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Beryl Cook

Many years ago I was at the National Theatre for a play I have long forgot. In the interval I went to their bookshop and came across THE WORKS by Beryl Cook. The cover alone reduced my theatre-going companion and myself to uncontrollable hysterics. Beryl Cook occupies a unique spot on art as she is [...]

May 15, 2024 // 0 Comments

Singer Sargent Course

Yesterday I attended the first edition of a course on the painter John Singer Sargent. It soon became clear that I had not read the course materials carefully enough – it was actually a drawing course based on the technique and style of Singer Sargent. It’s been many years since I picked up [...]

April 24, 2024 // 0 Comments

Monet (The Restless Vision)/Jackie Wullschlager

This is a comprehensive account of the life of artist Claude Monet (1840-1926). He was born in Paris. As his father Alphonse’s business was supplying ships the family soon moved to Le Havre. As a youngster Monet, known then as Oscar, was a talented caricaturist and – only after meeting [...]

January 30, 2024 // 0 Comments

Great Collectors of Our Time/James Stourton

Published in 2007 and covering the post-War period this is a thorough account of the Great Collectors. Many – like Paul Getty, Paul Mellon,  the Rothschilds and Giovanni Agnelli have huge wealth – others like Peggy Guggenheim a brilliant eye but less funds to acquire, although she was [...]

January 5, 2024 // 0 Comments

West Wittering outing

On Wednesday I organised a day trip of Rusters to Bob Tickler’s beach hut on West Wittering beach. The trip was organised some time ago and of course –  when the day arrived – Storm Gerrit was on its way. A cricketer turned successful artist friend of Alice’s is painting a [...]

December 29, 2023 // 0 Comments

A cultural break in London

I have spent the last couple of days in cultural activities in London. On Tuesday I visited the opening of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in the Mall Gallery. Much of the work is mediocre but it’s a useful platform for aspiring young oil artists. In the evening I saw a performance [...]

November 30, 2023 // 0 Comments

Frans Hals at the National Gallery

Yesterday I  went to the National Gallery to see the Frans Hals exhibition – his  first retrospective in 30 years- and enjoyed it immensely. You might think that portraiture could be boring but not so.  This is because Hals was a supreme technician, that his sitters often adopted unusual [...]

November 25, 2023 // 0 Comments

John Craxton/Pallant Gallery Chichester

The Pallant Gallery has done – more than any other museum – much to redeem the reputation of many 20th Century British painters. In some cases, like the 1920s society artist Glyn Philpott or Leon Underwood, I wondered why, whereas with others – like Johnny Minton, regarded as the [...]

November 22, 2023 // 0 Comments

Venice: City of Pictures (Martin Gayford)

As one might expect from such an eminent art historian Martin Gayford’s latest work on Venetian art and architecture is a thorough, well-researched study with beautiful images. He covers the ‘Big Four’ of Venetian art – Titian, Tintoretto (the only artist born in and of Venice) [...]

November 11, 2023 // 0 Comments

Marriage of the Arnolfini

Few paintings have generated as much controversy and speculation as The Marriage of the Arnolfini by Jan van Eyck (1424) Little is known of Jan van Eyck. He was the court painter of the Duke of Burgundy whose lands extended to Flanders and the Netherlands. Bruges in Flanders was a thriving [...]

September 27, 2023 // 0 Comments

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