A hunger for innocence.” The phrase pushed its way into my thoughts at the start of the enormous Alexander Calder look-back at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, and refused to shift through the many rooms that followed. Calder (1898-1976) is cemented in art history as the inventor of mobiles: hanging sculptures that move with […]
Recent articles
I thought William Blake was a one-off but this powerful show surprised me
If you can judge a nation by the artists it has produced — and you surely can — where does that leave us with William Blake? A generous assessment of his mental condition is that he was very odd. A less generous reading, one with which I concur, is that he was certifiably mad, totally […]
The raw power of red — and my brief history of art in one colour
You can’t miss it. Written in the window of the Ordovas gallery in London is the single word RED. Some exhibition titles try to entice you in. Not this one. This one feels like an instruction. Come in and see this show, it shouts. Or else. Inside, a tasty selection of modern artists can be seen […]
Why is Easter all about eggs? Forget chocolate, and look to art
Have you been observing Lent? Not eating meat or drinking alcohol, praying, giving alms, refraining from sex for 40 days? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I myself have failed in most of those ambitions, although I did at least find some old coins from the time when money was money to hand out to anyone I encountered […]
The forgotten female artist who towers over Rubens
Michaelina Wautier is not a name that trips off the tongue. It never has done. When she was alive (1604-89) her friends and family called her Michelle. Only in her art would she sign herself in a scratchy and effortful script the full “Michaelina Wautier”, sometimes adding, with evident pride, “painted and invented this”. In […]
Iran’s wonders survived the mullahs, now it’s the bombs …
Isfahan. It’s a name that ought to be on the lips of all who love art and poetry, fountains and gardens, sensuality and architecture. Instead it’s the newsreaders who have been repeating it in grim reports from the ruins of Iran. Bombs falling. Buildings burning. Targets missed. Palaces caught in the blasts. Neither Donald Trump […]
It’s the year of the horse — and here’s why we should thank George Stubbs
In the Chinese zodiac, it’s the year of the horse. And not just any horse. In a rare cosmological concurrence, it’s specifically the year of the fire horse, when all the usual horsey pluses — strength, speed, independence — are united with the best fiery powers — passion, volatility, change. Those of us fortunate enough […]
Love, sex, betrayal — Tracey Emin silences her detractors once and for all
I have no time for those in the art world who have no time for Tracey Emin. Frankly, if you don’t understand the significance and import of what she has given us then you need to find yourself another cultural interest, because art is not for you. Hopefully, her unmissable ascension at Tate Modern will […]
Rose Wylie’s unsettling show is a madcap torrent of granny art
Childishness can be a pleasing quality in art. From Michelangelo’s giggly portrayal of Boaz on the Sistine ceiling to Matisse’s nursery-coloured paper cut-outs, the sense of fun and freedom unleashed by acting younger than you are has given art many memorable moments. But childishness works best as an ingredient. When it is the only mood, […]
Tracey Emin: ‘I can hardly see colours. I’ve got cataracts’
Tracey Emin checks the front of her pyjamas, fixes the buttons and pulls the sheets up higher. She may be in bed, but these days decency is important. In 2024 the King made her a dame in his birthday honours list, and dames don’t flash their bazongas at just anyone. “I thought I was going […]