Art

Impressionist and modern art collection

If I were to tell you you can see for free Picassos, Chagalls, Degas, Monet’s Gare De St Lazare, Rodin’s The Kiss, Matisse, Gauguin, Renoir, Braque and Utrillo in the centre of London in comfortable and uncrowded conditions you might think I am bonkers but I did exactly that last Saturday at [...]

June 19, 2018 // 0 Comments

The Royal Academy Summer Show

The Royal Academy has had a considerable architectural transformation, with a new lecture theatre, campus and expanded space for exhibitions. Concurrently – and to celebrate its 250th anniversary – the summer show curated by Grayson Perry has had a makeover. I wish I could be more [...]

June 12, 2018 // 0 Comments

A visit to the Pallant Gallery

It’s not just in the theatre that Chichester punches above its weight but it’s art too. The Pallant Gallery is one of the best galleries/museums outside London particularly for the display and promotion of modern British art Tuesday I went on a curated tour. Its permanent collection numbers. [...]

June 7, 2018 // 0 Comments

Water colours

One art column I always enjoy is by Colin Gleadell in the Telegraph every Tuesday on the sale rooms and auctions. Perhaps more than any arts or indeed investment market, which it is increasingly resembling, it is subject to the vagaries of fashion. Hans Makart [see The Death of Cleopatra, above] [...]

May 31, 2018 // 0 Comments

The Art of Money

You might be forgiven for thinking that the title of this post relates to the $646m sales achieved so far in the auction of the Peggy and David Rockefeller collection but it does not. It relates to a fascinating programme on the art world presented on radio 4 by the excellent John Wilson, son of [...]

May 10, 2018 // 0 Comments

The war painters

Yesterday I attended a lecture on a course on early twentieth century British modernism which covered the World War One painters. In her introduction the lecturer made the point that one of the reasons why British art tends to be underestimated globally is that is hard to label our national [...]

May 2, 2018 // 0 Comments

Riviera art and a mysterious Dutchman

One of the great attractions of the Riviera is the quality and exhibition of its art. Not that many great painters were actually born there but many were drawn by its light, lifestyle and opulence to resettle: Miro, Picasso, Matisse, Chagall all moved here. One of the most interesting stories is [...]

March 30, 2018 // 0 Comments

TEFAF Maasricht

The great and the the good of the art world have beeb gathering in the pretty Dutch town of Maastricht, once the battleground for the ancient Tory Brexiteers – for TEFAF, an art convention of dealers. One of the talking points will be the indictment of Jonathan Green of the Green art [...]

March 20, 2018 // 0 Comments

Around the sale rooms

Looking at the catalogue of forthcoming auctions of modern British art at Christie’s I was struck how artists can rise and fall in appeal and value. Johnny Minton in the 50s was regarded the equal of his friend Francis Bacon. I saw and liked his work exhibited last year at that excellent [...]

March 6, 2018 // 0 Comments

The Royal Collection, Picasso ceramics and building a collection

Yesterday I went to the Royal Academy to view the collection of Charles 1. He may have been a hapless monarch but as a collector of art he had no English royal equal. Titian, Mantegna, Holbein, Durer, Rubens and Van Dyck he had pictures by them all. The collection was broken up and sold but the [...]

February 21, 2018 // 0 Comments

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Another glorious day at Arundel , the woes of Durham and Jack Russell

June 23, 2018 // 0 Comments

5 years ago I was at Arundel as the guest of Ivan Conway. In walking around the ground – one of the delights of a day at the Castle ground- we saw an awning under [...]
Greeks Bearing Gifts /Philip Kerr

June 22, 2018 // 0 Comments

I had occasion to seek the advice of a friend who is a loss adjuster to be informed that he was on a remote Greek island investigating a claim. Coincidentally Bernie Gunther, [...]
Glorious Arundel

June 21, 2018 // 0 Comments

One of the many reasons I dislike the Hundred concept is its assumption that cricket is a metropolitan game. As far as back as Hambledon, the first ever cricket club, to [...]
It’s only fair

June 21, 2018 // 0 Comments

One of the Rust’s recurring themes is our head-shaking disbelief at the 21st Century’s female-dominance of the now-global political correctness orthodoxy. Cecil Rhodes [...]
The World Cup so far

June 20, 2018 // 0 Comments

It’s too early to make any predictions as winning World Cup teams tend to grow in stature rather than hit the ground running but it’s nonetheless valuable for the Rust to [...]