The Easel

11th March 2025

A philanthropist’s art collection that shows how Goya anticipated Van Gogh, Gauguin and Cézanne

Mark Hudson | The Independant | 13th February 2025

Stellar collections of art have long drawn big crowds when they tour, especially if full of Impressionist paintings. The latest, a Swiss collection, has its share of star paintings yet the reviews are just a little ho-hum. Maybe that’s local one-upmanship (London’s Courtauld is bigger and better). More likely, Impressionism is simply over-exposed.  A Goya work, on its own, is “drop dead brilliant”. Yet, while the above writer is positive, another grouches that it is “a drearily grand exhibition”.

Nothing Lasts Forever: a long overdue retrospective on working-class Britain arrives in London

Diane Smyth | British Journal of Photography | 5th March 2025

Images of urban decay are sometimes called ‘ruin porn” and often feature grim images of poverty or class neglect. Not so from Mitchell who photographed northern England – particularly Leeds – in the 1970’s and later. His images show “utopian” social housing projects that end in failure (“dying buildings”) but also document those cities’ cohesive communities and the dignity of their residents. Mitchell is something of a “cult figure”, a “chaser of a disappearing world” with images that “exude warmth and empathy”.

Drawing is still flourishing. This exhibition proves it

Robert Chandler | Prospect | 5th March 2025

Not exactly a review and not exactly a personal narrative, this mostly is a declaration of faith in drawing. The “fundamental” art of drawing still flourishes, even though few institutions still teach it in depth. David Hockney points to its enduring appeal thus: “it helps you put your thoughts in order”. For other artists drawing is an aide during the ”hazardous way of getting to the depth of a memory”. And, in some cases, drawing is “the obstinate work of love without which [many] drawings might never be begun”.

4th March 2025

Leigh Bowery, as Remembered by His Closest Friends and Collaborators

Hannah Lack | AnOther | 24th February 2025

Bowery was the “emperor” of London nightclubs in the 1980’s. Designer, performance artist but mostly an unclassifiable creative, his main creation was himself. Boy George described him as “modern art on legs”. Through Lucien Freud he started to gain the art world legitimacy he craved but then came an early death from AIDS. Bowery remains an enduring influence in fashion and on the dance floor. The last word is his – “dress as though your life depends on it, or don’t bother”.

What Makes British Art ‘British’?

JJ Charlesworth | ArtReview | 20th February 2025

“Explaining” British art is complicated and as much a story about culture as about art. Over its long history it has been swayed by “invasion, migration and exchange”, as well as the “hatred of image making” during the Protestant Reformation. Local artists endured patrons with a long-standing preference for their continental European rivals. Once religious conflict subsided an authentically British art emerged around 1800 with the landscape painting of Constable and others.

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