Selby Whittingham: The Temptations of the Wallace Collection

Selby Whittingham “I’m just a slave / only a slave to you, temptation”. So sang Bing Crosby in 1933 in a song, Temptation, repeated by many famous singers since and, in 1970, in a German TV act of Sid Millward & The Nitwits. That shows (it was recorded) Sid presiding over players prey to temptations… Continue reading Selby Whittingham: The Temptations of the Wallace Collection

Alexander Adams: Canon Fodder – November 2017

Alexander Adams November/December 2017 Alexander Adams investigates the status of the canon in art under Post-Modernism and the dangers of undervaluing it. The canon of great art has never been the target of greater ire than it is today, but many leftist critics and their traditionalist opponents misunderstand the canon. The truth is unsettling for… Continue reading Alexander Adams: Canon Fodder – November 2017

Eric Coombes: The Destruction of Art Education and its Implications for School Pupils

Eric Coombes The near-destruction in the western world of a centuries-long tradition of visual education could be described – hyperbolically but not misleadingly – as having been accomplished overnight. The inherited gifts of that tradition are now being casually, ungratefully and even malevolently thrown away. In its chronologically long-range survey, What Happened to Art Education?… Continue reading Eric Coombes: The Destruction of Art Education and its Implications for School Pupils

Selby Whittingham: Curatorial Incontinence

Selby Whittingham When Napoleon removed Europe’s art treasures to France on the grounds that their rightful place was not with “slaves” but “in the bosom of a free people”, some might cynically think that this was not just a piece of enlightenment, but that it was very convenient that the new home for them happened… Continue reading Selby Whittingham: Curatorial Incontinence

Selby Whittingham: Tate Modern or Tate Theatre

Selby Whittingham A survey by the Office for National Statistics in May revealed that the British are changing their spending habits. Instead of filling our homes to the rafters with consumer durables and not-so-durables, we’re spending our spare cash on ‘experiences’, including recreation and, yes, culture. “People are interested in servicing a lifestyle rather than… Continue reading Selby Whittingham: Tate Modern or Tate Theatre

Selby Whittingham: Rhodes Revolution or Reform

Selby Whittingham “Rhodes will likely fall,” gloomily writes Professor Nigel Biggar (UnHerd, July) after a decision by Oriel College, of which he was once chaplain, in favour of that. Another Rhodes watcher, Lars Larundson, says that the vote was taken amid thunder, lightning and torrential rain, perhaps an indication of internal dissension as much as… Continue reading Selby Whittingham: Rhodes Revolution or Reform

Moping Owl: Club Feat

Oh dear. I had expected to be out and about again by now, as did we all, even if it did mean wearing the mask and keeping one’s distance, and hardly daring to look at anyone, let alone breathe. But no: here we all still are, stuck at home and doing as we’re told, good… Continue reading Moping Owl: Club Feat

Moping Owl: Nem Con

Goodness knows we have more than enough to mope about these dark days, even without the current plague, what with the evenings drawing in and the weather on the turn, again. It seems to happen every year, Winter. Was it always like this, this cold, wet, windy, foggy, snowy thing, with a spot of flu… Continue reading Moping Owl: Nem Con