Eighteenth century artist Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) is renowned for his portraits of the English Aristocracy dressed in fine silks, ribbons and ruffles. His modern-day equivalent would be someone like photographer Mario Testino. Gainsborough is often reviled by art critics for pandering to the elite. But throughout his career he also painted portraits of his relatives and these engaging…
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Janet Murray. An obituary for my friend and tutor
Posted by Stephen |
An obituary of the journalist and lecturer Janet (Jan) Murray who dies at the Marie Curie Hospice in London on the 1st of July 2016
Review: The Trouble with Scott Capurro at The Bill Murray @CamdenFringe
Posted by Carmel |
“They’re just jokes – I’m not even gay!”
Scott Capurro greets “all my imaginary friends in the front row” as he skips onstage at The Bill Murray. The front row is conspicuously empty – who after all would be so foolish as to sit there? But there’s no escape later in the set when he begins to interact with members of the audience. Before long a man who came out at the age of 30 is describing…
Committee a Musical at the Donmar Theatre
Posted by Mary |
Committee A Musical is the Donmar’s new play based on a Parliamentary Inquiry into the high profile childrens charity Kids Company.
Exhibition review: Njideka Akunyili Crosby 'The Beautyful Ones'
Posted by Sonali |
There is a new mini-exhibition of works by Visual Artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby (1983) at the National Portrait Gallery. It's a series of portraits called 'The Beautyful Ones’ of Nigerian children. She is an established artist and one of these works recently sold for £3.5 million.
According to the exhibition’s introductory blurb ‘the series takes it title from the novel by the Ghanaian…
Book review: Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
Posted by Susan |
Pacey and fizzily plotted, Francis Spufford’s Golden Hill is a breathless romp of a novel. The year is 1746, and Mr Smith, a glib tongued and amiable English charmer, is newly pitched up in Manhattan with an order for one thousand pounds in his pocket.
Trump’s First Year and the Foreign Media
Posted by J Bloggs |
Has the foreign press done enough in terms of holding Donald Trump to account in his first year as US president? Trump’s approval ratings have remained static despite the FBI investigation into Russian collusion in the 2016 election, sleaze allegations and his generally unpresidential conduct. Even the publication of Michael Wolff’s book ‘Fire and Fury’ hasn’t fazed him. This topic was central to…