The Easel

14th December 2021

The Neglected Afterlife of the Great Georges Braque

Michael Glover | Hyperallergic | 9th December 2021

Braque co-invented cubism and was the first modern artist given a show at the Louvre. Why is his profile so low? He was “a swimmer against the currents”, someone without the gift of self-promotion. Notes one critic he “”did not paint “look at me” but “here it is””. For a profile of this artist, none is better than the beautiful essay by Picasso’s biographer. Braque had a “zenlike spirituality … [on visiting his studio] I felt I had arrived at the very heart of painting.”

Lubaina Himid, Tate Modern, review: Rich, involving works with a political kick

Hettie Judah | iNews | 30th November 2021

This retrospective is, everyone agrees, well overdue. Why then is there a tone of expectations unfulfilled? The themes of Himid’s career emerge clearly – colonialism, our unequal present. Her painterly skills, wit and clever use of materials – the things that have made her so influential – make many works “great”. As a show, though, it is “rather baggy and lacks focus”. Or, as one critic says, the show “is about as dangerous as a painting of a hammer. It doesn’t escape from art into life.”

7th December 2021

Why black art matters — and the joyful Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition

Waldemar Januszczak | Waldemar.tv | 2nd December 2021

Some think Britain’s prestigious Turner Prize has been captured by political correctness. What then about the Royal Academy’s venerable Summer Exhibition which this year emphasises “diversity”? In fact, it is “wonderous”. Works coming from outside the Western canon have given it “a brightness and uplift that wasn’t previously there … a sense of direction, [and] fresh energy”. Says one critic, this show “has never been so much fun. And it has never been so serious.” Images are here.

Fine Prints

James Panero | jamespanero.com | 2nd December 2021

Vast social changes unfolding in the early decades of the 20th century produced some distinctive art. In Britain, the Vorticists celebrated the onrushing modernism of life. Their favoured medium was the humble print, which “exists somewhere between art object and art product”. Being inexpensive, printmaking opened up new possibilities for showing art: “The art galleries of the People are not in Bond Street but are to be found in every railway station.”

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