The Shape Of Things. Review by Barbara Lewis. Damien Hirst is famously fascinated by death and decay. For him, they are inseparable from an affirmation of life, we understand in the Pallant’s major exhibition, the first of its kind, of more than 100 practitioners of British still life – or, as the French would say, “la nature morte”.
Barbara Lewis
About Barbara Lewis
Posts by Barbara Lewis:
Marie of Romania and the Pelisor Castle. Review by Barbara Lewis. Princess Marie Alexandra Victoria of Edinburgh became Marie of Romania after, guided by her family, she rejected a proposal from her first cousin the future King George V.
The Trumpeter. Review by Barbara Lewis. Mariupol, where Ukraine for nearly three months in 2022 resisted Russia’s determination to create a land bridge between Crimea and Donbas, became a byword for horror.
The Comedy of Errors. Review by Barbara Lewis. This is the HandleBards’ uplifting summer tour, which after 935 miles of pedalling, brought the cycling players to a picnicking audience in the grounds of Horace Walpole’s Gothic revival mansion at Strawberry Hill, west London.
Kyoto. Review by Barbara Lewis. If Shakespeare put the English town of Stratford-upon-Avon on the global map, the Kyoto climate treaty arguably did the same for an ancient Japanese capital.
What is Quality in Art? Review by Barbara Lewis. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder – or so they say. For Alejandro Vergara-Sharp, art historian and senior curator of Flemish and Northern European Paintings at the Prado in Madrid, art appreciation can be more much objective than that if your standard is quality.
Stephen Sondheim Society. Review by Barbara Lewis. The SSSSPOTY, as it is known in Sondheim circles, technically is a competition, but, like Bonnie Langford, compere of this year’s 16th edition, you may prefer to see it as a celebration.
Cutting the Tightrope. Review by Barbara Lewis. The arts have always had a role in saying the unsayable, making it all but inevitable that Arts Council England’s effort to clarify advice issued early this year on the risk of making political statements would only add to the controversy.
Hong Kong Whispers. Review by Barbara Lewis. Hong Kong, one of the most densely populated places on earth, was the muse of the late German photographer Michael Wolf.
Your Lie in April. Review by Barbara Lewis. In the fantasy world of “Your Lie in April”, based on a Japanese manga, adapted into a television series, a film, and now brought to London’s West End, even football is relegated to a poor second to musical prowess when it comes to winning teenage hearts.
Sherlock Holmes: The Valley of Fear. Review by Barbara Lewis. A cast of five tackles all the complexity of Conan Doyle’s fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel that is as clever, contrived and satisfying as a cryptic crossword.
The Rubens Garden. Review by Barbara Lewis. The Italianate palazzo in Antwerp where the great artist and diplomat Peter Paul Rubens lived and worked is closed for restoration until 2030. At the end of August, however, the newly restored garden of the Rubenshuis reopened to the public.
By Barbara Lewis • art, books, painting, year 2024 • Tags: art, Barbara Lewis, painting