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.
art
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”.
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.
Gavin Jantjes: To Be Free! Review by Graham Buchan. Jantjes earliest work on show here is a range of screenprints where he expresses his rage, not just at the oppression in his own country, but in other colonial territories such as Algeria, Ghana and Mozambique.
Expressionists – Kandinsky, Münter and The Blue Rider. Review by Graham Buchan. The Blue Rider was a diverse group of avant-garde artists from a variety of countries and backgrounds who gathered together in Munich pre-First World War to share their beliefs and enthusiasms.
The Last Caravaggio. Review by Graham Buchan. Sometimes it is more rewarding to spend extended time with one great example of an artist’s work than to work through a whole exhibition. This is the opportunity being offered by the National Gallery’s free show The Last Caravaggio.
Poem-Object and Objective of the Poem: Lisa Kelly reflects on possible new interactions between word and material
Poetry review – GOD’S LITTLE ARTIST: Rosie Johnston considers Sue Hubbard’s perceptive and affectionate poetic biography of the painter Gwen John
Poetry review – TOOK MY WAY DOWN, LIKE A MESSENGER, TO THE DEEP: Edmund Prestwich admires the intricacy of Linda France’s sonnet sequence linking the paintings of Leonora Carrington with the experience of lockdown
Extérieurs. Review by Barbara Lewis. Annie Ernaux in 2022 became the first French woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature after producing a body of work that charts her progress from working class origins, feelings of shame during her years being educated at private school that she was not sufficiently bourgeois, to her career as a teacher, then full-time writer.
John Craxton: A Modern Odyssey. Review by Barbara Lewis. John Craxton managed to emerge from school without passing a single exam, not even in art. Instead, charm, daring, connections, irrepressible talent and luck served him better than any merely formal qualifications.
Georgian art. Review by Barbara Lewis. Georgia is a country of less than 4 million inhabitants with a language its guides will tell you is unique. They might also mention that the word for hello “gamarjoba” comes from the word for victory.
By Barbara Lewis • art, dance, design, drawing, exhibitions, history, painting, year 2024 • Tags: art, Barbara Lewis, dance, design, drawing, exhibitions, history, painting