2 May 2022
Surrealism’s Alternative History The 59th Venice Biennale – Nico Kos Earle
The Venice Biennale sparks surreal conversations between past and present in ‘Milk of Dreams’, curated by Cecilia Alemani
NFTs Hog The Headlines But Traditional Fine Art Sales Outperform Due To Digital Auctions
Love them or loathe them, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have now established their place in the art world firmament and, in doing so, have hogged the headlines.
Frida Kahlo: A Question Of Ethnicity – Edward Lucie-Smith
A recent Opinion piece on the website Hyperallegenic fiercely condemned Frida Kahlo, long one of the patron saints of contemporary feminist art.
Banal Public Statues – We Deserve Better – Edward Lucie-Smith
The new over-life size statue group of Princess Diana, just unveiled at Kensington Palace, to celebrate what would have been her sixtieth birthday, shows the late princess surrounded by three children.
Royal Academy Backdown Over Jess de Wahls Transphobia Row
The Royal Academy of Arts has backed down and apologised to the German textile artist Jess de Wahls over transphobic row.
What The Art World Will Look Like Post Plague – Edward Lucie-Smith
What’s up for art here in London, once the pandemic is finally over? Will we all be able to go back to the state of things as they were, in the jolly days before the plague?
Ben Uri Gallery Goes Digital To Survive – Edward Lucie-Smith
The Ben Uri Gallery in London has just come up with a new operation model, better suited to the needs of relatively small outfits, such as itself. Or should I say that those who run it have been savvy enough to recognise that the contemporary art world has been massively changed.
Revolutionary Art Movement Or Just A Catch Up – Edward Lucie- Smith
Looking at official galleries here in Britain (all temporarily closed as of this publication) – more especially at those situated in London – it is immediately evident that a revolution has taken place.
Is Banksy William Hogarth’s Successor? – Edward Lucie-Smith
The appearance of a new Banksy graffito in Bristol more or less confirms his position as the genuine top dog in the current British art scene. His only possible rival is Hockney, now living in comfortable exile in France. Bacon and Freud are dead – in any case one of them was as much Irish […]
6 October 2020
Philip Guston Postponed: Curator David Anfam Speaks Out – Paul Carter Robinson
On 21 September, a statement quietly appeared on the website of the National Gallery Washington. It announced the postponement, of the “Philip Guston Now” exhibition
Public Art Galleries vs Commercial Who Will Win – Edward Lucie-Smith
At the moment there is an undeclared contest going on, both within the British art world and also, on a much larger scale, in the international sphere. This contest takes several inter-related forms. For example, there is the competition between official and semi-official galleries and commercial ones.
Has The Word Master Reached Its Sell-By Date? – Revd Jonathan Evens
The debate about the continuing use of the term ‘Old Master’ has been re-energised by exhibitions shortly to open or reopen, such as ‘Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company’ at the Wallace Collection and ‘Women Modern Masters’ at The Scottish Gallery.
A Sculpture Falls – The Trouble With Problematic Public Statues – Richard Stone
As a sculptor who has used Victorian and other found sculptures in my work for some time, the increasingly heated debate on the future of public Victorian statues, buildings and street names across the country has resonated with me.
11 June 2020
Sotheby’s Rembrandt Self Portrait Should Be Returned To Holland
Sotheby’s announced this week that a small, delicate Rembrandt self-portrait is to be auctioned on July 28th, here in London. The painting is unusually intimate, (about 17 x 22cm) and was painted in 1632 when the artist was 26 years old.
Museum Futures Post Lockdown – Edward Lucie-Smith
Tate Modern is easily the most popular gallery of modern art in the world… For a location that consists mostly of open spaces, lightly sprinkled with the odd moment of art, that is some achievemen
13 April 2020
CoronART Chronicles: From ARCO To ConfineART – Virginie Puertolas-Syn
Who would have thought early February when Art Basel Hong Kong was cancelled that the coronavirus crisis was going to spread like lighting to everywhere else on the planet
Art And Corona What happens Afterwards – Edward Lucie-Smith
As the contemporary art world goes dark, and as galleries – official spaces and commercial ones – slam shut their doors, one inevitably starts to wonder what the art world will be like once all this is over—the British art world, and also the global one.
Art In The Time Of COVID19 – Sue Hubbard
First, the Louvre in Paris closed. Then the galleries in London started to shut their doors, one by one, like the “lamps going out all over Europe” as the British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey remarked on the eve of the First World War, adding “We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.”
Penny Macbeth Appointed New Glasgow School of Art Director
Penny Macbeth has been appointed as the new director of the Glasgow School of Art. Following a tumultuous week of uncertainty, as reported by Clare Henry on Artlyst, the institution has been in flux needing a pair of safe hands to sort it out.
Mackintosh Museum Closure Highlights A Culture Of Complacency – Clare Henry
Today’s terrible news, a local Glasgow council is closing Mackintosh’s iconic Scotland Street School Museum. I despair. Soon there will be nothing Mackintosh left in Glasgow. Ironically the city needs Mackintosh as a focal point for culture and tourism. Glasgow’s love affair with Mackintosh is far from over.
Glasgow School Of Art: A Burnt-Out Toxic Culture – Clare Henry
There have been few iconic institutions more beloved that Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Glasgow School of Art.
Art Auguries: The Shape Of Things To Come – Edward Lucie-Smith
On Monday, January 13 the Times (London) published a chirpy article by Ben Luke promising wonders to come in London’s official galleries during the coming year. I have to say that the prospects he offered didn’t look so wonderful to me – that is to say where contemporary art is concerned.
What I Don’t Like About The Contemporary Art Scene – Edward Lucie-Smith
A New Year, a new decade – I’ve been thinking about all the things I currently don’t like about the contemporary art scene here in Britain. Most of all, I don’t like its pervasive self-righteousness, the ever-increasing assumption that ‘official art’ has all the answers.
Andy Warhol Catholicism, His Work, Faith And Legacy – Revd Jonathan Evens
In 1987, in a eulogy given at a Memorial Mass for Andy Warhol, the art historian John Richardson revealed the extent of Warhol’s Catholic devotion and faith. Richardson shared with the congregation of 2,000 at New York’s St Patrick’s Cathedral that Warhol had attended Mass several times a week at the St. Vincent Ferrer parish, […]
Tackling Artistic Inequality Outside Mainstream Art Institutions
Art has incredible power. It is a force for cultural reflection, social change and an invaluable medium through which we challenge existing assumptions, broaden our outlook and catalyse change.
8 November 2019
Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2019 Returns To NPG – Edward Lucie-Smith
The Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize has come round once again, just as the announcement went out that the NPG will very soon close its doors for a much-needed update, and won’t be accessible again for three years. It’s hard to be entirely regretful about the hiatus.
Best Art Of The 21st Century? – In Your Dreams – Edward Lucie-Smith
Recently the Guardian newspaper here in Britain offered yet another of those ‘best of’ lists to which both the print press and websites of various kinds are now addicted. In this case, what it listed was ‘the best art of the 21st century’.
Masterpiece London: How The Other Half Live – Edward Lucie-Smith
I have always had ambiguous feelings about the annual Masterpiece London fine art and antiques fair, now under the umbrella of the Art Basel Group.
British Culture Like UK Politics Reaches A Crisis Point – Edward Lucie-Smith
Just recently Tate Modern was named as Britain’s most popular tourist attraction: 5.9 visitors went to the gallery last year. Sounds impressive, doesn’t it – that is till you do a bit more research.
Is Pyotr Pavlensky Just An Attention Seeking Muppet
In the aftermath of sentencing the exiled Russian artist Petr (AKA Pyotr) Pavlensky on Thursday, I ask myself why is he doing this? Is it for art? Or should we categorise him as an attention-seeking spoilt brat? Pavlensky was on trial for setting fire to the facade of a French central bank building, a performance […]