Continue reading Laura Gascoigne: The Gold Standard – November 2019
Laura Gascoigne: Dirty Money and Plenty of It – September 2019
Laura Gascoigne September/October 2019 Among the many examples of the wit and wisdom of Sir Thomas Beecham is the story of the great conductor seeing a tombstone inscribed: “Here lies a great organist and an excellent musician” and remarking in surprise: “What, both in the same grave?” I was reminded of this when seeing Wafic… Continue reading Laura Gascoigne: Dirty Money and Plenty of It – September 2019
Laura Gascoigne: Redrawing Drawing – July 2019
Laura Gascoigne July/August 2019 It’s hard to know where to start with Ingres’s definition when nobody knows any more what probity means. And yet drawing is enjoying a resurgence. What is going on? When David Hockney breezed into the Royal College from Bradford in 1959, he announced his arrival not with naïve etchings of naughty… Continue reading Laura Gascoigne: Redrawing Drawing – July 2019
Martin Lang: Against life drawing
Advocating life drawing at art school is a deeply conservative and reactionary position. Arguments in favour of life drawing usually fall into one of two camps (or sometimes both). I am utterly unconvinced by both. The first, and weaker, argument contends that it is necessary to learn the rules before you can break them. This… Continue reading Martin Lang: Against life drawing
Laura Gascoigne: Is Art (Finally) Toast? – May 2019
Laura Gascoigne May/June 2019 In 2014 the Harvard-based science magazine Annals of Improbable Research presented its Ig Nobel prize for neuroscience to a team of researchers from China and Canada who demonstrated that seeing the face of Christ in a slice of burnt toast is perfectly OK. (That year’s Ig Nobel prize for economics went… Continue reading Laura Gascoigne: Is Art (Finally) Toast? – May 2019
Art: Cool and Uncool – William Varley Reviews Addicted to Sheep
So, as all cool sentences begin, I think that the best TV programme I saw last was Addicted to Sheep. In many ways this BBC4 documentary was reminiscent of the French film Être et Avoir about a remarkable teacher in a school in the remote Auvergne, although a good deal less winsome. It focused on… Continue reading Art: Cool and Uncool – William Varley Reviews Addicted to Sheep
Laura Gascoigne: Entertainment Value – March 2019
Laura Gascoigne March/April 2019 During a bibulous press trip dinner a few years ago, a travel journalist laid into me about art criticism. How could I set myself up as a judge of contemporary art when it was all a matter of taste and no one could predict the verdict of history? I spluttered something… Continue reading Laura Gascoigne: Entertainment Value – March 2019
Charles Thomson: Lies, Damned Lies and Serota at the BBC
Sir Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate Gallery, has used the platform of the BBC in a blatant attempt to deceive the nation. Either that or he is genuinely deluded himself. Both options render him unfit for major public office. He was confronted on Radio 4 programme The Reunion: Tate Modern on September 23rd by… Continue reading Charles Thomson: Lies, Damned Lies and Serota at the BBC