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.
Poetry review – POND: Michael Brown considers Sarah Westcott’s inventive use of language for engaging with the natural world
Poetry review – LOSS AND ITS ANTONYM: Charles Rammelkamp admires Alison Prine’s poetry about grief and love
Poetry review – THIS IS YOU, DEAR STRANGER: Pat Edwards finds a striking use of form and language plus a depth of emotional intelligence in these complex poems by Paula Jennings
Floating Clouds. Review by Alan Price. Mikio Naruse’s 1955 film Floating Clouds is held in great esteem in Japan. It’s at number 3 in a poll of their best films ever made. Hideo Takamine and Masuyuki Mori’s wonderful acting make it a wholly involving, and at times great film. Unforgettable.
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.
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.
Poetry review – BETWEEN CHANCE AND MERCY: Kimberly K. Williams reviews an uncompromising state-of-the-nation collection by James E. Cherry
The Music Lovers. Review by Alan Price. Great heroes are the stuff of myth and legend, not facts. Music and facts don’t mix. Tchaikovsky said: ‘My life is in my music.’ And who can deny that the man’s music is not utterly fantastic”
Poetry review – IDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS: James Roderick Burns finds present day relevance in a collection of poems based on Old Testament verses
HARDY WOMEN: MOTHER, SISTERS, WIVES, MUSES: Kevin Saving reviews Paula Byrne’s extensive examination of significant women in Thomas Hardy’s life
Poetry review – MISSING THE MAN NEXT DOOR: Kelly Davis finds that Annie Fisher has a light touch even when dealing with serious subjects
By Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, poetry reviews, year 2024 • Tags: books, Kelly Davis, poetry