The Easel

7th October 2025

Michaelina Wautier: the female Flemish artist now seen as an old master

Philip Altermann | The Guardian | 28th September 2025

Forgotten for centuries Wautier is now being ushered into the hallowed ranks of the baroque Old Masters. Part of a well-off Flemish family she worked at about the same time as Caravaggio and Gentileschi. Remarkably, she was accomplished across portraiture, intimate genre studies, floral still-lifes and large-scale history work. Defying the norms of the day, she painted male bodies, and with great authority. Says the museum “The most exciting discovery of the past decade in art history”. A backgrounder is here.

Lee Miller review, Tate Britain – Seeks to rescue the artist from her role of iconic beauty and muse

Mark Hudson | The Independent | 30th September 2025

Miller was seen as a 1930-ish glamour girl until the posthumous discovery of her photography archive. It revealed that she was an accomplished photographer. When working with Man Ray in Paris, the “presiding spirit” of their work seems to have been his. After that, though, she emerges as a “high end, classic modernist”. Working as a war photographer, her cool eye produced some of that century’s most distressing images. For her, says one writer, “beauty and brutality had equal weight.”

Art Deco at 100: All Cocktails and Jazz?

Danielle Thom | ArtReview | 24th September 2025

Art deco, that most famous of design styles, gets put under the microscope. It was never a unified movement but rather “full of complexities”. At first, its ornate geometric lines showcased luxurious materials – “the extractions of empire”. It picked up motifs from Egyptian and Mayan discoveries. Hollywood used it as “shorthand for guilt-free opulence”, notably in movies featuring Fred Astaire. Today, art deco carries a ‘period’ feel, reincarnating optimistic, mid-20th century views of the future.

Gilbert & George review, 21st Century Pictures: Hayward Gallery exhibition is quite hectically of the moment

Mark Hudson | The Independent | 6th October 2025

As art students Gilbert and George sang pre-war songs, their faces painted bronze. Since then their endlessly provocative work has addressed sex, money, race, the tabloids and (particularly) religion. They have become, says a writer, the “scabrous chroniclers of London in the tradition of Hogarth”. Some think their act has become formulaic but it is still “quite hectically of the moment.” A curator discusses some of their works here.

How Europe Became Obsessed With Chinese Art (Chinoiserie)

Ching Lee Yim | The Collector | 2nd October 2025

A backgrounder. Silk road trade left a mark on Europe’s cultural imagination. Subsequently, maritime trade greatly increasing the availability of exotic luxury Chinese goods – especially ceramics. Chinoiserie became a thing among Europe’s well-to-do. Oriental motifs, such as flowers, dragons and pagodas, married well to rococo‘s decorative aesthetic. Of course, chinoiserie was part fantasy, Europe’s idealisation of Asian culture. Nonetheless, it is a cultural influence that endures.

Theatre Picasso review, Tate Modern – Familiar works transformed by a bold, atmospheric setting

Mark Hudson | The Independent | 15th September 2025

Are there new ways to exhibit Picasso? A London show tries, showing him in a theatrical setting, as if to focus on his love of play acting. One critic likes this approach, saying the show is “riveting, [giving the art] a jumpy energy.”. Other critics, though, are lukewarm.  “The exhibition mixes together a lot of chaotic ideas” is a common theme.  The above writer complains about the convoluted wall labels, admitting that it “isn’t quite the epic blockbuster we’d hoped”.

30th September 2025

‘The Art of Manga’ Brings New Worlds to the de Young Museum

Janea Melido | KQED | 25th September 2025

Manga, once a uniquely Japanese black and white graphics product, is now global. The most famous manga is One Piece. Having appeared weekly for 28 years it is now a “cultural juggernaut”. Loosely, it’s a pirate adventure story that focuses not on raiding parties but on adventure and freedom. Other manga address crime, sports, history, sexuality, friendship, science fiction, martial arts and more. Says a curator “there is a manga for everybody” A review of a Netflix adaptation is here.

In Milan, the fashion world gathers to say goodbye to Giorgio Armani at his final show

Jack Moss | Wallpaper | 29th September 2025

Intended to mark 50 years of the Armani brand, a Milan show has become a retrospective. Armani’s concept of dressing was “fluid rather than structured suiting”. Women in particular were liberated from “fussy and figure-hugging silhouettes”. The Armani look was one of “louche glamour”, achieved through “refined use of decoration, the preference for neutral and refined tones, and attention to workmanship”. Said he “I am neither a couturier nor a tailor, but I feel I am someone who creates a style”. Images are here and an obit here.

‘Sixties Surreal’ Curator Dan Nadel Is Expanding American Art History, One Outlier at a Time

Alex Greenberger | ARTnews | 22nd September 2025

The textbook story of post war art seems neat and tidy – abstraction, Pop, Minimalism and so on. Yet plenty of art didn’t fit this “New York centric” discourse.  Viewing such work from the 1960’s, one writer detects a common thread – psychosexual imagery. A curator suggests differently – these artists simply didn’t fit the “formalist” conversation of that time. Old academic views have “started to crumble” but the aim is not to establish another canon, just “a different set of players and ideas”.

The Lucas Museum and the Question of Narrative Art

Leo Braudy | Los Angeles Review of Books | 17th September 2025

Important, maybe. Geoge Lucas is using his Star Wars fortune to build a Museum of Narrative Art. Narrative art is visual storytelling where the representation of physical movement conveys “elapsed time.” The Chauvet cave paintings, for example, imply the pursuit of animals. Bas-relief carvings show Egyptian pharaohs sallying forth in their chariots. And the Bayeux Tapestry justifies William the Conqueror’s invasion of England. The take-out seems to be that movies are narrative art par excellence.

The Trailblazing, Shapeshifting Artist Suzanne Duchamp Gets a Museum Retrospective, Finally

Andrew Russeth | Artnet | 26th June 2025

Marcel Duchamp had a sister who also was an artist. Who knew? Early in her career, Suzanne made “superb”, colourful Dadaist images but in 1922, abruptly turned to figuration. Those “somewhat awkward” paintings have not served her reputation well. Says one writer, she was freely exhibited in her lifetime so her significance now is mainly as a female contributor to the male-dominated dada story. Was she a major artist? Perhaps not, as it seems she prioritised personal interest over career maximisation.

Enthusiastic about Pictures

Elizabeth Goldring | London Review of Books | 25th September 2025

Following its $330m renovation, the history-oriented back story to New York’s Frick Collection. To turn his family home into a public museum, Frick followed the example of London’s Wallace Collection. Having discovered the Old Masters, he bought so rapidly that dealers allowed him to trade-in superseded acquisitions. Renovation has allowed the Collection to display more of its decorative arts objects. Frick most liked buying paintings though, saying “you can draw your dividend daily”.

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