The Easel

19th December 2023

After the British Museum scandal, we’ve lost our faith in art institutions

Alastair Sooke | The Telegraph | 17th December 2023

An English art critic’s summary of 2023 struggles to avoid being a catalogue of art world woes. There have been some positives –notably the stunning Vermeer retrospective. But all those worries. Debate over the Elgin Marbles has turned acrimonious due to British Museum failings in the care of its collection. More broadly, museums are uncertain how to respond to social justice campaigns. Sighs the writer, at least the Vermeer show assures us there is “a huge audience for the Old Masters”.

12th December 2023

Jesse Darling Scoops Challenging Turner Prize 2023

P Robinson | Artlyst | 5th December 2023

The problem with writing about the Turner Prize is that critics feel obliged to be polite about the winner. It is, after all, a prize that is usually career defining. The 2023 winner, Jesse Darling, makes sculptural installations. His work for the prize was described (before the event) as “wonderfully chaotic … everywhere you look, emblems of control are bastardised and made pathetic, rendered more fragile.” Says this reviewer (after the event), Darling is “a formidable artist”.

Strike a Pose

Atong Atem and Hassan Hajjaj and Ruth Ginika Ossai | Tate etc | 5th October 2023

A show of African contemporary photography recently went through London without much comment. This review is a catch up and discusses what makes African photography distinctive. Western photography frequently captures strangers or unusual situations, whereas photography in African hands gravitates to community. “[My predecessors] developed the revolutionary act of focusing on group portraits. I almost always work with friends and family – [it] becomes a personal and intimate exchange.”

Holbein Politics Religion And Draughtsmanship

Jonathan Evens | Artlyst | 11th December 2023

Illiteracy was common in Tudor England. That made painting important because potent images of a leader were an effective communication. HenryVIII hired Holbein, a great renaissance portraitist, to do just that. He did, and with such unparalleled realism that he became the “image maker of the Tudor court”. Tudor England was, of course, full of political intrigue, so being the King’s Painter required subtlety, an ever-so-careful balancing act between the truth that Holbein saw and the truth that Henry VIII preferred.

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