Art

Last Monday there was a fascinating programme on Sky Arts on the exhibition at the Royal Academy of Lucian Freud’s portraits. Like Rembrandt he was a prolific self portraitist. To do this you need a mirror which immediately creates a distorted image. Martin Gayford the art historian wrote an [...]

Last week in our art course we studied Edgar Degas and Diego Velazquez. The current trend in art is to look at the personal life of an artist. Paul Gauguin, for example, came in for severe criticism prior to his recent exhibition at the Royal Academy for leaving his family to marry a young Tahitian [...]

I was commissioned by their old boy’s magazine to do an article on Duncan Grant and Paul Nash who both attended St Paul’s School. I was Head Girl of St Girl’s School, Harriet Harman was a schoolmate, and possibly I am the only arty journo who would do this for free. Truth be told I rather [...]

One of the best features of our art course is the ability of our tutor to place a period in art in context, be that social, philosophical or in the case of the Stuarts political. Charles I was unrivalled as as an art collector whatever his failings that led to the loss of his head. Whatever [...]

Yesterday in our art course we studied the remaining two impressionists – Camille Pissarro and Alfred Sisley. The feminists argue the inclusion of Berthe Morisot and Mary Kassatt and, though we did not study her, Eva Gonzales. Pissarro is my favourite. I have seen so much of Claude [...]

Our art course resumed for its autumn term yesterday on Zoom. We studied Edouard Manet and Edgar  Degas. Both came from wealthy families. Manet’s father was a lawyer and judge who – it is said – was reluctant for his son to be an artist until he married his father’s mistress [...]