In all the doting coverage of ‘Defining Beauty: The Body in Ancient Greek Art’ at the British Museum, no mention was made of the fact that the bulk of major exhibits featured were from the museum’s own collection. Stupidly, I had believed – and perhaps was even misled by advance publicity – that the exhibition… Continue reading Fibres torn from the brain
Are you disadvantaged?
The Department of Culture recently published a White Paper, the first from that department since Jennie Lee’s in 1965, and apparently only its second ever. This chic pamphlet, in truth more PR exercise than policy document, prominently contains that new-age mantra, “access must be increased for those from disadvantaged backgrounds”. The Arts Council also write… Continue reading Are you disadvantaged?
Brian Sewell (1931-2015)
It isn’t my intention to repeat the tediously familiar stories peddled by obituarists relating controversies which Brian’s inclination to mischief and provocation helped encourage. Instead I want to address two issues unconsidered elsewhere: his astonishing generosity and the disgraceful but typical hypocrisy of the BBC towards him. Brian was a working man. He called himself… Continue reading Brian Sewell (1931-2015)
Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain… he lied!
Read pdf: Duchamp’s Fountain
Freedom of expression
ALEXANDER ADAMS rehearses recent arguments concerning freedom of expression before arriving at his own conclusion. “One person with a belief is equal to a force of 99 who have only interests.” JOHN STUART MILL On February 14th, 2015 an Islamist gunman attacked a café in Copenhagen where a debate on… Continue reading Freedom of expression
Giles Auty: Modernism and the Novelty Trap
Giles Auty considers the purchase of Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles by the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra in 1973 and what such an acquisition signifies. A few months back, a rash of articles appeared in the press which commemorated the dismissal of the Whitlam government thirty years ago and commented on the continuing sense… Continue reading Giles Auty: Modernism and the Novelty Trap
Des beaux-arts
Anthony Daniels visits a degree show at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. I am in blood Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er. Macbeth, Act 3 scene iv No one would have understood better than Macbeth the logic of the inexorable… Continue reading Des beaux-arts
Multinational art
In the dash to internationalism the national is trampled underfoot, argues Laura Gascoigne. In November, Lund Humphries celebrated 75 years of publishing books on British art with an anniversary talk at the ICA titled ‘Is there such a thing as British art?’ It was chaired by Tim Marlow, now of the Royal Academy, and debated… Continue reading Multinational art
Elgin marbles: should they go or should they stay
David Lee thinks loans both ways should be considered. We have rehearsed the pros and antis of retaining, loaning, handing back or exchanging the Elgin Marbles in the pages of the Jackdaw many times. The main arguments on both sides, few as they are, remain the same and recent reiteration of these familiar points would… Continue reading Elgin marbles: should they go or should they stay
Wonders of creativity
Laura Gascoigne investigates why what was once so very special is now common as muck and comprehensively commandeered by the fat controllers In The Masque of Augurs, Ben Jonson introduces the comic figure of Vangoose, a “rare artist” and producer of masques with a reputation for the wildly fantastical. “Now we would bring in some… Continue reading Wonders of creativity