The Easel

16th June 2026

David Hockney, whose art celebrated sun-drenched Los Angeles, dead at 88

Jessica Gelt and Barbara Isenberg | LA Times | 12th June 2026

Hockney pursued an “unapologetic striving for the rejoicing of the eye“. Avoiding “barren” abstraction, he focused on portraits and landscapes, notably scenes of sunny Los Angeleno hedonism. His preoccupation with life’s “vividness” led Robert Hughes to describe him as “the Cole Porter of modern art”. It brought immense popularity – a 2017 retrospective at Tate was that gallery’s most popular solo show ever. Simon Schama’s poetic take on Hockney’s life is here.

Why Duane Michals’s beautiful fictions matter more than facts.

Faysal Zaman | Bangla Outlook | 13th June 2026

Michals entered photography when it was dominated by the documentary approach of Arbus and others. His “wildly inventive” approach, such as multi-image sequences and writing on his images, caused a stir. Conceptual or surrealist theme evidents in his work owed much to Atget’s famous images of empty Parisian streets “In his hands, the camera stopped acting as an instrument of empirical verification and became a vehicle for the interior life”.  Says one writer, “an artist of serious consequence”.

‘I am very serious about being silly’: children’s illustrators on the art of storytelling

Stuart Heritage | The Guardian | 30th May 2026

Illustrators feel overlooked and it’s hard to disagree. We usually place them as part of a dual act (with storytellers) and their audience is “just” children. One might dispute that – illustrated books must appeal to adults who mostly choose them. There is also a broad field that includes political cartoons, animation, fashion, advertising and digital culture. Says one illustrator, “we do know they were making comics [40,000 years ago] about people chasing cows, because they’re all over cave walls.”

Sorry, but Pace’s cutbacks aren’t the death of mega-galleries

Tim Schneider | The Gray Market | 12th June 2026

Does the Pace Gallery downsizing signal the end of “mega-galleries”? One writer ignores that question and goes for the jugular: “Pace … is built around a fantasy of endless growth and hype and the assumption that bigger automatically means better.” Just as unsettling for market watchers are comments from an art market observer that NextGen collectors may have different tastes to current norms. They have a “distrust of institutions” and their passions little known … perhaps custom skateboards?

In London, Hauser & Wirth offers a rare glimpse into Francis Picabia’s experimental world

Nargess Banks | Wallpaper | 20th May 2026

Picabia ceaselessly reinvented himself, from early landscapes, through his “machine”/ Dada paintings to “radical” nudes and his final abstract paintings. Being wealthy allowed him to pursue such varied interests, where ideas from one period led on to other areas. Such diversity explains why he was never pigeonholed but is considered, ambiguously, as a “painter’s painter”. Perhaps he was closest in spirit to Dada – criticise the status quo but abandon new ideas as they become generally accepted.

A Curator’s View

Alexandra Gerstein | Toast | 12th June 2026

Hepworth felt that her use of colour was “accepted but not understood”. It first appeared in her pre-war painted wood and plaster sculptures. After meeting Mondrian, she brought it into drawings as well as some bronze sculptures. Using colour so extensively underlines her view that colour and form together “achieve a new power & experience”. Not all critics feel this was as novel as she claimed, but does it matter? Hepworth remains “British art’s nature goddess”.

9th June 2026

Marilyn Monroe at the National Portrait Gallery – the woman who became a masterpiece

Laura Cumming | The Observer | 6th June 2026

This “riveting” show of Monroe portraits begs the question – is there any more to learn from yet another show?  The answer, it seems, is that we want to know the “real Marilyn”, not just the skilled actress and dazzling photographic creature. One writer says that she “anticipated the postmodern world and the age of Instagram, in which the self could be redefined [into multiple] identities”. The huge effort to create those identities required “dignified resilience … whoever she was, Marilyn lives.”

Gaudí Centenary celebrates the legacy of an architect like no other

Tom Ravenscroft | Dezeen | 8th June 2026

A papal visit to La Sagrada Família tomorrow marks the centenary of Gaudi’s death. His early designs combined Catalan and Islamic influences in a style dubbed “Catalan art nouveau”. After a “neo-gothic” period he produced his final “naturalist” style with works such as Park Güell. Only 17 of his buildings were completed so the seemingly forever incomplete Sagrada Família defines his legacy. Gaudi incorporated nature’s irregular lines into his designs, an idea was eclipsed just three years after his death.

How Trump’s arch gets classical wrong

Naomi Leigh | The Architects Newspaper | 4th June 2026

The US proposes building an arch to commemorate its 250th anniversary. A classical design seems appropriate, conveying “dignity” and humanity. However, when compared to its inspiration, Paris’ Arc de Triomphe, it is “oversized and visually top-heavy”. A bigger challenge, though, may be civic, not aesthetic. Monuments “are meant to transcend the moment of their creation [but] its scale, its aesthetic choices are inextricably associated with a particular Trumpian vision”.

Brought to light

Renée Dreyfus | Art and Antiques | 2nd May 2026

The Etruscans shaped the Mediterranean world and were “principal contributors” to pre-Roman culture. Based near today’s Tuscany, they were sophisticated, highly religious and unlike the Greeks respectful of women. Togas, urban planning, hydraulic engineering, winemaking, “Roman” numerals, all came from them. Their art included fine jewellery and elegant painted pottery. Says a curator, “in art, religion, engineering, architecture, Rome really stood on the shoulders of the Etruscans.” A video is here.

Saint-Porchaire Ceramics: Rediscovered Treasures of the French Renaissance

Mairead Horton | Art Institute Chicago | 1st April 2026

With barely 70 examples, Saint-Porchaire ceramics are among the rarest – and most mysterious – treasures of the French Renaissance. Supposedly made in a tiny French village, they are decoratively ambitious and highly complex. They are thought to be the work of a single artisan or a very small group. But who were they and how were they aware of design fashions of the day? Says a scholar “[ceramics] that are without precedent …whether or not you think them beautiful, they are completely wonderful”.

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