The Easel

17th December 2024

Versailles: Science and Splendour, Science Museum: A masterclass in storytelling

Alastair Sooke | Yahoo news | 13th December 2024

Can a science exhibition be an exhibition of art?  France’s Louis XIV, the Sun King, surrounded himself with various scientific instruments that advertised his erudition and power, But are they any more than “vapid opulence”? Still, if not every item is artistic, at least the exhibition can boast the fabulous Breguet watch 160, made for Marie Antionette. With its intricate engineering and elaborate case, it is the ultimate combination of science and the decorative arts.

Parmigianino: The Vision of Saint Jerome at the National Gallery

James White | The Upcoming | 4th December 2024

When the Renaissance artists got bored with scientifically accurate perspective and proportion, they came up with mannerism – a “flaunting of style and distortion”. Parmigianino went all in on this and, at the tender age of 23, produced one of the style’s masterpieces. Hanging in London, it was regarded as a “mustardy-yellow monstrosity” until a 10 year restoration. Now, says one writer it is “one of the UK’s most mesmerising works of Renaissance art.”

10th December 2024

Electric Dreams: Art and Technology Before the Internet, Tate Modern review – an exhaustive and exhausting show

Sarah Kent | the arts desk | 2nd December 2024

From the 1950’s artists viewed technology as a new frontier. Some work is “poignant”, with wobbly machines being “like metaphors for life”. Our growing understanding of perception paralleled the emergence of op art. Computers, though, have complicated things. When used to aid (imperfect) human creativity, they are fine but attempts at autonomous creativity fall flat. “When a machine takes control … the results become less interesting.  I left the exhibition feeling profoundly depressed.”

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