The Easel

10th February 2026

Prisoner of war

Alice Inggs | The World of Interiors | 6th February 2026

McCullin, for decades a war photographer, brought defining images of 20th century conflicts to British breakfast tables. As he tells it, that career was harrowing and, at times, left him feeling he had been “stealing from people’s lives by taking their images”. Nowadays he takes moody landscape images of Somerset and serene studies of Roman sculptures. These are arresting images but, observes one writer, “it is in proximity to devastation and death that McCullin’s work feels most alive.”

No longer the best advert for good art

Pierre d’Alancaisez | The Critic | 5th February 2026

Is contemporary art “stuck”? If so, is that because artists can’t imagine the future or because they are held back by “legacy cultural institutions”? Such issues are an unintended highlight of a survey at London’s pioneering Saatchi gallery. Saatchi saw its role as encouraging “a reckless, speculative” production of art. Not much of the art that resulted was great, but the approach put an intense focus on the “now”. In contrast, art in 2026 is weighed down with culture war arguments about the past  A video (5 min) is here.

3rd February 2026

A New British Museum Exhibition Peels Back the Layers of the Samurai Myth

Jimmy Chen | The Collector | 12th January 2026

This exhibition illustrates the inseparability of art and culture. Samurai emerged as a warrior class in the protracted feudal conflicts of Japan’s 12th century. Once peace was established in 1615, samurai moved into administrative or academic roles and were expected to support the arts and be attentive to religious matters.  A significant proportion were women. Codes of honour are mostly myths arising from avid Western interest. If all this sounds like far away history, consider this name – Darth Vader.

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